I'm looking to buy the 9950X3D primarily for gaming and multitasking. I often have OBS, Photoshop, and a few other applications open while I game, which can be quite intense. Currently, I'm using a 7800X3D (since my previous 7950X3D broke), and I'm maxing out the cores but I'm concerned about performance. I know the 9950X3D has less cache and I'm worried this may negatively impact my gaming performance with all the multitasking. Could anyone share insights on how it handles mixed loads like mine?
3 Answers
I'd say having Photoshop open while gaming can be a bit of a stretch. Why not limit the number of open applications if possible? It could help your gaming performance a lot. But I get it; sometimes you really need those apps running for work.
You definitely might face bottlenecks with a single core when running multiple tasks. Even if you divide things up among cores, games still lean heavily on the performance of certain cores. Just keep that in mind when planning your workload.
If you're asking whether getting a non-3D 9950X might be better, the drop in performance might be worth it for fully utilizing all cores.
Your 9950X3D should manage fine with gaming and multitasking, as it intelligently allocates tasks to the most capable cores. Just be mindful that, while your previous 16-core CPU handled things well, this one operates differently. It’s designed to boost gaming performance with the vcache but might park some cores when gaming, which can limit multitasking.
Can’t you just manually control core parking? If you manage it, you might find that overall performance could still be solid.
True, but for those of us in creative jobs, juggling multiple apps is part of the deal. It's not like I can wait for things to load during crucial moments.