Yup - though I'd expected deltas to be within say 5% either way, and some of those are so large that they bring into question the testing premise. Not due to concerns over validity of the results, but of their applicability to any real conclusion.
The 5800X3D has significantly more cache than we're used to on desktop CPUs. Ryzen has been tuned for this, IMO, as memory support has been slow going for AMD and Zen, whereas Alder Lake really isn't well-tuned for anything. DDR4 reports have been lackluster when it comes to pushing memory speeds, and DDR5 is a mess with few being able to utilize the faster kits even in XMP.
However, Alder Lake does perform better with faster memory, including faster DDR5, as demonstrated on boards specifically designed to push memory speeds - but like DDR5, these boards aren't priced at pedestrian levels, with many lacking some form of connectivity available on more mainstream boards in one way or another. Main point is, while Alder Lake isn't pushing DDR4 memory speeds to stratospheric levels, it can take advantage of the additional bandwidth available on DDR5 - even with higher access latencies.
Then there's the stock limiter on Alder Lake - which I get, as the 5800X3D can't overclock, and further the power draw difference will start to get out of control. At the same time, Alder Lake will scale to the limits of its cooling, the same way PBO seems to work for Zen CPUs. With the main difference being that Alder Lake will easily eat up more than 300W with the brakes off, while an eight-core Zen CPU doesn't stand a chance hitting that level of power draw.
Then there's Windows 10. I'll say that for the most part, there's very little end-user benefit here outside of specific circumstances, but that doesn't mean that there's no benefit. Specifically, Windows 11 includes Intel's scheduler for Alder Lake. If we were looking at GPU-limited scenarios this might not make any measurable difference at all, but when isolating CPUs, it very much could - and could help explain some of the more puzzling results.
On balance, we know how Alder Lake performs on Windows 10 and Windows 11. AMDs 5800X3D puts on a good showing, and while discussing the limits of CPU performance is likely to hold the community's attention, the big win here I think is value for the AM4 platform. Anyone not using an eight-core Zen 3 CPU or more will likely benefit substantially from upgrading to a 5800X3D, while not having to consider upgrading memory, motherboard, or cooling to get 99% of the performance available.
Assuming that the $500 rumored price is true, that's a heck of a deal versus say an MSI Z690 Unify-X, a kit of DDR5 6400, and a 12900K (or KS!), as an example of what it might take to really wring the most performance out of Alder Lake - and you get to stay on Windows 10 a while longer!
