For many, many years, in the world of hardware we have always seen the rivalry between Intel and AMD in the processor market, each one (almost) always outperforming its rival every time a new generation comes on the market but, what is the world’s most powerful processor at this time? Will Intel or AMD take this honor? In this article we are going to talk about it.
It must be borne in mind that, as we have said, every time Intel or AMD launch a new generation of processors on the market, they usually outperform their rival in terms of performance, so the “crown” usually rotates between one and the other. This means that the data we are going to provide you today (January 2023) may vary significantly in a few months or even weeks, so keep that in mind.
No consumer processor is in the top
It was to be expected, since both Intel and AMD have processors designed for servers or professionals that deliver much more raw performance than the best processor designed for consumers. For example, AMD has its processors EPYC for server, or Threadripper (and variants) for professionals (although to be fair, consumers do have access to these, albeit in a limited way), while Intel has its families Xeon for this purpose.
What is certain is that from the list of the most powerful processors in the world today, there is no consumer processor in the top 20, although even more curious is that there is not a single Intel processor in this ranking either. . As you can see in the previous image, currently the most powerful processor in the world is the AMD EPYC 9654, a “beast” for servers that incorporates 96 cores and 192 processing threads at 3.7 GHz with a TDP of no less than 360 watts. Of course, its price makes it unaffordable for most mortals.
And it is that in fact not even the few processors of the Threadripper family that appear in this classification are, we could say, suitable for a normal desktop PC, since we are talking about prices that exceed €2,000 and not many people would be willing to invest such an amount of money, right?
Ryzen 9 7950X, the most powerful (consumer) processor
If we go down the list, the first consumer processor that appears is in position 23, and it is the AMD Ryzen 7950X of new generation. It is also a “good bug”, with 16 cores and 32 processing threads that reach 5.7 GHz with a TDP of 170 watts, but of course it is something more normal and above all more affordable for a conventional desktop PC ( what we know as the consumer market). It has an RRP in stores right now that is around 680 Euros.
After this Ryzen 9 7950X we come across the first Intel processor to appear on the list, the Core i9-13900KS, also a beast and not too far from its AMD competitor but much more expensive. Two seats down, the first member of Intel’s Xeon family appears, and then quite a few EPYC and Threadripper models appear again.
A fact that we also find curious is that this Ryzen 9 7950X is the only one that appears on this list, at least in the top positions (later we would have the Ryzen 9 7900X in position 42, much lower), and yet we are going finding several Intel models such as the Core i9-13900K and its variants.
In any case, as you can see, these are the most powerful processors in the world in January 2023, and it will be interesting to see how this list evolves as Intel and AMD launch new generations of processors on the market.
