I'm currently using a Ryzen 5 5600 with a Radeon RX 6700 XT, 16GB of RAM, and a new 1440p monitor. A meaningful GPU upgrade is outside my budget for now, but I can find the Ryzen 7 5800X3D for around £300. I'm considering upgrading the CPU now and replacing the GPU in about a year. I mainly play AAA games and World of Warcraft, and I don't need ultra settings. Would the 5800X3D provide a worthwhile improvement and last for several more years, or would it make more sense to keep this system and do a full platform upgrade later?
3 Answers
If you are spending roughly £300, compare that with an entry-level AM5 bundle containing a CPU, motherboard, and 32GB of DDR5 memory. A newer platform gives you a better upgrade path, while buying a premium AM4 processor leaves you at the end of that platform. If an affordable bundle is not available in your area, the 5800X3D is still a reasonable drop-in upgrade—especially for WoW—and you can wait for a more worthwhile GPU generation later.
The 5800X3D is essentially the final high-end gaming upgrade for an AM4 system, and it can improve frame-time consistency and 1% lows even when the extra cache does not dramatically raise average FPS. That said, 16GB of RAM is becoming limiting, so moving to 32GB would also be worth considering. Your current setup is fairly balanced, so there is no urgent need to replace anything.
At 1440p, your RX 6700 XT will usually be the limiting factor in AAA games, so a 5800X3D may not improve average FPS much there. World of Warcraft is the important exception because it can be very CPU-heavy and benefits noticeably from the extra 3D cache. If WoW is a major part of your playtime, the CPU upgrade makes sense; otherwise, putting the money toward a future GPU upgrade is probably better.
I would avoid rushing into a modest GPU upgrade at 1440p. The 6700 XT is still capable, so waiting until you can make a larger jump should provide much better value.