I'm currently running a Ryzen 7 5800X with a Radeon RX 7900 XT and 32GB of DDR4-3200 CL16 memory. This system was originally built for music production and gaming, but it's now used exclusively for gaming. I chose the 5800X because it suited my digital audio workstation needs at the time, and I'm wondering whether moving to a 5800X3D would provide a worthwhile gaming upgrade.
The 5800X3D anniversary edition costs roughly $470–$500 CAD where I live, while older models from resellers are listed even higher. Since that price is comparable to a basic 32GB DDR5 kit by itself, switching to an AM5 platform doesn't seem worthwhile right now. The main game I'm considering is Marathon, which appears to be CPU-limited and might benefit from the extra cache through better frame-time consistency and improved 1% lows. However, the developers may improve CPU optimization over time, so I'm unsure whether the upgrade would remain worthwhile. Is the 5800X3D a sensible upgrade at this price, or should I keep my current processor?
2 Answers
The main question is whether your 5800X is actually limiting your games. With a 7900 XT, an X3D chip can help in CPU-bound titles, especially with 1% lows, but the improvement varies a lot by game and resolution. If Marathon is the only title where you’re seeing a possible CPU bottleneck, I’d wait and see what optimization updates do before spending nearly $500 CAD.
At that price, the 5800X3D is difficult to justify. In games that benefit heavily from extra cache, you might see around a 20–30% improvement in average FPS or noticeably better lows, but many games will show a much smaller difference. A 5700X3D—or a reasonably priced newer X3D option, if available—would make more sense as a drop-in AM4 upgrade. Otherwise, keep the 5800X until you move to a new platform.
I hadn’t realized there were lower-cost X3D options available. If the 5800X3D is mostly a luxury upgrade at current prices, keeping the 5800X for now seems like the safer choice.
That’s what I’m leaning toward. Marathon is the only current game where I expect a meaningful improvement, and the situation could change once the developers optimize it further.