I'm trying to decide between the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and the Ryzen 9 7900 for my needs. I play a lot of video games, though not too many AAA titles, and I also create music using Ableton. I need a CPU that handles audio processing well and can run games smoothly. I understand that CPUs aren't the primary focus for gaming, but I'm curious how much the extra cores and threads in the Ryzen 9 would benefit me in Ableton.
2 Answers
Consider your main focus. Both CPUs can perform well for gaming and productivity, but if you're looking for a balance, you might want to weigh how each CPU handles specific tasks. If the 7900 is $50 cheaper, it could be the better deal, especially if its gaming performance isn't significantly lower than the 7800X3D.
Ableton actually benefits from multiple cores, so if you're doing a lot of audio processing, that can be a significant advantage. The Ryzen 9 7900 is likely to handle those tasks more efficiently than the 7800X3D due to its additional cores. Here’s a link with more info on multi-core support in Ableton.
I guess I'm looking for a balance, so how much worse would the 7900 be for gaming compared to the 7800X3D?