To revisit the battle between the Cadre i7-8700K and Ryzen 7 2700X, we'll be comparing today's data with what nosotros found back in 2018 to see if either CPU has anile amend. In addition, nosotros'll benchmark alongside the new Cadre i7-11700K and Ryzen 7 5800X, so owners of the older Core i7 and Ryzen 7 CPUs can run across if the upgrade is worth it.

Information technology's a straightforward set up upward, so let's quickly go over the system specs and jump into the results. All CPUs were configured with 32GB of DDR4-3200 CL14 dual-rank, dual-channel memory. For the AM4 platform we used the MSI X570 Unify motherboard, while Intel'south LGA1200 platform used the Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Principal and the Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra for LGA1151. All boards were running the latest BIOS revision available.

For the graphics bill of fare we're using a Radeon RX 6900 XT with all CPUs cooled using the Corsair iCUE H150i Elite Capellix liquid cooler. We've tested xxx games at 1080p, 1440p and 4K, and nosotros'll expect at the information for most a dozen titles before checking out our usual data breakdown.

Benchmarks

We experience like a skilful identify to get united states started is Battlefield V since the franchise has oft been used for comparison the functioning of these very CPUs. I recall testing the 8700K with the GTX 1080 Ti and pushing up near 170 fps and that was pretty amazing at the time.

That was about the limit of these parts, in today'due south retest we're withal limited to 167 fps on average, whereas the newer 11700K and 5800X pushed up over 200 fps.

The 8700K has remained 17% faster at 1080p, though this time the margin is kept at 1440p, while before it closed upward about entirely with the GTX 1080 Ti. It's not until nosotros accomplish 4K that the margins are eliminated with the RX 6900 XT. So for loftier refresh rate gamers seeking maximum performance, the 8700K is still the better option, though for well-nigh the 2700X is more adequate.

The 2700X also looks more suited to the chore next to the 8700K than it did in a previous revisit characteristic where the 10700K, 11700K and 5800X were used for comparison. The 2700X is most 40% slower than the 5800X, but it was just 14% slower than the 8700K.

Moving on to Watch Dogs: Legion we observe that at 1080p the 8700K is xix% faster than the 2700X, which is quite a large margin, though it's worth noting that at 1440p this effigy was reduced to vii% and and so about ii% at 4K. For those of you gaming at 1440p, you'll be unable to observe the difference between the 8700K and 2700X, peculiarly if yous're not using the $1,000 6900 XT.

F1 2021 is another game where the 2700X got completely railed by new CPUs, but when compared to the 8700K information technology's not so bad. Sure, the vi-core/12-thread Intel CPU was yet fifteen% faster, only that'due south significantly less than the 41% proceeds we saw with the 5800X.

The 8700K remained 14% faster at 1440p and it wasn't until we reached 4K that performance was the same, resulting in a heavily GPU-bound scenario.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is still heavily thread dependant and every bit a result the 8700K enjoys a handy lead over the 2700X, delivering 21% more performance on average at 1080p and 1440p, though information technology'south worth noting that the Ryzen 7 part does enable slightly better one% low performance, and of course, frame rates were much the same at 4K.

Cyberpunk 2077 might have been a game where some expected the 8-cadre/xvi-thread 2700X to trounce or at to the lowest degree friction match the 8700K, but that wasn't the case as Intel even so enjoys a 13% performance advantage at 1080p, and even at 1440p the 8700K offers much stronger one% low operation.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Gild is some other DirectX 11 title where the 2700X struggles quite badly, allowing for just over 80 fps at 1080p and 1440p. The 8700K results in heavily CPU bound performance at these resolutions, just the frame rate is additional past a niggling over twenty% and that does make quite a flake divergence for those with college refresh rate monitors.

The Call of Duty Warzone functioning is interesting because although the 8700K was well-nigh 20% faster when comparing the average frame rate at 1080p, the 1% low performance was about the aforementioned. Then at 1440p there'due south very little difference between these 2 CPUs and that being the instance we come across no real divergence at 4K.

The Core i7-8700K was clearly faster in Death Stranding, offering around 12% more performance at 1080p and 1440p, just with the 2700X pushing over 144 fps at both resolutions, this isn't a margin you're going to detect in this title. The 2700X also looked a lot amend next to the 8700K than it does against the newer 11700K and 5800X.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a CPU intensive championship, particularly the in-game village section that we use for testing. Despite heavily utilizing both CPUs, the vi-cadre 8700K was a good bit faster averaging 132 fps making it 23% faster than the 2700X. We saw a similar margin at 1440p and information technology wasn't until we hit 4K resolution that performance normalized.

Tom Clancy'south Rainbow Vi Siege is a game where those playing seriously like a lot of frames, similar a lot of frames. That said, the 2700X was good for well over 300 fps on boilerplate and a ane% low of almost 300 fps, and for even the most farthermost players that's typically enough.

It'southward also worth noting that although the 8700K was 13% faster on boilerplate, the 2700X offered 5% greater frame fourth dimension operation. The 8700K was stronger at 1440p but here we're only talking about a 7% margin, and so overall they're fairly like in RSS.

Operation in State of war Thunder was specially poor for the 2700X relative to the new eight-core AMD and Intel CPUs, but not to say the feel was poor, quite the contrary as the game was smooth and enjoyable at 112 fps, information technology'southward only that relative to the 5800X it was just over 40% slower. However, relative to the 8700K things await better for the erstwhile Ryzen 7 part, equally here it was only 11% slower. That margin was seen at all three tested resolutions as the 2700X and 8700K were the primary functioning limiting components in this testing.

In Hitman, the 2700X looks quite poor relative to the newer 5800X and 11700K, trailing past nearly 30%. Nevertheless, when compared to the 8700K, the 2700X was only 8% slower at 1080p and 11% slower at 1440p, so the margin wasn't that extreme in that older generation comparison.

Globe War Z is the only game of the thirty we tested where the 2700X was faster than the 8700K, though by a small 5% margin. Bluntly, that ways both CPUs delivered comparable performance.

Performance Summary

We simply looked at a dozen of the games tested, at present information technology'south time to compare the CPUs across all 30 games, starting with the 1080p data. For CPU-limited gaming, it's quite articulate that in 2021, the Core i7-8700K remains the faster CPU against the 2700X, delivering 12% greater performance on boilerplate.

At that place's a single title here where the 2700X takes the lead and the margin is fairly insignificant. On that note, eight of the 30 games saw a margin of 5% or less in either direction which we typically deem a tie. Then at that place were xiv games, where the 8700K was faster by a significant fifteen% difference or greater.

Interestingly, if nosotros have a quick look back at our 35 game criterion data from 2018, we run into that using the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, the 8700K was 9% faster on average at 1080p and and then 13% faster at 720p. Those margins are like to what we've found here, some three years later.

Getting back to our 2021 benchmarks, at 1440p the margin comes down to vii% in favor of the 8700K and now we're looking at fifteen games, so one-half the games tested, where the margin is 5% or less.

There's a further six titles where nosotros're looking at single-digit margins and three games where the Core i7 was notwithstanding faster by a sizable 20% margin or greater.

At 4K functioning is very similar across the board. Here the 8700K was just 1% faster on average thank you to some decent wins in War Thunder and Dirt 5. Merely overall we are heavily GPU leap at 4K, even with the 6900 XT, so CPU performance was irrelevant.

What We Learned

That'southward how the Core i7-8700K performs in 2021 and how it compares to its one-time foe, the Ryzen 7 2700X. Intel'due south old schoolhouse 6-cadre/12-thread CPU nonetheless delivers exceptionally good gaming performance in 2021, and if you're primarily focused on gaming I imagine anyone using this processor will be more than happy with how it handles.

As we showed back in 2018 with a 35 game benchmark, the 8700K is the superior gaming CPU, only depending on your configuration there may be a small-scale difference between the Core i7 and Ryzen vii processors. As nosotros also noted in 2018, the major drawback with the 8700K was the lack of an upgrade path. The only way frontward was an expensive Core i9-9900K and that only nets yous two extra cores, though over again the 9900K is more than than sufficient for high-terminate gaming in 2021.

You lot could contend that the Ryzen 7 2700X wasn't as wise of an investment given high-cease gamers would probably be looking at an upgrade to the 5800X or 5900X, and neither offer an affordable upgrade despite the fact that you tin can proceed your high-cease X470 motherboard.

After 2018, the 2700X did become a more than attractive option cheers to heavy discounts that saw information technology selling for as little as $160 at i point in 2020 -- and so honestly if you did, that was a pretty great buy -- while the 8700K was still at its MSRP due to 14nm supply issues.

So there you have it, the 8700K was and still is the ameliorate gaming CPU and the better selection for gamers. Those of you who bought it around its release in 2017 can be pretty content with your selection many years later on, and proceed information technology for a while longer if you by and large use information technology for gaming.

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