Looking for CPU Upgrade Advice

[ArcticSalad]

Hi,

I've been looking to upgrade my system for a while now, and I just came across a fairly good deal on a brand new EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 ULTRA for $1189 CAD (~$865 USD) and jumped on it right away. I'm looking for a CPU upgrade, but unsure on which route to go.

 

Should I consider AMD Ryzen 7000 series or Intel 13th Gen? Or would the 5800x3d be the best option? My motherboard (ASRock X370 Killer SLI/ac) supposedly supports it with a bios update however it has been nothing but problems for me - I still haven't managed to get my memory past 2666MHz.

 

- Located in Canada.

- Monitor is 1440p 165Hz.

- Not limited by any budget but still looking for decent value. I'm willing to upgrade other parts as necessary.

- Will be used primarily for gaming (for example: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, Escape from Tarkov, Anno 1800, Heavily modded Skyrim/Fallout 4/GTA V) but I appreciate having a bit extra to work with for heavy multitasking and the occasional productivity (video/photo editing).

 

Current System Specifications:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3
Motherboard: ASRock X370 KILLER SLI/ac
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB 3200MHz
GPU: MSI GAMING X TRIO GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400S
PSU: Corsair HX750i 750W

 

Side note, do you think my current PSU (Corsair HX750i) will be enough for the RTX 3090 and CPU upgrade?

 

Thank you!

 

 

[emosun]

5 minutes ago, ArcticSalad said:

Side note, do you think my current PSU (Corsair HX750i) will be enough for the RTX 3090 and CPU upgrade?

nope , get 1000w or higher to handle the dumb transient spike problem it has.

Edit: your board supports the 5950x so i'd get one of those.

 

[ArcticSalad]

3 minutes ago, emosun said:

nope , get 1000w or higher to handle the dumb transient spike problem it has.

Edit: your board supports the 5950x so i'd get one of those.

 

Thanks for the reply! Why the 5950x over the 5800x3d? Its about $140 CAD more. I probably should have mentioned I'm upgrading purely for a gaming performance improvement, the 3700X I have now does everything else I need it to do well enough.

[PDifolco]

If you're mostly gaming get a 5800X3D, you'd get same or better gaming perf than with anything even the newest  Zen4 or Intel 13th gen

 

Also note that with a 3090 to really benefit from it you should play at 1440p or 4K, and then performance differences even between a 12100 and a 13900 or 7950X is negligible as you'd be GPU bound. Maybe a better monitor will be a more useful upgrade than the CPU...

 

[emosun]

2 minutes ago, ArcticSalad said:

Why the 5950x over the 5800x3d?

Because your board supports it and it's better. You got no budget cap and it's not like you're going to have less fun with a 5950x. Plus you might as well get the best thing your board supports rather than just leaving extra performance on the table for the future.

[ArcticSalad]

6 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

If you're mostly gaming get a 5800X3D, you'd get same or better gaming perf than with anything even the newest  Zen4 or Intel 13th gen

 

Also note that with a 3090 to really benefit from it you should play at 1440p or 4K, and then performance differences even between a 12100 and a 13900 or 7950X is negligible as you'd be GPU bound. Maybe a better monitor will be a more useful upgrade than the CPU...

 

I'm already running dual 1440p 165Hz monitors.

[LapsedMemory]

AMD 7000 series isn't worth it yet.  IIRC, they force you to use DDR5, so not only can't you use your current stuff, but you'll have to pay double for new stuff.  Until DDR5 starts getting into price parity with DDR4, don't bother.  

 

If you can wait, then hold off for the reviews on the 13th gen intel.  The 3090 should run your game list pretty well even with your current Ryzen 3700, since that was a high-end CPU only 3 years ago, well after most of those games were released.  

 

 

[IkeaGnome]

For mostly gaming the 5950x will do worse than the 5800x3d. For productivity tasks, that's going to be more about which software you're using and if it leverages all cores it can.

 

[NF-A12x25]

1 hour ago, ArcticSalad said:

Thanks for the reply! Why the 5950x over the 5800x3d? Its about $140 CAD more. I probably should have mentioned I'm upgrading purely for a gaming performance improvement, the 3700X I have now does everything else I need it to do well enough.

I would get a 5800X3D. You might even be able to get your memory performing at spec, since the CPU has a better IMC than 3000 series iirc, but you might do well to check your motherboard’s QVL and make sure your RAM is on it. If it isn’t, that could be the issue and a new kit of RAM that is on it might fix that. That would be a huge performance uplift (3200 or 3600 vs 2666). 

Also, a simple BIOS update often increases RAM stability on those boards. That might also fix your issue.