CPU Upgrade for gaming

[steveinhants]

Hello,
A few weeks ago I started out by looking at upgrading my GPU....that went ahead with a PSU upgrade and now I'm being quite limited by my CPU. It's an AMD Ryzen 9 3900 Twelve Core 4.2GHz
I'm now running an RTX 4080 with a 1000W PSU but I'm not sure if it's possible for me to jump to an AMD Ryzen 7950X3d with the following cooler which I have from the original purchase:

Cooler Master MasterLiquid Lite 120 AIO CPU Cooler - 120mm

Many thanks
Steve

 

[steveinhants]

What resolution do you game at?

A 5800X3D would be the easiest solution for gaming and not require you to change platform, it should be able to pop right into your current motherboard (albeit with a bios update). That said, the fact you appear to be going for higher core processors infers that you might use the system for other workloads?

I mainly sim on MSFS in VR and use the PC for processing very large photographic images. Both are CPU intensive. The motherboard I have is

Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570

 

[steveinhants]

If you're into MSFS I'm told that it loves the extra cache on the X3D variants.

A 5800X3D might net you huge gains in your sims, but should your work related software have good multicore support (16t +) I'd consider moving to AM5. I wouldn't personally touch the 7900X3D, but the 7950X3D is basically king of the hill if you want the best of both worlds.

Ideally I'd like to keep costs down a little. That said, I do want to realise the potential.
If I went for a 7950X3D I'd need a new motherboard wouldn't I? But the 5800X3D can go straight in you think?

 

[steveinhants]

New motherboard and RAM, although you could net back some of the costs by selling your old kit.

The 5800X3D would plop right in, just make sure your bios supports it and update if necessary.

I'd also take a look at how hard it will hit your productivity (if at all), but it's by far the easiest solution and would offer massive improvements in MSFS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwOAwmZTRQY

This is a 3700X vs 5800X3D but for MSFS specifically it should give you a good indication of what to expect with the change.

Thanks a lot, this is very helpful. Sorry for more questions but what about the 7800X3D?

 

[steveinhants]

A great choice, but you would need to update your motherboard/ram to go with.

I imagine it would at least match the 3900X in raw productivity due to IPC uplift.

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Review - The Best Gaming CPU

AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D is everything that gamers want: eight fast cores, in a single CCD, with 3D VCache stacked on top at a price point of $450. In our review we can confirm that 7800X3D is indeed the fastest gaming CPU available, beating Intel's 13900K and even the 7950X3D.

www.techpowerup.com

Again you should review your image editing requirements before making a decision, the extra cores you have might not do much for you at all and a 5800X3D for £270 without the hassle of a rebuild? I'd say that's a less daunting prospect than switching out half your PC for the region of £800-1000.

Thanks again. I only produce images every so often and I think an 8 core CPU would still be fine. PC useage is probably 80/20 for sim/images.

 

[steveinhants]

Thanks to all who have contributed here - it's very much appreciated. I opted for the 5800X3D. In hindsight I probably should have gone for a 4090 but hey ho.
I want a couple of years use out of this set up - I think with the rate that VR is changing that is realistic and no doubt there will be more demands on the PC by then.

 

[steveinhants]

I spent this morning upgrading a friends PC from a 5600X to a 5800X3D. 32GB of DDR4 3600 RAM. I took the liberty of testing a few games using my RTX 4080 in his 5800X3D vs my 7900X3D.

CP 2077 RT
4K Ultra (RT Psycho) DLSS quality. Results were identical between the two systems as this is a very GPU bottlenecked game, even on an RTX 4080
5800X3D was mid 50s FPS during all testing.
7900X3D was mid 50s FPS during all testing.

I am happy with this FPS on both systems as it stays within my 4K monitor VRR refresh rates and feels smooth.

MSFS
4K ultra, DLSS Quality, terrain LOD 220 and all other settings maxed. I do turn off DoF and only did a quick Activites> Discovery Flights> New York Cesna discovery flight around the area with the Empire state building. I kept altitude to about 1000ft. This is far more CPU dependent.

New York discovery flight (Cesna)
5800X3D was average of about 60 FPS (50 to 70 FPS)
7900X3D was average of about 70 FPS (55 to 80 FPS)

Admittedly these are only brief tests. So even with a 4080 the 7900X3D will give better performance by around 15% average in some of the more demanding areas. Minimums are about 10% higher. Personally if I were in the OPs position, I would not be upset that I was losing any significant performance by saving £400 - £500 or more. To be honest had I not had the FPS counter showing I would not have been able to see any difference as both CPUs kept within my monitor VRR range.

That's good to read. I'm still trying to find decent settings for my VR but of course those will change after the new CPU is installed. I get around 36 FPS at the moment which is actually ok. Look forward to being able to boost the settings a bit though

 

[steveinhants]

I'd say that cooler isn't really upto the job to be perfectly honest, if you're looking to go with that CPU, I'd definitely look at upgrading that cooler at the same time

Oh really? Can you suggest a cooler to upgrade to? Also, do I need to update the BIOS when upgrading the CPU?