Hey everyone! I'm planning to upgrade my setup and could use your advice. I'm trying to decide between the 9700X and the 7800X3D CPUs. The 9700X costs around $400 here, while the 7800X3D is just a bit more—about $35-$40 extra. I probably won't be upgrading my CPU again for a while, but both options come with the AM5 socket, which gives me possibilities for future upgrades. For context, I have an RTX 4060 now, but I'm looking to step up my graphics card to something like a 5070 Ti in the not-so-distant future. My primary use is gaming at 1440p, but I also do a bit of productivity work and programming—though I do have a laptop that can handle that if needed. Let me know if you need any more details for your recommendations!
3 Answers
Honestly, I think the 7800X3D is a solid choice if gaming is a priority for you. It has more L3 cache, which can really help with performance and reduce stuttering even though it has slightly lower clock speeds. If productivity isn’t your main focus, go with the X3D!
The 9700X is definitely more future-proof since it’s Zen 5. You might notice a bit of a drop in gaming performance with the 7800X3D, but the single-core performance of the 9700X is a major plus. If you can use your laptop for productivity, I’d say go for the 9700X!
If I plan to handle productivity on my laptop, do you still think the 9700X is the better option?
If you're mostly gaming, the 7800X3D gives a nice boost in performance. Yeah, it might be a bit slower for productivity tasks compared to the 9700X, but if gaming is the goal, it's worth it.
But how much worse is it for productivity, really? I'm coming from an i7-8700!
What about for lighter productivity tasks? I handle development for my blog and some typical browser tabs.