Moar cores are only good as long as the workload scales (obviously), and as long as your fabric overhead stays in check...
Timed Linux Kernel Compilation 6.8, allmodconfig
Core Ultra 9 285K (24c/24t, TSMC 3nm) + DDR5-8000: 581 s • 227 W = 132 kJ
Core Ultra 9 285K (24c/24t, TSMC 3nm) + DDR5-6400: 587 s • 224 W = 132 kJ
Core Ultra 5 245K (14c/14t, TSMC 3nm): 932 s (
source; haven't found power figures)
Ryzen 9 9950X (16c/32t, TSMC 4nm) + DDR5-6000: 586 s • 193 W = 113 kJ
Ryzen 9 9900X (12c/24t, TSMC 4nm) + DDR5-6000: 741 s • 158 W = 117 kJ
Ryzen 7 9700X (8c/16t, TSMC 4nm) + DDR5-6000: 1178 s • 87 W = 102 kJ
Timed Linux Kernel Compilation 6.8, defconfig
Core Ultra 9 285K (24c/24t, TSMC 3nm) + DDR5-8000: 48 s • 157 W = 7.5 kJ
Core Ultra 9 285K (24c/24t, TSMC 3nm) + DDR5-6400: 48 s • 156 W = 7.5 kJ
Core Ultra 5 245K (14c/14t, TSMC 3nm) + DDR5-8000: 75 s • 94 W = 7.0 kJ
Core Ultra 5 245K (14c/14t, TSMC 3nm) + DDR5-6400: 74 s • 93 W = 6.9 kJ
Ryzen 9 9950X (16c/32t, TSMC 4nm) + DDR5-6000: 47 s • 155 W = 7.3 kJ
Ryzen 9 9900X (12c/24t, TSMC 4nm) + DDR5-6000: 58 s • 132 W = 7.7 kJ
Ryzen 7 9700X (8c/16t, TSMC 4nm) + DDR5-6000: 88 s • 79 W = 7.0 kJ
In other words, parallelism has got a task energy price tag attached. Still, time is money, therefore it's alright to spend that extra energy in reasonably parallelizable jobs, like this example = code compilation of a bigger source base.
(PS: Fabric overhead
should show up less in Olympic Ridge.)