[SOLVED] Which would you pick? 3800X or 3900X for gaming?

8 solid cores on 1 chiplettes (3800X) (3.9GHz Base 4.5 GHz Boost)
or 6x2 cores on 2 chiplettes (3900X) (3.8 GHz Base 4.6 GHz Boost)

They are both 105 Watts, so which would you choose for a 99% gaming machine. Higher models do boost better due to binning. But would the extra cores be put to use? And what about CCU penalties?
 
Solution
8 solid cores on 1 chiplettes (3800X) (3.9GHz Base 4.5 GHz Boost)
or 6x2 cores on 2 chiplettes (3900X) (3.8 GHz Base 4.6 GHz Boost)

They are both 105 Watts, so which would you choose for a 99% gaming machine. Higher models do boost better due to binning. But would the extra cores be put to use? And what about CCU penalties?
I would just go with the 3700X. Gaming performance will be almost identical, maybe 2% difference with a 2080Ti @ 1080p. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-7-3800x-review,6226.html
8 solid cores on 1 chiplettes (3800X) (3.9GHz Base 4.5 GHz Boost)
or 6x2 cores on 2 chiplettes (3900X) (3.8 GHz Base 4.6 GHz Boost)

They are both 105 Watts, so which would you choose for a 99% gaming machine. Higher models do boost better due to binning. But would the extra cores be put to use? And what about CCU penalties?
I would just go with the 3700X. Gaming performance will be almost identical, maybe 2% difference with a 2080Ti @ 1080p. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-7-3800x-review,6226.html
 
Solution

Phaaze88

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I would honestly go with neither, because money could be better spent elsewhere - but that's not what's being asked here.

3800X, slap a NH-D15S on it, get a 2x 8GB or 2x 16GB 3800mhz kit and set to 1:1 mode, FCLK to 1900mhz, and tighten those timings via Ryzen Dram Calculator.
Ryzen 3000 is temperature sensitive, similarly to Nvidia's Gpu Boost, so a 3800X should run a little cooler at max load compared to a 3900X - they're both going to spike stupidly at idle anyways, so that's a moot point.
 
Last edited:

OllympianGamer

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Dec 22, 2016
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3800x is £300
3900x is £400 so the difference isnt massive, wont be the difference between a 2080 and a 2080ti at least but really depends on the rest of the build, I've got one, gaming performance is great but the majority of the time most of the cores are asleep :)
 
If it's pure gaming, 3700x is all you need and at a much better price. HOWEVER, If you plan to stream, video encode, or do ANYTHING that requires cores cores cores, then the 3900x will service every desire.

Currently most games only utilize single core performance, so throwing more cores at a game will do nothing.
 

sc2lines

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Dec 13, 2019
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One of the things I don't like is to be caught needing something and not having it. Go for the 3900x if you can. the gaming is great and you always have what you need with more cores...growing room.
 

Phaaze88

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One of the things I don't like is to be caught needing something and not having it. Go for the 3900x if you can. the gaming is great and you always have what you need with more cores...growing room.
As long as AMD doesn't go into hiding for another 10 years, the 3900X will become obsolete in speed before games even get around to using anywhere near that many cores/threads.
That's the reason Intel's quad core, and hyperthreaded quad cores were relevant for as long as they were; Intel deliberately stagnated the market due to no competition.

Competition promotes progress. At the same time, too much progress is actually bad - in the company's POV, when they have no opposition; it yields lower profit margins, after all. That's reason enough for a business to 'slow things down'.
Should AMD stay in the market, a 3900X for gaming will actually see less longevity than an old 4770K/4790K; they're 6-7 years old, and still good gaming cpus, even compared to Ryzen 3600 - if only their 2nd hand prices didn't suck...
 
If is only gaming I would choose the 3700X or the 3800X as many others already said.

And as Phaaze88 stayed get a Noctua NH-D15 (if it fits inside your case) to keep the temps at good levels. Just don't forget about having good airflow, a masive cpu cooler is great, but having good airflow, with a tower cooler installed, is also very important.

I would really save money on the RAM and pick a well known DDR4 3600 dual channel kit (maybe something from corsair or gskill). Thats more than enough speed for Ryzen.

If money is not an issue then go with the highest DDR4 RAM you can buy from a well known brand, and then choose the speed that gives you the better results, usually betwen DOCP-XMP 3600~3733MHz.
Always make sure to keep a 1:1 ratio mode with the Infinity Fabric Clock (RAM: InfFabric -> 1800MHz:1800MHz / 1866MHz:1866MHz - in this case you always set half the advertised "max speed" of your RAM).