I'm planning to pair a Radeon 9070 XT Swift with my current system and am deciding whether to replace my Ryzen 5 5600X with a 5800X3D or move to AM5 with something like a 9800X3D. I already have 32GB of DDR4 memory and a 750W power supply. I mainly play competitive games at 1440p, and I've started noticing sudden stuttering in Dota 2 even when the average FPS looks high. Would the 5800X3D make a noticeable difference in CPU-heavy games, or would it be better to spend much more on a new motherboard, memory, and AM5 processor before eventually waiting for a future platform?
3 Answers
A 750W power supply should generally be enough, assuming it’s a decent-quality unit and the system isn’t heavily overclocked. Since you already own the AM4 motherboard and DDR4 memory, the 5800X3D is the cheaper and simpler upgrade. It also lets you get more life out of the platform instead of replacing several parts at once.
At 1440p with a 9070 XT, a 5800X3D can perform in the same general range as CPUs like the Ryzen 5 7600X or 9600X, though results depend on the game. The extra cache can help especially in CPU-heavy titles such as Tarkov. Compare the price of the 5800X3D with the cost of an AM5 CPU, motherboard, and DDR5 memory. Either route should be capable of driving that GPU well. It’s also worth checking your exact parts in a power calculator and leaving some headroom for transient spikes; newer ATX 3.0-or-later supplies are better prepared for those spikes.
If you already have 32–64GB of DDR4, I’d lean toward the 5800X3D. An AM5 upgrade with a high-end gaming CPU, motherboard, and 32GB of memory can easily cost several times more, while the gaming difference at 1440p may be fairly small. The 5800X3D should still provide a noticeable improvement over the 5600X in games that are CPU-limited, particularly through better frame-time consistency and fewer dips.
I do have 32GB of memory. Would the move from a 5600X to a 5800X3D be clearly noticeable in CPU-intensive games?