Benchmarking i7-7700K vs Toms

[ibjeepr]

So I built a new rig with an i7-7700K and did a few Benchmarks to compare against Tom's results.
Windows 10 in performance mode, no overclocking.
I used Tom's results for the i7-7700k from "Intel Coffee Lake Gaming Results: Core i5-8600K Cheat Sheet"

CIV VI AI Test after 3 runs = 18.29; Toms: 17.35
I'm a full second slower here. More on that below and my issue.

Time Spy CPU Score = 5528; Toms: 4911
That's a lot better than Tom's score. Pretty much even with the I5-8600K

Fire Strike Physics score = 13841; Toms: 12777
Again, noticeably better than Tom's score.

I tried to get my CIV VI AI Test score down to Tom's score of 17.35 and I can't do it.
At stock 4.5ghz I was averaging 18.2x.
With a 4 core OC of 4.8 there was little to no change which I thought was weird since it's a CPU focused test.
Keeping the 4.8ghz 4core OC, I then dropped the graphics settings from Max at 2160 60hz down to 1080 60hz with rock bottom graphics and memory impact settings and v-sync turned off.
Scored a steady 17.75 every time.
Cranked the graphics back up to 2160 60hz max settings, v-sync on and my score went right back up to 18.2x
Clearly graphics settings impacts the AI (CPU) test score but even then I can't get down to Tom's 17.35 score.

Any thoughts and the graphics impact and how to get my score down in the CV VI AI test?

 

[ibjeepr]

Maybe someone at Tom's can tell me what your CIV VI AI test protocol is?
Do you minimize all graphics settings first?
Anything else?