Web Browser
Browsers tend to be impacted more by the recent security mitigations than other types of applications, so Intel has generally taken a haircut in these benchmarks of fully-patched systems, though the in-silicon patched -9900KS sweeps the competition.
The Krakken suite evaluates JavaScript performance using several workloads, including audio, imaging, and cryptography. Like most browser-based benchmarks, single-threaded performance reigns supreme.
The ARES-6 web browser benchmark focuses on the latest and greatest JavaScript features, with a heavy focus on forward neural networks used for machine learning tasks, and browser responsiveness. Here the Core i9-9900KS leverages its single-threaded prowess to take the lead, and we see a similar pattern with the other browser workloads.
Microsoft Office
Microsoft's office suite runs via PCMark 10's new application test. This benchmark tests with real Microsoft Office applications. The Ryzen 3000 series processors are competitive in Excel, the Edge browser, and Word, but the -9900KS asserts itself with a clean sweep of the test suite. Core i7-9700K also performs exceedingly well after overclocking.
Productivity
The LLVM compiler benefits from extra threads. The -9900KS improves Intel's standing in this benchmark, but the Ryzen 9 3900X offers the best performance by far, easily beating the rest of the test pool, even at stock settings.
The application start-up metric measures load time snappiness in word processors, GIMP, and Web browsers under warm- and cold-start conditions. Other platform-level considerations affect this test as well, including the storage subsystem. The Core processors lead by convincing margins, especially after overclocking, but adding a PCIe 4.0 SSD to our Ryzen test system would swing this benchmark in favor of the Ryzen 3000-series processors.
Our video conferencing suite measures performance in single- and multi-user applications that utilize the Windows Media Foundation for playback and encoding. It also performs facial detection to model real-world usage.
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