[SOLVED] i7 10700k vs Ryzen 9 3900x

blaket81

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Aug 10, 2010
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Hello everyone, I’m so sorry if this has already come up. I currently have a 7700k and a 2080 Ti and I have a suspicion that the 7700k is causing bottlenecking. I only game at 4k 60, so it may or may not be bottlenecking there. Where I am more concerned it is bottlenecking is in VR. VR is lower than 4K resolution and is at 90 or 120 Hz.

I’m trying to decide between the 3900x or the i7 10700k. The i9‘s are all too expensive for me. I’ve done some research and it looks like overall the 3900x is the better performer, but the 10700k has better single thread performance which I’ve read is more important for gaming. I only use my PC for gaming and VR so I’m not sure which CPU is better for me. Does anyone have any advice? Thank you so much!
 
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Thank you for the reply, I never mess with overclocking, I’m an enthusiast but not an expert. I don’t want to deal with the extra cooling requirements that come with overclocking. It kind of sounds like you’re telling me I’m ok for now with my 7700k. My other option is to wait for the new gen Ryzen’s that are coming in the next few months and see if they will have slightly higher frequencies or single thread performance.

Yeah I would say you should be ok for now... the next gen Ryzen due this year, and Intels next gen desktop parts (11th gen?) due next year both feature new processor cores which should improve single thread performance. Clock speeds may also improve on the AMD side a little (although I don't expect much on...
Hello everyone, I’m so sorry if this has already come up. I currently have a 7700k and a 2080 Ti and I have a suspicion that the 7700k is causing bottlenecking. I only game at 4k 60, so it may or may not be bottlenecking there. Where I am more concerned it is bottlenecking is in VR. VR is lower than 4K resolution and is at 90 or 120 Hz.

I’m trying to decide between the 3900x or the i7 10700k. The i9‘s are all too expensive for me. I’ve done some research and it looks like overall the 3900x is the better performer, but the 10700k has better single thread performance which I’ve read is more important for gaming. I only use my PC for gaming and VR so I’m not sure which CPU is better for me. Does anyone have any advice? Thank you so much!

For VR specifically you would be better off with the 10700K - although to get the most out of it you will probably need to overclock it. The 3900X is a much stronger productivity cpu (thanks to the extra cores / threads) however the Ryzen 3000 series cpu's can't hit the high frequencies the 10th Gen core cpu's can and that is what is needed to hit very high frame rates in games (at least as long as you have enough cores).

How much of an upgrade that will be over the 7700K though is debatable and will be very much game dependent. The 7700K is based on the same Skylake core as in the 10000 series, and as it's unlocked you can typically hit similar frame rates with an overclock. In games (even VR titles) that don't need more than 4 cores / 8 threads of the 7700K you aren't going to see much if any difference between your current cpu and the 10700K. Other titles are more thread dependent and you should see a decent jump (Shadow of the Tomb Raider for example benefits from 6 and 8 core processors).
 
Aug 15, 2020
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In the long term, AMD beats Intel as it has 4 more cores. AFAIK, as of 2020, the recommened amount of cores for gaming is 6 ( I actually googled it, dunno if it's true), maybe someone else can confirm it. So yeah, 12 cores beats 8 cores in long term
 

blaket81

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Aug 10, 2010
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For VR specifically you would be better off with the 10700K - although to get the most out of it you will probably need to overclock it. The 3900X is a much stronger productivity cpu (thanks to the extra cores / threads) however the Ryzen 3000 series cpu's can't hit the high frequencies the 10th Gen core cpu's can and that is what is needed to hit very high frame rates in games (at least as long as you have enough cores).

How much of an upgrade that will be over the 7700K though is debatable and will be very much game dependent. The 7700K is based on the same Skylake core as in the 10000 series, and as it's unlocked you can typically hit similar frame rates with an overclock. In games (even VR titles) that don't need more than 4 cores / 8 threads of the 7700K you aren't going to see much if any difference between your current cpu and the 10700K. Other titles are more thread dependent and you should see a decent jump (Shadow of the Tomb Raider for example benefits from 6 and 8 core processors).
Thank you for the reply, I never mess with overclocking, I’m an enthusiast but not an expert. I don’t want to deal with the extra cooling requirements that come with overclocking. It kind of sounds like you’re telling me I’m ok for now with my 7700k. My other option is to wait for the new gen Ryzen’s that are coming in the next few months and see if they will have slightly higher frequencies or single thread performance.
 
Thank you for the reply, I never mess with overclocking, I’m an enthusiast but not an expert. I don’t want to deal with the extra cooling requirements that come with overclocking. It kind of sounds like you’re telling me I’m ok for now with my 7700k. My other option is to wait for the new gen Ryzen’s that are coming in the next few months and see if they will have slightly higher frequencies or single thread performance.

Yeah I would say you should be ok for now... the next gen Ryzen due this year, and Intels next gen desktop parts (11th gen?) due next year both feature new processor cores which should improve single thread performance. Clock speeds may also improve on the AMD side a little (although I don't expect much on that front as they are still using the same 7nm manufacturing process for this next series, still a updated core design can still boost single thread performance even at the same clock speed).

Edit: As for clock speeds on Intel - I actually expect the clock speed of Intels 11th gen to be a bit lower than the current stuff. They have been producing 14nm for a long time and have that manufacturing process very refined, a large part of the issue Intel have been having with 10nm is that it won't clock as high. That said their next gen core looks to have some very major improvements so it will probably be faster in real terms even though the clocks are a bit lower.
 
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blaket81

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Aug 10, 2010
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18,535
Yeah I would say you should be ok for now... the next gen Ryzen due this year, and Intels next gen desktop parts (11th gen?) due next year both feature new processor cores which should improve single thread performance. Clock speeds may also improve on the AMD side a little (although I don't expect much on that front as they are still using the same 7nm manufacturing process for this next series, still a updated core design can still boost single thread performance even at the same clock speed).

Edit: As for clock speeds on Intel - I actually expect the clock speed of Intels 11th gen to be a bit lower than the current stuff. They have been producing 14nm for a long time and have that manufacturing process very refined, a large part of the issue Intel have been having with 10nm is that it won't clock as high. That said their next gen core looks to have some very major improvements so it will probably be faster in real terms even though the clocks are a bit lower.
What you said about core design affecting single thread performance makes sense. The 7700k actually has a higher base frequency than 10700k. So this explains why the 10700k would still have better single thread performance/single core performance (not by a large margin though).
 
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beorn

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Nov 23, 2010
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Hello everyone, I’m so sorry if this has already come up. I currently have a 7700k and a 2080 Ti and I have a suspicion that the 7700k is causing bottlenecking. I only game at 4k 60, so it may or may not be bottlenecking there. Where I am more concerned it is bottlenecking is in VR. VR is lower than 4K resolution and is at 90 or 120 Hz.

I’m trying to decide between the 3900x or the i7 10700k. The i9‘s are all too expensive for me. I’ve done some research and it looks like overall the 3900x is the better performer, but the 10700k has better single thread performance which I’ve read is more important for gaming. I only use my PC for gaming and VR so I’m not sure which CPU is better for me. Does anyone have any advice? Thank you so much!
The 3900X is better all around. At single thread stock performance for both, the difference is negligible if anything, especially at 4K resolution. I'm not a big fan of synthetic benchmarks, but my 3900x single threaded performance in them always matches or edges out the stock 10700K
 
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