3DMark
We aren't big fans of using synthetic benchmarks to measure game performance, but 3DMark's DX11 and DX12 CPU tests provide useful insight into the amount of raw horsepower available to the game engine.
Due to its thread count advantage, AMD's Ryzen 5 1500X beats Intel's entire line-up of stock processors during our DX12 CPU test. Overclocking provides a nice boost, as well. The 1500X enjoys the same advantage in Futuremark's DX11 physics tests.
The 3DMark API overhead test reveals a surprising trend. Mainly, the Ryzen 5 1500X delivers higher DX11 multi-threaded results than its six- and eight-core counterparts, which could be related to its higher per-core allocation of L3 cache reducing contention. This could bode well for frame rates in threaded games.
As expected, the 1500X's single-threaded DX11 results land within range of the other Ryzen processors, but lag Intel's numbers due to its lower per-core/clock performance. The overclocked 1500X enjoys a big gain in single-threaded performance, improving its standing against the locked Core CPUs. In line with its pricing, AMD's Ryzen 5 1500X falls directly between the Core i5-7500 and -7400 in DX12 draw call measurements.
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