Intel Core i5-13600K with DDR4 memory performance measurement: DDR4 end game grabs a wave of CP value combinations

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Intel’s 13th-generation Core I processors, code-named Raptor Lake, can support two types of memory, including DDR4 and DDR5, allowing consumers to have more affordable options for installation.

DDR4 last generation glory

Although Intel has not disclosed what memory the 14th-generation Core I processors code-named Meteor Lake will support, it is very likely that only DDR5 memory will be supported, and AMD has also fully switched to DDR5 memory for Ryzen 7000 series processors and AM5 platforms. Therefore, Raptor Lake is likely to be the last generation of PC processors to support DDR4 memory.

Although the high bandwidth advantage of DDR5 memory has gradually matured, the price is still relatively high. If we compare the cheapest products of the two types of memory, the price of DDR5 is about 1.43 times that of DDR4 with the same capacity. The price gap of high-end products is even greater. Therefore, for consumers in the mainstream price range, DDR4 memory is also a good choice with a more competitive price.

In order to verify the performance gap between the two types of memory, the author chose the Core i5-13600K processor and the MSI MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI DDR4 motherboard for performance testing to see if the mid-range processor and cheap memory can take advantage of the price and cost-effectiveness. (As for the consumer group who bought the Core i9-13900K, they should not care about the price of the memory)

During the test, the Resizable BAR function of the graphics card was turned on. Each result was tested in 2 rounds. After determining that there were no extreme values, the average was taken. The game performance used the built-in test mode of the game. “Global Offensive” uses Titled Tower Benchmark, FPS Benchmark map, and NVIDIA FrameView to test, and set the highest picture quality in 1080p, 2K, and 4K resolution. Set the item to the highest setting, turn off settings such as VRS or dynamic resolution, and only adjust the ray tracing function on and off. As for the results of the control group, the results were taken from the previous articles written by the author.

Test Platform:
Processor: Intel Core i5-13600K
Cooler: MSI MEG Coreliquid S360
Motherboard: MSI MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI DDR4 (UEFI version 1.1.0)
Memory: Team Xtreem ARGB DDR4-4000 8GB x 2 (@DDR4 -4000)
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Founder Edition
Storage: Seagate FireCuda 520 SSD 1TB
Power Supply: MSI MPG A1000G PCIE5
Software Environment: Windows 11 Pro 21H2 (Build 22621.674), GeForce Game Ready 521.90

The motherboard used in this test topic is ATX size MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI DDR4.
It adopts a 16+1+1 (core/GT/AUX) phase power supply design, and the MOSFETs and inductors in the VRM area also cover the heat sink to help dissipate heat.
The motherboard provides 4 PCIe Gen4x4 M.2 slots, of which the 3rd and 4th slots share the heat sink.
The special thing is that there are a total of 7 groups of SATA terminals instead of the common 6 groups.
The I/O backplane provides 2.5GbE Ethernet, a total of 8 sets of USB Type-A terminals, and one set of USB 3.2 Gen2/Gen2x2 Type-C terminals with a transmission speed of 10Gbps/20Gbps.
The processor used in the test is a mid-level Core i5-13600K.
The memory is Team Xtreem ARGB DDR4-4000 8GB x 2, and operates at a DDR4-4000 transfer speed through the XMP automatic overclocking function.
The graphics card used is NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Founder Edition, and the Resizable BAR function is turned on.

Processor and Comprehensive Performance Testing

In the first half of the test, let’s take a look at how the Core i5-13600K with different types of memory affects performance.

The testbeds in the data chart are marked as follows:
7600X: Ryzen 5 7600X, B650 Chipset, DDR5-6000
7700X: Ryzen 7 7700X, X670E Chipset, DDR5-6000
12600K: Core i5-12600K, Z690 Chipset, DDR5-4800
13600KD4: Core i5-13600K, Z790 chipset, DDR4-4000
13600K: Core i5-13600K, Z790 chipset, DDR5-6000

In the comprehensive performance test item PCMark10 Extended, the performance of Core i5-13600K using DDR4 and DDR5 memory is about 0.94~2.68% behind, and the total score is only 1.58% different, the difference is not very big.
In CrossMark, which is also a comprehensive performance test, the total score gap has expanded to 8.72%, of which the gap for creative projects has reached 14.15%.
In the Cinebench R20 processor rendering test, it can be seen that the two types of memory have little effect on single-core performance, but with the increase in data throughput after enabling multi-core, the slower DDR4 lags behind by 1.07%.
In Cinebench R23, which increases the computing load, the DDR4 platform lags behind multi-core projects by 2.91%.
In the POV-Ray ray tracing rendering test multi-core project, the DDR4 platform is only 1.43% behind.
The differences between the two types of memory in the 264 Benchmark and x265 Benchmark software encoding video conversion tests are 0.85% and 5.71%, respectively, but both are significantly ahead of the competitors’ Ryzen 5 7600X and Ryzen 7 7700X.
Using Handbreak for pure software computing video conversion, the gap between the two types of memory in H.264 and H.265 formats is 12.33% and 4.82%, which also allows the Ryzen 7 7700X to catch up with the DDR4 platform.
In the 3DMark CPU Profile processor multitasking test, the gap between the two types of memory is within 1.08%.
In terms of memory bandwidth, the DDR4 platform lags behind the DDR5 platform by about 30%.
As for the memory delay part, the DDR5 platform benefits from the transmission speed being pulled to DDR5-6000 (CL=30), which greatly improves the delay, which is significantly better than the DDR5-4800 (CL=40) used by the Core i5-12600K in the early days of the market. , and also leads the DDR4-4000 (CL=18) of the DDR4 platform by 4.5%.

Game Performance

Next, we continue to analyze the impact of two different memories on game performance.

The Time Spy project of the performance testing software 3DMark uses Direct X 12 graphics with 2K (2560 x 1440) resolution. 
The main difference between the two types of memory is the processor score, the difference is as high as 14.62%, and the difference in the total score is 2.92%.
ime Spy Extreme increases the resolution to 4K (3840 x 2160) and increases the computational burden. At this time, the gap between the two is reduced to 4.51%, and the total score difference is 1.06%.
In the actual game part, I first saw “Tomb Raider: Shadow”. When the ray tracing is turned off at 1080p resolution, the DDR4 platform lags behind the DDR5 platform by 7.78%, but when the resolution is increased to 2K and 4K, because of the performance The bottleneck is shifted to the graphics card, so the performance is almost the same.
“Tomb Raider: Shadow” has a similar situation with ray tracing turned on. The difference between the two types of memory in 1080p resolution is 3.51, and the difference between 2K and 4K resolution is less than 0.37%.
In “Watch Dogs: Liberty Legion” with ray tracing turned off, the DDR4 platform performed the worst at 1080p resolution, 5.65% behind the DDR5 platform.
After “Watch Dogs: Liberty Legion” turns on ray tracing, the gap between the DDR4 platform in 1080p resolution is reduced to 3.36%.
Due to the low graphics burden, the performance bottleneck of 1080p resolution mainly occurs in the processor. The DDR4 platform has a gap of 3.55% in 1080p resolution, but it is still ahead of the Ryzen 5 7600X due to the advantage of the number of cores.
After the ray tracing is turned on in “Polar War Cry 6”, the difference between the 1080p resolution of the DDR4 platform has expanded to 4.64%.
“Assassin Mission III” Dubai (Dubai) test project includes a variety of scenes and NPC characters, the overall burden is low, but it can still be seen that the performance bottleneck mainly lies in the processor. 
The DDR4 platform is 2.08% behind the DDR5 platform at 1080p resolution, and its performance is not as good as the two rival processors.
“Assassin Mission III” Dartmoor (Dartmoor) test project includes many gun shooting and explosion effects, full of physics and particle simulation, the test of the processor and graphics card is more stringent, and also allows the DDR4 platform to be analyzed at 1080p The degree of backwardness widened by 12.80%.
Next, we see the competitive game “Fortress Hero”. The average FPS of the DDR4 platform at 1080p resolution lags behind the DDR5 platform by 3.83%, while at the 99th percentile (1% of the frame rates are lower than this value) it is 9.38 %, which can be interpreted as the FPS consistency of the DDR4 platform is poor, and it is easier to feel the feeling of instant freeze.
As for another competitive game “Absolute Force: Global Offensive”, the average FPS of the DDR4 platform at 1080p resolution lags behind the DDR5 platform by 4.45%, but the 99th percentile score is slightly ahead, but the gap is not big.

Gamers can choose the DDR4 platform

From the above test data, it can be roughly sorted out that the performance of Core i5-13600K with DDR4 and DDR5 memory is indeed different, but the difference is about 5%, which is acceptable and does not affect the actual use range. For budget-conscious consumers, whether they are building a new computer or want to use the existing DDR4 memory, it is recommended to choose a motherboard that supports DDR4 memory to reduce the overall cost.

Taking a closer look at the game performance, we can notice that in addition to the obvious performance gap at 1080p resolution due to the CPU Bond, at 2K and 4K resolution, it is due to the performance of the graphics card. The bottleneck (GPU Bond) is almost the same, so for players who want to enjoy the high-definition gaming experience brought by AAA masterpiece games, saving the memory budget and transferring to an upgraded graphics card is more beneficial than choosing a DDR5 platform. .

As for competitive games, although there are differences in performance, the 2 games tested this time have FPS performances of 180 frames and 600 frames respectively at 1080p resolution. First, it has exceeded the update frequency of most screens. Second, it may be possible It also exceeds the player’s perceived limit for latency, so this performance gap is negligible.

Considering that the Intel 700 series chipsets and motherboards only support the 12th and 13th-generation Core I processors, there is no need to worry about the flexibility of future upgrades and whether the memory can be used. 

Main processor market reference prices (TWD):
(Updated 2022 10/21)

Ryzen 5 5500     $4,800
Ryzen 5 5600     $4,970
Ryzen 5 5600G   $5,290
Ryzen 5 5600X   $5,970
Ryzen 7 5700G   $8,290
Ryzen 7 5700X   $7,970
Ryzen 7 5800X   $8,970

Ryzen 5 7600X   $9,750
Ryzen 7 7700X   $12,950
Ryzen 9 7900X   $17,950
Ryzen 9 7950X   $22,950

Core i3-12100    $4,600
Core i5-12400    $6,550
Core i5-12500    $6,990
Core i5-12600K   $9,500
Core i7-12700    $11,200
Core i7-12700K   $12,600
Core i9-12900    $16,300
Core i9-12900K   $17,100
Core i9-12900KS   $22,888

Core i5-13600KF   $10,100
Core i5-13600K    $10,990
Core i7-13700KF   $14,300
Core i7-13700K    $15,200
Core i9-13900KF   $2,1000
Core i9-13900K    $22,000

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Title: Intel Core i5-13600K with DDR4 memory performance measurement: DDR4 end game grabs a wave of CP value combinations