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Gaming Performance Comparison

Recommended System Requirements
Game Core i7-9700K 8-Core 3.6GHz Xeon E3-1220 v3
Red Dead Redemption 2 33% 9%
Doom Eternal 45% 10%
Cyberpunk 2077 43% 7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50% 19%
Dragon Ball Z Kakarot 49% 18%
Microsoft Flight Simulator 27% 19%
Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order 26% 20%
Grand Theft Auto VI 9% 48%
Need For Speed Heat 43% 8%
Warcraft 3: Reforged 86% 77%

In terms of overall gaming performance, the Intel Core i7-9700K 8-Core 3.6GHz is massively better than the Intel Xeon E3-1220 v3 when it comes to running the latest games. This also means it will be less likely to bottleneck more powerful GPUs, allowing them to achieve more of their gaming performance potential.

The Core i7-9700K 8-Core was released over three years more recently than the Xeon E3-1220 v3, and so the Core i7-9700K 8-Core is likely to have far better levels of support, and will be much more optimized and ultimately superior to the Xeon E3-1220 v3 when running the latest games.


The Core i7-9700K 8-Core has 4 more cores than the Xeon E3-1220 v3. 8 cores is probably excessive if you mean to just run the latest games, as games are not yet able to harness this many cores. The cores in the Xeon E3-1220 v3 is more than enough for gaming purposes. However, if you intend on running a server with the Core i7-9700K 8-Core, it would seem to be a decent choice.

The Core i7-9700K 8-Core has 4 more threads than the Xeon E3-1220 v3. Both CPUs have one thread per physical core.



The Core i7-9700K 8-Core and Xeon E3-1220 v3 are not from the same family of CPUs, so their clock speeds are by no means directly comparable. Bear in mind, then, that while the Core i7-9700K 8-Core has a 0.5 GHz faster frequency, this is not always an indicator that it will be superior in performance, despite frequency being crucial when trying to avoid GPU bottlenecking. In this case, however, the difference is enough that it possibly indicates the superiority of the Core i7-9700K 8-Core.


The Core i7-9700K 8-Core has a 1024 KB bigger L2 cache than the Xeon E3-1220 v3, which means that it, at worst, wins out in this area, and at best, will provide superior gaming performance and will work much better with high-end graphics cards.


The Xeon E3-1220 v3 has a 15 Watt lower Maximum TDP than the Core i7-9700K 8-Core. However, the Core i7-9700K 8-Core was created with a 8 nm smaller manufacturing technology. Overall, by taking both into account, the Core i7-9700K 8-Core is likely the CPU with the lower heat production and power requirements, but there really isn't much in it.

CPU Core Details

CPU CodenameCoffee LakeHaswell
MoBo SocketLGA 1151LGA 1150
Notebook CPUnono
Release Date30 Oct 201802 Jun 2013
CPU LinkGD LinkGD Link

CPU Technical Specifications

CPU Cores8vs4
CPU Threads8vs4
Clock Speed3.6 GHzvs3.1 GHz
Turbo Frequency4.9 GHzvs3.5 GHz
Max TDP95 Wvs80 W
Lithography14 nmvs22 nm
Bit Width64 Bitvs64 Bit
Virtualization Technologynovsno

CPU Cache and Memory

L1 Cache Size512 KBvs256 KB
L2 Cache Size2048 KBvs1024 KB
L3 Cache Size12 MBvs8 MB
Max Memory Size-vs32 GB
Memory Channels-vs2
ECC Memory Supportnovsno

CPU Graphics

Base GPU Frequency-vs-
Max GPU Frequency-vs-
Displays Supported-vs-

CPU Package and Version Specifications

Package Size-vs-
PCIe Revision-vs-
PCIe Configurations-vs-

Gaming Performance Value

Performance Value

CPU Mini Review

Mini ReviewThe Core i7-9700K 8-Core 3.6GHz is a top-end CPU based on a refinement of the 14nm++ Coffee Lake microarchitecture. It offers 8 physical cores (8 logical), initially clocked at 3.6GHz, which may go up to 4.6GHz using 8 cores with Turbo Boost, or up to 4.9GHz boost clock on a single core. The Core i7-9700K has 12MB of L3 Cache. Among its many features the 9700K has Turbo Boost 2.0 and Virtualization are activated and the processor has its multiplier unlocked. This Core i7-9700K CPU offers some of the fastest gaming performance of any Intel CPU as of 2018, and will not be the bottleneck in any modern gaming PC. It will be able to play all modern games comfortably on ultra graphics performance at any supported resolution without being a hindrance to the accompanying GPU.Xeon E3-1220 v3 is a Server Processor based on the 22nm, Haswell architecture.

It offers 4 Physical Cores (4 Logical), initially clocked at 3.1GHz, which may go up to 3.5GHz and 8MB of L3 Cache.


Though not created for gaming purposes, its performance is exceptionally good and enough for even the most demanding applications.