AMD FX 8370 versus Intel Core i7 5960X and DX11/12 (GeForce GTX 1070)

AMD FX 8370 versus Intel Core i7 5960X on DX11/12 (GeForce GTX 1070)

Battlefield 1 is now a full DirectX 12 title. The driver overhead results as such should be much better (if properly implemented). In the past we have seen AMD perform much worse due to lower per core (IPC) performance these processors deliver. DirectX 12 can really help in this particular matter as CPU overhead can be cut off by a significant margin. As such we figured it'd be nice to compare in-between two eight-core processors (AMD FX 8370 versus Intel Core i7 5960X) both clocked at 4.3 GHz. 

Not just the two processors matter, we also have to look at the fact and effect of DirectX 11 vs. 12 come into play. For the rough FPS measurements comparison have a peek at the chart above. On this page we start with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070. The upper chart shows all tested resolutions versus DX11 and DX12 and the Core i7 5960X and AMD FX 8370.

Though both processors are clocked in the 4.3 GHz Turbo range, the AMD FX processor is half as fast per core and as such IF a graphics card is fully enabled in DX12, it could offer better performance. The long story short is that for the GeForce GTX 1070 the differences are marginal, a couple of frames per second at best. 

If we look at the FCAT percentile chart then at a WQHD monitor resolution (2560x1440) and Ultra quality settings we do see a bit more of a difference, the fastest processor and DX3D API is the Core i7 5960X in combo with DirectX 11 for the the Geforce GTX 1070. The upper percentile chart however is a very tricky measurement as implosions and people running at you or even weather effects in the game can have a dramatic effect on percentiles averages. So please do take that into account. Second best is DX 11  / AMD FX 8370, which is interesting as this is an 8-core sub 200 USD processor. The game performs really well but again DX11 rocks for Nvidia in the specific scenario.

And then once we we look at frametime latency, that's where you can see the real and bigger picture, all is very close to each other. Let's say 11ms latency, which equals to equates 90 FPS. The huge spikes are grenade/mortar impacts and when not cached the create an FPS drop and thus stutter. Things like these make the game hard to measure on average FPS as the effects are pretty random in-game. The interesting fact remains to be that Battlefield 1 does not require a 1200 USD processor to run. I mean for a 200 bucks processor, that is a near perfect gaming experience. DX11 versus 12 relative to processors is pretty much irrelevant.