CPU upgrade worth getting?
Hi. You can see my full specs in my profile, I am using an AMD Ryzen 1700 on a Crosshair VI MB and an RTX 3080 GPU.
Do you recon upgrading the CPU to a Ryzen 5900X is worth the effort/money?
I really can't see the CPU holding me back on any of the games I play (mostly older games released in 2010-2019), although I could be wrong as I suspect Windows may be reporting 50% usage when it's actually much higher (due to the threading etc - I'm no expert).
The reason I doubt it's worth doing is that both CPU and GPU don't seem to be fully utilized in most games.
Thanks for the advice.

Note: the highest CPU I could upgrade to (due to Mainboard limitations) is the 5950X.
Zuletzt bearbeitet von AWT; 25. Dez. 2022 um 4:25
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Illusion of Progress:
There's two suggestions I could personally give.

The first is to stay with what you have if you don't think it's limiting you enough to be an issue. Based on your own checking, this seems to be the case.

The second is to upgrade if you do think it's holding you back. However, if you do, I'd suggest the 5800X3D over the 5900X for around the same cost (or a little less, even). There's no point to a 5900X for gaming because either the 5700X would a better choice than the 5900X because it's the same (basically) performance level (just less cores, which... don't matter for gaming) at a lower price, or the 5800X3D is better performance for the same cost. As it is, even the modern Core i5s/Ryzen 5s are enough core/thread-wise for gaming, and a 5600X would vastly outperform your 1700X (it even outperforms my 3700X). Going two steps beyond that and neglecting to instead go up in per core performance is choosing the lesser priority IMO. If you're doubting the uplift from the cache (sometimes it doesn't add much or anything), then the 5700X still makes more sense for being cheaper and still more than enough.

I could be wrong and maybe you have a use for the extra cores. I'm sort of going out on a limb and presuming you don't because anyone who does would honestly know they do, and wouldn't even be asking if a 1700X to 5900X upgrade is worthwhile for highly parallelized use-cases. They would know it and would just be making the change without asking.

To summarize, if you upgrade, I'd either go with the 5700X (same performance as the 5900X you were looking at, but cheaper) or 5800X3D (better performance than the 5900X you were looking at for the same cost, and best per-core performance on AM4). Your other choice is to stay with your 1700X. While newer options on AM4 can be up to VASTLY faster than your present CPU, you do make the most justification out of any purchase simply by using it as long as it's suitable. And you make it sound like your 1700X might be for you.
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The 1700 shows its age. GN had it as reference in their benches.
https://youtu.be/qACIqmP8xgw?t=687
pasa 25. Dez. 2022 um 5:10 
1700 is more than enough and will not bottleneck unless you have a very specific game or trim the display options to very low quality. If you have to ask around about the upgrade its clear indication you don't need it, only maybe the money burns your hands.
Ursprünglich geschrieben von pasa:
1700 is more than enough and will not bottleneck unless you have a very specific game or trim the display options to very low quality. If you have to ask around about the upgrade its clear indication you don't need it, only maybe the money burns your hands.
wrong, i have a 8600k and if you play multiplayer games it bottlenecks my 3070 almost 95% of the time.
i d get Ryzen 5800X3D
Zuletzt bearbeitet von smallcat; 25. Dez. 2022 um 6:32
Der Ersteller des Themas hat angegeben, dass dieser Beitrag die ursprüngliche Frage beantwortet.
There's two suggestions I could personally give.

The first is to stay with what you have if you don't think it's limiting you enough to be an issue. Based on your own checking, this seems to be the case.

The second is to upgrade if you do think it's holding you back. However, if you do, I'd suggest the 5800X3D over the 5900X for around the same cost (or a little less, even). There's no point to a 5900X for gaming because either the 5700X would a better choice than the 5900X because it's the same (basically) performance level (just less cores, which... don't matter for gaming) at a lower price, or the 5800X3D is better performance for the same cost. As it is, even the modern Core i5s/Ryzen 5s are enough core/thread-wise for gaming, and a 5600X would vastly outperform your 1700X (it even outperforms my 3700X). Going two steps beyond that and neglecting to instead go up in per core performance is choosing the lesser priority IMO. If you're doubting the uplift from the cache (sometimes it doesn't add much or anything), then the 5700X still makes more sense for being cheaper and still more than enough.

I could be wrong and maybe you have a use for the extra cores. I'm sort of going out on a limb and presuming you don't because anyone who does would honestly know they do, and wouldn't even be asking if a 1700X to 5900X upgrade is worthwhile for highly parallelized use-cases. They would know it and would just be making the change without asking.

To summarize, if you upgrade, I'd either go with the 5700X (same performance as the 5900X you were looking at, but cheaper) or 5800X3D (better performance than the 5900X you were looking at for the same cost, and best per-core performance on AM4). Your other choice is to stay with your 1700X. While newer options on AM4 can be up to VASTLY faster than your present CPU, you do make the most justification out of any purchase simply by using it as long as it's suitable. And you make it sound like your 1700X might be for you.
Zuletzt bearbeitet von Illusion of Progress; 25. Dez. 2022 um 6:31
You could get a 5700x. You would get a substantial upgrade and not spend a lot. I just saw the 5700x yesterday on Amazon for $196.

Some games would probably double the frame rate, but it all depends.
IF your money is burning a hole in your pocket, the go with the suggested 5700X or 5800X3D, and you'll see an uplift in framerate at resolution (1080P) where your present 1700X would be the bottleneck.

Ah, I see you have a similar monitor as mine, a 49" 3840x1080 Samsung, then I'd say you might see an uplift in framerate at this res, but not as much as at 1080, at 3840x1080, your GPU may be the one being somewhat stressed.

Seeing this, I'd say that IF you present CPU is giving you a smooth gameplay experience with the RTX 3080, then I see no reason to upgrade. Upgrade only IF you need higher framerate with a more powerful GPU, like the RTX 4080/4090.

I was like you, pretty contented with my R9 3900X + RX 6900 XT at same res as you (high five!), but I knew I'd be getting an RX 7900 XTX (yes, something of an AMD fanatic). So, with that in mind, I went with a 5900X (only because one landed on my lap at much lower cost than a 5800X3D) to go with the XTX I've gotten. The 3900X isn't gonna be wasted, or sold, I've decided to build a 2nd gaming rig with it and the RX 6900 XT.
Zuletzt bearbeitet von UserNotFound; 25. Dez. 2022 um 7:00
Kobs 25. Dez. 2022 um 11:05 
Note: the highest CPU I could upgrade to (due to Mainboard limitations) is the 5950X.

This is what I got from a 3700x and I noticed more smoothness in CPU hungry games
No need for a 5950X as OP seems more concerned about gaming performance than productivity usage. The absolute best gaming CPU for his usage is the 5800X3D, but a regular 5800X or 5700X would do nicely as well.

Also, I'd be a little concerned about plunking in a 16C/32T beast like the 5950X since he's on an older X370 chipset mobo...I'm not sure if the power delivery of that board can handle such a beast. However, .I'd feel more confident IF he had had a B550 mobo at the very least.
Ryzen 1700 has lots of cores, but very poor single core performance. But it's not totally dead, you can still get good fps out of that CPU, especially in game which are capable to use lots of cores.

Otherwise, newer CPUs are vastly faster, will give you significantly more fps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_KqDfW8yzQ
pasa 25. Dez. 2022 um 13:10 
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Mamba out:
Ursprünglich geschrieben von pasa:
1700 is more than enough and will not bottleneck unless you have a very specific game or trim the display options to very low quality. If you have to ask around about the upgrade its clear indication you don't need it, only maybe the money burns your hands.
wrong, i have a 8600k and if you play multiplayer games it bottlenecks my 3070 almost 95% of the time.

What is wrong? You have a different cpu with fewer cores and threads, also play "specific games" . And with pretty different profile than what OP mentions. Care to read the aim of the thread and try to give some relevant help?
macatak 25. Dez. 2022 um 14:41 
monitor your GPU usage with v-sync disabled, if it's close to 100% in the games you play there would be little to gain from a CPU upgrade
The 1700x I had held back my 1070s in a lot of games, most Triple A games it did fine, of course it always depends on the game, But I'd say go for it, the 3080 is a strong card and the 5900x single core performance is pretty good, and its to bad of a price, My 3080ti does well with my 5900x.

If you do have a first gen Ryzen board like the x370 or b350, you should make sure the board has a bios update that will work with the 5900x, there are some first Gen Ryzen boards that are not and will not be compatible still with Ryzen 5000 series.
Ursprünglich geschrieben von 🦜Cloud Boy🦜:

Otherwise, newer CPUs are vastly faster, will give you significantly more fps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_KqDfW8yzQ

This video here shows pretty much what will happen in most games. If playing at 1080p, you would see significant FPS increase in pretty much all games. If playing at 1440p, it all depends on the game. If the game is CPU intensive, you will see some performance increase. If the game is more GPU bound, the increase will be less significant. And in pretty much all games at 4K, you will see minimal increase in performance, if any at all. At 4K, you are heavily GPU bound, and CPU matters much less.

So, it is probably a good idea to mention what resolution you are playing at. Resolution is very important when determining CPU performance. Especially when deciding if spending hundreds on a CPU is worth the upgrade.

But since you only have a 1700x(first gen Ryzen) with a 3080, I would say that upgrading to a Zen 3 CPU would be a vast improvement. And well worth it. No matter resolution you are playing at. But again, if playing at 4K, the performance increase would be very minimal.
Zuletzt bearbeitet von ZeekAncient; 25. Dez. 2022 um 18:17
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