You've read the reviews, we've highlighted their pros and cons, and now we are putting them together on a single CPU comparison. On deck for this one we tested 8 processors in 9 games at not only 1080p, but also 720p and 1440p, amounting to more than 650 benchmark passes. The goal? Seeing how Intel's eight-generation Core series stacks up against previous seventh-generation parts as well as Ryzen.
To avoid any performance issues with DirectX 12 titles, we used the Vega 64 Liquid Cooled graphics card for testing and the 720p results should help alleviate any GPU bottlenecks. I might go back and test with a GTX 1080 Ti if we feel that's called for.
Please note that none of the CPUs have been overclocked, but we plan to do an overclocked version of this test soon. Also, as always, the Intel CPUs had their turbo core features disabled and all the chips were tested using DDR4-3200 CL14 memory.
Most of the games were tested using the second highest quality preset – in fact, the only game I maxed out was Battlefield 1. That about covers everything... let's jump to the results.
Coffee Lake System Specs
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Kaby Lake System Specs
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Ryzen 7 System Specs |
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Benchmark Time
First up is Battlefield 1 at 720p and here we see that even at this low resolution all three eighth-gen Core processors deliver much the same result. The Core i5-8400 matched the minimum frame rate of the 8700K and was just 2.5% slower for the average.
This meant even the 8400 was a step up from the 7700K while the 7600K looked a little overwhelmed. Here we see quite a disparity between the 7600K's minimum and average frame rate.
Despite a 151fps average, the 7600K provided an experience that was noticeably worse than that of the Ryzen 5 1500X. Speaking of the Ryzen CPUs, they do look a bit down here and well they are. The Ryzen 5 1600X was 22% slower than the Core i5-8400 when comparing the minimum frame rate, which is quite the deficit.
Jumping up to 1080p introduces a more severe GPU bottleneck and while the performance is still impressive from the Vega 64 graphics card, it is limiting us to around 130-140fps. Here we see little difference between the seventh and eighth-gen Core CPUs while the Ryzen CPUs still trail, though this time due to the GPU bottleneck the margins are greatly reduced.
We see much the same at 1440p, though the Ryzen CPUs are still a smidgen slower and the R5 1500X finally catches up to the R5 1600.