[SOLVED] 3700X vs 9900 (non K)

Regev

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I'm getting the 3700X for my productivity-aimed machine. However, my uncle asked me to build a computer for him too - its main task is Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 which is coming out (he's a pilot, and uses this software to train). But he'll also do some productivity stuff, tho not much. The thing is we can get the 9900 for ~$220 (50% off) through our uncle who works for Intel. I'm not sure which one I should pick for him - the 3700X or the 9900 (non-K, remember)? Factoring in the motherboard and the cooler, both will end up costing about the same (after Inte's discount). Thanks.
 
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I did. They vary so much - in some benchmarks the 3700X looks much superior (for example the productivity tests at GamersNexus), and sometimes the 9900(K) looks so much better ( https://www.techspot.com/review/1869-amd-ryzen-3900x-ryzen-3700x/ ). Same for games - sometimes the difference is large, sometimes maybe 1-2% (for the same games!). I'm just completely confused. How could the test results be so different?

It depends on optimizations by the game or software developer...some game engines are still not optimized for Ryzen cpus...the ones that are do very well. Same for software...the applications that have been optimized for Ryzen work very well while older apps that don't see updates as often are lagging. Photoshop...

simonyeeklang

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Intel is ????, stick with the MSI Tomahawk B450 Max, Kingston 8gb x 2 Hyper X (XMP Enabled),
Gigabyte GPU VEGA 56, WD NVMe, 750 W PSU, AMD 3700x CPU (With Prism Cooler), Casing Coolermaster,
3 RGB Fans.
 
I'd suggest reading some reviews for Flight Simulator that include CPU scaling as part of their testing...my guess is the 3700x and the non-K 9900 will be about the same.

If your uncle will be looking to upgrade down the road or if he might be running other apps like video or photo editing I would lean towards the 3700x.
 
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At a 50% discount, that is not bad at all....And it will do more than a good job on Microsoft Flight Sim 2020...If he can get a 10700K on discount via his contact at Intel even better as it is a 9900K in disguise with a better thermal design and gets your uncle on the Z490 platform which at least provides an upgrade path in the future to Rocket Lake S...

But bottom line 9900 8 core 16 thread CPU at $250 will be great across the board on gaming...
 
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Regev

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At a 50% discount, that is not bad at all....And it will do more than a good job on Microsoft Flight Sim 2020...If he can get a 10700K on discount via his contact at Intel even better as it is a 9900K in disguise with a better thermal design and gets your uncle on the Z490 platform which at least provides an upgrade path in the future to Rocket Lake S...

But bottom line 9900 8 core 16 thread CPU at $250 will be great across the board on gaming...

They say the 10th gen CPUs will be on their employee discounts "Q4", so could be next month or as far away as December. Not sure he'd want to wait.

As for the $250 9900, don't forget the motherboard is a good $75~ more expensive for a good board, so it ends up about the same as the $320 3700X. Question is, which one is more powerful on a. gaming. b. apps, and by what %, on average?
 
"Question is, which one is more powerful on a. gaming. b. apps, and by what %, on average? "

The simple answer is...it depends. On some apps the 3700x is faster...on others the 9900 will pull ahead. It's the same with gaming...very tight results.

I have serious doubts anyone being honest could tell the difference between the two systems side by side.
 

Makaveli

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"Question is, which one is more powerful on a. gaming. b. apps, and by what %, on average? "

The simple answer is...it depends. On some apps the 3700x is faster...on others the 9900 will pull ahead. It's the same with gaming...very tight results.

I have serious doubts anyone being honest could tell the difference between the two systems side by side.

You're 100% correct on that. If both systems were built by someone else and the configuration hidden and people were just told to use them you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
 

Regev

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So how tight is it really? I mean, on what apps does the 3700X dominate and on what does the 9900 does? I always thought on average the 9900 was 10-15% better for gaming, while the 3700X 10-15% better for productivity apps. Is that a wrong assumption? :)
 

Regev

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I did. They vary so much - in some benchmarks the 3700X looks much superior (for example the productivity tests at GamersNexus), and sometimes the 9900(K) looks so much better ( https://www.techspot.com/review/1869-amd-ryzen-3900x-ryzen-3700x/ ). Same for games - sometimes the difference is large, sometimes maybe 1-2% (for the same games!). I'm just completely confused. How could the test results be so different?
 
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I did. They vary so much - in some benchmarks the 3700X looks much superior (for example the productivity tests at GamersNexus), and sometimes the 9900(K) looks so much better ( https://www.techspot.com/review/1869-amd-ryzen-3900x-ryzen-3700x/ ). Same for games - sometimes the difference is large, sometimes maybe 1-2% (for the same games!). I'm just completely confused. How could the test results be so different?

It depends on optimizations by the game or software developer...some game engines are still not optimized for Ryzen cpus...the ones that are do very well. Same for software...the applications that have been optimized for Ryzen work very well while older apps that don't see updates as often are lagging. Photoshop is a great example of an older program that seems to favor Intel...but it's really because they were slow to update for Ryzen. On properly optimized games and apps the 9900 and 3700x are pretty much at parity.

The newer 10900k is slightly faster than 9900 due to optimizations on the chip itself...likewise the 4000 series Ryzen chips launching towards the end of the year will likely move Ryzen back to parity or possibly even beyond Intel...time will tell.
 
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I think both CPU will be about the same for Flight Simulator. But its realy hard to guess what CPU will be better, or worse for a game that is not out yet.

Now if you add upgradability to the equation, a Ryzen 7 3700X + B550/X570 mobo will give you an upgrade path to the 4xxx series. Were the 9900 will drop on a dead-end platform.