Best CPU for RimWorld

[Femboy Doctrine]

Hi all,

 

I've been saving for a long while and am considering multiple CPU options for a new PC. I'm currently eyeing both the 13900k and 7950x as I do both heavy production workload stuff, and single-threaded things like RW and Minecraft. While I was leaning towards intel on account of the higher single-core performance, the possibility of Ryzen 7000 3D variants coming soon has thrown a wrench into my decision-making.

 

Does anyone know how sensitive RimWorld is to additional L3 cache? I know that the 13900k is generally faster in games like Dwarf Fortress than the 5800x3D and similar, while the latter blows everything else away in Factorio. However, I cannot find any hard data on RimWorld and have yet been unable to determine whether additional cache makes a significant difference. If RW would see a significant uplift from more, I would probably prefer to wait until CES when AMD releases the 3D VCache variants. Any help would be appreciated.

 

P.S: For reference, I am upgrading from an i7-7700k.

 

[Coolmaster]

All those CPUs are super overkill for RimWorld. RimWorld is poorly optimized and won't be able to properly use the capabilities of those CPUs, but it is easy to run so you shouldn't have any issues with any CPU.

[Femboy Doctrine]

1 hour ago, Coolmaster said:

All those CPUs are super overkill for RimWorld. RimWorld is poorly optimized and won't be able to properly use the capabilities of those CPUs, but it is easy to run so you shouldn't have any issues with any CPU.

I don't think it's that poorly optimized all things considered - and in any case, my current CPU is struggling to keep up late game.

[Femboy Doctrine]

3 minutes ago, 8tg said:

As a secondlife nerd also heavily bound by single core performance, generally speaking you don’t need the highest end option on a platform unless you really want to get every last bit of performance possible, instead you have the use case for the overclocking of mid tier options.

Youre basically the market for the 13600K, you lose some multi core performance but you have close to the 13900K’s single core right out of the gate, OC that a bit further across the board and it’s solid, but if single core performance is the goal then just OC 1-2 cores to the limits of your cooling solution and you’re set, for way less overall cost, with minimal cpu potential lost with non utilized cores.

As far as specific games go, the effects of cache on games like that would be fairly minimal, though faster memory can be very beneficial. This is most noticeable with Minecraft where faster ram is really important to Java edition.

 

I was very much considering the 13600k! The problem is that I also do a lot of heavy multi-core workloads, so a balance between the two is very useful for me. Interesting to hear that about the cache - tbh the significant edge held by the 7950x over the 13900k has been weighing on my decision between the two as well. And very glad to hear that memory speed makes a difference! I got my hands on some decent DDR5-5600 and am glad it'll be useful out the gate.