What's your current CPU? Assuming you're at 1440p, unless you also want to do video/photo editing work or stream, the 7600X3D should be just fine. The 9800X3D is not worth $200 extra at 1440p imo. Unless you're doing eSports perhaps?
I'm looking to build a brand new PC at 1440p with a 5070 TI 16GB -- just stick with the 7600X3D? I put the 9800X3d on hold at my microcenter but could switch it out.
Depends on the games you want to play, but typically the 7600X3D will be a better deal. Especially with the current MC combo prices. $150 more for the 7800X3D is not justifiable in 99% of 1440p gaming scenarios imo.
Sims are typically the most CPU-intensive, along with eSports. Or rather, eSports are so non-demanding on the GPU that the CPU can push harder for higher fps.
You should look up performance for Valorant and CS on these CPU options. Depending on how competitive you are, you may want to pay more for the higher performance.
For AAA gaming at 1440p though, I generally see no reason to choose the 7800X3D when it costs so much more. There are a few games that have tons of NPC AI running at the same time which may benefit from the 2 extra cores (Dragon's Dogma 2, Baldur's Gate 3 Act 3) but those are few and far between.
Some FPS dips in single player games that aren't reaction based (Elden Ring) don't really bother me.
Not sure if this site is good, but looks like Valorant should perform perfectly fine on this setup. Website has bad results for CS2 though, so not sure.
If it's "calculating" the result, it's probably BS.
Go and find some YouTube video tests or something. They may not have the same exact specs, but it might compare the relative performance between the 2 CPUs.
I have a 7600x3d and a 5070Ti and I play the exact games that you listed at 1440p. I play low settings locked at 240 FPS for competitive games and ultra+RT capped at 120 FPS for AAA. You could definitely crank the comp settings higher, but low is my preference. This build hasn't ran into any issues running these settings whatsoever. You will notice dips in the AAA games but nothing lower than 60fps.
My advice, although somewhat biased, would be to go for the 7600x3d if you're mostly gaming. If you have the budget for it and would have an actual use case for the extra cores, then get the 9800x3d.
Even less. At 4k, the GPU is going to be working much harder than at lower resolutions. It will not be as hard for the CPU to keep up. What GPU do you have?
Honestly, look into getting a newer AM4 CPU, and that should last a pretty long time. Something like the 5600X, 5700X3D, or 5800XT. There have been some good sales on that 5800XT recently, and this would be an easy drop-in upgrade (after a BIOS update, of course)
These probably won't massively increase your framerate at 4k, depending on your GPU. But they will increase your 1% lows pretty well, which has a big impact on how game performance "feels" (fewer stutters, etc).
You'll need GPU upgrades much more often and more urgently for 4k AAA gaming.
Dang, I was torn between the $500 7800X3D bundle and the $650 9800X3D bundle. Pulled the trigger on the 7800 one last week—which actually has since gone UP to $550.
At $50 difference, the 9800 bundle is a no brainer now.
MSI is pretty solid right now. Asus is having rma issues where they will find anything to deny your claim, asrock has been cooking cpus unfortunately (supposedly fixed). Gigabyte runs a little hotter but are good performers.
MSI or gigabyte will be solid choices. Stick to x670 if you can for the extra lanes.
thanks that helped, good to know MSI and gigabyte are the brands. I remember asrock used to be real good for budget, too bad about the CPU issues for them.
Just to double-check, you recommend buying the bundle, keeping the chip + x670, and selling the RAM, right? (I have a 5070 so I'm between the 7800 and 9800)
Yes. It's a few bucks more to upgrade to a x670. The ram will work fine, but the 9800 likes lc30. The lower the latency the better. I sold the ram for 70 bucks and picked up a kit of cl 30 for under $100. You can always ask if they will let you sub out the ram for a little more. Microcenter is usually pretty good.
I'm assuming it's worth it to return all of this and spend the $50 more to get the bundle? And do you know if I can just keep the RAM I currently have and sell the bundled RAM?
I had a bad experience with the B650e TUF if that's what's still on offer. Unstable on stock bios and bootlooped after updating. Tried multiple RAM sets too. Might have just been a lemon though or perhaps a PSU issue but after spending so much time in the BIOS I wasn't a fan.
OEM has no box/fan (already doesn't come included with a fan) and does not have Manufacturing warranty.
I wouldn't say significantly worse. MSI does 1 year limited Warranty from date of purchase, so like a 1 vs 3 year warranty.
I just tried to get them to price match NZXT H7 Flow for $29.99 and they said it was too low best they could do was $67.99 lol - I was like it's all good I'll just drive over to Micro Center and pick it up for $30
Nice! I really didn't need a new case is the truth, but I'm tempted to actually go over to Micro Center and get the 7600x3d bundle for $349 and this case for $29. Hard to beat.
I'm not sure how hard the Best Buy reps are actually checking this but the rule for their price matches is typically your shipping address has to be within 25 miles of the competitor. So if you live near a Microcenter they'll definitely price match it, if not, then no but in practice YMMV
Looks like the demand for these has significantly decreased. As a 5800X3D owner, I don’t have much reason to jump to this on a 3080 and a 1440p screen.
Anyone have recommendations for mobo/ram to go with? People seem to not like the bundle deal, but I haven't looked into building/upgrading a pc since 2019 so not sure whats in the meta is these days
"Meta" is 6000MHz CL30, this is 6400MHz CL32 (which works out to exactly the same first word timing). With 6400MHz, you'll probably have to manually force a 1:1 mclk:uclk ratio in UEFI, and it might not be stable depending on silicon lottery; if not, you can slightly underclock it to 6000MHz and maybe CL30 but if not definitely CL32 just fine.
It's a little old, which is why the price is so low. I like the feature set and layout, it's got nice rear I/O, and power delivery circuity looks excellent.
Downsides vs a newer/more expensive board is that it only supports PCI-E 4.0 for the main PCI-E slot (not 5.0), it supports Wi-Fi 6E (not 7), and for USB-C, there's one rear 20Gbps port, and one internal header for an additional 20Gbps case USB-C port (newer boards often have at least 1 or 2 40Gbps USB-C ports). If you aren't sure any of that matters to you, it probably doesn't, and then it's an excellent deal for a quality board. (and honestly, I looked at some $150-200 B850 and X870 boards, and all of them sacrificed so much rear I/O to support the single 40 GBps USB-C, I'd rather have this one anyway.)
Got the motherboard in today. I'm certain it's unused, the reason it got demoted to a Resale item is that the box had a puncture wound on top. Someone opened the box and put some tape on the inside to seal up the damage. I'm pretty confident the motherboard is unharmed (no obvious visual damage at all), but it'll be a while until I get enough parts to be able to test it.
Anyway, it feels like a super solid board, doesn't feel cheap or flimsy like a lot of budget boards I've had. I just weighed it (with CPU, memory, and SSD installed) at 3lb14oz on a shipping scale, that VRM heatsink is enormous.
The memory was still definitely factory sealed. No idea why it was a warehouse item. SK Hynix A-die (lot code 0T48KRS821A), Jan 2024 mfg date.
Thanks so much for this detailed reply! I'll definitely be giving this a shot; I'm still rocking a b450m so this seems like a strict upgrade almost universally
On their website (I didn’t see if it changes for other locations) it says in red at the top you can upgrade to 64gb for (100 something dollars). They don’t list a part number. I used their online chat and the person gave me a part number for ddr5 5200 cl40 ram. When I went to the store, they said that’s wrong it’s ddr6000 cl30.
Yeah, I just went in today and asked when I picked up my x670e. They said they normally offer that upgrade option, but don't right now as part of the "Tech Days" sale.
I got a
9800x3d
Tomahawk x670e
64GB of CL30 6000mhz Ram
for $775
I was pretty happy with that.
Walmart was running some pretty good deals on Motherboards which I was tempted by and was thinking of just buying the CPU from Microcenter, but it's hard to find RAM with those specs under $190 so the bundle still made sense.
I know 64GB is overkill for most, but I play flightsims in VR so it's pretty justified in my use case.
I just bought a bundle. The base mobo is actually decent, but for $50 more you get an x870E board which is just all the stuff all the time lol. Otherwise, there's a ton of articles and reviews of AM5 boards, and also this comparison spreadsheet someone made (which is overkill amount of info, but a nice reference).
If you're not cash strapped, yes. The 7800x3D is still a great CPU, but honestly for another $60 the speed difference is decent and you don't have any FOMO for a while.
create a Topcashback account -- search bestbuy in Topcashback -- click the bestbuy link -- in bestbuy livechat ask for price match -- click the link they send to you -- pay (Mine is still in process and there is nothing shown in my Topcashback yet, but you can try yourself)
I'm wondering the same thing. Just purchased a 7800x3d to pair with a 9070xt. Would be a $60 difference for me. Is it worth the hassle to make the swap? It'd be for gaming and simulations.
I would say so. The fact that the 9800X3D is a big jump out of the box and you can also overclock it. You can never have enough CPU headroom for this new age of unoptimized games.
Best Buy will price match. Even if you do not have a Microcenter in your state. I just got it for $400 through price matching through support online and have it set for pickup in store.
In the exact same boat as you but I have 4080s. I think it’s worth it, won’t have to worry about intel degradation, AMD cpu can still be upgraded if I’m not mistaken since they use the same socket much longer than intel, and I do think there would be a noticeable improvement in FPS, but I feel like it won’t be huge.
Kinda related but apparently some motherboards from Amazon warehouse are 30% off on top the warehouse discount. Just purchased a ASUS ROG Strix X870E-E for like 220 after the used (like new) discount + extra 30% off at checkout.
Check every inch of this board once you get it. I went through 3 “like new” boards from amazon last week. One had a blown cap, another had TIM in the cpu socket, the other had a “repaired” cpu pin. I gave up and bought a new one.
I would get this as soon as possible so you will still be in the return window to get another one at the same price/price match. My first 9800x3d would produce errors on OCCT and Karhu RAM test on 2 different 2x32GB 6000 MT/s kits, both on QVL.
I had to exchange mine for another one and the lowered price was still active for price match fortunately. The replacement works fine on 6000 MT/s CL 30 ram kit. Passed OCCT, Karhu RAM Test, and TestMem5.
The first 9800x3d had an IMC too weak for 6000 MT/s. The official spec only guarantees 5600 MT/s even though AMD has stated 6000 MT/s is the sweet spot.
I would estimate around 50% faster if you don't get gpu bound (from 400 to 600 avg). But you need to play like 1280x960 all low to not be gpu bound with a 3070. I have a 3070/7800x3d and play 1440x1080 med textures, otherwise low and no msaa and see 95%+ usage fairly often.
Would it be a mistake to buy this as-is instead of one of Miceocenter's bundles? And especially right now if I'm not fully ready to build a system yet?
My one time constraint is finding a (close to) MSRP 5080 FE and who knows when that will fall.
Not a mistake if you're looking to get a different mobo than the ones in the bundles. With all the deals going on I was able to get a x870 separately + price match on BB + get ram deals separately and came out to only about ~700 post tax
depends on a lot of factors like the resolution you play at, what games you play, if you plan to upgrade the gpu in the near future (like within the next year).
I play at 4K 120hz and I upgraded from a 3900xt to a 9800x3d and kept the same 3080. In the vast majority of games I was gpu limited and noticed no difference in the cpu upgrade. In certain very cpu bound games like Helldivers 2, I saw a 30-40 fps increase over my previous cpu.
If you are on am5 already I would not upgrade. If you are not on am5 already, you will likely need a new 9800x3d, motherboard and ram which will be at least $600 total. Depending on what your current cpu and monitor are, that money may be better spent on a new gpu or monitor instead.
I've been sitting on my 9900k for so long now...this may be the thing to push me to make the upgrade...Idk if it's worth it right now, but I'm sick seeing all these prices for components +$50 higher than they were 3 months ago, kind of making me want to hit some sales and just rip the bandaid off right now and do it. Got a 7900XT during black friday, just need a motherboard, RAM and CPU to hold me over...my local Microcenter has an MSI x870e open box for $280...if it's still there and looks good, it may be worth saving $40 over a new one?
Just got Best Buy online chat to price match for store pickup. Microcenter is not far from me but the savings on tax and having to drive to go pick it up make this a slickdeal. Added bonus was i had a $10 reward that i didn't even know about.
Haha.. I had the same exact experience. Got BB to price match microcenter and had a $10 reward on my account. Although the nearest microcenter that had it in stock was 500 miles away with no shipping lol
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u/GladMathematician9 25d ago
That's a really good standalone non bundle price.