I upgraded from a GTX 1660 Super to an RX 6700 XT, mainly to improve performance in Monster Hunter Wilds. The GPU has been a big improvement, but it seems to have exposed a CPU bottleneck in several newer games. Helldivers 2 and 007 First Light stutter while GPU usage stays around 70–90%, and my Ryzen 5 3600 is heavily loaded across all cores. CPU temperatures also reach roughly 80–90°C in Helldivers 2. Monster Hunter Wilds still struggles at times, although games like Warframe and Deadlock run smoothly above 100 FPS, so the problem seems specific to CPU-heavy titles and optimization rather than every game. My system has a Ryzen 5 3600, RX 6700 XT, 16GB of RAM, a Biostar B450MH motherboard, and games installed on an SSD. Since I am already on AM4, I am considering a Ryzen 7 5700X3D or 5800X3D as a drop-in upgrade. Is the 5700X3D enough for this graphics card, or is the 5800X3D worth paying extra for? Are there any BIOS, RAM, motherboard compatibility, or cooling issues I should check first?
3 Answers
Before installing the new processor, check Biostar's CPU support list and update the motherboard BIOS while the 3600 is still installed. Afterward, enable XMP or DOCP so the memory runs at its rated speed. Also make sure the cooler is properly mounted and consider replacing the thermal paste; 80–90°C under a heavy workload may be within limits, but better cooling can prevent throttling and reduce noise. The B450 board may support the upgrade, though its BIOS support and VRM quality are worth verifying first.
A 5700X3D should be an excellent match for the 6700 XT and would be a massive step up from the 3600 in CPU-heavy games. The 5800X3D is only modestly faster, so unless the price difference is very small or you want the absolute fastest AM4 chip, the 5700X3D is usually the better value. Other Zen 3 chips such as the 5600X or 5700X would also help, but the X3D model gives you more headroom for newer games.
Helldivers 2 is especially demanding and can be poorly optimized, so it may still show high CPU usage after an upgrade. That does not mean the CPU replacement is pointless, though: a 5700X3D should reduce stutters and improve performance in CPU-bound games. I would avoid the Ryzen 5 5500 as an upgrade path here since it is not a substantial enough improvement over the 3600, particularly for a system you want to keep for several more years.
Some of the newer updates have made CPU performance worse, so the game may never use the GPU perfectly. Still, moving from the 3600 to an X3D chip should give you much better minimums than trying to solve everything with graphics settings.
The 6700 XT should be perfectly fine with either chip. In CPU-limited games, the upgrade should improve frame-time consistency and minimum FPS more than it improves average FPS.