Which Ryzen CPU to Get for Strategy Games?

[Author_25]

I am planning a move from Intel to AMD and not sure on which CPU to get.

I predominantly play strategy games like, Civilization 6, and 7 when released, Stellaris, Sins of a Solar Empire, Total War Series, but also like Battlefield and COD with occasional single player game like Black Myth Wukong and Space marine 2.

I plan to play at 1440P and when upgrading will get a new GPU, either a 5080 or 5070, depending on the Nvidia tax next year.

I am looking at the 9800X3D as well as the 9900X, and not sure which CPU would be the best overall for my gaming preferences, the 9800X3D is universally acclaimed as the best Gaming CPU, but feel the 9900X higher core count would be of more benefit for strategy games, while still giving decent performance in multi and single player games.

Any advice or alternative suggestions welcome.

 

[zaniro]

The cache on the X3D boosts performance on Stellaris. Check the Stellaris 'Performance Megathread' on the Paradox forums for people's reported performance. GN showed a 16% increase over the next fastest processor in Stellaris on the 9800X3D.

 

[Poneros]

The X3D chips are so much faster it's not even funny. It's like they're from a future generation & sadly the 12-core AMD CPUs are not that great for gaming due to the split design. There's no (good) alternative. It's only really a question between the 5700X3D (the value play on a budget) and 9800X3D (undisputed king, great value, and on a better platform with 1 more gen to go, but predictably sold-out for now).

 

[Game]

looking at the gamer Nexus charts the 5600x3d+5700x3d sit way down the chart

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stellaris/comments/1gl3w5t/amds_new_9800x3d_cpu_seems_to_set_a_new/#lightbox

 

[Poneros]

looking at the gamer Nexus charts the 5600x3d+5700x3d sit way down the chart

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stellaris/comments/1gl3w5t/amds_new_9800x3d_cpu_seems_to_set_a_new/#lightbox

GN CPU testing is trash, their methodology is worthless. Unfortunately for strategy games, particularly 4x, you can't rely on 3rd party because no one does it properly (you can find the rare one, like Anno 1800 @ computerbase or Ashes of the Stars/Riftbreaker with good in-game CPU benchmarks etc but for the most part strategy games are underrepresented). Gotta find real users with them or even better - do your own testing to figure out what/when to look at. For example, I was just testing Troy Total War on my 7600 and got it to go <30 fps easily (purely CPU limit) in a realistic scenario. What's the chance you will find even a single review anywhere to show how the CPU limit in that game works? Closer to 0 than the odds of you winning the lottery. And yes, I obviously know Troy can be uniquely challenging on CPUs due to grass (which I love for CPU testing). So then when we look at someone like GN test a different TW (W3) and you see values like 450+ fps (on the almost identical 7600x), what's the chance that that isn't worthless testing? Again, almost 0. There's no way I load up a proper battle in that game and I see those kind of numbers, even with their crappy settings.

Mind you, the chart you posted would prove my point anyway - 7900X on par with 5700X3D time, and 9800X3D leader by far (even the 9900X OP mentioned, it finishes in 94% of the time the 5800X3D does; while the 9800X3D finishes in 77% ottot 9900X) -> so either you go for cheap & powerful, or for the best (but still good value). The CPUs in-between don't make much sense from a gaming perspective.

 

[Game]

I did see some after that during late game which changed it a little pushing the 5700x3d right up the list

 

[Author_25]

The lack of any benchmarking and testing of strategy games is weird given the amout of RTS and 4x games there are and there popularity but at the same time I can see why reviewers ignore them, they do not test a CPU or GPU like say Cyrsis 3 or Cyberpunk 2077 does.

I am leaning towards the 9800X3D but looking at stock ETA more likely to see Nvidia lower prices than get one before early next year, though CES will see the 9900X3D and 9950X3D, so may see some surprises.