It's time to launch a brand new review series. The community has long been looking forward to seeing performance scalability tests for CPU and GPUs, and now it's finally here. We have planned multiple comparisons, including the popular AMD 5800X3D and the price-reduced Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, so stay tuned for the follow-up.

As the opening and benchmark setting, we first bring the competition between the Ryzen 7 9800X3D against the popular evergreen Ryzen 5 7600X. This is a showdown between a game performance beast and a cost-effective main processor, and will also reveal in which scenarios the X3D architecture can bring the most significant performance leap.

It is natural to choose 9800X3D as the benchmark, which represents the current performance ceiling. Although the 7600X is not that dazzling, it is also a wise choice - its performance is very close to the Ryzen 5 7500F, 7600, 9600 and 9600X, and these processors have always performed better in the game than their price expectations. The performance of the above CPUs under gaming load is basically the same.

There are not many games tested this time, only four, but each has been carefully designed: two image quality presets (medium and extreme), three resolutions (1080p, 1440p, 4K), and four graphics cards combinations. Each game generates 48 independent data points, each of which is the average of three runs. This means that a single game requires massive testing and generates a large number of charts for analysis - huge data, numerous charts, and extremely long time.

In terms of graphics cards, we have selected four levels: GeForce RTX 5090, RTX 5080, Radeon RX 9070 and 9060 XT 16GB. Although we usually prefer Nvidia graphics cards, it makes sense to include it in the test, given the popularity of the RX 9070 and the 9060 XT 16GB's current excellent cost-effectiveness. In addition, comparing the RTX 5080 and the RX 9070 can also help determine whether the driver overhead is still a factor affecting performance.

Next, let's dive into the data...

Performance Testing

Rainbow Six: A newborn

1080p - Medium image quality

The first test was the competitive shooting game "Rainbow Six: Alien", which uses medium image quality, rendering ratio of 100%, and 1080p resolution. When paired with RTX 5090, the 9800X3D leads 30% with up to 575 frames. Of course, the 7600X is not inferior, and the 446 frames performance is enough to meet the needs of most players.

After using RTX 5080, the performance of 7600X is almost unchanged, and the frame count only increases slightly by 1%, which is within the error range. The real change occurred on 9800X3D, with an average frame rate dropping by 4%, and a 1% lower frame dropping by 17%.

After switching to Radeon RX 9070, the results were unexpected but traceable. We have previously documented Nvidia's driver overhead issue under DirectX 12, which still seems to affect the Blackwell architecture. In this test, the performance of the 9800X3D paired with the RX 9070 was 10% lower than that of using the RTX 5080.

However, when paired with the 7600X, the RX 9070 actually brings a 10% performance improvement. The lower driver overhead of the Radeon graphics card effectively unlocks the processor's potential. In fact, the 7600X RX 9070 combination is 12% faster than the 7600X RTX 5090.

After dropping to 9060 XT 16GB, the result was clearly GPU-limited, with both CPUs locked to a level slightly below 340 frames.

1440p - Medium image quality

When it comes to 1440p, the results change significantly. The CPU dependency of the RTX 5090 is reduced, even with 9800X3D. At this time, the X3D processor is 33% faster than the 7600X. After using RTX 5080, both of them reached the upper limit of the GPU, and the frame rate exceeded 400.

The resolution improvement also lowers the RX 9070 to 356 frames, forming a GPU bottleneck scenario similar to the 9060 XT. Under this condition, Nvidia's driver overhead problem no longer appears.

4K - Medium image quality

With 4K medium image quality, it is completely GPU restricted. It should be noted that we use the built-in benchmark "Rainbow Six" because of the fluctuations in actual game testing. This benchmark is highly repeatable, but the pressure on the CPU is lower than that on actual combat, so please stay tuned.

Under this method, the 9800X3D and 7600X perform consistently at 4K, and the RTX 5090 reaches a maximum of 370 frames.

1080p - Extreme picture quality

Switch to Ultra preset (default 100% rendering ratio), starting at 1080p. Even with higher image quality, when paired with RTX 5090, 9800X3D is still 27% faster than 7600X. The gap narrows to 4% when using the RTX 5080, while the performance is exactly the same when paired with the RX 9070 or 9060 XT.

1440p - Extreme picture quality

At 1440p, most results are GPU-limited. Even with RTX 5090, the 9800X3D is only 5% faster than the 7600X (9% faster in 1% low frames). When paired with RTX 5080, RX 9070 or 9060 XT, the performance is completely consistent.

4K - Extreme Picture Quality

With the ultimate 4K picture quality, the result is entirely determined by the GPU. The RTX 5090 has a maximum of 238 frames, and both CPUs can output stably. The RTX 5080, RX 9070 and 9060 XT are also in GPU bottleneck state.

Kingdom Storm: Redemption II

1080p – Medium image quality

The next one is the single-player masterpiece "Kingdom: Redemption II", which usually players will experience with the highest quality. If you have RTX 5090, you will most likely not play with 1080p medium image quality. This test is more of a theoretical significance. Under this condition, the 9800X3D is 37% faster than the 7600X.

The gap after switching to RTX 5080 dropped to 11%, but the 1% low frame of 9800X3D is still 22%. When using the RX 9070 and 9060 XT, the results are completely GPU-limited.

1440p – Medium image quality

The resolution is increased to 1440p and increases the GPU load, but when paired with the RTX 5090, the 9800X3D is still 24% faster than the 7600X. RTX

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