CPU Benchmark Performance: AI and Inferencing

As technology progresses at a breakneck pace, so too do the demands of modern applications and workloads. With artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) becoming increasingly intertwined with our daily computational tasks, it's paramount that our reviews evolve in tandem. Recognizing this, we have AI and inferencing benchmarks in our CPU test suite for 2024. 

Traditionally, CPU benchmarks have focused on various tasks, from arithmetic calculations to multimedia processing. However, with AI algorithms now driving features within some applications, from voice recognition to real-time data analysis, it's crucial to understand how modern processors handle these specific workloads. This is where our newly incorporated benchmarks come into play.

As chip makers such as AMD with Ryzen AI and Intel with their Meteor Lake mobile platform feature AI-driven hardware within the silicon, it seems in 2024, and we're going to see many applications using AI-based technologies coming to market.

We are using DDR5-5200 memory as per the JEDEC specifications on the Ryzen 7 8700G and Ryzen 5 8600G, as well as DDR4-3200 on the Ryzen 7 5700G and Ryzen 5 5600G. The same methodology is also used for the AMD Ryzen 7000 series and Intel's 14th, 13th, and 12th Gen processors. Below are the settings we have used for each platform:

  • DDR5-5200 CL44 - Ryzen 8000G
  • DDR4-3200 CL22 - Ryzen 5000G
  • DDR5-5600B CL46 - Intel 14th & 13th Gen
  • DDR5-5200 CL44 - Ryzen 7000
  • DDR5-4800 (B) CL40 - Intel 12th Gen

(6-2) DeepSpeech 0.6: Acceleration CPU

(6-3) TensorFlow 2.12: VGG-16, Batch Size 16 (CPU)

(6-3b) TensorFlow 2.12: VGG-16, Batch Size 64 (CPU)

(6-3d) TensorFlow 2.12: GoogLeNet, Batch Size 16 (CPU)

(6-3e) TensorFlow 2.12: GoogLeNet, Batch Size 64 (CPU)

(6-3f) TensorFlow 2.12: GoogLeNet, Batch Size 256 (CPU)

(6-4) UL Procyon Windows AI Inference: MobileNet V3 (float32)

(6-4b) UL Procyon Windows AI Inference: ResNet 50 (float32)

(6-4c) UL Procyon Windows AI Inference: Inception V4 (float32)

(6-1) ONNX Runtime 1.14: CaffeNet 12-int8 (CPU Only)

(6-1b) ONNX Runtime 1.14: CaffeNet 12-int8 (CPU Only)

A major focal point of AMD's Ryzen 8000G series is the inclusion of the Xilinx-based Ryzen AI NPU. While AI benchmarks and those measuring capabilities using large language models (LLMs) are thin off the ground, none of our benchmarks utilize the NPU itself. Much of the Ryzen AI NPU is based and, as such, is focused on enabling software features such as those generative AI capabilities within Microsoft Studio Effects and software such as Adobe and Davinci.

In ONNX Runtime using the utilized INT8 model, we can see that the Ryzen 7 8700G and Ryzen 5 8600G don't offer world-beating AI performance, but we intend to investigate this more deeply.

Using the latest firmware, which removes the STAPM limitations, we can see that the Ryzen 5 8600G shows the most gains, especially in DeepSpeech 0.6, where we saw a 12% bump in performance. The Ryzen 7 8700G also posted some very impressive gains in the UL Procyon Windows AI Inferencing benchmark, with a 34% jump in performance in our charts, but this could be a case where it underperformed in the MobileNet V3 test in the first place.

CPU Benchmark Performance: Science And Simulation iGPU Gaming Performance: 720p And Lower
Comments Locked

111 Comments

View All Comments

  • goatfajitas - Monday, January 29, 2024 - link

    Whoa, 428 watts at peak for the i9-14900K? I have not paid close attention to the last few rounds of releases and I knew it was bad but wholly crap. WTF Intel?
  • jrbales@outlook.com - Monday, January 29, 2024 - link

    Yeah, they definitely get pretty toasty, of it's imperative to plan out a cooling strategy to keep the CPU and other components from roasting. Of course, it does allow you to use it as a space heater in addition to a computer in cold weather. The highest TDP Ryzen 7000 CPUs run "cool" by comparison.
  • goatfajitas - Monday, January 29, 2024 - link

    Yes, it would make a good "Winter PC" LOL
  • shabby - Monday, January 29, 2024 - link

    Are they available in russia? They need them desperately to heat their frozen homes 😂
  • GeoffreyA - Tuesday, January 30, 2024 - link

    Maybe the US should donate a few out of the kindness of their hearts.
  • ricebunny - Monday, January 29, 2024 - link

    Peak power is an irrelevant metric. It’s more of a motherboard feature than anything else - Intel’s Raptor Lake will pull as much power as you give them.

    For those who are concerned about power, there is a TDP ceiling feature. Once set, the Intel CPU will adhere closely to the limit. Laptop tests have shown the Intel Raptor Lake to be about as power efficient as the Zen 4. Take a look at Ars’s review of Framework 13.
  • goatfajitas - Monday, January 29, 2024 - link

    It is not irrenevant and is not a mobo feature. It is how much power is drawn under heavy load. When under heavy load for short bursts it can be fine, but under sustained load, it will get too hot and therefore not operate at or near turbo, it will run closer to the base clock, which is lame.
  • TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, January 30, 2024 - link

    You are ignorant. A 14900k will shovel gobs of power if you let it. Set it to a 250 watt TDP and it will stick to 250 watt while losing MAYBE 2% peak performance.

    Turbo isnt SUPPOSED to be sustained, that's a MOBO feature. Have you tried reading?
  • goatfajitas - Tuesday, January 30, 2024 - link

    Dont be so pedantic... I didnt say it was supposed to sustain it, I am saying the power draw is too damn high period. Intel is compensating for inefficient design and has been doing it since they got stuck on 14nm several years back.

    Are you trying to claim Intel doesnt have issues with heat here or just being pissy?
  • temps - Tuesday, January 30, 2024 - link

    He's not being pedantic. Not in the slightest.

    If you can dissipate hundreds of watts of heat there is no issue. If you let the chip run uncapped and it draws lots of power... who cares... if you're willing to pay the electrical bill, I'm sure you're very happy to have that last few percent of performance.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now