In anticipation of the discharge of AMD Ryzen 9000 processors, set to reach by the top of the month, we have been working laborious on updating all our CPU benchmark knowledge, together with software productiveness and gaming assessments. Final week, we did a recap by testing the previous two CPU generations one final time, simply to see the place issues stand at the moment earlier than the brand new wave of desktop CPUs hit the market.
On that very same notice, we seen a CPU just like the Ryzen 5800X3D has gone from roughly 5% slower to about 7% slower than Intel’s outdated 12900K flagship, which will be configured with DDR5 reminiscence. This was evident in our last DDR test utilizing a quicker GPU and a unique pattern of newer PC video games.
Which received us considering, simply how a lot of a profit is DDR5 reminiscence in trendy PC gaming?
The 12900K’s means to make the most of quicker DDR5 reminiscence presumably arms it a big reminiscence bandwidth benefit over the 5800X3D in trendy video games. To search out out, we have gone again and re-tested the 14900K, 14600K, 12900K and 12600K, all with DDR4-3600 CL14 reminiscence.
Benchmarks
Baldur’s Gate 3
First up, we’ve got Baldur’s Gate 3 and right here the 14900K noticed a 23% efficiency enchancment when utilizing DDR5, whereas the 13600K noticed a a lot bigger 31% enchancment. Apparently, we see related scaling habits with the Twelfth-gen components: the 12900K was 22% quicker utilizing DDR5, whereas the 12600K was 35% quicker. It appears as if the components with much less L3 cache may profit extra from the quicker reminiscence, a minimum of on this instance.
The Final of Us Half I
Transferring on to The Last of Us Part 1, we discover that one of many smallest efficiency uplifts is definitely seen with the 14900K, simply 15% on this instance. The 14600K did not profit way more, at 18%. The 12900K noticed a 22% enhance, and the 12600K a 19% enhance. Once more, the Twelfth-gen fashions loved a much bigger enhance with DDR5, although solely barely so on this case.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
The Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty outcomes are additionally fairly attention-grabbing. The 14900K noticed solely a 16% uplift when utilizing high-frequency DDR5 reminiscence, and whereas that is nonetheless a formidable enchancment, it is lower than the achieve achieved by the 14600K at 21%. The 12900K and 12600K each loved a large 29% enchancment when paired with DDR5 reminiscence.
Hogwarts Legacy
In Hogwarts Legacy the 14900K noticed an inexpensive 15% enchancment when paired with DDR5 reminiscence, although we noticed a much more substantial 35% enhance to the 1% lows. The 14600K noticed related beneficial properties at 18%, whereas the 12900K’s efficiency was boosted by 21%, and the 12600K noticed only a 16% achieve.
Assetto Corsa Competizione
Apparently, though ACC advantages massively from L3 cache efficiency, system reminiscence would not seem like almost as necessary. For instance, the 14900K noticed the most important beneficial properties right here at simply 10%. Though DDR5 did provide a efficiency enhance throughout the board, the uplift was very gentle.
Spider-Man Remastered
This time, we’ve not benchmarked Spider-Man Remastered with ray tracing enabled, as we’ve got accomplished beforehand. This modification has led to DDR5 providing fairly a big efficiency benefit over DDR4. Nevertheless, this knowledge is for our up to date CPU testing, and the very excessive preset with out RT enabled leads to much less CPU-limited knowledge.
We nonetheless discover some attention-grabbing outcomes right here. The 14th-gen CPUs noticed solely a 9% enchancment with DDR5 below these check circumstances, whereas the Twelfth-gen fashions noticed a rise starting from 13% to 22%. The 12900K seemed to be bandwidth-limited with DDR4 reminiscence, because it was simply 5% quicker than the 12600K. With the quicker DDR5 reminiscence, it was 14% quicker.
Homeworld 3
Homeworld 3 is a demanding sport, particularly when the battle heats up. The 1% lows on Intel’s LGA1700 processors aren’t nice, and we see that the distinction between DDR4 and DDR5 is minimal. DDR5 affords round a ten% enhance to the common body price, which is good, however it would not improve the expertise considerably.
A Plague Story: Requiem
Testing with A Plague Story: Requiem sometimes exhibits round a 16-17% efficiency enhance for DDR5 over DDR4, with the 12900K being the exception, attaining a 22% enhance utilizing the higher-clocked DDR5 reminiscence. It was the one CPU to see an honest enhance to the 1% lows, with the opposite components solely seeing a 3-4% enchancment.
Counter-Strike 2
As we have discovered beforehand, Counter-Strike 2 is not delicate to reminiscence efficiency, producing related outcomes utilizing DDR4 and DDR5 reminiscence, a minimum of with a 14th-gen processor. The 12900K noticed a gentle 6% enchancment with DDR5, whereas the 12600K was 9% quicker.
Starfield
The Starfield outcomes present related efficiency traits to lots of the video games we have already checked out, with the Twelfth-gen fashions receiving a a lot bigger efficiency enhance utilizing DDR5 reminiscence.
The 14900K was 14% quicker utilizing DDR5 and the 14600K 19% quicker, each very affordable beneficial properties. Nevertheless, the 12900K and 12600K noticed a 33-34% efficiency uplift when paired with DDR5, which is a large improve.
Horizon Forbidden West
We see an analogous sample in Horizon Forbidden West. On this instance, the 12900K and 12600K each noticed a 16% efficiency uplift when paired with DDR5 reminiscence, which is a pleasant enchancment.
Nevertheless, the 12900K loved a way more substantial 28% uplift, and the 12600K noticed a large 32% improve. As soon as once more, it is the Twelfth-gen fashions that profit essentially the most from elevated reminiscence bandwidth.
Hitman 3
The beneficial properties seen when testing with Hitman 3 are constant throughout the board, starting from 22-26% relying on the processor. DDR5 is sort of helpful right here, boosting efficiency by a noteworthy margin.
Watch Canines: Legion
Lastly, we’ve got Watch Canines: Legion. That is one other instance the place the efficiency uplift was related whatever the CPU used, starting from 28% with the Twelfth-gen fashions to 31% for the 14th-gen CPUs.
DDR4 vs. DDR5: 13 Sport Common
Intel’s 14th-gen processors see a median enhance of 16% in video games, which is considerably greater than the DDR4-4000 vs DDR5-7200 comparability we did final yr with the 14900K. Nevertheless, that comparability featured 21 video games with quicker DDR4 reminiscence, and lots of the video games had been totally different or used totally different check strategies, as was the case with Baldur’s Gate 3, for instance.
Different noteworthy modifications between assessments embody Intel’s up to date energy settings. Beforehand, we had been testing with none energy limits, whereas now we use the Intel Excessive profile. So, a 16% enchancment on common is sort of substantial.
We noticed a good bigger 20-22% achieve for the 12th-gen Core components. This can be as a result of bigger L2 and L3 cache capacities of the thirteenth and 14th-gen Raptor Lake components, making them much less delicate to reminiscence efficiency.
It is also clear that newer video games are extra reminiscence demanding, because the 12900K was solely 10% quicker when paired with DDR5 reminiscence in our earlier testing, just like what was seen within the 5800X3D review.
The hole between DDR4 and DDR5 reminiscence continues to widen as video games turn out to be more and more demanding. That is to be anticipated, and actually, apart from AMD’s ageing AM4 platform, it would not make sense to purchase DDR4 anymore. For brand new system builders, it hasn’t made sense for over a yr now.
Intel is about to retire its LGA1700 platform, and the next-generation Arrow Lake structure will drop DDR4 help totally, transferring to DDR5 completely, simply as AMD did with AM5. So, whereas we are able to nonetheless use 12th, 13th, and 14th-gen CPUs to trace how DDR4 and DDR5 evaluate in future video games, it is extra for science than it’s related shopping for info.
Likewise, we are able to proceed to check the 5800X and 5800X3D in future video games, although we do not anticipate a lot to vary there because it hasn’t up to now.
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