CPU for RX 5700 XT?

[Aleksbgbg]

I'm about to buy an RX 5700 XT. I want to know a good CPU that goes with this GPU?

 

Ideally I want to be able to upgrade next 1 or 2 gen GPUs without changing CPU.

 

Currently I have selected the 3700X, however I'm happy to go with the 3800X or 3900X if I can upgrade the GPU in 2 generations time and keep the same CPU. I'm not sure if this is plausible.

 

UPGRADE PARTS

This is what I have selected:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	£296.98 @ Aria PC
Motherboard	MSI MPG X570 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard	£192.08 @ More Computers
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	£109.73 @ Amazon UK
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	£109.73 @ Amazon UK
Video Card	PowerColor Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB Red Devil Video Card	£428.98 @ Amazon UK
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£1137.50
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-31 18:47 GMT+0000

 

CURRENT PC

I am keeping most of my current parts (including storage), apart from those ones. For reference, this is the current build I am upgrading from:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-6600 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler	Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler	£22.99 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H DDR3 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory	Corsair Vengeance Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR3-2400 Memory
Storage	Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	£121.38 @ Amazon UK
Storage	Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	£75.00 @ Amazon UK
Storage	Samsung 970 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	£140.49 @ Amazon UK
Storage	Seagate Momentus SpinPoint 2 TB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage	Toshiba 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	£39.39 @ Amazon UK
Video Card	MSI Radeon R9 390 8 GB Video Card
Case	NZXT S340 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply	XFX XTR 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	£156.84 @ Amazon UK
Case Fan	Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140 mm Fan	£17.98 @ Amazon UK
Case Fan	Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140 mm Fan	£17.98 @ Amazon UK
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£592.05
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-31 18:48 GMT+0000

 

I'll be gaming at 1440p/144Hz in Rocket League, GTA V, RDR2, and a bunch of singleplayer games like Assassin's Creed.

[Fasauceome]

The 3700X is totally solid, the only difference is a couple hundred MHz between it and the 3800X, and the 3900X has an excessive amount of cores for a gaming focused PC. 

[Princess Luna]

4 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

The 3700X is totally solid, the only difference is a couple hundred MHz between it and the 3800X,

You mean 25mhz to 50mhz if you enable PBO on both at best.

 

The truth is that from the R5 3600 to the R9 3900X the gaming performance is about the same clock for clock and equal memory configuration.

 

The cores are the same and frequency is about the same with PBO on all Zen 2 SKU and really no game truly uses more than 6 to 8 threads which the 3600 already has meaning that unless you really have more stuff going on it might actually be a better idea to cheap up CPU wise and focus that money on GPU/Memory/Storage.

[Bacon soup]

35 minutes ago, Aleksbgbg said:

I'm about to buy an RX 5700 XT. I want to know a good CPU that goes with this GPU?

 

I just bought a 5700XT and a R5 2600. I havnt played many games but these two seem to be well matched. The 3600X will do you fine for a few years. Have a look on youtube for what game you want to play. Maybe it does/maybe it does not beneft from 8/6 cores. I would not get a 3900X for this GPU.

[Aleksbgbg]

10 minutes ago, Princess Luna said:

You mean 25mhz to 50mhz if you enable PBO on both at best.

 

The truth is that from the R5 3600 to the R9 3900X the gaming performance is about the same clock for clock and equal memory configuration.

 

The cores are the same and frequency is about the same with PBO on all Zen 2 SKU and really no game truly uses more than 6 to 8 threads which the 3600 already has meaning that unless you really have more stuff going on it might actually be a better idea to cheap up CPU wise and focus that money on GPU/Memory/Storage.

I should mention, I'll be doing some productivity-related tasks. Occasional rendering and frequently programming (thus compiling programs and running them) which will require a beefy CPU.

[Mister Woof]

Edit - comments below are related to gaming. I don't know Jack about programming hardware requirements.

 

It's hard to say regarding "future proofing" for 1 or two more future GPU generations on a CPU purchase today.

 

There's a few data points that can help you make some guesses, though.

 

1) Compare 720p/1080p benchmarks with a very powerful and underutilized GPU. This removes the GPU as the limiting factor and is at this point only testing the CPU. The larger the lead in this category, the more "headroom" you may have for future GPUs. It's a simulation. Today's 1080p benchmarks with a 9900k/3700x and a 2080ti may be telling on what 1440p benchmarks would look like with those same CPUs and a 4080 ti, or whatever comes next.

 

2) How large is that gap? If it's significant, it could indicate that CPU will be more future proof. For example, two years ago, I was debating between an 8700k and a 1600. The 8700k in 720p tests was roughly 30%+ faster.....which indicated it would last much longer with future GPU upgrades. I chose the 8700k then, and history proves I was correct as the gap with 2080 tis, and even Radeon 5700xt is still quite large between these two cpu's, and the 8700k is still close to, equal to, or faster than the 3700x/3900x in most real world gaming scenarios.

 

But.....in this case....the gap in performance between a 9900k, 3700x, and 3900x even at 720p/1080p is pretty small. By the time this becomes a limiting factor, ALL of these CPUs will likely be too slow anyway, and none of them if chose over the other will give you another GPU generation or performance milestone.

 

So at this point in time, I would say that it doesn't matter which one you get. I would personally stick with 8/16 minimum to give you some lateral breathing room, but then there doesn't seem to be a much compelling reason to go to the 3900x because it's likely that by the time you really need 12 cores, it will be too slow anyway.

[Turtle Rig]

2 minutes ago, Aleksbgbg said:

I should mention, I'll be doing some productivity-related tasks. Occasional rendering and frequently programming (thus compiling programs and running them) which will require a beefy CPU.

For programming you don't need more then a 6 core, heck even a 4 core cheapo CPU will do the trick.  If you do some rendering and not as your job just grab the 3700x and you will be set for years to come.  In the future you can upgrade video card, that is all.  Even a 3600 will fair well with the 5700XT and what not.

[Aleksbgbg]

Just now, Turtle Rig said:

For programming you don't need more then a 6 core, heck even a 4 core cheapo CPU will do the trick.  If you do some rendering and not as your job just grab the 3700x and you will be set for years to come.  In the future you can upgrade video card, that is all.  Even a 3600 will fair well with the 5700XT and what not.

Yea I mean, any CPU will do the trick, but I program heavily so I would prefer if my compile times were lower. Especially using inefficient transpilers like Babel for Webpack and optimising compilers for C++. Given how much programming I do, I would much rather save myself snippets of time by getting a good CPU with a bunch of threads for parallel compilation.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Turtle Rig said:

For programming you don't need more then a 6 core, heck even a 4 core cheapo CPU will do the trick.  If you do some rendering and not as your job just grab the 3700x and you will be set for years to come.  In the future you can upgrade video card, that is all.  Even a 3600 will fair well with the 5700XT and what not.

This is very inaccurate. Depending on the compiler, some will take as many cores as you can throw at it, so it's a ridiculous statement to make.
@Aleksbgbg I advise you to not take that as advice.

[Fasauceome]

1 minute ago, Den-Fi said:

This is very inaccurate. Depending on the compiler, some will take as many cores as you can throw at it, so it's a ridiculous statement to make.
@Aleksbgbg I advise you to not take that as advice.

There is a difference, compiling is a multi core task but typing a 100 line script in Notepad can be done on anything

[Guest]

Just now, Fasauceome said:

There is a difference, compiling is a multi core task but typing a 100 line script in Notepad can be done on anything

 

OP stated: Occasional rendering and frequently programming (thus compiling programs and running them) which will require a beefy CPU.

 

So I'm not sure what you're getting at.

[Fasauceome]

3 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

 

OP stated: Occasional rendering and frequently programming (thus compiling programs and running them) which will require a beefy CPU.

 

So I'm not sure what you're getting at.

missed it, wasn't in the original post

[Mister Woof]

8 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

 

OP stated: Occasional rendering and frequently programming (thus compiling programs and running them) which will require a beefy CPU.

 

So I'm not sure what you're getting at.

 

Probably a segue into mini itx somehow.

 

It makes sense.

[Fasauceome]

7 minutes ago, Caroline said:

I just got the 3800X with the MSI 5700XT, that ok for games or is the CPU too big for that card?

The 3700 was out of stock and I felt the 3600 wasn't enough for the future years

the 3600 would be fine but nothing wrong with the 3700X

[Mister Woof]

1 hour ago, Caroline said:

I just got the 3800X with the MSI 5700XT, that ok for games or is the CPU too big for that card?

The 3700 was out of stock and I felt the 3600 wasn't enough for the future years

I wouldn't get anything below 8/16 in 2019 personally, especially if you want it to last and also be versatile

[Mister Woof]

11 minutes ago, Caroline said:

I still have 1/0 so it'll be a huge improvement.

You're gonna really like that 3800x man

 

You made the right choice imo

 

[Mister Woof]

1 minute ago, Caroline said:

I'm a grill.

You're gonna really like that 3800x, friend.

 

You made the right choice imo

[Mister Woof]

6 minutes ago, Caroline said:

I'm not your friend, buddy

 

jk

 

Savage

[Hflores]

I can’t believe no one said to dump the msi motherboard

[Tonberry]

For pure gaming get 3600 or 9700K in their own price range. For mostly productivity usage go 3900X. Get the 3700X if you play games and some productivity works. No point to get 3800/X. Anyone can correct me if I missed something.

[Midnitewolf]

2 hours ago, Sakaki_Makio said:

For pure gaming get 3600 or 9700K in their own price range. For mostly productivity usage go 3900X. Get the 3700X if you play games and some productivity works. No point to get 3800/X. Anyone can correct me if I missed something.

Your pretty much on the money.  I will say that during Christmas, the 3800X was selling for the same price as the 3700X, probably due to the fact that no one buys them at full retail pricing.  If you can get a 3800X on sale, it is a nice processor to have.  On my 3800X I have 3 cores that will boost to 4.5 Ghz plus and none boost less than 4.441 Ghz.  With all cores being stressed, I get nearly 4.3 Ghz all core.  Also this is stock with none of the boosting technologies enabled and no manual OC.   3800X's are very well binned chips it seems, just not worth $70+ more than a 3700X but if the price is right, do it, at least if your considering going up to a 3700X,

 

As for the performance differences between the various Ryzen Chips for gaming, from what I have seen it is about a 2-3 fps gain at each step.  So if a 3600 gets you 100 fps, a 3600X will get you 102, 3700X will get you 105, 3800X gets you 107, 3900X gets you 111 and 3950X get you 113. Figure 1-2% performance gain per step up overall which is why the 3600 is the overall best buy for Ryzen gaming, at least currently.  However, I do know that quite a few games set for release in 2020 have already had their developers say that they were building in stronger multicore support because that want to take advantage of the new technology so core count could become very important, very quickly.  For this reason, I opted to go with the 3800X (due to the pricing I got) despite the price premium just in case those extra cores come in handy within the 3 years of life expectancy I expect to have before upgrading my computer again.

 

 

[cifroes]

On a related note, check out this: https://www.techspot.com/review/1968-ryzen-3600-vs-2600-gaming-scaling/

 

The combination of CPU + GPU is very interesting to analyse and the only true conclusion is that it depends immensely: some games when you up the resolution + settings improve their performance with a better CPU, some just start getting GPU bound and it's the same. 

 

If you look at the overall results it seems clear that 3600 is better than 2600 but if you start drilling down and look for example at RX 5700, there are some specific games, at specific resolutions, at specific settings that the difference between the 2 isn't really worth it.

 

So you have to analyse reviews with the kind of GPU that you are gonna use and the specific resolution that makes sense for you. Just looking at 1080p medium settings doesn't matter much if you can play at 1440p ultra settings. 

 

Just from this test that has 2600, 3600 and 3900x, looking at 1440p ultra quality I would say there is clearly a point of diminishing returns and that should be around the 3600. The difference between 3600 and 3900x is tiny. 

 

My advice is to get the best CPU that makes sense for your budget level. If you have a GPU that is playable at 1440p then a good base is really the popular 3600. I don't really see a need, just for gaming, to go higher than that. Yes, maybe some gaming benchmarks give you more FPS with a 3900x but does it matter if it's already 150 vs 160fps? In the very far future we can't guess if it will matter, but probably all the cpus will be too slow altogether, not really that the 3600 is slow but 3700X still holds up.

 

Maybe a good rule of thumb is to get a CPU that is $100 less than your GPU?

 

Of course this can all change if newer games start getting more CPU bound but I doubt it.

 

 

The 3700X is more than enough to feed the RX 5700XT. It's already expensive just for gaming. My doubts would be to go lower, not higher