I'm from Brazil and getting ready for a big PC upgrade this month. This time, I'm handpicking every part instead of going for a pre-built system. I have the budget for either the 9800X3D or the 9950X3D, and I'm also upgrading to a 9070XT. I already have 64GB of RAM. I want this PC mainly for gaming, but I also need it for studying and coding. I've heard you typically don't need more than 8 cores for gaming, but since I have other uses, I'm curious if having those extra 8 cores for productivity would make a significant difference. The price difference is about $285 between the 9800X3D and the 9950X3D, and about $150 between the 9800X3D and the 9850X3D. Currently, I'm upgrading from an i7 12700K, and while I'm aiming for better performance, I'm also passing my current setup to my parents for their workstations. I'm not sure if the 4 extra E-Cores from the i7 12700K are providing much difference either. So, is it worth it to upgrade to the 9950X3D, or should I save some cash and stick with the 9800X3D?
5 Answers
If the price gap is $150, I'd say go for the 9950X3D rather than second-guessing yourself later. Performance for gaming is pretty similar between both processors, so it might be worth the investment.
I built a PC recently with a focus on coding. What kind of projects are you working on? It might help to know how CPU-intensive your work will be.
Right now, I’m mainly doing some light backend and frontend coding. I’m still a beginner, so I’m not clear on how much my code might utilize extra cores.
I'm using the 9800X3D, and it's more than enough for everything you do. For gaming, a 5000X3D with a good GPU is typically all you need. The extra cores do provide a boost for work and studies, but honestly, I have a 9950X with 16 cores and 32 threads, and I don’t feel the need to upgrade anytime soon.
Check how much you push your current CPU while working. If your CPU usage is often maxed out, more cores could really help. But if you're usually below that, you probably won’t see much of a difference. From what I gather, your workload might lean more towards single-threaded tasks unless you’re doing lots of code compilation.
Okay, that makes sense!
If gaming is your main focus, the 9950X3D doesn’t really enhance gaming performance. Get it only if you’re more into productivity or video editing because the way the cores are allocated isn’t a huge benefit for gaming alone.
I had to reread that, but just to clarify—the $150 difference is between the 9800 and 9850, not the 9950. The move to 9950 is actually about $285.