[SOLVED] AMD CPU.. Best for gaming?

Yeldur

Honorable
Jan 28, 2017
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Short query regarding the AMD CPU range..

I'm setting up a new rig and the 5900x whilst being my aim or "ideal" CPU, I know that the 5800x is more available. Though, the question is, is the 5800x actually better when it comes to gaming? For reference, it would be paired with an RTX 3080, and I would most likely not be looking to overclock my CPU (At least not until the warranty period is up, as I recall that OCing instantly voids your warranty (Unless something has changed) ) - Under those two baseis, would be 5800x be the better choice? Or is it still superior to aim for the 5900x?
 
Solution
If it's for gaming and you want to keep that CPU for a few years and still be ok go for the 5800X 8 cores. 6 cores is enough for the moment. The near future is 8 cores.

5800X + RTX 3080 at 1440p or higher is a good combo.

5900X and 5950X is not what you want unless you're gonna do some workstation stuff.

Like sizzling said there is almost no difference between the 5600X, 5800X, 5900X and 5950X in gaming. It's the same for 3600X, 3700X, 3800X, 3900X and 3950X.

Sweet spot for now and the near future in mind. 8 cores.
The gaming performance difference between the 5600x, 5800x and 5900x is very small, just look at the reviews. Remember these reviews engineer a situation to maximise the difference between CPU’s and are often not reflective of how most users will use them so real world differences can be even smaller.

With a 3080 I would hope you are going for a resolution of 1440p or higher. My own 3080 is running on a 3700x for 1440p gaming and I have no indication that the cpu is limiting me. However I expect a 3600x would game just as well. The 3700x was really chosen for work and a bit of future headroom.

From a price/performance ratio point of view it is hard to recommend any over the 5600x just for gaming. If you want to have extra headroom for the future or multitasking while gaming then the 5800x could be justified even though much worse price/performance ratio. For pure gaming I don’t see how you can reasonably justify the 5900x.
 
If it's for gaming and you want to keep that CPU for a few years and still be ok go for the 5800X 8 cores. 6 cores is enough for the moment. The near future is 8 cores.

5800X + RTX 3080 at 1440p or higher is a good combo.

5900X and 5950X is not what you want unless you're gonna do some workstation stuff.

Like sizzling said there is almost no difference between the 5600X, 5800X, 5900X and 5950X in gaming. It's the same for 3600X, 3700X, 3800X, 3900X and 3950X.

Sweet spot for now and the near future in mind. 8 cores.
 
Solution

Yeldur

Honorable
Jan 28, 2017
228
25
10,720
Gotcha, I don't really do much high end workstation tier stuff generally speaking, there's the occasional use-case but my primary use-case is always gaming, so I figured it would be worth asking the question. I was recommended not to go for the 5600x mostly upon the margin that it could better support the GPU (Though, at the time I was going for a 3090 which has since changed, so understandably the CPU could change too) - I think if for gaming they're all around the same and the 5800x is simply more available than the 5900x (Which it seems to be) Then it seems more worthwhile to go for that CPU instead, despite the lesser price/performance ratio as sizzling mentions.

I think I'll shift my aim to the 5800x in that case, though the price/performance ratio isn't as good, my main use-case is going to be gaming so this is what I want to build my rig around, and to be honest, coming from an 8700k this will be a dramatic improvement in performance regardless, so I don't think I'll have too many problems with this.

Thanks for your help guys :)

Edit: I decided the "best answer" with a coin flip as both of them answered my question aptly :eek: - Thanks once again!