Should I prioritize the RTX 5080 or a stronger CPU and more RAM?

The Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 64 GB of RAM make more sense if your Unreal Engine work, rendering, or editing regularly uses lots of CPU threads and memory. The RX 9070 XT is still a strong gaming card, and saving $400 is significant. Just check whether any of the software you use specifically benefits from NVIDIA CUDA, OptiX, or other NVIDIA features before choosing the Radeon system.

Since this is not strictly a gaming PC, 64 GB could be worthwhile for Unreal Engine projects, multitasking, and heavier editing sessions. Still, 32 GB won’t be a problem for normal 1080p editing or 1440p gaming. If the 5080 bundle is within your budget, it offers the more noticeable gaming upgrade; if saving $400 matters or your productivity workloads are the priority, the 9950X3D and 9070 XT bundle is a sensible value option.

The CPU difference is less important for your target resolution than the GPU difference. The 9950X3D is excellent, but it isn’t automatically much faster than the 9800X3D in games. The RTX 5080 should provide a better experience in demanding games, ray tracing, and path tracing, so I’d favor that bundle unless your Unreal and rendering workloads clearly require the extra cores and RAM.

For gaming, I’d choose the bundle with the RTX 5080. At 1440p and especially 4K, the GPU usually has the biggest impact on frame rates and visual settings. The 9800X3D is already more than capable of keeping up with a 5080, and 32 GB of RAM is enough for current gaming. You can always add more memory later if your development or editing work starts needing it.