I'm currently using a Ryzen 7 7700X with an RTX 4080 Super, gaming at 4K with high or maximum settings. I've had the processor for around two years and mostly play demanding AAA games such as Black Myth: Wukong, Dragon's Dogma 2, Resident Evil Requiem, and Forza 6. My goal is a stable 60 FPS or better.
The prices available to me are €369 for the Ryzen 7 9800X3D and €424 for the Ryzen 7 9850X3D. Would it make sense to upgrade now, choose the better-value 9800X3D, spend extra on the 9850X3D, or simply keep the 7700X and wait for Zen 6 or a future X3D model? How noticeable would the difference realistically be at 4K with an RTX 4080 Super, particularly for 1% lows?
4 Answers
If you decide to upgrade anyway, the 9800X3D looks like the better value. Gaming performance is extremely close to the 9850X3D, so paying the extra €55 probably isn’t worthwhile for your setup. You could also consider buying a 9800X3D second-hand and selling the 7700X to reduce the cost, but the improvement at 4K would still be fairly small.
Keep the 7700X for now. At 4K and high settings, your RTX 4080 Super will usually be the limiting factor, especially in the AAA games you listed. A CPU upgrade probably won’t produce a noticeable difference unless you lower the resolution or graphics settings.
I’d save the money and wait for Zen 6 or a later X3D generation. The 7700X is still very capable, and upgrading now would mostly be an incremental improvement rather than a major jump. You’re unlikely to see a big change in average FPS or 1% lows while playing at 4K.
The 7700X should continue handling 4K gaming well for quite a while. In GPU-limited games, even moving to a much newer processor may only change performance by a small amount. You’d be more likely to notice a CPU upgrade in high-refresh 1080p or 1440p gaming than at 4K.
That makes sense. I’m mainly trying to avoid spending money for a change I’ll only see in benchmarks, so waiting sounds safer unless I start playing more CPU-heavy games.