7950x or 13900K for chess? Which one is better for chess?

Hey guys!

I'd like to know which CPU (7950x or 13900K) would be better to buy for best chess performance...
Which one would give more nodes per second, better multi-threading performance when using Stockfish? And why?

Thanks guys! :)

lichess isn't a search engine

They perform within a few percent of each other. Most benchmarks give Intel a small edge, but it also really depends on how the processor is clocked, the RAM, etc. Do you have an extremely specialized use case where stockfish playing at a superhuman strength using a 2017 phone CPU is insufficient?

@corvusmellori said in #3:
> Do you have an extremely specialized use case where stockfish playing at a superhuman strength using a 2017 phone CPU is insufficient?
Well if you want to review your own games with an engine, then a stronger engine means more accurate review. There was a recent example in the forums where it was really uncertain if an attack would work out or not leading to wildly swinging evaluation. lichess.org/forum/game-analysis/why-computers-cant-evaluate-accurately-efficientness-of-an-attack

@norla said in #4:
> Well if you want to review your own games with an engine, then a stronger engine means more accurate review. There was a recent example in the forums where it was really uncertain if an attack would work out or not leading to wildly swinging evaluation.

If you are analyzing your own games, in an attempt to improve, then something that stockfish only surfaces at depth 65 is not going to matter to you - as a human player, you are not seeing that, regardless. In an example like the one you linked, the right way to figure out if the attack had legs would be to play it out with the engine, leading it through several variations.

The only real place where the difference between two modern flagship processors is going to have any relevance is in benchmarking, computer chess puzzle solving, and engine competitions.

@Authenticity
TLDNR: either one will be fine

The specs on both processors are comparable enough, that the difference running stockfish would probably be within 5 elo of each other. Both chips have a small edge over each other in different categories, making it really fuzzy of which one would be best definitely. Intel is getting better overall reviews due to better graphics handling, but that is a moot point here. (Not moot if you do lotsa 1080p gaming as well tho)

I would suggest to look at economics instead, if you already have a compatible motherboard (and other components, such as PSU) and it would be a simple CPU swap to upgrade to the latest gen, go with that company, saving a need to purchase new hardware.

Overall, their productivity and multithreading capabilities are on par with each other.