I'm looking for advice on upgrading my CPU, motherboard, and RAM. My current system has a Ryzen 9 3900X, an ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero X570 motherboard, 32GB of DDR4 memory, an EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra, a 2TB NVMe drive, a 516GB SSD, a 1TB hard drive, an EVGA 1000W power supply, and a Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL case.
I play at 1440p, mainly games such as Escape from Tarkov, Assetto Corsa, War Dogs, and Star Citizen. Performance is generally good, but I sometimes experience stutters and load into games later than other players.
I was considering a Ryzen 7 3950X3D or 3900X3D with an ASUS B850E TUF Gaming motherboard and 32GB of RAM. However, I'm not sure those processors exist, and I'm also unsure whether 6000MT/s CL30 memory is worth the higher price compared with CL36. Should I move to AM5, or would a simpler upgrade make more sense?
4 Answers
For an AM5 build, DDR5-6000 is a good target, but CL30 isn’t mandatory. CL36 is perfectly usable if it saves a meaningful amount of money; the real-world difference is usually small. For your current AM4 system, though, you don’t need to buy RAM at all unless your existing kit is unstable or you want to increase capacity.
The 3900X3D and 3950X3D aren’t real AM4 or AM5 processors. Since you already have an X570 board, the easiest gaming upgrade is a Ryzen 7 5800X3D, or a 5700X3D if it’s substantially cheaper. Update the motherboard BIOS first, then swap the CPU. Your existing DDR4 and motherboard can stay, and the extra 3D V-Cache should help a lot in CPU-heavy games like Tarkov and Star Citizen.
The B850E board is an AM5 motherboard, so it would require an AM5 processor and DDR5 memory. It won’t work with your current Ryzen 9 3900X or DDR4 kit. If you decide to move platforms anyway, a 7800X3D-class CPU with 32GB of DDR5-6000 is a sensible gaming setup, but it’s a much more expensive route and your RTX 3080 may be the limiting factor at 1440p in some games.
I’d avoid replacing the motherboard, RAM, and CPU all at once unless you specifically want a new platform. A 5700X3D or 5800X3D is the practical upgrade here. Also check where each game is installed: putting them on the NVMe drive instead of the hard drive can improve loading times, while late loading into matches can also be caused by network or server conditions rather than the CPU.
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