Don’t buy the wrong CPU in your next gaming laptop!
I’ve compared AMD and Intel in 21 different games at 1080p
and 1440p resolutions to show you all the differences when it comes to gaming.
Intel are offering more cores and threads this year with 12th gen due to their new hybrid design
that uses higher power performance and lower power efficient cores. Both CPUs have similar single
core turbo boost speeds, however the i7 has more cache which is known to affect games. Otherwise
both support the latest DDR5 memory and use PCIe Gen 4 for the discrete graphics and storage.
To do this testing fairly I’ve got Intel’s Core i7-12700H and AMD’s Ryzen 7 6800H processors in
the exact same laptop chassis, the Neo 15 from XMG. Both laptops have the exact same cooler,
same battery, same screen, and I’ve even tested with the same SSD and 32 gig DDR5-4800 memory kit.
Both laptops support liquid cooling, so this was used to rule out any possible thermal limits.
Both CPUs have been power limited to a 60 watt TDP for the game testing, but ultimately the
amount of power used by the CPU in a game will depend on the game and setting preset.
This year, both Intel and AMD laptop platforms have 8 lanes of PCIe Gen 4 connectivity between
the CPU and discrete graphics. This is different to last year, where Intel 11th gen offered either
8 or 16 lanes, so gaming laptops this year have the same amount of bandwidth between CPU and GPU.
These laptops are basically the same except for the CPU difference,
so this comparison is as fair as it can get, so let’s get straight into the game benchmarks!
We’ll start out with some eSports games, as CPU differences tend to matter more there,
but you’ll definitely want to see all of the results, as the differences can
be quite big in favor of AMD or in favor of Intel depending on the specific game.
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, so the exact same pass through the game on
both laptops. I’ve got the 1080p results on the bottom half and 1440p results just above,
with the 6800H underneath the 12700H. The i7 was reaching an 8% higher average
frame rate at the lower 1080p resolution, and was 5% ahead at the higher 1440p resolution.
Sure Intel is winning, but the difference isn’t really that big,
and realistically the FPS coming out of the AMD system is still going to run the game just
fine. If you’re seriously competitive though, Intel does have a slight edge in this game.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the game’s benchmark tool,
and while the i7 was reaching a 7% higher average FPS at the lower 1080p resolution,
AMD was actually a little ahead at the higher 1440p resolution. The gap isn’t as big,
but still it wasn’t the result I was expecting. We double checked and confirmed it too.
CS:GO on the other hand had the biggest gain with Intel out of all 21 games tested.
We’re talking about a 39% higher average FPS at 1080p with the 12700H, and a 29% lead at 1440p,
a massive difference. That said, it’s not as if 300 to 400 FPS on AMD is going to be unusable,
but again if you’re playing competitively you might want any advantage you can get.
Call of Duty Warzone was also ahead on Intel, though the difference is nowhere near as large.
We’re talking about a 5 FPS boost at 1080p,
and basically no difference at 1440p, at least in terms of average frame rate. The 1% lows
had a bigger lead with Intel though, which is arguably more important when
playing competitively as you don’t want to drop frames in the middle of a fight.
Apex Legends was doing better with AMD,
though it’s only a small difference. The average frame rates were about the same with either CPU,
a 1-3 FPS difference isn’t something most people will ever actually notice in practice. That said,
the Ryzen laptop had less dips in performance, as shown by its higher
1% low results, so although the average FPS is similar, AMD was a bit smoother here.
Cyberpunk 2077 also had about the same average FPS with either Intel or AMD based laptop,
but this time the Intel chip had the edge when it came to 1% lows, so a smoother experience
from the i7 system. The 1440p result on the 12700H in particular looks quite good. The 1% low is only
5 FPS behind the average FPS, around 60 FPS with very few dips would be nice and smooth.
God of War had the biggest lead for AMD out of all 21 games tested, at least in terms of average FPS,
because the dips in performance shown by the 1% lows were actually better with Intel. At 1440p,
the 12700Hs average FPS is only like 6% slower than the 6800H, but the i7 is almost 50% higher in
1% lows, so I’d argue the Intel chip is actually offering a better, more stable experience.
Total War: Warhammer III was added by popular request and tested with the game’s benchmark tool,
as it’s meant to be more CPU demanding. That said, even at 1080p the i7 only had a small
3% higher average FPS, one of the smaller differences out of the 21 games tested.
Meanwhile 1440p was essentially performing the same on both laptops.
Microsoft Flight Simulator was tested with the Sydney landing challenge,
and the differences were quite small. Intel had a little lead at 1080p, but then
AMD was ahead in 1% lows at 1440p, but again it’s only a small difference. Ultimately I doubt these
differences really matter, most people probably wouldn’t be able to notice them in a blind test.
Forza Horizon 5 was tested with the game’s benchmark. Again the differences weren’t that
big between Intel and AMD here. Intel had a 4% lead in average FPS at 1080p, but then they’re
basically the same at 1440p, granted Intel had a larger 10% lead when it came to the 1% lows,
so smoother gameplay compared to the AMD based laptop.
Watch Dogs Legion had a pretty big lead with Intel in the game’s benchmark. The i7 was 18%
higher in average FPS at 1080p and 11% higher at 1440p, the second biggest difference out of
all 21 games tested. The extra CPU cores, threads and cache available
to the i7 seem to matter more here compared to everything else, with the exception of CS:GO.
If you want to see more results from the other 10 games including red dead redemption 2,
metro exodus, far cry 6 and more, they're available exclusively to
channel supporters through Patreon. Click the link in the description to get access
and join our Discord community as well as behind the scenes videos.
On average out of all 21 games tested at the lower 1080p resolution, Intel’s Core i7-12700H CPU was
performing about 6% better compared to AMD’s Ryzen 7 6800H. As we can see, the differences
can vary significantly depending on the specific game. AMD only really had a big win in one game,
God of War down the bottom, the other games it was ahead in were less than a 2% difference, so
within the margin of error and not really enough of a difference that you’d actually notice when
playing. Intel was ahead in 15 of the 21 games, with CS:GO having the biggest gain on Intel.
When we step up to the higher 1440p resolution though, the Intel CPU is now only one and a
half percent faster than AMD on average out of the same selection of games. CS:GO
still had the biggest difference with Intel, but otherwise for the most part, the CPU selection
just matters less at higher resolutions. Considering 1440p screens are starting to
become more common, the takeaway for me is that CPU choice doesn’t really matter
too much if you’re planning on gaming at 1440p. And if you’re targeting 4K gaming,
then the performance gap would be even smaller than this as the GPU takes on most of the load.
If we just focus on the differences to 1% lows rather than average FPS,
well Intel has a higher 12% average lead out of 19 of the games tested at 1080p.
Unfortunately I couldn’t include 2 of them as the benchmarks don’t measure 1% lows, but this
still illustrates that generally speaking, Intel will offer a smoother experience in more games.
The 1% low differences are around 9% better on Intel on average out of the same 19 games tested
at 1440p, so a bigger change compared to the 1.5% noted to average FPS, which again indicates that
Intel is generally smoother in most games. Not all games, but more than half, and by larger margins.
So what sort of a price difference are we talking about between AMD and Intel? I’ve
been told that AMD should be a bit cheaper, but unfortunately right now I don’t have
up to date pricing, so you’ll have to refer to those links below the video.
If a laptop is available with either AMD or Intel CPU, if your priority is on gaming and they’re
about the same price, I’d probably just go for the Intel model. Even if it was only a little extra.
But that’s when it comes to gaming only, of course it’s a completely different story
when we factor things in like battery life or applications like compiling or video editing.
Check out this video next to see all of the differences between these two CPUs
in non-gaming workloads, and spoiler, the higher core and thread count of the
i7 does actually matter more here than what we’ve seen in the games.
But AMD still has some tricks up its sleeve, I’ll see you in that one next!