Gaming Performance
One of the marquee aspects of the GIGABYTE X870E AORUS ELITE X3D is gaming. The addition of X3D Turbo Mode 2 has been noted to improve FPS by up to 25% “under certain circumstances”. Well, we aim to see if that claim is true. We ran two batches of gaming benchmarks comparing “Standard” or default BIOS settings against Turbo Mode 2 “Extreme Gaming” setting.
Taking it a step further in the first batch, we ran games with PBO, EXPO/XMP, and FSR enabled, as someone with an AM5 platform would without having X3D Turbo Mode and was aiming for maximum performance from their system. Now, GIGABYTE ran their benchmarks for this testing at 1080p, graphics presets on “High” with FSR enabled, using a 9950X3D coupled with a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080, so we did our best to duplicate that. In Cyberpunk 2077 and Horizon Zero Dawn, we duplicated exactly what GIGABYTE sent us in their testing. In the remainder of game testing, we used 1080p and graphics presets at their highest setting, the same as when we review all our video cards.
Black Myth: Wukong
The three settings produce essentially identical results.
DOOM: The Dark Ages
Once again, identical results. Interestingly, Extreme gaming was slower here.
Claire Obscur: Expedition33
Essentially the same result here, no difference in performance.
Horizon Forbidden West
There is a slight difference in the PBO+EXPO setting, which is odd, but still very much in the ballpark.
Kingdom Come Deliverance II
This is one game that did show some improvement with Extreme Gaming enabled. Here we see a 6% and 11% uplift at 1080p.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
In STALKER 2, there is a 6% gain in performance with Extreme Gaming mode.
Cyberpunk 2077
This game is one that GIGABYTE showcases as gaining up to 25% performance at the above settings. We saw a 7% gain over “Standard Mode” and a 9% gain if we look at our PBO-enabled settings. This result is in keeping with data sent to us from GIGABYTE.
Horizon Zero Dawn
This game was another that GIGABYTE sent along to us to demonstrate the Extreme Gaming Mode. Their results showed a 7.5% gain in FPS, while our testing gave nearly double that at 13.7%.
Gaming Performance at 4K
In discussing gaming performance, we were unanimous in thinking that 1080p resolution is not a real-world scenario for someone who owns a PC with a 9950X3D and an RTX 5080. Unless you play E-Sports multiplayer all day, where speed is everything, you want to see all the graphical goodness that your PC can deliver. We felt it would be common sense to turn up the resolution to 4K and, under the same conditions, see if X3D Turbo Extreme Gaming mode had anything to add.
Black Myth: Wukong
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Cyberpunk 2077
DOOM: The Dark Ages
Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Zero Dawn
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Well, you don’t need any special skills to see that when you up the resolution, there is no gain in running X3D Turbo Mode2. The argument is certainly that at high resolution, the game becomes very dependent on the video card. That being said, upscaling is still partly a CPU job. At any rate, we also figured there would be some questions regarding running the benchmarks at their highest settings across the board. When we ran the same games at 4K and graphic presets lowered to “High”, other than a slight increase in FPS, the results were again identical; there was no advantage to using X3D Turbo Mode 2 “Extreme Gaming”.