Which CPU to get as an upgrade from Ryzen 5 3600?

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

I'm looking to upgrade my Ryzen 5 3600 that is currently on a Msi B450 Gaming board. The reason I want to upgrade is that I recently got a RTX 3080 and expected a pretty good performance gain coming from a GTX 1070 but in reality the difference isn't as good as I expected. I figured my CPU was due as my friend with similar specs or even a slightly lower GPU, RTX 3070 but with a 5600, seem to get better performance than me at 1440p VS me at 1080p. When I also compare becnhmarks or check online it seems my games may be more CPU intensive and that is what's bottlenecking me. I also have good RAM and games are on SSDs so it's the only thing left I can think of. 

 

I haven't really followed CPU releases/news in a while so what would be the current best option to go for? I do have a budget of around 300$ Canadian (223 USD$) but if something has a better bang for buck close I'd go for that. I'd also like to keep my board and from a quick google search seems like my chipset still works with the new ones. 

[podkall]

did you try running the game your friend runs at 1440p also at 1440p?

[Zando_]

4 minutes ago, TheMidnightNarwhal said:

seem to get better performance than me at 1440p VS me at 1080p

Not a surprise, the 3080 is incredibly overkill for 1080p, you'll run into a lot more of a CPU bottleneck there than at 1440p. That said, if it isn't causing stutters or unplayable fps, no need to upgrade. 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

2 minutes ago, podkall said:

did you try running the game your friend runs at 1440p also at 1440p?

No I game at 1080p, I don't have 1440p monitors. 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

2 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

Not a surprise, the 3080 is incredibly overkill for 1080p, you'll run into a lot more of a CPU bottleneck there than at 1440p. That said, if it isn't causing stutters or unplayable fps, no need to upgrade. 

I was aware the 3080 is overkill for 1080p but like I'm not sure I understand the logic here, in my head that still means I'll have great FPS at 1080p? Are you saying if I were to play at 1440p, I would get more FPS at the current time or I would still need to have a CPU upgrade to get good performance at 1440p? Also I do VR with a HP Reverb G2 that was in part another reason for my upgrade that I didn't mention.

 

It's just I got 165Hz screens and it sucks not being able to get more FPS and take advantage of that, I'm not saying 160 FPS steady but like you know, ~ 100 - 130 would be nice. 

[PDifolco]

8 minutes ago, TheMidnightNarwhal said:

I'm looking to upgrade my Ryzen 5 3600 that is currently on a Msi B450 Gaming board. The reason I want to upgrade is that I recently got a RTX 3080 and expected a pretty good performance gain coming from a GTX 1070 but in reality the difference isn't as good as I expected. I figured my CPU was due as my friend with similar specs or even a slightly lower GPU, RTX 3070 but with a 5600, seem to get better performance than me at 1440p VS me at 1080p. When I also compare becnhmarks or check online it seems my games may be more CPU intensive and that is what's bottlenecking me. I also have good RAM and games are on SSDs so it's the only thing left I can think of. 

 

I haven't really followed CPU releases/news in a while so what would be the current best option to go for? I do have a budget of around 300$ Canadian (223 USD$) but if something has a better bang for buck close I'd go for that. I'd also like to keep my board and from a quick google search seems like my chipset still works with the new ones. 

Get a 5800X3D, problem solved

In fact you're especially screwed at 1080p because the 3080  will work at 40% before being CPU bottlenecked, I'm pretty sure you'll be getting *same* fps at 1440p than 1080p, even on ultra settings

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

For example, just went back to squad and I'm having a hard time to have a 60 fps+ for the whole game. Had to reduce my quality settings. 

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, TheMidnightNarwhal said:

I was aware the 3080 is overkill for 1080p but like I'm not sure I understand the logic here, in my head that still means I'll have great FPS at 1080p? Are you saying if I were to play at 1440p, I would get more FPS at the current time or I would still need to have a CPU upgrade to get good performance at 1440p? Also I do VR with a HP Reverb G2 that was in part another reason for my upgrade that I didn't mention.

 

It's just I got 165Hz screens and it sucks not being able to get more FPS and take advantage of that, I'm not saying 160 FPS steady but like you know, ~ 100 - 130 would be nice. 

It shouldn't be worse than 1440p unless the CPU is choking hard (you'd have to look at the usages in games to see, if CPU has one or multiple cores pinned at 90% plus and the GPU sits at like 30%) which should be cause fps drops/inconsistent frametimes that would be very easy to spot. 

 

1 minute ago, TheMidnightNarwhal said:

For example, just went back to squad and I'm having a hard time to have a 60 fps+ for the whole game. Had to reduce my quality settings. 

If it's anything like ARMA III performance wise (the games are similar AFAIK), that would indeed be the CPU choking. Like @PDifolcosaid, you can get a 5800X3D, that's the best gaming CPU for your platform. Though I think it's out of the budget stated in the original post, you should be able to find a normal 5600X or 5800X in that price range though, those will also be pretty solid. 

[PDifolco]

3 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

It shouldn't be worse than 1440p unless the CPU is choking hard (you'd have to look at the usages in games to see, if CPU has one or multiple cores pinned at 90% plus and the GPU sits at like 30%) which should be cause fps drops/inconsistent frametimes that would be very easy to spot. 

 

If it's anything like ARMA III performance wise (the games are similar AFAIK), that would indeed be the CPU choking. Like @PDifolcosaid, you can get a 5800X3D, that's the best gaming CPU for your platform. Though I think it's out of the budget stated in the original post, you should be able to find a normal 5600X or 5800X in that price range though, those will also be pretty solid. 

OOps didn't see the limited budget sry.. Then get a 5700X it's under 300 canadian rubles  

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

15 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

Get a 5800X3D, problem solved

In fact you're especially screwed at 1080p because the 3080  will work at 40% before being CPU bottlenecked, I'm pretty sure you'll be getting *same* fps at 1440p than 1080p, even on ultra settings

 

But like, I'm just trying to visualize this. Before buying the 3080, would there have been another GPU I could have bought and at this current time, I would have better performance in these games? Or are you guys saying bottlenecking in the sense that, the 3080 is so powerful that I only use for example 40% of it and the rest is waste. Meaning I would of needed a better CPU here if I want more FPS no matter what?

 

But yeah I do play VR games on a HP Reverb G2 that was the main reason of my 3080 purchase and figured at the same time do an upgrade for non VR games I play.  

 

[PDifolco]

Just now, TheMidnightNarwhal said:

That one is a bit much, 130$ over 300$ here in Canada  . Any other recommendations or they wouldn't really be worth it

? 

But like, I'm just trying to visualize this. Before buying the 3080, would there have been another GPU I could have bought and at this current time, I would have better performance in these games? Or are you guys saying bottlenecking in the sense that, the 3080 is so powerful that I only use for example 40% of it and the rest is waste. Meaning I would of needed a better CPU here if I want more FPS no matter what?

 

But yeah I do play VR games on a HP Reverb G2 that was the main reason and at the same time do an upgrade for non VR. 

 

At 1080p you'll be always CPU limited with hi end 3000 card, so yes you need a better CPU (or a 1440p monitor  )

I've already reviewed my suggestion to fit your budget constraint just above, 5700X is CA$270 and will be a good upgrade (not as good as a 5800X3D but good tho)

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Just now, PDifolco said:

At 1080p you'll be always CPU limited with hi end 3000 card, so yes you need a better CPU (or a 1440p monitor  )

I've already reviewed my suggestion to fit your budget constraint just above, 5700X is CA$270 and will be a good upgrade (not as good as a 5800X3D but good tho)

Okok. Perfect yes I only saw your post after ha. Looks like I can get a 5800X for 319$ I think I'll go for that one! Thanks everyone. 

[SpookyCitrus]

1 minute ago, TheMidnightNarwhal said:

That one is a bit much, 130$ over 300$ here in Canada  . Any other recommendations or they wouldn't really be worth it

? 

But like, I'm just trying to visualize this. Before buying the 3080, would there have been another GPU I could have bought and at this current time, I would have better performance in these games? Or are you guys saying bottlenecking in the sense that, the 3080 is so powerful that I only use for example 40% of it and the rest is waste. Meaning I would of needed a better CPU here if I want more FPS no matter what?

 

But yeah I do play VR games on a HP Reverb G2 that was the main reason of my 3080 purchase and figured at the same time do an upgrade for non VR games I play.  

 

A CPU upgrade will help, or a 1440p monitor upgrade would also help. It's fairly difficult to try to explain a resolution/cpu bottleneck in a way that's easily understandable. At least I haven't found the perfect explanation yet. But I'll try. 

When you have a beefy GPU it can send things to the CPU to process fairly quickly so you need a well balanced CPU to process what the GPU sends to it in a consistent and quick manor. If your GPU is outputting too much too fast it can cause your CPU to bog down or get overloaded. The reason 1440p would be better for your system is because it wouldn't be as much info as fast from the GPU to the CPU, where as 1080p what's happening is your GPU is sending your CPU too much to do too fast that it's bogging it down. Causing worse performance. I hope that isn't too confusing.

[podkall]

22 minutes ago, TheMidnightNarwhal said:

Okok. Perfect yes I only saw your post after ha. Looks like I can get a 5800X for 319$ I think I'll go for that one! Thanks everyone. 

you know you can run 1440p on 1080p monitor? it's just a resolution, you won't have enough pixels to display it but it does get displayed on 1080p anyway..

[Ryuikko]

36 minutes ago, TheMidnightNarwhal said:

Looks like I can get a 5800X for 319$ I think I'll go for that one! Thanks everyone. 

The 5700x is about 50 cad cheaper for roughly within ~2% performance of the 5800x, so I'd probably get that one instead

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

20 minutes ago, podkall said:

you know you can run 1440p on 1080p monitor? it's just a resolution, you won't have enough pixels to display it but it does get displayed on 1080p anyway..

How though? I understand the concept you are saying but In my experience the games will only allow you your monitor's maximum resolution in the options. If I look at Squad now the most I have is 1920x1080.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

17 minutes ago, Ryuikko said:

The 5700x is about 50 cad cheaper for roughly within ~2% performance of the 5800x, so I'd probably get that one instead

True I saw other people mention the same when I was looking up the 5800x. At first I couldn't find the 5700X anyways but checked again thanks to your post and found it at my local store for 61$ cheaper, pretty tempting. Is it really just a 2% performance difference and nothing else is different about it? I find it curious how it's also 40 watts more but just 2% better. Dumb question but just want to make sure I'm aware of everything as this will be a CPU purchase for a good while.

 

[Ryuikko]

10 minutes ago, TheMidnightNarwhal said:

it really just a 2% performance difference and nothing else is different about it?

In gaming they're pretty much the same, so yeah.. the 5800x is more thermally dense so it'll probably run hotter as well

[podkall]

30 minutes ago, TheMidnightNarwhal said:

How though? I understand the concept you are saying but In my experience the games will only allow you your monitor's maximum resolution in the options. If I look at Squad now the most I have is 1920x1080.

If you have Nvidia GPU, you can enable it in the control panel,

 

change resolution > customise > enable resolution not exposed by display > ok

 

if that's not enough, change resolution > customise > create custom resolution > leave everything same only change resolution to 1440p (2560x1440) > test

 

screen will go black for a second, if it goes black forever wait 20 seconds

Edited November 21, 2022 by podkall
edit

[Mister Woof]

5700x is pretty dang cheap right now in the US

 

https://www.amazon.com/AMD-5700X-16-Thread-Unlocked-Processor/dp/B09VCHQHZ6

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

1 hour ago, Shimmy Gummi said:

5700x is pretty dang cheap right now in the US

 

https://www.amazon.com/AMD-5700X-16-Thread-Unlocked-Processor/dp/B09VCHQHZ6

 

I'll go for the 5700X, it's pretty dang cheap indeed. Didn't expect to have to spend under 300$ tbh. 

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

2 hours ago, podkall said:

If you have Nvidia GPU, you can enable it in the control panel,

 

change resolution > customise > enable resolution not exposed by display > ok

 

if that's not enough, change resolution > customise > create custom resolution > leave everything same only change resolution to 1440p (2560x1440) > test

 

screen will go black for a second, if it goes black forever wait 20 seconds

Gave it a try but my game was off centered and couldn't really try it out. I'll just get the 5700X no matter what, decent upgrade to for the current price. 

[Mark Kaine]

7 hours ago, TheMidnightNarwhal said:

No I game at 1080p, I don't have 1440p monitors. 

you don't need a 1440p monitor 

 

 

 

its worth trying if this improves anything (it likely will) 

 

ps: you can also do 4k, if the game isnt too demanding