Intel i9 13900KS or AMD Ryzen 7950X3D

[Jase]

I've been looking to change my CPU/MB etc for a while but haven't got around to it.

So for gaming (using with an Nvidia 4090) what would be my best choice, an Intel i9 13900KS or AMD Ryzen 7950X3D? my initial thought is the Ryzen.

I've listed these as they appear to be the current top of the line.

 

[Jase]

For only gaming? Neither.

7800X3D.

Ryzen 7 7800X3D vs. Core i9-13900K: Radeon RX 7900 XTX [Driver Overhead Test]

Asustor AS6706T: https://www.asustor.com/en/product?p_id=78Seagate IronWolf NAS: https://www.seagate.com/au/en/products/nas-drives/ironwolf-hard-drive/Suppor...

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Mainly yes as I use a Mac for video/photo editing etc and wouldn't change from that.

Why would the 7800X3D be better, because of the 8 cores? and if so how much of that is game specific i.e. would newer games take advantage of more?

 

[Jase]

There’s no such thing as the 3950X3D. Do you mean 7950X3D?

Ooops yes, that's what I meant, have edited title etc now

 

[Jase]

I'd go for the 7950X3D. If you like to run some background apps while gaming, having >8 cores is a sensible decision. I've tested both, the 7950X3D does much better in things like Cyberpunk at 4k with RT on.

Only if your budget can swallow it though, else get a 7800X3D.

Cheers, I have the budget and I'd rather buy something that gives me more options although it will be pretty much just gaming.

As long as the 7950X3D isn't noticeably "worse" than the 7800X3D then I'd rather get the 7950. It will be used with a 4090 and I know a few things now where my CPU is holding back the GPU a bit.

 

[Jase]

I've tested both with a 4090 Strix. No circumstances where the 7950x3D was worse. Just a couple of games where the 7950x3D does push ahead, such as Cyberpunk 2077. Again this is 4k with RT enabled.

I run a new install of W11 (don't let my install get > 6 months old, before format/reinstall of latest W11 build) with no bloatware. Just a couple of background apps, such as spotify, youtube, discord, telegram, monitoring software.

Excellent and thanks for the info, I’ll be using the 4090 strix too so this sounds perfect.

 

[Jase]

Sorry to dig this old thread up again. With one thing and another I didn't get around to replacing the CPU.

I'm off next week and figure that will be an ideal time to do it.

Is the 7950X3D and 7800X3D still the best choice, I'm sort of leaning now towards the 7800X3D as I keep seeing that mentioned as the best gaming CPU. I don't quite understand what you have to do with the 7950X3D to get the most out of it for gaming otherwise I go for that.

 

[Jase]

The 7950X3D is the fastest gaming CPU. However, you should only consider it over the slightly slower 7800X3D if you have a genuine use case for those extra 8 cores, whatever the workload be it gaming or applications.

The 7800X3D is plug and play gaming orientated. The 7950X3D may also require additional user effort and tuning to get additional performance from it to really edge it in front of the 7800X3D in gaming scenarios.

For me, it’s 7950X3D all day long and twice on Sundays as I love tuning, have gaming use cases for 16 cores, and want the overall fastest. For most people though, the 7800X3D makes more sense.

I don’t really consider Intel CPUs as a viable option due to the much higher power draw and temperatures, so I won’t comment on them further than that. We’ll have other active users here that will be able to better sing their virtues though.

Thanks, I've crossed the Intel off the list so was only going to be the AMD options and by the looks of it the 7800X3D.

I'm not into tuning, I don't mind doing it after building the PC to get the best out of it but then I just want to forget about it. The thought of messing around for different games etc doesn't appeal.
This is purely a gaming PC, it would be running a game and probably having discord running in the background. Everything else I do on my Mac.