Gaming Performance: 720p And Lower

The reason we test games in CPU reviews at lower resolutions such as 720p and below is simple; titles are more likely to be CPU bound than they are GPU bound at lower resolutions. This means there are more frames for the processor to process as opposed to the graphics card doing the majority of the heavy lifting.

There are some variances where some games will still use graphical power, but not as much CPU grunt at these smaller resolutions, and this is where we can show where CPU limitations lie in terms of gaming.

We are using DDR5 memory on the Core i9-14900K, Core i7-14700K, Core i5-14600K, and Intel's 13th Gen at the relative JEDEC settings. The same methodology is also used for the AMD Ryzen 7000 series and Intel's 12th Gen (Alder Lake) processors. Below are the settings we have used for each platform:

  • DDR5-5600B CL46 - Intel 14th & 13th Gen
  • DDR5-5200 CL44 - Ryzen 7000
  • DDR5-4800 (B) CL40 - Intel 12th Gen

Civilization VI

(a-1) Civilization VI - 480p Min - Average FPS

(a-2) Civilization VI - 480p Min - 95th Percentile

World of Tanks

(b-1) World of Tanks - 768p Min - Average FPS

(b-2) World of Tanks - 768p Min - 95th Percentile

Borderlands 3

(c-1) Borderlands 3 - 360p VLow - Average FPS

(c-2) Borderlands 3 - 360p VLow - 95th Percentile

Grand Theft Auto V

(e-1) Grand Theft Auto V - 720p Low - Average FPS

(e-2) Grand Theft Auto V - 720p Low - 95th Percentile

Red Dead Redemption 2

(f-1) Red Dead 2 - 384p Min - Average FPS

(f-2) Red Dead 2 - 384p Min - 95th Percentile

F1 2022

(g-1) F1 2022 - 720p Low - Average FPS

(g-2) F1 2022 - 720p Low - 95th Percentile

Hitman 3

(h-1) Hitman 3 - 720p Low - Average FPS

(h-2) Hitman 3 - 720p Low - 95th Percentile

Total War: Warhammer 3

(i-1) Total War Warhammer 3 - 720p Low - Average FPS

Looking at CPU performance without GPU bottlenecks at 720p and lower resolutions, we can see that the Core i9-14900K performs very similarly to the Core i9-13900K and Core i9-13900KS. In scenarios where games can use more L3 cache, the AMD Ryzen 7000 with 3D V-Cache (X3D) chips are the victors. In Civ V, we can see that the game prefers AMD cores as opposed to Intel's, but overall, none of the new Intel 14th Gen Core series chips perform badly.

The interesting CPU is the Core i9-14700K, which is closer to the Core i9-14900K than we've seen from going from an i7 to an i9 or an i5 to an i7 within previous generations. The gap between the Core i9-14900K and Core i7-14700K is as close as we were expecting, given it only has four fewer E-cores than the Core i9 and with slightly slower core clock speeds.

CPU Benchmark Performance: AI and Inferencing Gaming Performance: 1080p
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  • cmdrdredd - Wednesday, October 18, 2023 - link

    You aren't even the target market for any of this so your comment is useless and pointless. You are not an enthusiast, gamer, or need the power for work.
  • ItsAdam - Wednesday, October 18, 2023 - link

    I old a 4090 and I wouldn't want a CPU with the same power as it. I was waiting for Meteor Lake upgrading from my 5800X3D, but when I heard it was a refresh I was like oh no.

    Looks like I'm going to be a beta tester for AMDs 6000 series, and I'm quite frankly bored of AMD and it's crash test consumer development.

    I know times are changing, I know, and I loved to tinker but it's getting too long in the tooth with AMD ATM with all the agesa "fixes" which is usually a big performance loss.

    I really wanted INTEL to come out brawling,but all they're doing is digging their own grave.

    They shouldn't have released ANOTHER refresh, especially one as bad as this.
  • lilo777 - Wednesday, October 18, 2023 - link

    You do not pay the utility for peak power consumption. You pay for actual consumption which is much lower because power peaks are rare and short.
  • mode_13h - Wednesday, October 18, 2023 - link

    > power peaks are rare and short.

    Depends on what you're doing. If rendering, video encoding, or lots of software compilation, then not necessarily.
  • mode_13h - Wednesday, October 18, 2023 - link

    Thanks for continuing to run SPEC2017, but I'm really missing the cumulative scores. Also, I wish we could get cumulative scores on E-cores only and P-cores only, as well as populating that graph with some other popular CPUs, as was done up to the i9-12900K review.

    For reference, please see the chart titled "SPEC2017 Rate-N Estimated Total", at the bottom of this page:

    https://www.anandtech.com/show/17047/the-intel-12t...

    The following page of that review goes on to explore the P & E cores.

    Perhaps this would be good material for a follow-on article?
  • eloyard - Thursday, October 19, 2023 - link

    2000s called, want their Net-Burst back.
  • Reinforcer - Saturday, October 28, 2023 - link

    Then don't let the motherboard run away with power lol, Honestly what is wrong with you reviewers fixated on how much power it can draw? Set it to Intel's 253w limit and enjoy almost the same performance as one that is consuming stupid amounts of power, It's not rocket science or do we not know how to set a motherboard up these days?

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