I currently have a Ryzen 5 5600X, a Radeon RX 9070 XT, and 32GB of DDR4 memory. I mainly play single-player games such as Monster Hunter Wilds at 1440p. Would a Ryzen 7 5800X3D be a worthwhile final upgrade for my current system, and could it comfortably last several more years? Or would it make more sense to keep the 5600X and save for a newer platform with DDR5? What would you do in this situation?
3 Answers
I would only buy the 5800X3D if you can find it at a reasonable price. The 5600X is still capable, especially if you are happy with your current frame rates, so saving for a newer platform is also a perfectly reasonable choice. Upgrading just because a newer generation exists is not necessary—wait until the CPU actually becomes a limitation in the games you play.
The 5800X3D is essentially the ideal end-of-line gaming upgrade for an AM4 system. It is not as flexible as a modern CPU for productivity, but its extra cache makes it excellent for gaming. If the upgrade is affordable, it should let you skip an expensive platform change for quite a while; otherwise, keep the 5600X and save for the next major upgrade.
With a 9070 XT at 1440p, the 5800X3D should be a very strong upgrade from the 5600X and could keep the system comfortable for roughly four to six years, depending on the games and frame rates you expect. If you already have 32GB of decent DDR4, staying on your current motherboard is much cheaper than replacing the board, CPU, and memory.
The main exception would be if you plan to move to a significantly faster graphics card later. At that point, a newer platform would make more sense, but for the current GPU I would not rush into it.
At 1440p with high or ultra settings, the graphics card will often be the limiting component. CPU-heavy games and very high refresh rates are where the 5800X3D would make the biggest difference.