Before addressing the results, let me just say that I was running the latest available BIOS for each system when I performed these 3DMark benchmarks, including AGESA 1.0.0.3 Patch A on our MSI X670E ACE motherboard (BIOS v1.25). The systems were outfitted with the exact same DDR5-6000 CL30 memory, running the same build of Windows 11 Pro, and had the same NVIDIA drivers installed (the latest, GRD 522.25).
Yes, the margins are pretty slim. The results above are each the result of three runs, averaged – except for Speed Way, which was so close I ended up running it five times on each system, averaging the highest three scores from each. Speed Way is still within the margin of error, and can be considered a tie – as it should, considering it will be completely GPU bound.
When not GPU bound, it seems that Intel’s Core i9-13900K certainly has the potential to provide better performance in games than the Ryzen 9 7950X. Time Spy is the closest approximation of a more CPU-bound scenario in the above chart, but what about a real game?
Having dropped Cyberpunk 2077 from the benchmark suite after its buggy performance for myself and other reviewers at the RTX 4090 launch, I decided to re-visit a reliable benchmark with the RTX 4090 FE, and Metro Exodus is as reliable as it gets (there’s a standalone benchmark app and you don’t even have to be online for it to work!).
As with the 3DMark tests above, the Core i9-13900K battles the Ryzen 9 7950X using our GeForce RTX 4090 FE card and the latest driver: