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VRMark, 3DMark & AotS: Escalation
Comparison Processors
VRMark & 3DMark
Futuremark's VRMark test lets you gauge your system's suitability for use with the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, even if you don't currently own an HMD. The Orange Room test is based on the suggested system requirements for current-generation HTC Vive and Oculus Rift HMDs. Futuremark defines a passing score as anything above 109 FPS.
In spite of its higher Turbo Boost Max 3.0 frequencies and new cache hierarchy, the Core i9-7900X lags behind two Broadwell-E processors at stock settings. Even a 4.5 GHz overclock does little to rectify its position. Core i7-6950X takes the lead here.
The Core i9-7900X fares better during the DX11 and DX12 benchmarks. At its stock clock rate, it even leads the overclocked Core i7-6950X under DirectX 12. This series of benchmarks sets the tone: when Core i9-7900X can leverage its strengths, it provides impressive performance; but in some games it loses out to Broadwell-E.
Raw horsepower doesn't seem to be the problem. After all, -7900X leads in the API tests as well. This could just point back to isolated shortcomings of the mesh topology that Intel conceded to previously.
Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation became the poster child for game updates after AMD's Ryzen launch. We've endured seemingly weekly patches, which necessitate constant retesting. As a result, Ryzen 7 1800X offers much better performance now than it did at launch. In fact, the 1800X registers impressive gains in most games at stock and overclocked settings compared to our last round of testing.
Optimized game code doesn't help Intel's Core i9-7900X, though. With 10 Hyper-Threaded cores at its disposal, we expect the processor to lead in workloads optimized for threading. But again, it falls behind the overclocked Core i7-6950X in spite of its frequency advantage. The rest of the field falls in according to core count. The Core i7-7700K and Ryzen 7 processors account for a majority of frame time outliers.
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