Gaming Performance
In this section, we will examine gaming performance on the various CPUs. However, due to technical issues with the RTX 2080 Ti’s cooling system, (water-cooled) we had to replace the card without a lot of time for retesting. As a result, we are not comparing the Intel platform to the AMD platform at 4K. Those results were omitted as the RTX 3090 would obviously win any benchmark. However, there are cases where the RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 3090 didn’t seem to score much different at 1920×1080, low-quality settings. As a result, we left the 1080p results in as we are far more CPU-bound here. However, take the 11900K results with a small grain of salt.
3DMark 10
In this test, we see relatively close results between all of the test systems. This is unsurprising as your GPU has a bigger impact on these scores than your CPU typically does. We see almost no change between an overclocked 5900X and a stock one. There is a small increase in performance going from the 3900X to the 5900X.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint
In this test, we get similar performance across all of the test platforms. Ghost Recon is a bit odd in that it does seem to reach a little deeper into multi-threading than most games do. However, the Core i9 11900K manages to pull the same results as the AMD CPUs. Interestingly, the only place we saw an appreciable difference in performance was in terms of maximum frame rates. The Ryzen 9 5900X actually achieved the highest score when overclocked. This was a big improvement over the 5900X at stock speeds and right in the middle was the Core i9 11900K. Again, this is maxed frame rates and at these settings, you wouldn’t really be able to tell the difference between these systems.
Again, at 4K I omitted the 11900K results due to the change in GPUs. Strangely, the 5900X in PB2 falters slightly in terms of the minimum frame rates. However, the average and maximum FPS of the 3900X falls well short of the 5900X at stock or overclocked speeds.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Here, we see much of the same story we saw with Ghost Recon. The 5900X achieves lower minimums but has better averages and maximum frame rates than the 3900X. Interestingly, the Intel Core i9 11900K is the standout here. While it lacks the absurdly high maximum FPS of the 5900X, it does have the most consistent frame rates. It offers the highest minimum and average frame rates. However, the maximum is the lowest in the roundup.
At 4K, the results are all extremely close. This isn’t shocking as you are typically GPU limited at 4K. However, the 3900X provides slightly better performance here.
Watch Dogs Legion
Here, the 5900X shows definite improvement over the older 3900X. The Core i9 11900K is still slightly faster here, but the 5900X remains competitive with it.
At 4K, none of the systems are able to deliver a 60FPS minimum. Averages are again sub-60FPS. Interestingly, the 5900X at stock speeds shows a substantial gain over the 3900X but the average is almost identical. The maximum FPS goes to the overclocked 5900X, but it’s not anywhere near a sustained frame rate.
Cyberpunk 2077 v1.31
Note: Cyberpunk 2077 has undergone significant performance changes over many patches. As a result, these results are in no way comparable to earlier results we’ve done using older versions of the game.
In this test, we see lower performance from the 3900X compared to the 5900X which essentially dominates this test. Overclocking gets almost no gain over the stock 5900X, but there is one in maximum FPS. That said, overclocking makes the results a little less consistent as the average and minimums are slightly below that of the stock CPU. Interestingly, Intel continues to do worse than their AMD counterparts in this game.
In Cyberpunk 2077, we once again see an improvement going to a 5900X over the 3900X. Overclocking gets mixed results here just as we saw at 1920×1080/low.