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 information, together with software productiveness and gaming exams. Final week, we did a recap by testing the earlier two CPU generations one final time, simply to see the place issues stand immediately earlier than the brand new wave of desktop CPUs hit the market.
On that very same be aware, we observed a CPU just like the Ryzen 5800X3D has gone from roughly 5% slower to about 7% slower than Intel’s outdated 12900K flagship, which might be configured with DDR5 reminiscence. This was evident in our final DDR check utilizing a quicker GPU and a special pattern of newer PC video games.
Which received us pondering, simply how a lot of a profit is DDR5 reminiscence in trendy PC gaming?
The 12900K’s capability to make the most of quicker DDR5 reminiscence presumably fingers 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 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 elements: the 12900K was 22% quicker utilizing DDR5, whereas the 12600K was 35% quicker. It appears as if the elements with much less L3 cache would possibly profit extra from the quicker reminiscence, at the very least on this instance.
The Final of Us Half I
Transferring on to The Final of Us Half 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 an even 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 positive factors 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 look like practically as necessary. For instance, the 14900K noticed the largest positive factors 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 have not benchmarked Spider-Man Remastered with ray tracing enabled, as we’ve carried out beforehand. This transformation has led to DDR5 providing fairly a big efficiency benefit over DDR4. Nonetheless, this information is for our up to date CPU testing, and the very excessive preset with out RT enabled leads to much less CPU-limited information.
We nonetheless discover some attention-grabbing outcomes right here. The 14th-gen CPUs noticed solely a 9% enchancment with DDR5 below these check situations, whereas the Twelfth-gen fashions noticed a rise starting from 13% to 22%. The 12900K gave the impression 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 recreation, 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 gives round a ten% enhance to the common body price, which is sweet, nevertheless it would not improve the expertise considerably.
A Plague Story: Requiem
Testing with A Plague Story: Requiem usually reveals 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 a good enhance to the 1% lows, with the opposite elements 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, at the very least with a 14th-gen processor. The 12900K noticed a light 6% enchancment with DDR5, whereas the 12600K was 9% quicker.
Starfield
The Starfield outcomes present related efficiency developments to most 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 cheap positive factors. Nonetheless, the 12900K and 12600K noticed a 33-34% efficiency uplift when paired with DDR5, which is a large enhance.
Horizon Forbidden West
We see an identical 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.
Nonetheless, the 12900K loved a way more substantial 28% uplift, and the 12600K noticed a large 32% enhance. As soon as once more, it is the Twelfth-gen fashions that profit probably the most from elevated reminiscence bandwidth.
Hitman 3
The positive factors seen when testing with Hitman 3 are constant throughout the board, starting from 22-26% relying on the processor. DDR5 is kind of useful right here, boosting efficiency by a noteworthy margin.
Watch Canines: Legion
Lastly, we’ve 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. Nonetheless, that comparability featured 21 video games with quicker DDR4 reminiscence, and most of the video games have been completely different or used completely different check strategies, as was the case with Baldur’s Gate 3, for instance.
Different noteworthy adjustments between exams embrace Intel’s up to date energy settings. Beforehand, we have been testing with none energy limits, whereas now we use the Intel Excessive profile. So, a 16% enchancment on common is kind of substantial.
We noticed a good bigger 20-22% achieve for the Twelfth-gen Core elements. This can be because of the bigger L2 and L3 cache capacities of the thirteenth and 14th-gen Raptor Lake elements, 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, much like what was seen within the 5800X3D overview.
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, except for AMD’s growing older 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 fully, shifting to DDR5 completely, simply as AMD did with AM5. So, whereas we will nonetheless use Twelfth, thirteenth, 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 data.
Likewise, we will proceed to match the 5800X and 5800X3D in future video games, although we do not anticipate a lot to alter there because it hasn’t up to now.
