Key Takeaways
1. Annual Performance Increase: PassMark’s data shows a consistent increase in CPU performance every year since 2004, with a modest 0.5% rise in laptop performance from 2019 to 2020.
2. 2025 Performance Decline: Early 2025 data indicates a troubling slowdown in CPU performance, with a -0.5% decrease for desktops and -3.4% for laptops compared to 2024.
3. Data Sampling Context: The performance decline in 2025 is based on a short time frame (first month and a half) compared to the full year of 2024, suggesting that results may change as the year progresses.
4. Multiple Influencing Factors: The decline cannot be solely attributed to AMD and Intel, as factors like increased sales of lower-cost hardware, a shift to power-efficient machines, and potential software issues may also play a role.
5. Changing Consumer Priorities: Consumers are increasingly valuing features such as mobility, battery life, and AI integration over raw CPU speed, impacting demand for high-performance CPUs.
An interesting graph has been released by PassMark that tracks the annual changes in CPU performance, specifically the average CPU Mark, which is a benchmark test suite for processors on their platform. The graph illustrates that PassMark has been gathering data since 2004, and every year has shown an increase in the average performance of both laptop and desktop CPUs. While the performance increase for laptop processors from 2019 to 2020 was a modest 0.5%, it still indicates progress. However, for 2025, there appears to be a troubling slowdown in performance for both types of computers when looking at the average CPU Mark results.
Data Comparison
It’s important to note that PassMark is comparing just the first month and a half of 2025 to the entire year of 2024, so the downward trend might change as the year continues. A post from the benchmark site mentions that they haven’t seen this kind of effect in previous years, even with a possible rise in high-end computer sales during November and December. According to the data from PassMark, the average desktop CPU performance has decreased by -0.5% (47,810 samples versus 186,053 in 2024), while average laptop CPU performance dropped by -3.4% (25,541 samples compared to 101,316 in 2024).
Factors Influencing Performance
It would be naive to immediately blame AMD and Intel for the lack of generational performance improvements. There could be several reasons for the graph’s first decline in over two decades that may not directly relate to Team Red or Team Blue. PassMark suggests potential causes such as an increase in sales of lower-cost hardware, a push towards more power-efficient machines, issues with bloatware, and possible performance losses from operating systems. Notably, there have been no impressive spikes in performance from desktop chips like the Intel Core i9-7980XE (+71.9%), Ryzen Threadripper 3970X (+96.1%), and Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7995WX (+58.6%), nor from laptop models such as the Intel Core i9-12900HX (+42.8%) and AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D (+69.9%) in the early part of 2025.
Changing Priorities in Computing
Another clear reason could be linked to the fact that the RTX 50 series GPUs don’t seem to show the same performance improvements as their predecessors, and also why CPU families like Intel’s Arrow Lake and AMD’s Granite Ridge and Strix Point haven’t made a significant impact on average performance. One could argue that raw CPU power is not as vital to Team Blue and Team Red anymore, especially since GPUs and other components have become more advanced. Many consumers might not prioritize a faster CPU; instead, they seek features like mobility, extended battery life, AI integration, and overall efficiency over sheer speed. Furthermore, certain gamers may prefer to invest in the latest from Nvidia rather than upgrading their CPU, particularly if they already have a Zen 3 or Zen 4 Threadripper.
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