Gaming Performance 1080p
On this page, we are going to see how gaming performance is affected between the CPUs at 1080p, which is generally more CPU-dependent. We are using a fast NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition Video card. On the next page, we will look at 4K performance. We have chosen games that are mixed in being GPU dependent, and CPU dependent, all modern games.
Cyberpunk 2077
As demanding graphically as Cyberpunk 2077 is, at 1080p and “Ultra” quality settings on the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition the CPU here does make a difference in performance. The newer Ryzen 5 5600X is 6% faster than the Ryzen 5 3600X in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p on a fast video card. It allows 98FPS, versus 92FPS on the last-gen CPU. PBO doesn’t add much.
Far Cry 6
Far Cry 6 was just released, and we are running the game at 1080p with “Ultra” graphics and we have turned on both the DXR Ray Tracing Reflections and Shadows in this test above. Even with DXR enabled, the CPU here at 1080p is affecting performance. The Ryzen 5 5600X is 10% faster than the Ryzen 5 3600X. This is pretty interesting, especially considering we are running with Ray Tracing enabled on the GPU. Yet in this game, the CPU does affect it more than you would think at 1080p. Even PBO has improved performance by another 3%. That makes the Ryzen 5 5600X with PBO 13% faster than the Ryzen 5 3600X, which is significant. That’s an 11FPS average difference.
Watch Dogs Legion
So far this is the largest difference we have seen, compared to the games above. In Watch Dogs Legion the Ryzen 5 5600X at 1080p and “Ultra” settings is a big 18% faster than the Ryzen 5 3600X. That is very noticeable, taking us from 89FS up to 105FPS, a full 16FPS improvement. PBO is within the margin of error, didn’t notice any change. For whatever reason though, this game really benefits from the newer CPU architecture.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
Microsoft Flight Simulator is notorious for being very CPU-dependent at lower resolutions, and we see that play out here in a major way. The Ryzen 5 5600X provides a very large 26% better performance in this game compared to the Ryzen 5 3600X at 1080p with a fast video card. This is with the game at the highest graphics settings also, mind you, so the GPU is clearly being held back at 1080p by the CPU in this game. This is a very big difference because that brings the framerate up a whopping 17FPS from 65FPS to 82FPS. Even enabling PBO at this resolution makes a difference, 3% more performance.
Red Dead Redemption 2
In Red Dead Redemption 2 at 1080p, the CPU here doesn’t seem to make a big difference, we are more GPU limited. The Ryzen 5 5600X is about 2% faster than the Ryzen 5 3600X.
Crysis Remastered
In this game, we absolutely expected there to be a large difference, because even though it is remastered, at its core this is a very CPU-dependent game, and more so single-threaded performance. This is why we really see the Ryzen 5 5600X shine here, providing 28% better performance. This is very noticeable in this game taking it from 67FPS to 85FPS. Even turning on PBO makes a difference, 2%.
Metro Exodus Enhanced
Metro Exodus Enhanced is very GPU bound, and it does have Ray Tracing enabled at 1080p. We see that the CPU doesn’t affect performance to any noticeable degree even at 1080p with the game at the highest in-game settings.