HD Graphics 4600: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Although Skyrim is notoriously platform-bound, AMD’s A10-5800K establishes a commanding lead that makes the game enjoyable using Medium quality settings. We again see evidence that 1920x1080 is not particularly playable, though there are quality options you could sacrifice to bring performance up at that resolution.
A10-5800K kisses 40 FPS, but spends all of its time between 40 and 50 frames per second. Meanwhile, Core i7-4770K oscillates above and below the 30 FPS mark. Core i7-3770K and -2700K are simply not playable.
You might want to try turning the quality settings down to get Skyrim playable at 1920x1080…
Although AMD’s APU exhibits the best frame rates, the dual-module Piledriver-based CPU component is demonstrating that platform performance still does matter in this title by hitting the A10 with high variance between consecutive frames. Game play still feels fluid, fortunately.
Again, top frame rates are no guarantee of consistent frame delivery. AMD’s 95th percentile exceeds 32 ms. The jolt from one frame to the next is noticeable when it takes 32 ms longer.
