Worst ask: Good gaming and good productivity

[Middenacht]

I'm gaming first productivity second - but I still do want to do productivity (Premiere, Photoshop, After Effects etc).

Im aware the Ryzen 7 7800X3D seems to be the current darling for gaming. Is it really a pile for productivity though?

Im coming from an Intel 4790K, so literally anything current will wipe the floor with it. And I would expect (hope) that a 7800 X3D would wildly outperform my 4790K in productivity.

But, Intel seems still to be winning in the stability war and the 13700K seems like its only a little behind the 7800 X3D in games but significantly better in productivity.

Can anyone guide me here as the processor is a pretty fundamental starting point for me. It will be paired with either an RTX 4080 or 4080 Super

Thanks
Matt

 

[Rroff]

14700K would get my vote if your budget allows - the 14th gen has been a bit maligned but the 14700K holds up really well in productivity and gaming, very close behind the CPUs which are £100-300+ more expensive with a good balance of performance across all tasks, unlike a lot of the top CPUs at the moment which seem to be very strong in some areas but can fall down against even cheaper CPUs in others.

Personally I'm a bit sceptical of the 7800X3D despite it being a very strong gaming performer - when you get to the kind of resolutions and settings people are likely running with the kind of GPU they'd pair up with it the difference between it and something like the 14700K is single digit percentages (some exceptions aside) while in productivity tasks the 14700K can be as much as 40% faster. I've seen people mention going from 13th gen to the 7800X3D (or some of the other X3D CPUs) as well they notice a difference in things like how long software installs take, etc. where the 13th gen was noticeably quicker at completing tasks like that.

EDIT: If you are into dabbling, I got my 14700K, even on air cooling, to hold 6GHz clocks in many games - anything which only loads up 4 cores properly, which is a nice little boost.

 

[Middenacht]

14700K would get my vote if your budget allows - the 14th gen has been a bit maligned but the 14700K holds up really well in productivity and gaming, very close behind the CPUs which are £100-300+ more expensive with a good balance of performance across all tasks, unlike a lot of the top CPUs at the moment which seem to be very strong in some areas but can fall down against even cheaper CPUs in others.

Personally I'm a bit sceptical of the 7800X3D despite it being a very strong gaming performer - when you get to the kind of resolutions and settings people are likely running with the kind of GPU they'd pair up with it the difference between it and something like the 14700K is single digit percentages (some exceptions aside) while in productivity tasks the 14700K can be as much as 40% faster. I've seen people mention going from 13th gen to the 7800X3D (or some of the other X3D CPUs) as well they notice a difference in things like how long software installs take, etc. where the 13th gen was noticeably quicker at completing tasks like that.

EDIT: If you are into dabbling, I got my 14700K, even on air cooling, to hold 6GHz clocks in many games - anything which only loads up 4 cores properly, which is a nice little boost.

Interesting. A few YTbers had managed to persuade me the 14th Gen is basically the 13th Gen with different packaging. Is there really much diff for the additional cost?

Every PC Ive built for the last 20 years has been Intel and Im so tempted to plug for Ryzen, but Jayz2c constantly tries Ryzen and 6 months later moans about fussiness and instability. Seen that loop a few times and I just dont want a Pc which is a hassle to live with (I keep hearing about long POST while the RAM timings are re-done on Ryzen machines?)

I used to dabble with OC, but honestly, Im too busy and a bit too 'I just want it to work please' to be bothered with anything but the simplest of performance boosts.

Would love to hear some others comments - Im loathed to go with Intel again (so hot, so inefficient) but if its a better all rounder without sacrificing much in games then there we are.

Worth stating that I wont be gaming at 4K. That will be 1440p and higher FPS. So I dont think I will be quite as GPU bound as a 4k gaming machine. Perhaps that changes your thoughts?

 

[Rroff]

Interesting. A few YTbers had managed to persuade me the 14th Gen is basically the 13th Gen with different packaging. Is there really much diff for the additional cost?

If coming from the 13th gen the 14th gen is generally a bit meh, but the 14700K has some extra efficiency cores compared to the 13700K and can give the 13900K a good run while being cheaper and a touch more manageable thermals/power wise (though it is still pretty shocking for thermals and power as most of the higher end 13th and 14th gen are).

Worth stating that I wont be gaming at 4K. That will be 1440p and higher FPS. So I dont think I will be quite as GPU bound as a 4k gaming machine. Perhaps that changes your thoughts?

1440p/high FPS gives the 7800X3D a bit more room to stretch its legs but overall for me it doesn't hugely change the story.

 

[The Asgard]

I upgraded from a 5900X to 7950X3D with similar requirement. Primary use is Visual Studio. Noticeable upgrade in both productivity and gaming. Energy efficiency is spot on. Couldn’t be happier.

 

[Glanza]

If your budget allows 7950X3D best of both worlds

 

[Tetras]

Interesting. A few YTbers had managed to persuade me the 14th Gen is basically the 13th Gen with different packaging. Is there really much diff for the additional cost?

14700 is the one CPU that's substantially different from the 13th, because they changed the core config.

I'd also consider the 7900:

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[Middenacht]

I upgraded from a 5900X to 7950X3D with similar requirement. Primary use is Visual Studio. Noticeable upgrade in both productivity and gaming. Energy efficiency is spot on. Couldn’t be happier.

Interested to hear your thoughts on this, but I was put off the 78950X3D (which seems the obvious choice for me and my requirements) by JayzTwoCents, Hardware Unboxed and Gamers Nexus all saying that in order to get good gaming perf our of this chip, the Microsoft scheduler needs to park the correct cores and it frequently does not do this, resulting in sub-par gaming performance compared to the 7800X3D.

Just fluf or have you experienced this?

 

[Glanza]

Interested to hear your thoughts on this, but I was put off the 78950X3D (which seems the obvious choice for me and my requirements) by JayzTwoCents, Hardware Unboxed and Gamers Nexus all saying that in order to get good gaming perf our of this chip, the Microsoft scheduler needs to park the correct cores and it frequently does not do this, resulting in sub-par gaming performance compared to the 7800X3D.

Just fluf or have you experienced this?

Fluff, they didn't do clean windows install and the scheduler gets confused if you went from a 7800x3d, do a clean install and install the latest chipset driver from AMD and there is no issues with the cores being parked.

 

[FredFlint]

For Intel, I would get the 14700K, for AMD the 7950X or 7900. They seem to be the best value to me, I got a 7950X and its been good.

 

[humbug]

Fluff, they didn't do clean windows install and the scheduler gets confused if you went from a 7800x3d, do a clean install and install the latest chipset driver from AMD and there is no issues with the cores being parked.

That wouldn't surprise me at all, swapping the CPU out without reinstalling windows and then blaming the CPU where its not behaving as it should, they don't care to investigate beyond that because it suits them to make controversy out of it for the video.

 

[chaparral]

Interested to hear your thoughts on this, but I was put off the 78950X3D (which seems the obvious choice for me and my requirements) by JayzTwoCents, Hardware Unboxed and Gamers Nexus all saying that in order to get good gaming perf our of this chip, the Microsoft scheduler needs to park the correct cores and it frequently does not do this, resulting in sub-par gaming performance compared to the 7800X3D.

Just fluf or have you experienced this?

Seems to be a really bad time to upgrade at the moment with both AMD & Intel Cpu's having issues

There no easy CPU to pick due to this.
I been going around in circles myself for a while now trying to choose which cpu to buy for upgrading my 8700k system

 

[jigger]

The 7900X3D would be an easy choice.

 

[The Asgard]

Interested to hear your thoughts on this, but I was put off the 78950X3D (which seems the obvious choice for me and my requirements) by JayzTwoCents, Hardware Unboxed and Gamers Nexus all saying that in order to get good gaming perf our of this chip, the Microsoft scheduler needs to park the correct cores and it frequently does not do this, resulting in sub-par gaming performance compared to the 7800X3D.

Just fluf or have you experienced this?

Sorry for the delay. Initially I had issues with the drivers but managed to resolve by a forced uninstall. I didn’t want to reinstall my system. Once that issues was sorted it works flawlessly. I have since upgraded to Windows 11 without a reinstall and again it’s working perfectly. I can only assume that people had a driver issue.

Using game bar is a simple idea and it’s easy to check using resource monitor.

 

[The Asgard]

The 7900X3D would be an easy choice.

For the difference in money I would get the 7950X3D.

 

[jigger]

For the difference in money I would get the 7950X3D.

Yeah, at current prices the 7950X3D looks good. If you have have the money to splash of course.

 

[ATIorNvidia]

Would pick the 7950X3D over the 14700/14900K

 

[Adrianr]

14700K would get my vote if your budget allows - the 14th gen has been a bit maligned but the 14700K holds up really well in productivity and gaming, very close behind the CPUs which are £100-300+ more expensive with a good balance of performance across all tasks, unlike a lot of the top CPUs at the moment which seem to be very strong in some areas but can fall down against even cheaper CPUs in others.

Personally I'm a bit sceptical of the 7800X3D despite it being a very strong gaming performer - when you get to the kind of resolutions and settings people are likely running with the kind of GPU they'd pair up with it the difference between it and something like the 14700K is single digit percentages (some exceptions aside) while in productivity tasks the 14700K can be as much as 40% faster. I've seen people mention going from 13th gen to the 7800X3D (or some of the other X3D CPUs) as well they notice a difference in things like how long software installs take, etc. where the 13th gen was noticeably quicker at completing tasks like that.

EDIT: If you are into dabbling, I got my 14700K, even on air cooling, to hold 6GHz clocks in many games - anything which only loads up 4 cores properly, which is a nice little boost.

I'd second this. Though if you can stretch, and if you intend to keep this machine a while, I'd seriously consider just getting the 14900k. You won't be able to upgrade anything on the socket anyway so put the best chip in it and call it a day.

 

[Rroff]

I'd second this. Though if you can stretch, and if you intend to keep this machine a while, I'd seriously consider just getting the 14900k. You won't be able to upgrade anything on the socket anyway so put the best chip in it and call it a day.

Nominally I agree with you, depends a bit what you are doing, but 14700K vs 14900K I'd rather put the extra £150 towards the GPU, what you get for that extra money CPU wise is pretty marginal unlike the days where you might have got a couple of extra real cores for the money - down the line I don't think there will be that much of a meaningful difference between the 14700K and 14900K.

On the flip side I wish I'd gone the other way with my older X79 build and spent the money for the top CPU from the start, albeit the mid-life upgrade was relatively inexpensive as by that point loads were available from decommissioned Macs and workstations.

Would pick the 7950X3D over the 14700/14900K

Depends on deals a bit - the 7950X3D is generally £150, often £200 more expensive than the 14700K while for productivity tasks it is swings and roundabouts against the 14700K but often a touch slower, while at 1440p or above it is pretty much even overall between the 2 for gaming, though there are some titles the 7800X3D and 7950X3D dominate. As above once you are into 1440p ultra or 4K kind of settings I'd rather put the extra money on the GPU or other parts of the system.

 

[Adrianr]

Nominally I agree with you, depends a bit what you are doing, but 14700K vs 14900K I'd rather put the extra £150 towards the GPU, what you get for that extra money CPU wise is pretty marginal unlike the days where you might have got a couple of extra real cores for the money - down the line I don't think there will be that much of a meaningful difference between the 14700K and 14900K.

On the flip side I wish I'd gone the other way with my older X79 build and spent the money for the top CPU from the start, albeit the mid-life upgrade was relatively inexpensive as by that point loads were available from decommissioned Macs and workstations.

You're absolutely right, and honestly I suggest the 14900k more to head off that almost inevitable itch some people get when they know they don't have the biggest number. I also get the feeling from the OP that the productivity tasks are for hobby and not work, which would further support going for the 14700k.