The Intel Skylake-X Review: Core i9 7900X, i7 7820X and i7 7800X Tested
by Ian Cutress on June 19, 2017 9:01 AM ESTBenchmarking Performance: CPU Office Tests
The office programs we use for benchmarking aren't specific programs per-se, but industry standard tests that hold weight with professionals. The goal of these tests is to use an array of software and techniques that a typical office user might encounter, such as video conferencing, document editing, architectural modelling, and so on and so forth.
Chromium Compile (v56)
Our new compilation test uses Windows 10 Pro, VS Community 2015.3 with the Win10 SDK to combile a nightly build of Chromium. We've fixed the test for a build in late March 2017, and we run a fresh full compile in our test. Compilation is the typical example given of a variable threaded workload - some of the compile and linking is linear, whereas other parts are multithreaded.
PCMark8
Despite originally coming out in 2008/2009, Futuremark has maintained PCMark8 to remain relevant in 2017. On the scale of complicated tasks, PCMark focuses more on the low-to-mid range of professional workloads, making it a good indicator for what people consider 'office' work. We run the benchmark from the commandline in 'conventional' mode, meaning C++ over OpenCL, to remove the graphics card from the equation and focus purely on the CPU. PCMark8 offers Home, Work and Creative workloads, with some software tests shared and others unique to each benchmark set.
SYSmark 2014 SE
SYSmark is developed by Bapco, a consortium of industry CPU companies. The goal of SYSmark is to take stripped down versions of popular software, such as Photoshop and Onenote, and measure how long it takes to process certain tasks within that software. The end result is a score for each of the three segments (Office, Media, Data) as well as an overall score. Here a reference system (Core i3-6100, 4GB DDR3, 256GB SSD, Integrated HD 530 graphics) is used to provide a baseline score of 1000 in each test.
A note on context for these numbers. AMD left Bapco in the last two years, due to differences of opinion on how the benchmarking suites were chosen and AMD believed the tests are angled towards Intel processors and had optimizations to show bigger differences than what AMD felt was present. The following benchmarks are provided as data, but the conflict of opinion between the two companies on the validity of the benchmark is provided as context for the following numbers.
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rascalion - Monday, June 19, 2017 - link
Are the Ryzen numbers in the charts retests using the last round of bios and software updates?Ian Cutress - Monday, June 19, 2017 - link
As much as possible, the latest BIOSes are used.Our CPU testing suite is locked in for software versions as of March 2017. This is because testing 30/50/100+ CPUs can't be done overnight, we have to have rigid points where versions are locked in. My cycle is usually 12-18 months. (Note I'm only one person doing all this data.)
FreckledTrout - Monday, June 19, 2017 - link
Ian any chance once there are a few BIOS tweaks you could say do a mini updated review on the 7820x vs Ryzen 1800x. With Ryzen having latest BIOS as well plus 3200Mhz memory. I'm just curious really how the 8-core guys line up when some of the dust settles and I think a lot of people will be.Ian Cutress - Monday, June 19, 2017 - link
Any reason why 3200? I'll have Intel people saying it is pushing the Ryzen out of specjjj - Monday, June 19, 2017 - link
You could do a memory subsystem scaling review for all platforms, Skylake X, Threadripper, Ryzen (Summit Ridge) and Coffee Lake. Cache, interconnect, DRAM. See where they are, how they scale, where the bottlenecks are, single rank vs dual rank modules and perf impact in practice.Why not even impact on power and efficiency.In any case, you'll need to update Ryzen 5 and 7 results when Ryzen 3 arrives , isn't it?
For DRAM at 3200 it might be out of spec - overclocking the core is out of spec too but that has never stopped anyone from overclocking the memory. Right now 3200 is what a lot of folks buy , at least for higher end mainstream Ofc some will argue that Ryzen scales better with memory and that's why it is unfair but it's a hell of a lot more reasonable than testing 1080p gaming with a 1080 TI since it's a popular real world scenario.
At the end of the day the goal should be to inform, not to watch out for Intel's or AMD''s feelings.
vanilla_gorilla - Monday, June 19, 2017 - link
>For DRAM at 3200 it might be out of spec - overclocking the core is out of spec too but that has never stopped anyone from overclocking the memory.This. Exactly. We're enthusiasts and we always push the envelope. No one cares what the specs are all we care is about what these processors are capable of in the right hands.
And Ian I think you guys do an awesome job, there's no other place I look for CPU benchmarks. Keep up what you do, we all appreciate it, as well as your willingness to have a dialog with us about the process. Really cannot say how impressed I am by how open and engaged you are, it's really commendable.
Ian Cutress - Tuesday, June 20, 2017 - link
Thanks for the comments :)Though on your comments about pushing things out of spec. We have a good deal of readers who want plain stock for their businesses - AT isn't solely a consumer focused site. Otherwise I'd just jack all the CPUs and just post OC results :D Our base testing will always be at stock, and for comparison testing there has to be an element of consistency - testing an OC'ed part against a stock part in a direct A vs B comparison is only going to end up with a barrage of emails being rammed down my throat. There has to be some planning involved.
Ian Cutress - Tuesday, June 20, 2017 - link
I've been planning a memory scaling article, I just haven't had the time (this article was around 6 weeks of prep with all the events going on that I had to attend).Note we don't retest stuff every review. With our new 2017 test suite, I've been going through regression testing. Usually regression testing is done once for the full segment until the benchmarks are changed again. I'll look at my next few months (still stupidly busy) and look at the priorities here.
FreckledTrout - Monday, June 19, 2017 - link
Most people can easily buy a 3200 kit for not a lot of extra money. It doesn't take a lot tweaking(well not anymore on AGESA 1.0.0.6) or silicone lottery like an OC, just a bit more cash. From what I have seen with Ryzen it is the sweet spot on price and performance. I would assume Its likely the most chosen configuration on the R7's. To make it fair use 3200 on the 7820x as well. I only ask because Ryzen did way better than I would have thought and would like to see it with 3200Mhz memory and latest updates to see really how close Intel and AMD are on 8-core systems. Then im going to build :)tipoo - Monday, June 19, 2017 - link
Launch review! Nice work dude(s).