[SOLVED] Which cpu should I choose?

zyllr

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Apr 12, 2018
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Hello.

I'm upgrading my PC and I'm going crazy about which CPU I should choose, I've looked into Ryzen 9 3900x, Ryzen 7 3700x and Core i9 9900k. Right now the i9 is 60$ cheaper than the ryzen 9 where I live and I can't decide which one to buy.

I will pair the cpu with a rtx 2070 super. Is it worth the extra money for a Ryzen 9/Core i9 or will the Ryzen 7 be enough?

The PC will be used to play demanding games and I rarely multitask while playing, maybe a chrome tab open or so, nothing more.
 
Solution
will the Ryzen 7 be enough?

Of course it will be - Intel is at most 10% faster at 1080p or lower resolutions in some games. Once you get to 4k, AMD is equal or faster. Overall, AMD will be cheaper with slightly lower gaming performance and much better multi-core performance.

My friends ask this question all the time. Either system will be fine as long as you understand that you can't just stick a high end CPU such as a 9900k or 10900k into a $50 chassis, re-use your bronze 500W power supply from few years ago and expect to run a GTX 2080 while maintaining reasonable cpu temperature. Those CPUs are power-hungry beasts that need robust cooling to run well. So budget accordingly.
A balanced gamer will budget about 2x the cost of the processor for the graphics card.
In the us, that is about a $600 card.
That suggests that a $300 processor will be about right.
A r7-3700x would be about right.
If you can buy a i9-9900K for a similar price, that would be much better for gaming, even a bit of overkill.
The K suffix intel processors will turbo higher and overclock better than ryzen.
That gives you an extra edge in gaming.
For multithreaded batch apps, then ryzen works out better.
 
Hello.

I'm upgrading my PC and I'm going crazy about which CPU I should choose, I've looked into Ryzen 9 3900x, Ryzen 7 3700x and Core i9 9900k. Right now the i9 is 60$ cheaper than the ryzen 9 where I live and I can't decide which one to buy.

I will pair the cpu with a rtx 2070 super. Is it worth the extra money for a Ryzen 9/Core i9 or will the Ryzen 7 be enough?

The PC will be used to play demanding games and I rarely multitask while playing, maybe a chrome tab open or so, nothing more.
Ok, I can tell that you're going crazy because you're not providing the information that would be needed to help you. I'll ask you a couple of questions and your answers will make giving you good advice actually possible instead of a bunch of people giving unhelpful answers because they're answering on the S.W.A.G. system (sophisticated wild-assed guess) without knowing the following:

1.) What do you use your PC for?
2.) What is your budget? <- EXTREMELY IMPORTANT

Answer those and I can help you.
 
If you are going to pair it with a high-end GPU, higher than RX 5700X (rtx 2080 ti, rtx 2080 or rtx 2070) it is highly recommended that you pair it with an Intel CPU. It can be I9-9900K or I5-10600K i enough.

The only thing that Intel is still superior to AMD is precisely for Gaming with high-level GPUs. In them, using an AMD cpu is roughly equivalent to using the lower tier GPU and the result with the ryzen 7 3700x is similar to that of the ryzen 9.

I recommend the article on the Fligth Simulator published by Tom's Hardware.

Regards!
 

zyllr

Honorable
Apr 12, 2018
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What resolution will you game at?

For gaming I don’t see 2070 super being strong enough to utilise any extra performance over a 3600X, i5 10600.

Also why the 9900k and not the cheaper and faster 10700k?

Right now all I have is an 1080p monitor but I will in the not too far future upgrade my screen also.

A balanced gamer will budget about 2x the cost of the processor for the graphics card.
In the us, that is about a $600 card.
That suggests that a $300 processor will be about right.
A r7-3700x would be about right.
If you can buy a i9-9900K for a similar price, that would be much better for gaming, even a bit of overkill.
The K suffix intel processors will turbo higher and overclock better than ryzen.
That gives you an extra edge in gaming.
For multithreaded batch apps, then ryzen works out better.

The 9900k costs only 90$ more than the r7-3700x



Ok, I can tell that you're going crazy because you're not providing the information that would be needed to help you. I'll ask you a couple of questions and your answers will make giving you good advice actually possible instead of a bunch of people giving unhelpful answers because they're answering on the S.W.A.G. system (sophisticated wild-assed guess) without knowing the following:

1.) What do you use your PC for?
2.) What is your budget? <- EXTREMELY IMPORTANT

Answer those and I can help you.

1. Only gaming. For example I'd like to be able to play RDR2 at fps higher than 30. Not much multitasking, let's say a couple of chrome tabs open but I guess any of these CPU's can handle that.

2. Budget for both GPU and CPU is about 1000$. I'm upgrading from an i5-4670k so I guess I will notice big difference no matter the choice I make.

If you are going to pair it with a high-end GPU, higher than RX 5700X (rtx 2080 ti, rtx 2080 or rtx 2070) it is highly recommended that you pair it with an Intel CPU. It can be I9-9900K or I5-10600K i enough.

The only thing that Intel is still superior to AMD is precisely for Gaming with high-level GPUs. In them, using an AMD cpu is roughly equivalent to using the lower tier GPU and the result with the ryzen 7 3700x is similar to that of the ryzen 9.

I recommend the article on the Fligth Simulator published by Tom's Hardware.

Regards!


I'm actually not 100% sure about the GPU yet. Might wait till the RTX 3000 series are released. I assume the price of the 2080 will drop then, so I might end up buying an 2080 instead.
 
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Right now all I have is an 1080p monitor but I will in the not too far future upgrade my screen also.

The 9900k costs only 90$ more than the r7-3700x

1. Only gaming. For example I'd like to be able to play RDR2 at fps higher than 30. Not much multitasking, let's say a couple of chrome tabs open but I guess any of these CPU's can handle that.

2. Budget for both GPU and CPU is about 1000$. I'm upgrading from an i5-4670k so I guess I will notice big difference no matter the choice I make.

I'm actually not 100% sure about the GPU yet. Might wait till the RTX 3000 series are released. I assume the price of the 2080 will drop then, so I might end up buying an 2080 instead.
Ah, so you already have the motherboard and RAM paid for then?
 

gtarayan

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Mar 2, 2011
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will the Ryzen 7 be enough?

Of course it will be - Intel is at most 10% faster at 1080p or lower resolutions in some games. Once you get to 4k, AMD is equal or faster. Overall, AMD will be cheaper with slightly lower gaming performance and much better multi-core performance.

My friends ask this question all the time. Either system will be fine as long as you understand that you can't just stick a high end CPU such as a 9900k or 10900k into a $50 chassis, re-use your bronze 500W power supply from few years ago and expect to run a GTX 2080 while maintaining reasonable cpu temperature. Those CPUs are power-hungry beasts that need robust cooling to run well. So budget accordingly.
 
Solution

zyllr

Honorable
Apr 12, 2018
7
2
10,515
Of course it will be - Intel is at most 10% faster at 1080p or lower resolutions in some games. Once you get to 4k, AMD is equal or faster. Overall, AMD will be cheaper with slightly lower gaming performance and much better multi-core performance.

My friends ask this question all the time. Either system will be fine as long as you understand that you can't just stick a high end CPU such as a 9900k or 10900k into a $50 chassis, re-use your bronze 500W power supply from few years ago and expect to run a GTX 2080 while maintaining reasonable cpu temperature. Those CPUs are power-hungry beasts that need robust cooling to run well. So budget accordingly.


Alright man thanks :)
 
Right now all I have is an 1080p monitor but I will in the not too far future upgrade my screen also.
To what? If you're at 1080p 60Hz, then anything with a minimum of 50fps will appear perfect and anything with a minimum of 60fps will literally BE perfect no matter what the max or avg fps is.
The 9900k costs only 90$ more than the r7-3700x
For what you want, you don't need more than six cores. Don't let people talk you into buying stupidly expensive parts that won't do you any good. Don't talk yourself into it either. I had a Ryzen 7-1700 and I switched to a Ryzen 5-3600X because I realised that I didn't need eight cores for gaming.
Do not get a CPU with more than six cores. I hate seeing good people wasting their money.
1. Only gaming. For example I'd like to be able to play RDR2 at fps higher than 30. Not much multitasking, let's say a couple of chrome tabs open but I guess any of these CPU's can handle that.
AH! Red Dead Redemption 2! Let's have a look shall we?
2019-11-06-image-p.webp

2019-11-06-image-2-p.webp

These are from TechSpot. You see that card in 4th place? The card that is faster than the RTX 2070 Super and almost as fast as the RTX 2080 to the point that it's within the margin of error? That's the card that I have, the Radeon RX 5700 XT. Wanna see how its price compares to the RTX cards that are ahead of it and behind it?:
RTX 2080 Ti - $1600
RTX 2080 Super - $1085
RTX 2080 - $911
RX 5700 XT - $400 <---- This is no joke!!!
RX 2070 Super - $510
Yes exactly. 1000$ is the budget for the cpu and gpu only. What do you think?
You don't need to spend that much. This is what you should get to give yourself the best gaming experience that you can with that $1000:
Intel Core i5-9600K: $205
CoolerMaster ML240L RGB V2 240mm AIO: $80
XFX RX 5700 XT Triple Dissipation 8GB: $400
Westinghouse 32" 1440p 144Hz Gaming Monitor: $314
Total: $999

Because the RX 5700 XT is such an incredible deal, I managed to squeeze in an i5-9600K, an AIO cooler if you want to OC it and, most importantly, a REAL gaming monitor. Also, that model of video card, the XFX RX 5700 XT is the EXACT same model as mine. Therefore, I'm quite comfortable recommending it because I have the same model. Oh yeah, and that gaming monitor supports AMD FreeSync so you got that too.

That's the best deal on new stuff that you're going to find.
Happy Gaming! 🤘😎🤘
 
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