Far Cry 5
In Far Cry 5, the inter-generation (Zen 2 to Zen 3) jump is infinitely higher than the performance gain upon doubling the core count. Once again, both the averages and lows are nearly the same on the two processors. The CPU utilization is similar to what we saw with Valhalla and slightly worse than The Division 2.
Ghost Recon: Wildlands
Ghost Recon is an excellent example of a game that despite being able to utilize up to 8 CPU cores offers worse performance with the 5900X due to the inter-CCX latency penalty incurred upon using additional cores from the second CCX. Although the game is a fair bit faster on the 5900X than the 5600X, both the 5800X and 3700X perform slightly better due to all 8 cores being on the same CCX. The CPU utilization is the same as the previous 2-3 games on this list, with the 5600X averaging in the 50s and the 5900X showing an overall usage of just 25%.
Like Far Cry 5, this game benefits massively from the inter-generational IPC increase and the higher core clocks.
Hitman 2
Hitman 2 scales pretty well up to 8 cores, but beyond that, there’s little to no scaling even with respect to the lows.
The Ryzen 5 3600X chokes pretty badly in this game at both 1080p and 720p. In contrast, the 5600X performs admirably, beating both the Ryzen 7 3700X as well as the Ryzen 9 5900X. The 5600X is slightly faster on account of its higher boost clock and all the cores being on the same CCX. The overall CPU utilization was over 60% on the 5600X and 48% on the 3700X.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is another game that scales well with core counts. However, upon going from the 5600X to the 5900X, the performance gain is rather paltry, with both the averages and lows seeing a modest single-digit gain.
This game performs well on all four CPUs, with the 3700X seeing a bit of stuttering in the first half of the benchmark. This game once again makes it hard to recommend a Ryzen 9 5900X or 3700X over a 5600X for gaming workloads.
Conclusion
As you can probably guess, buying a Ryzen 7 3700X over a 5600X for gaming purposes is a bad idea despite the higher core count on the former. The Ryzen 5 5600X is faster than even the Ryzen 9 3900X in gaming workloads and that is primarily due to the huge IPC and boost clock advantage. Opting for a Ryzen 7 3700X or 3900X if you’re looking to build a workstation for content creation or engineering workloads isn’t a bad idea, but for gaming, it’s the 5600X that you’ll want to get.
