4GHz processor fight: Ryzen 3900X, 3700X and Core i9-9900K



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By developing all the tests we have done in our third-generation Ryzen coverage, we will now perform a point-by-point comparison test. IPC stands for "instructions per cycle" and can be a good indicator of the effectiveness of a processor architecture. Traditionally, Intel Coffee Lake processors have a high CPI associated with a high operating frequency. This is the best combination for optimal performance. Although AMD is still behind in terms of frequency, they seem to have closed and probably exceeded Intel's IPC performance with this latest update.

To see the progress AMD is making here, we'll be neutralizing as many variables as possible, while keeping things as realistic as possible.

The first and most obvious step is to remove the base frequency from the equation. To do this, we locked all processor cores to 4 GHz. No matter what type of boost technology has been disabled, which means that cores can not exceed 4 GHz and all cores are clocked at 4 GHz. Then, for the Ryzen 9 3900X, we disabled two hearts in each chiplet, from a 12-core game to an 8-core game. All the processors tested will have 8 active cores, but when the 3700X has them all in a single matrix, the 3900X distributes them on two matrices (two chiplets with 4 cores).

The 3rd Generation Ryzen processors have been tested on the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Xtreme using the AGESA 1.0.0.3AB BIOS Revision, the 1st and 2nd generation Ryzen on the Asus ROG Crosshair 7 Hero and the Coffee Lake processors on the Gigabyte. Z390 Aorus Ultra. All configurations used the same G.Skill FlareX DDR4-3200 memory using the xtreme memory profile and the same MSI GTX 2080 Ti graphics card.

A little warning that we like to add for this type of article: we only test for science and it is not a buying advice. Coffee Lake processors certainly have an advantage in terms of clock speed, but that does not necessarily make them the best choice. For actual performance please refer to our latest reviews Ryzen 9 3900X, 3700X and R5 3600.

Application tests

We already know that Ryzen tends to dominate workstation tasks, even with a disadvantage in terms of clock speed, but there is more to learn about these numbers. In the multicore Cinebench R20 score, the 3900X and 3700X have about the same performance, which makes them about 14% faster than the 9900K when matched. In addition, they were 18% faster than those of the previous generation 2700X. This is a significant improvement in IPC performance.

By testing the performance of a single core, 3rd generation Ryzen parts increase by 13% over the 2700X. They were also 9% faster than the 9900K, which is a great thing from these new processors.

The 3900X's dual chiplet design improved V-Ray benchmark performance by 2% over the 3700X, which is not a substantial difference, but it was consistently faster in this test. This means that when it is synchronized at the same clock speed, the 3900X was 6% faster than the Intel i9-9900K and 13% faster than the 2700X.

Using the Corona reference, this time the 3900X was 3% faster than the 3700X. The 3900X was also 5% faster than the 9900K and 16% faster than the 2700X. Let's see how the situation looks in some games.

Playmarks

The first game we are watching is Battlefield V. Despite a significant reduction in clock speed, the Core i9-9900K still manages to take the lead. The poor performance of 1% was very impressive and in this case the 9900K was 9% faster than the 3rd generation Ryzen processors.

Looking at the average pace, we find that the 3700X was 8% faster than the 2700X, while the 3900X was 13% faster. This means that even with the same clock speed and the same number of cores, the 3900X remains 5% faster than the 3700X, which is very interesting.

The 9900K also takes first place in Far Cry New Dawn, beating the 3900X with a margin of 5% for the average frame rate and 10% for the low 1% result. This is while operating at a lower frequency than the box.

That's not to say that AMD has not made any noticeable leaps: the 3900X was 20% faster than the 2700X, while the 3700X offered a performance improvement of 16%.

Even in 1080p with a RTX 2080 Ti, Total War: Three Kingdoms is mainly related to a graphics processor. We can still see an improvement in results below 1% and again, Intel requires.

World War Z received an update that dramatically improves performance. This update significantly improves the performance of Ryzen processors. At present, the 3900X can roughly match the 9900K of our IPC test.

The double chiplet 3900X was still a little faster than the 3700X chiplet, offering a 4% increase in the average frame rate. The 3900X was 14% faster than the 2700X, while the 3700X was 9% faster.

World of Tanks is another game that we decided to discover. This title has recently been redesigned to better leverage multicore processors. When paired at the same clock speed, the 3900X offers slightly better performance by 1% compared to the 9900K, while the average frame rates are about the same.

The 3900X was 4% faster than the 3700X and 13% faster than the 2700X.

The last game we watch is Rainbow Six Siege. Even though this game is mostly related to a graphics processor, we see the 9900K behave a little faster when we consider the average frame rate. 1% poor performance was closer overall.

Memory and more

We discovered something when we tested the Ryzen 7 3700X for the first time: its bandwidth in write memory was much lower than expected. After discussing it with AMD, they explained that they made a compromise because the workloads of the clients write very little. Rather than using this space to improve something that was not needed, they invested silicon real estate more advantageously to gain performance gains.

The end result is that the Core Complex IO Die link for read memory is 32 bytes long, but its width is only 16 bytes, which is why the maximum write bandwidth is effectively halved. However, as the 3900X has two CCDs, it has two 16-byte wide write channels, which reduces the maximum bandwidth to around 50 GB / s.

Regarding the cached bandwidth, we find that the 3700X and 3900X are virtually identical and both offer substantial gains in L1, L2 and L3 bandwidth compared to the second generation 2700X. L3 cache bandwidth has been increased by approximately 40-50% with 3rd generation Ryzen.

We also see a 30% improvement in L2 bandwidth and an almost 100% increase in L1 bandwidth. This is an amazing performance improvement and that largely explains why we have seen 100% performance gains in applications such as WinRAR.

As for the latency of memory, little has changed. On the contrary, we see an increase in memory latency by Ryzen, the second generation, and we see this when we examine the latency of the DRAM and L3 memories. The latency of the DRAM is 50% higher than that of the Core i9-9900K, which partly explains the difference in game performance that we have just seen.

Another reason for slightly lower gaming performance is the main latency. Compared to Ryzen, a second generation member, the new architecture represents a significant improvement. We see a 30% reduction in latency for the best paired cores and at least 26% for the least matched cores. This means that at the best of times, heart-to-heart latency is actually reduced by 35% for the 3rd generation Ryzen processor compared to Intel's Coffee Lake architecture. The problem is that in the worst case, the latency is 54% higher, which is not very good, especially when you play games sensitive to latency.

Conclusion: Generational Upgrades

AMD has taken a big step forward with the 3rd generation Ryzen. We knew that from the first test of the 3700X and 3900X models, we were expecting good things after AMD announced a 15% increase in IPC performance at Computex before it was launched.

We do not think they are exaggerating: with hearts and clock rates at parity, the 3900X offers an 18% improvement over the Cinebench multi-core test 2700X and 13% for the single-core test. We also saw a 13% improvement in V-Ray and 16% in Corona.

You can not really use games to measure CIP earnings, but they are always interesting to watch for hour-by-hour comparisons. An obvious problem with games is that they are not always related to the processor and even when they are, the degree to which they are linked can vary. For example, Rainbow Six Siege and Total War: Three Kingdoms increased slightly, but in both titles we were strongly linked to the GPU. The 3900X was about 13-14% faster than the 2700X when tested with World of Tanks, World War Z and Battlefield V and an even more significant improvement of 20% in Far Cry New Dawn performance.

Finally, we might consider adding a Skylake-X processor to this type of testing, although we can wait for third-generation Threadripper to arrive before doing this comparison.

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