7-Zip Benchmark: Intel Core i9-13900K 60% Faster Compared To 12900K

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File compression and decompression loves CPU cores

12th Gen Alder Lake
(Image credit: Intel)

According to a Tweet by @OneRaichu, Intel's Raptor Lake Core i9-13900K was tested in 7-Zip’s compression and decompression benchmark and found to be up to 60% faster than its predecessor, the Core i9-12900K.

With a 7-Zip file size of 384MB and 3847MB, the Core i9-12900K was able to output 126 MB/s in the compression test, while in the decompression test the chip managed approximately 1630 MB/s with file sizes of 3847MB and 38475MB. However, the Raptor Lake part managed a noticeably higher 150 MB/s in the compression test, with 513MB and 5130MB file sizes. In the decompression test, it ran at 2600MB/s with file sizes of 5130MB and 51300MB. 

This performance translates to 20% better compression and a whopping 60% better decompression for the i9-13900K. We don’t know exactly how 7-Zip behaves with Intel’s hybrid architecture, but almost all file compression and decompression algorithms are very CPU intensive, which is why we’re seeing massive gains for the 13900K.

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7-Zip Compression and Decompression Benchmark Comparison: i9-13900K vs. i9-12900K
Row 0 - Cell 0 Core i9-13900KCore i9-12900K
Compression151MB/s126MB/s
Decompression2600MB/s1638MB/s

A key suspect in this performance boost is likely due to the efficiency core count doubling with Raptor Lake. Since compression and decompressing can usually spread out to multiple cores, usually peaking at around 32 to 48 cores. In the 13900K’s case, the chip has 16 efficiency (E) cores plus 8 performance (P) cores for a total of 24. Also, helping matters is the 13900K's higher clock speed margin on the P cores with boost frequencies beyond 5.5GHz.

Raptor Lake is Intel’s upcoming 13th Gen CPU architecture aimed at succeeding 12th Gen Alder Lake processors. The chips will be built on a more mature process of Intel 7 with more powerful P cores clocked at over 5.5GHz, and feature 2x more efficient cores for the SKUs that will support them. 

All signs point to a Q4 2022 release, with the launch window rumored to be in late September.

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Aaron Klotz
Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

42 Comments Comment from the forums
  • tennis2
    Honest question: What real-world usage does 7-zip translate to?
    Reply
  • AgentBirdnest
    tennis2 said:
    Honest question: What real-world usage does 7-zip translate to?
    Mostly just using 7-zip to compress/decompress files. :p
    If I remember right, 7-zip was the 12900K's biggest weak spot among all benchmarks I ever saw. Like really surprisingly super-weak, ranking below other Alder Lake SKUs. So, the fact that they fixed/improved whatever problem the 12900K had with 7-zip doesn't say much to me.

    (Someone correct me if I'm wrong, my memory is spotty.)
    Reply
  • BX4096
    tennis2 said:
    Honest question: What real-world usage does 7-zip translate to?
    No idea, but if you ever decide to heavily archive your entire pr0n collection into one ginormous .7z, you'll sure be glad you spent that couple of thousands on the upgrade...
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    tennis2 said:
    Honest question: What real-world usage does 7-zip translate to?
    AgentBirdnest said:
    Mostly just using 7-zip to compress/decompress files. :p
    If I remember right, 7-zip was the 12900K's biggest weak spot among all benchmarks I ever saw. Like really surprisingly super-weak, ranking below other Alder Lake SKUs. So, the fact that they fixed/improved whatever problem the 12900K had with 7-zip doesn't say much to me.

    (Someone correct me if I'm wrong, my memory is spotty.)
    None at all, 7-zip runs an internal benchmark workload so no real files, no I/O, no lanes, no nothing, just number-crunching which can only be compared to distributed computing maybe.
    It also has a default dictionary size (cache) size of 32Mb so anything with less cache than that will have a huge disadvantage in running that bench, hence why older intel CPUs give a lower result compared to ryzen, now they increased cache so it gets higher numbers.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    tennis2 said:
    Honest question: What real-world usage does 7-zip translate to?
    Most games package files with some form of compression and encryption/hashing. Also, Windows and Linux implement compression mechanisms (not necessarily 7zip's) that depend on INT and memory bandwidth for files in the file system. And other several, albeit smaller, uses here and there. Mostly related to moving files to and from RAM/VRAM.

    That being said, I don't know how representative 7zip is for those, but I'd imagine it's a tad more valid than testing WinRAR or WinZip, haha.

    Regards.
    Reply
  • AgentBirdnest
    TerryLaze said:
    None at all, 7-zip runs an internal benchmark workload so no real files, no I/O, no lanes, no nothing, just number-crunching which can only be compared to distributed computing maybe.
    It also has a default dictionary size (cache) size of 32Mb so anything with less cache than that will have a huge disadvantage in running that bench, hence why older intel CPUs give a lower result compared to ryzen, now they increased cache so it gets higher numbers.
    Oh, I didn't know that about 7-zip benchmarks... well... that makes it even more useless to me, which I thought was impossible.
    Reply
  • salgado18
    tennis2 said:
    Honest question: What real-world usage does 7-zip translate to?
    The system I work on saves the received data, compresses it and stores it in the clowd. When some data is needed, the files have to be decompressed to be useful. While the files are not really large, this is a use case where decompression speed can affect a system responsiveness, and, with many users, can reduce the overall usage of hardware resources.

    Also, I believe there's an effect on compressed communication in the web (gzip header in http requests). Also very small, but can be significant with many requests and heavy content, and also may affect battery performance.

    Funny thing is, until you asked that question and I decided to answer, I never thought it was useful :P
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    salgado18 said:
    The system I work on saves the received data, compresses it and stores it in the clowd. When some data is needed, the files have to be decompressed to be useful. While the files are not really large, this is a use case where decompression speed can affect a system responsiveness, and, with many users, can reduce the overall usage of hardware resources.

    Also, I believe there's an effect on compressed communication in the web (gzip header in http requests). Also very small, but can be significant with many requests and heavy content, and also may affect battery performance.

    Funny thing is, until you asked that question and I decided to answer, I never thought it was useful :p
    Systems that need it that much will have a hardware solution only for that usage, usually storage cards do come with on the fly de/compression in hardware.
    Nobody uses the OS plus 3rd party tool for this, if they don't use specialized hardware they are going to use an OS build-in feature like widows has compact.exe or now win32 api
    https://github.com/IridiumIO/CompactGUI
    Reply
  • DougMcC
    tennis2 said:
    Honest question: What real-world usage does 7-zip translate to?

    I have corporate code that incorporates 7zip compress/decompress to save network bandwidth and storage of very large databases (multi TB). This is very relevant to my interests.
    Reply
  • PiranhaTech
    tennis2 said:
    Honest question: What real-world usage does 7-zip translate to?
    It's an indication of multi-core performance and perhaps CPU cache, but you should wait until more independent benchmarks come out. It's a bad idea to go full Apple or Cell Processor based on a single benchmark
    Reply