Hey everyone! I recently upgraded from a 10900K with a 490Z motherboard to a 9800X3D with an MSI X870 Tomahawk, and after spending five years in college, I finally saved enough to make this upgrade. I was told that changing both the motherboard and CPU would improve the performance of my 5080 graphics card that I got a few months back. However, I'm not noticing a significant increase in FPS—if anything, my framerate seems slightly lower. I've noticed that the FPS drops are less severe, but I'm stuck on Windows 10. Could this be why my performance isn't as good as expected? Do I need to upgrade to Windows 11, or is there something else I might be missing? Oh, and I opted for a fan heat sink instead of the 360mm AIO I had with my old CPU. Thanks for any insights!
5 Answers
Your dual tower cooler should be solid! But to really help, we need to know your FPS across different games, the resolution you are playing at, and what settings you’re using. For example, I was seeing around 90 FPS in 'Tainted Grail' and dropping to around 80 FPS; lower FPS in busy areas but up to 144 FPS in less populated spots.
Exactly! The performance changes depending on whether you're in the wilds or amidst heavy foliage.
You might still be GPU bound. The 10900K is an excellent chip and at 5GHz, it could still hold its own. The performance difference might not be as notable, especially at higher resolutions, but your lowest frame rates should be improving because of the larger cache on the Ryzen CPU. If you're considering an upgrade in the future, the power efficiency of your new setup will pay off! And yes, moving to Windows 11 could provide noticeable benefits for Ryzen 9000 CPUs—but you might just need to adjust your graphics settings to see a real difference.
I was expecting bigger gains due to the PCIe 5.0 switch!
That’s interesting since the 1080 series only supports PCIe 3.0.
First off, make sure you’ve downloaded the latest AMD drivers for your 9800X3D. Also, check if you've got your RAM configured correctly using EXPO/XMP settings—ideally at 1:1 ratio. Overclocking the FCLK (Infinity Fabric) can help too.
You should definitely see some FPS improvements, but a few factors could be holding you back. Check if you transferred your OS from your Intel setup; that can lead to driver conflicts. Also, ensure your RAM speeds are consistent—overly fast RAM can hinder CPU performance. What titles are you playing? Some games may not fully utilize the 3D V-cache on the 9800X3D. Plus, moving to Windows 11 might help with CPU utilization and overall system performance due to a newer scheduler, even if you’re primarily GPU-bound.
I've already updated all drivers for the GPU, motherboard, and CPU. My RAM speed is a bit confusing; it says 6400 MHz but shows 5600 MHz in the BIOS. I did a clean install of Windows 10 on a new M.2. I also thought switching from PCIe 3.0 to 5.0 would make a big difference.
Those conflicting speeds can definitely be tricky. It’s worth checking your BIOS settings to verify RAM operation.
Trust me, the 9800X3D excels in CPU-intensive scenarios, leading to higher minimum FPS. However, you're likely still GPU limited, which is why average FPS hasn't changed much. Lower your graphics settings to get closer to the actual performance boost. And definitely optimize your RAM—ideally, use two sticks in designated slots running at DDR5 6000 with stable UCLK and FCLK settings.
I have 4x32GB at 6400 MHz, so I’ll check on those settings.
That sounds great; just make sure you're using the correct slots!
In 'Tainted Grail,' I was seeing 90 frames on my 10900K, but now it's more like 80 FPS in 4K. Less crowded areas bring it back up to around 120-144 FPS.