China recently saw the launch of the KX-7000 CPU family from Zhaoxin which is aimed at desktop PCs for the domestic market segment. These chips have now seen their first benchmarks appear in the Geekbench database.
Zhaoxin KX-7000 8-Core CPU For China Offers Double The Performance Of Its Predecessor But Lacks Against Last-Gen Desktop Offerings From Intel & AMD
Announced at the end of 2023, the Zhaoxin KX-7000 CPU family is based on the x86 Century Avenue core architecture & the company claimed that it will offer twice the performance uplift versus the KX-6000 series. The lineup is available in two 8-core variants, each featuring different clock speeds and power targets.
The top model operates at up to 3.7 GHz (3.2 GHz base clock) while the lower-power model comes with a 3.6 GHz boost clock (3.0 GHz base clock). The chips additionally feature 4 MB of L2, 32 MB of L3 cache, support DDR5/DDR4 memory, offer 24 PCIe Gen4 lanes, and are supported by platforms running the LGA 1700 socket. The chips are also very similar to Intel's existing LGA 1700 socketed CPUs in terms of design, featuring a similar IHS.
As for the Geekbench 6 entry, we are looking at the entry-level ZHAOXIN KX-7000/8@ CPU which has 8 cores, 8 threads, 4 MB of L2, and 32 MB of L3 cache. This chip was running at a base clock of 3.0 GHz and a boost clock of 3.3 GHz which is below its standard 3.6 GHz boost profile.
For the CPU performance, the chip scored 823 points in single-core and 3813 points in the multi-core tests. For comparisons, the Intel Core i3-10100F (Comet Lake) CPU with 4 cores and 8 threads plus a boost of up to 4.3 GHz offers a much higher score. It's around 75% faster in single and 17% faster in multi-core tests within the same benchmark.
Geekbench 6 CPU Performance
The Zhaoxin KX7000 8 Core CPU does offer more than double the performance of its predecessor, the KX-6000 which should be expected since we are looking at double the cores, higher clock speeds, and TDPs too. It looks like Zhaoxin has still a long way to go before it can even match last-gen AMD and Intel offerings. Meanwhile, Loongson, another China-based CPU maker has been more competitive in the desktop PC space with performance that matches the latest gen x86 desktop offerings. More on those here.
