Lightroom Classic CPU performance: Intel Core X-10000 vs AMD Threadripper 3rd Gen

Introduction

Lightroom Classic has been a very interesting application to test recently since not only has Adobe been making some terrific improvements over the last few years, but AMD's recent launch of their 3rd generation Ryzen CPUs brought about some very significant performance gains. In fact, if you look back to our testing when the 3rd Gen Ryzen CPUs launched, they completely removed the need for a HEDT (High End Desktop) processor for Lightroom Classic – even for tasks like exporting.

However, today both Intel and AMD are launching new HEDT processors that have the potential to change what CPU is best for Lightroom Classic. On Intel's side, the new Core X-10000 series processors are not significantly faster than the previous generation, but Intel has cut their prices nearly in half which may potentially be enough to make them worth it over AMD's Ryzen processors.

On AMD's side, the new Threadripper 3rd Gen CPUs are slightly more expensive than earlier models, but their raw performance is expected to be quite a bit better. In the past, Threadripper was not a great choice for Lightroom Classic, but spoiler: these new 3rd Gen Threadripper CPUs are absolutely amazing for many tasks in Lightroom Classic.

In this article, we will specifically be examining the performance of these new CPUs in Lightroom Classic, although on our article listing page, we also have a range of similar posts examining other applications. If you would like to skip over our test setup and benchmark sections, feel free to jump right to the Conclusion.

Test Setup

Listed below are the specifications of the systems we will be using for our testing:

*All the latest drivers, OS updates, BIOS, and firmware applied as of November 11th, 2019

A few notes regarding the hardware and software used in our testing:

First, due to the fact that many of the platforms we are testing support different speeds of RAM depending on how many sticks you use and even whether those sticks are single or dual rank, we have decided to standardize on using four 16GB sticks of whatever the "middle" supported RAM speed is (rounding up when applicable). This means that the latest Ryzen, Threadripper and X-series platforms are using DDR4-2933 while the Intel 9th Gen and previous generation Threadripper/X-series platforms are using DDR4-2666.

The second thing to note is that we are using our (hopefully) soon to be released Lightroom Classic Benchmark. We still have a bit of work to do before we can make it available for you to download, but we hope to have it published within the next few months.

Benchmark Results

While our benchmark presents various scores based on the performance of each test, we also like to provide the individual results for you to examine if you want to. If there is a specific task that is a hindrance to your workflow, examining the raw results for that task is going to be much more applicable than the scores that our benchmark calculated.

Feel free to skip to the next section for our analysis of these results if you rather get a wider view of how each CPU performs in Lightroom Classic.

Lightroom Classic Benchmark Analysis

A lot is going on in the chart below, so before getting into it we wanted to provide a key regarding the color scheme.

• Light blue = Intel consumer CPUs (9th Gen)
• Dark blue = Intel HEDT CPUs (X-9000 series)
• Dark blue with glow – NEW Intel HEDT CPUs (X-10000 series)
• Light red = AMD consumer CPUs (Ryzen 3rd Gen)
• Dark red = AMD HEDT CPUs (Threadripper 2nd Gen)
• Dark red with glow – NEW AMD HEDT CPUs (Threadripper 3rd Gen)

If there is one thing that is abundantly clear, it is that AMD simply dominates when it comes to performance in Lightroom Classic. While the drop in price for Intel's new X-series CPUs is great, the fact that the AMD Ryzen 3rd Gen CPUs are simply faster at an even lower price point pretty much makes them moot for a workstation that is optimized for Lightroom Classic.

On top of this, for users that regularly have to process huge numbers of photos, the new AMD Threadripper 3rd Gen processors are almost absurdly fast. They are only about on par with the Ryzen CPUs when it comes to active tasks like scrolling through images and switching modules, but they shine when it comes to exporting and other "passive" tasks. In fact, for exporting and building smart previews, the Threadripper 3960X is more than 2x faster than the new X-series CPUs, and 5-6x faster than the previous generation Threadripper 2990WX!

To get across how significant this is, let's take a close look at the results from the "Exporting 50x JPEG – 42MP .ARW" test:

Keep in mind that this chart is showing the raw result in seconds, so a lower result indicates better performance.

Looking at this individual result, it really starts to hit home just how impressive the new Threadripper CPUs are. Where the Threadripper 3960X takes just 30 seconds to export 50 .ARW images, the Intel X-series 9980XE/10980XE as well as the AMD Ryzen 3950X take about twice as long, coming in at about a minute to complete the same task. The Core i9 9900K is another doubling in time (a little under 2 minutes), while the previous generation Threadripper 2970WX takes about 2.5 minutes. Now imagine if you were not exporting just 50 images, but 500, 1000, or even more at one time. At that point, waiting for the export to finish no longer means taking a "go out to get lunch" break, but rather a "go pour a cup of coffee" break.

The only odd thing with the new Threadripper CPUs is the fact that the 3960X 24 core ended up being consistently faster than the 3970X 32 core. This isn't a typo or erroneous data either, we spent quite a bit of time verifying these results to make sure there wasn't a stealth Windows update that was applied between tests, or that we didn't accidentally change the RAM speed or other aspect of the system. This is something we definitely want to look into more, but as it stands, the Threadripper 3960X is absolutely terrific for Lightroom Classic, but there is no reason to spend more money on the Threadripper 3970X.

Are the Intel X-10000 Series or AMD Threadripper 3rd Gen CPUs better for Lightroom Classic?

For Lightroom Classic, it is all about sticking with AMD right now. The new Intel X-series CPUs will certainly get the job done, but the AMD Ryzen 3rd Gen processors are overall faster and less expensive. And while the higher price point of the new AMD Threadripper CPUs will put them out of reach for many users, their frankly absurd performance when exporting and generating smart previews will likely make them well worth the investment for many of Lightroom Classic's "power" users.

The only bad thing we can say about the new Threadripper CPUs is that there is no reason to spend more money on the 3970X 32 core model. The 3960X 24 core is simply faster in Lightroom Classic, not to mention its obviously lower price tag.

It is rare that our CPU recommendations are as clear-cut as this, but whatever the magic is between AMD and Lightroom Classic, we want to see more of it! Even without picking out individual tests, the overall massive leap in performance from AMD's 3rd Gen Ryzen and Threadripper CPUs is impressive. When we end up running our benchmark over and over trying to figure out how the results could possibly be accurate, that just goes to show how impressive AMD's new Threadripper CPUs are.

Keep in mind that the benchmark results in this article are strictly for Lightroom Classic and the relative performance will vary widely between different applications. If your workflow includes other software packages (we have similar articles for Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, and many others), you need to consider how the processor will perform in all those applications. Be sure to check our list of Hardware Articles to keep up to date on how all of these software packages perform with the latest CPUs.