Civilization VI & Battlefield 1
Civilization VI AI Test
Core i9-7900X suffered tremendously during our Civilization VI graphics test, but it clings onto a leading spot in the more CPU-focused AI benchmark. This is surprising considering the metric's preference for quad-core processors.
Even more surprising, Core i7-7820X falls to the bottom of our field. We retested several times with varying parameters, but there is no clear answer to explain the -7820X's lackluster performance. Overclocking helps the -7820X overtake a stock Ryzen 7 1800X, but it embarrassingly trails the tuned six-core Ryzen 5 1600X.
Civilization VI Graphics Test
Core i7-7820X joins Core i9-7900X at the bottom of this chart, while the 8-core Broadwell-E-based -6900K takes pole position. The Ryzen models are very competitive; they outperform both Skylake-X processors.
Intel suggested to us that some programs might require optimizations to accommodate its new mesh topology. Civilization VI appears to be among them.
Battlefield 1 (DX11)
The Core i7-7820X shows up ahead of Core i7-6900K on our chart, though the difference is tiny. Although Ryzen takes the bottom positions, again, we're talking about a slight loss of average frame rate compared to much more expensive CPUs. Without question, our Battlefield 1 benchmark is mostly graphics-bound.
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