This Intel chip just broke the Cinebench R23 world record, beating out an AMD Threadripper

What you need to know

• The Intel Xeon W9-3495X processor recently broke the Cinebench R23 world record.
• The top spot was previously held by the AMD Threadripper 5995WX.
• The Xeon W9-3495X earned the highest Cinebench R23 score to date even though it features fewer cores and threads than the previous record holder.

Intel just set the record for Cinebench R23. Specifically, the Intel Xeon W9-3495X earned the top spot, beating out AMD Threadripper 5995WX that held the record previously. Intel’s processor earned a Cinebench R23 score of 132,484. The previous record holding Threadripper processor scored 121,215 (via TechRadar).

Cinebench R23 is a tool for measuring the rendering performance of PCs. Generally speaking, chips with more cores and thread perform well than those with a lower core and thread count, but that’s not strictly true. The Xeon W9-3495X features 58 cores and 116 threads compared to the Threadripper 5995WX’s 64 cores and 128 threads.

Of course, all of the chips mentioned so far blow the best CPUs out of the water when compared to most personal computers. In addition to the Xeon lineup being aimed at high-level professionals, the specific Xeon W9-3495X that broke the record was cooled within liquid nitrogen and overclocked to have roughly a 184% higher clock speed than normal. 

Even if you purchased a Xeon W9-3495X for a workstation PC, you wouldn’t see the same level of performance. 

For context, the Threadripper that previously held the record and just about any chip that breaks a record in this category is cooled in a special way that’s not available in normal systems.

While most consumers, and even professionals, will not see Cinebench R23 scores this high on any system they have in front of them, this record is still impressive. As explained by TechRadar, chip technology trickles down over time. Advancements seen in high-end processors today make their way to other chips over time.

AMD has its Zen 4 Threadripper processors on the way, so Intel’s top spot may not last long.