Every week in the past, we have been discussing the misunderstanding that CPU efficiency does not matter for 4K gaming. We confirmed that though typically it does not matter – as you’ll certainly find yourself GPU restricted – that is not at all times the case. So, one may say “it relies upon.” In brief, the purpose was that decision should not be the main target of CPU efficiency; fairly, the body price is extra vital. Can your CPU obtain your required body price in a given title?
That is precisely what you be taught from low-resolution testing, comparable to 1080p, the place ultra-quality settings at 4K sometimes simply reveal what number of frames a flagship GPU can render, and never what number of frames the CPU can deal with. It is a simple idea, but, sadly, many players do not appear to know it.
For probably the most half, the article was well-received, and we have been thrilled to listen to from so a lot of you who gained a greater understanding of the subject. That is actually the aim right here, so good things. There have been, nonetheless, a shocking variety of readers who had a unique takeaway – an unintended one – and that leads us into a wholly totally different subject.
To finest illustrate the purpose, we used an getting old however extraordinarily common 6-core CPU, the Ryzen 5 3600, and in contrast it to the brand new Ryzen 7 7800X3D, an 8-core 3D V-Cache enabled half. We point out the core depend as that is key to why we’re right here. Just a few readers appeared to assume that the earlier article was proof that 6-core CPUs aren’t superb for gaming, and also you want a minimal of 8 cores, or ideally extra. However that is not true, and though we have mentioned this a number of occasions prior to now, we’ll do it once more.
In brief, core depend (inside motive) does not matter for gaming; what actually issues is general CPU efficiency. For instance, if a quad-core processor existed that would ship the identical multi-core efficiency because the Ryzen 9 7950X, there is a good likelihood it could truly be the sooner gaming CPU, as the person cores could be considerably sooner. With video games largely nonetheless depending on a major thread, this ends in CPUs with sturdy single-core efficiency usually delivering the perfect gaming efficiency. That is additionally why the 7800X3D is a a lot sooner gaming CPU than the 7950X.
Subsequently, claiming that 6-core processors aren’t quick sufficient for contemporary gaming is flawed, and doubtless extra inaccurate than saying “6 cores is all you want for gaming.”
There are many actually quick 6-core gaming CPUs that outperform comparatively new 8, 10, 12, and even 16-core processors. For instance, the Ryzen 5 5600X3D is a greater gaming CPU than the Ryzen 9 5950X, and even in demanding video games comparable to Cyberpunk 2077, the 6-core half is round 15-20% sooner.
In the meantime, the Ryzen 5 7600, which can also be a 6-core processor, is usually sooner than the 5600X3D and far sooner than the 5950X. It is also considerably sooner than Intel’s Core i9-10900K, a 10-core processor. Thus, choosing a gaming CPU primarily based solely on core depend is a foul concept. Once more, what actually issues is general CPU efficiency, although even that may be tough to measure on the subject of gaming, as elements like L3 cache capability additionally play a big position.
So we have gone again and added the Ryzen 5 7600 to the earlier set of outcomes that includes the Ryzen 5 3600 and Ryzen 7 7800X3D. This is not going to solely present us how vastly totally different the 2 6-core Ryzen processors are but additionally how the 7800X3D and 7600 evaluate utilizing totally different GPUs at totally different resolutions and high quality settings. Let’s get into it…
Hogwarts Legacy Benchmarks
Beginning with Hogwarts Legacy utilizing the Radeon RX 7700 XT at 1080p, we discover a vital distinction between the Ryzen 5 3600 and 7600, each of that are 6-core processors. With the low-quality preset and ray tracing enabled, the efficiency is essentially GPU-limited for the reason that 7700 XT is not notably sturdy in ray tracing. Nevertheless, when trying on the extremely outcomes, the 7600 is 21% sooner than the 3600, and this distinction widens to 58% at medium settings, and a outstanding 64% at low settings.
The 7600 can also be not a lot slower than the 7800X3D when paired with the 7700 XT at this decision.
Growing the decision to 1440p narrows the hole between the 7600 and the 7800X3D, with nearly no distinction for probably the most half. The 7600 nonetheless considerably outperforms the 3600, particularly on medium and low presets.
At 4K, many of the knowledge is closely GPU-limited, notably with ray tracing enabled. Nevertheless, as soon as ray tracing is disabled, the 1% lows of the 7600 are considerably higher than these of the 3600. As an example, with the extremely preset, each averaged 42 fps, however the 1% lows of the 7600 have been 25% stronger. We noticed related enhancements with the low and medium presets.
With a rise in GPU energy utilizing the 7900 XT, the 7600 is now 50% sooner than the 3600 with ray tracing enabled, or 58% sooner when evaluating 1% lows. It was additionally 52% sooner utilizing the extremely preset, and as much as 64% sooner utilizing low settings. Thus, the 7600 considerably outperforms the 3600, regardless of each being 6-core/12-thread components.
The 7600 additionally competes nicely with the 7800X3D, although the 3D V-Cache permits for an anticipated efficiency enhance of round 20%.
Even at 1440p, the 7600 is significantly sooner than the 3600, with a 51% enhance in efficiency when utilizing the extremely high quality settings, making it simply 7% slower than the 7800X3D.
At 4K, we begin to see a differentiation between the 3600 and 7600. For instance, though the 7600 is just 3% sooner utilizing the extremely preset, it is 10% sooner when analyzing the 1% lows. Decreasing the standard settings to medium, the 7600 is now 20% sooner than the 3600, matching the efficiency of the 7800X3D.
Now analyzing the efficiency in Hogwarts Legacy with the RTX 4090, the 7600 is 49% sooner than the 3600 at 1080p when utilizing the low-quality preset with ray tracing enabled. Even with the extremely preset, it stays 48% sooner, and as much as 62% sooner with the low-quality settings. This exhibits that inside simply two generations, the Ryzen 5 collection has develop into considerably extra highly effective.
At 1440p, the Ryzen 5 7600 was 51% sooner than the 3600 with ray tracing enabled, or 46% sooner utilizing the extremely preset. Moreover, it was as much as 63% sooner when evaluating the low-quality settings.
Lastly, at 4K, the 3600 remains to be restricted to round 80 fps, whereas the 7600 can ship over 120 fps. This confirms what we discovered at 1080p, making the 4K knowledge at finest redundant and at worst deceptive when GPU-limited.
Starfield Benchmarks
Transferring onto Starfield, this can be a recreation the place the Ryzen 5 3600 was restricted to round 60 fps, and no quantity of GPU firepower or degraded high quality settings may remedy that. At 1080p with the extremely high quality settings, efficiency is closely GPU restricted to round 60 fps, however dropping to excessive settings sees the 7600 pull forward of the 3600 by an nearly 20% margin.
If we go for the medium high quality settings, the margin grows additional to 44% after which 54% with low settings. Utilizing upscaling, the 7700 XT would be capable to obtain nicely over 60 fps right here utilizing excessive and even extremely high quality settings, although this would not be doable with the Ryzen 5 3600, as that CPU limits efficiency to round 60 fps.
At 1440p, the 3600 is once more restricted to round 60 fps, and though the extremely and excessive outcomes are GPU restricted, dropping right down to medium settings noticed the 7600 pull forward by a 12% margin, after which 29% with low settings.
At 4K, we now have the closely GPU-limited outcomes that some video games at all times count on to see at this excessive decision. Nevertheless, with efficiency nicely beneath 60 fps, many players will discover that stage of efficiency unacceptable, leading to a discount of decision or the usage of upscaling.
Upgrading to the a lot sooner 7900 XT modifications the outcomes considerably. The Ryzen 5 7600 now achieves 90 fps at 1080p utilizing the extremely settings, roughly according to what we see from the 7800X3D, although the 1% lows have been nearly 20% stronger with that processor.
In comparison with the 3600, we’re a 50% enhance in efficiency utilizing the extremely settings, and as much as a 73% enhance with low settings.
As anticipated, the margins are decreased at 1440p, besides, the 7600 was nonetheless 30% sooner than the 3600 utilizing the extremely settings, and 60% sooner utilizing medium settings.
At 4K, the 7600 is ready to match the 7800X3D, not less than with out enabling upscaling, as efficiency is restricted to only 50 fps with the extremely settings and 72 fps with low settings. The 7600 and 3600 have been comparable utilizing the extremely and excessive presets, whereas the newer 7600 began to tug away with the medium settings and was a lot sooner utilizing low settings.
With the RTX 4090 put in, we are able to actually see the distinction between these three processors. The 7600 is somewhat over 60% sooner than the 3600, whereas the 7800X3D is 27% sooner than the 7600 when utilizing the extremely settings and as much as 37% sooner when utilizing low settings.
The 1440p outcomes are a lot the identical, notably for the Ryzen 5 processors, as these outcomes are completely CPU restricted.
At 4K, the Ryzen 5 7600 begins to develop into GPU restricted, notably when utilizing the extremely, excessive, and medium settings. Nonetheless, when in comparison with the 3600, it is not less than 29% sooner, however right here we now have one other instance the place the 7600 is ready to drive sufficient frames to max out efficiency at 4K.
Counter-Strike 2 Benchmarks
Now let’s check out Counter-Strike 2, once more beginning with the 7700 XT at 1080p. Utilizing the extra GPU-limited very excessive settings, the 7600 was nonetheless a large 64% sooner than the 3600 and was in a position to match the 7800X3D.
With the extra generally used medium settings, which give a aggressive benefit over very excessive settings, the 7600 was 145% sooner than the 3600, and simply 11% slower than the 7800X3D, or round 20% slower when evaluating 1% lows.
At 1440p, the 7700 XT supplies very GPU-limited outcomes when paired with the newer Zen 4 processors. Nevertheless, when utilizing the very excessive preset, the 7600 was nonetheless 9% sooner than the 3600, or 25% sooner when evaluating 1% lows. However once more, if we use the medium settings, the 7600 is as much as 143% sooner than the 3600.
At 4K, the 7600 and 7800X3D ship the identical outcomes, as efficiency right here is closely GPU-limited. Whereas the 7600 and 3600 are comparable when utilizing the very excessive and excessive presets, the margin grows by 56% when utilizing medium.
Upgrading to the 7900 XT boosts efficiency dramatically with a Zen 4 processor. Extremely, the 7600 is now 135% sooner than the 3600 when utilizing the very excessive preset, and this margin is maintained even with the low preset.
Growing the decision to 1440p nonetheless sees the 7600 lead the 3600 by a large margin when utilizing the very excessive settings, 110% on this instance. The margin then expands to 135% with the low settings.
Lastly, at 4K, the 7600 and 7800X3D ship comparable efficiency because the outcomes listed here are largely GPU-limited. The 7600 and 3600 additionally delivered an analogous common body price with the very excessive settings, although the 1% lows have been 14% stronger for the Zen 4 processor. As we reduce the GPU load, the margin between the 7600 and 3600 grows, from a 40% margin with the excessive settings to 140% with low.
Lastly, we now have the RTX 4090 knowledge, and right here the 7800X3D was as much as 38% sooner than the 7600 when evaluating 1% lows. Nevertheless, the 7600 was 57% sooner than the 3600 when evaluating 1% lows and 100% sooner for the typical body price, seen when utilizing the very excessive settings.
Growing the decision to 1440p exhibits extra of the identical, with the 7600 barely slower than the 7800X3D for the typical body price and fairly a bit slower when evaluating 1% lows, whereas each are considerably sooner than the getting old Ryzen 5 3600.
At 4K, we discover extra GPU-limited knowledge when utilizing the very excessive preset. Nonetheless, the 7600 was nonetheless 25% sooner than the 3600 right here, and that margin grew to 114% with the low settings.
What We Realized
So there you will have it, core depend tells you little or no a couple of CPU’s gaming efficiency, and whereas we’re positive this knowledge will not come as a shock to a lot of you, this does look like a subject that we repeatedly have to revisit.
It is fairly outstanding simply how a lot sooner the 7600 is than the 3600, with many examples discovered of over double the efficiency. Particularly on condition that on paper, they each pack 6-cores/12-threads in a single core complicated die and a 32MB L3 cache.
That mentioned, there are some key variations: the 7600 packs twice the L2 cache at 6 MB, the cores clock as much as 21% larger at 5.1 GHz, makes use of sooner DDR5 reminiscence, and whereas each components function a single CCD, the configuration may be very totally different.
One other key distinction is that the 3600 splits its cores into two core complexes or CCXs, and this comes with a latency penalty when speaking between cores of various complexes, which may have a destructive influence on gaming efficiency. This design was utilized by Zen, Zen+, and Zen 2 processors, which means these architectures have been all restricted to 4 cores per CCX, and it wasn’t till Zen 3 that AMD upgraded this to eight cores.
So, you might say ‘cores ain’t cores’, and the 3600 and 7600 are an ideal instance of this. Even on the similar clock frequency, the Zen 4-based 7600 goes to be a lot sooner.
To say “6 cores is all you want for gaming” or inversely “6 cores aren’t sufficient for gaming” grossly oversimplifies the state of affairs, and actually, each are flawed, as a result of, you guessed it, you do not wish to be speaking about core depend on the subject of gaming efficiency.
Certain, dual-cores is likely to be out now and quad-cores are on battle road, however highly effective 6-core/12-thread processors such because the Ryzen 5 7600 are nonetheless being produced and can comfortably beat earlier era larger core depend components on the subject of gaming.
As a fast instance, the Ryzen 5 7600 is at the moment a a lot better gaming CPU than the Ryzen 9 5950X, providing round 15% better gaming efficiency on common. Furthermore, the 7600 can also be equal to the 5800X when it comes to multi-core efficiency, so the 6-core 7600 is the same as the 8-core 5800X, for all-core workloads.
Now, there are a selection of different misconceptions we frequently run into when listening to from individuals who imagine core depend is a crucial part of gaming efficiency. Misconceptions comparable to multitasking cripples decrease core depend components and clear take a look at methods aren’t consultant of real-world efficiency.
The declare that those that multitask whereas gaming will profit extra from the next core depend CPU is essentially unfounded and we have not seen anybody making this declare present any real-world proof, so a yr in the past we did it for them. We now have no canine on this combat; if 8-core CPUs are a lot better than 6-core CPUs of the identical structure for individuals who multitask whereas gaming, then nice, that is good to know, and we are able to alter our suggestions accordingly.
However when truly testing this with a 4K YouTube video taking part in plus Discord display sharing, we discovered that it as a rule eliminates any efficiency benefit the 8-core processor may need by making a system bottleneck. Total, the efficiency hit on trendy {hardware} was very small anyway, and in case you’re doing one thing far more CPU-intensive within the background, it cripples gaming efficiency to the purpose the place it does not actually matter in case you have 6 or 16-cores, the expertise goes to undergo both means.
As for the misunderstanding that “critiques use clear take a look at methods and subsequently the information is not consultant of real-world utilization,” we’re probably not positive the place that comes from, however except your system is loaded as much as the gills with malware, this is not a factor. Take a look at methods run a reasonably typical array of software program, and our private gaming system in all probability has much less put in on it than our take a look at methods, so if this can be a real-world drawback for you, we would counsel cleansing up your system.
Lastly, circling again to the 4K dialogue, as we famous in our earlier function protecting this topic, there’s going to be little or no distinction between the 7800X3D and 7600 at 4K, as a result of the Ryzen 5 7600 is already a really quick gaming processor, and even at 1080p, the margins aren’t that huge; in our day one evaluate, we discovered only a 16% margin.
Realistically, you should not be tossing up between the 7600 and 7800X3D; they’re totally different merchandise geared toward totally different ends of the market. The Ryzen 5 7600 is an entry-level finances Zen 4 processor, whereas the 7800X3D is the king of the hill on the subject of gaming, and the pricing displays that. The Ryzen 7600 will set you again simply $190 proper now, whereas the 7800X3D is extra like $370, a hefty 95% enhance for ~16% extra efficiency on common.
You’d solely purchase the 7800X3D over the 7600 since you need the perfect of the perfect. However nonetheless, we did discover examples even on this testing the place the 7800X3D was as much as 37% sooner, so it’s a a lot sooner gaming CPU, largely because of that 3D V-Cache, however it does come at a big worth enhance.
If you happen to’re evaluating two CPUs which are already very shut when it comes to efficiency at 1080p, then the distinction at a extra GPU-limited decision comparable to 4K goes to be subsequent to nothing; how helpful that data is will rely upon the CPUs you are evaluating, and naturally, their worth.
