Test Setup
Both the AMD platform, and Intel platform share the same AIO an MSI MEG Coreliquid S360 360mm AIO, and inside MSI Center the fan profile was set to “Gaming.” Both platforms share the same power supply, and Coarsair MP700 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen5 x4 NVMe SSD, and monitor. The same GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition was used on both platforms with driver GeForce 560.70. Each platform received a fresh install of Windows 11 Pro with all updates and a fresh install of all applications and games per platform, the same version of the OS was used. We do have Core Isolation/Memory Integrity DISABLED on each platform and CPU, and the Power Plan was set to “Balanced” for every CPU.
AMD Platform Setup
The AMD platform used BIOS 2124 dated 7/19/2024 for the ASUS ROG Crosshair Hero X670E motherboard for all Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, which is based on AGESA Combo AM5 PI 1.2.0.0a. This was the latest BIOS at the time of testing for all Ryzen 7000 series CPUs.
For the Ryzen 9000 series CPUs, we updated to an AMD-provided BIOS for this motherboard which was version 2201. This BIOS is still based on Combo AM5 PI 1.2.0.0a but adds a “PatchA” to the version. According to AMD PatchA has some tweaks specific to the Ryzen 9000 series 12-core and 16-core CPUs. Therefore, it would not have made any difference on Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, it’s still based on the same Combo AM5 PI 1.2.0.0a AGESA code, so everything is similar between them from a BIOS standpoint and AGESA standpoint.
We also installed the latest AMD Chipset drivers from AMD’s website which is version 6.07.22.037 dated 7/26/2024, this same version was used for every AM5 CPU tested. The RAM utilized on the AMD AM5 platform for all AM5 CPUs was 32GB of DDR5 at 6000MT/s CL30 set to EXPO I. This was the same on Ryzen 7000 and Ryzen 9000 CPUs.
*Note* – The FCLK (Infinity Fabric) was set to motherboard defaults with the “AUTO” setting in the BIOS after loading default settings. We confirmed that the FCLK frequency was running at 2100MHz for all of our testing. It was the same for each CPU. We opted to keep it on the default motherboard setting of “AUTO” to represent the ‘out-of-box’ experience with this motherboard/CPU/RAM combination at defaults. We always use default BIOS settings for testing, on all CPUs, with all motherboards, to keep it fair. All AMD CPUs were tested on this same motherboard and RAM kit.
Therefore, we are running AUTO:1:1 – which in effect is 2100:3000:3000 (FCLK/UCLK/MCLK) using EXPO I profile on this RAM, for 6000MT/s DDR5.
Intel Platform Setup
For the Intel platform, we updated our BIOS on the ASUS TUF Gaming Z790 PRO WIFI to version 1661 dated 7/10/2024. This is important because this BIOS supports new Intel Default Profiles of “Performance” and “Extreme” on the 14900K and runs at Intel Fail Safes with Multi-Core Enhancements from ASUS disabled. It also contains microcode 0x125 to ensure eTVB operates within Intel specifications. It does not, however, contain the new microcode fix for mismanagement of Voltage requests to the CPU.
This is, however, the latest BIOS we had access to at the time of testing, and is publically available. We are running the motherboard at the default BIOS settings on our CPUs. We are using the Intel Default Settings Profiles of “Extreme” and “Performance” that are available on the Intel Core i9-14900K CPU. The BIOS does run at “Intel Default Settings” under Performance Preferences and also sets SVID Behavior to “Intel’s Fail Safe” as well as “Disabling” ASUS MultiCore Enhancement.
We are running 32GB of DDR5 at 7200MT/s set to XMP I with 34-42-42-84-2T timings. We installed Intel Chipset Driver V10.1.19600.8418 dated 12/11/2023 from ASUS’s website for this motherboard. We also installed ME drivers, and other optional drivers for all supported hardware from ASUS’s website.
Discussion (14 replies)
Join Discussion →@Brent_Justice
Thank you again for a good review worth reading.
But....
Did you realize that picture at the top of the article looks like a bandaid?
Damn you - now I can't unsee this.
Would be better if it were a 90 yr old stripper with a boob job.
ps - I finally found a good use for AI
Damn it totally does...and I kinda want those for the Datacenter for the inevitable nicks and scratches people get handling computers. CPU themed bandaids.
Great review!
Could you delve a little further on this? I find myself not really familiar with what this is, and why one would disable it.
It sounds like it might be an important security feature?
Also....
Memory appears to behave rather interestingly with this release.
If you guys get around to it at some point I'd love to see your breakdown on memory settings and performance.
The settings you used seem like they would be the best easily achievable RAM settings for this platform, and a good choice for the initial review, but I am curious about other settings as well.
How do they - for instance - compare to DDR5-6400 with fabric at 2133 in a 1:1:1 configuration? Is this stable?
And how does the performance of this compare to - say - DDR5-8000 in a non 1:1:1 configuration? Is it better to go for that perfect 1:1:1 or to shoot for higher clock speed?
Also, I understand CL is less important than it once was, but how important are timings?
I think this could make for an interesting follow-up test.
Wendell over at level1techs also has some really interesting remarks in his Zen5 reviews (both on the main channel and the level1techs Linux channel) about how he thinks the current Windows 11 scheduler might be wonky with Zen5 and is holing it back. Unlike with other CPU's he is seeing much better performance under Linux with this architecture. I'll be looking forward to further investigation into this.
Also,
One more thought,
Your review does not have this data, but in other reviews I've seen, the 9950x - while it does well in average frame rate, it has been very impressive in 1% and 0.1% lows compared to other CPU's even beating the 14900k in many benchmarks.
I find this to be very interesting and I can't help but wonder why. What about this CPU specifically makes it so good at minimum frame rates?
I suspect some of it may have to do with Intel's E-cores getting in the way, and Intel's much higher memory bandwidth allowing the CPU to run away with it in some cases, pulling up the average, but keeping the minimums where they are. Not sure though
I've been a long time believer that 1% and 0.1% lows are of much greater importance than average frame-rates. That's what I determine my "playability" on. I want minimums/lows to be 60fps or greater. IN reality this tends to result in averages at or about 90fps, but some CPU/GPU's have a smaller difference between averages and lows than others.
I'm glad I'm at the age where I can truly forget things because I need to forget this. @Dan_D , I think you mentioned something like this in another thread recently.
Yes I did.
Nice my CPU holds up for gaming at least.
Yea that's a solid CPU and I wouldn't go with a 9000 series just yet.
I don't think she'd take no for an answer.
I should probably go to the gym more often.
Ummm.... what?
The 90 year old with a boob job.
Ahhhh ook
Hi guys ! I have a 9950x. BTW, I used to me a moderator for 17 years on Anandtech forums. The main site is dead as of today, so I may be here a lot more.
Sorry to hear about the final shutdown of Anandtech. I used to read the site a lot from founding in the late 90's until 2014 when Anand left and sold the site, and I felt that the quality of the content started to go downhill.
I still miss Anandtechs excellent SSD reviews (from ~2010-2014). They were some of the best.
The more the merrier. Good to have more people in these forums! :)