6 or 8 cores??

[LennyLeonard]

OK. I am interested in upgrading my PC, used almost exclusively for gaming, so should I go for a Ryzen 5600X with 6C/12T or would I be better off future proofing by instead buying the 5800X with it's 8C/16T??.

I am the sort of person who would like to keep this rig for at least 5 or 6 years (with incremental GPU upgrades) rather than feeling the need to install a new CPU in 2-3 years.

So, my basic question is: Do you think I would be better off paying the extra premium for the 5800X now (and pairing it with a 3080) or would a 5600X do me fine for the time period I want??.

Bare in mind that money isn't really a problem for me in this instance. I would happily go for a 5900X but that would mean me having to also shell out for a new PSU (I bought a 750W PSU just a couple of months ago and I would hate to waste that), and I also think that the 5900X is slight overkill in terms of a pure gaming rig.

What do you think??.

Thanks for any help you can offer me.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Hi, I've been having the same thoughts myself as to which new Ryzen chip to go for, or whether its even worth it for me at all.

My first question would be what is your current set up, including monitor CPU RAM and motherboard?

I ask because I'm running a 7700K and Ive been scrolling through benchmarks today that seem to be telling me that for the most part the difference in performance for me isn't going to make a perceivable difference in current games. (This does not mean I wont upgrade )

If you're running something very old the sensible thing IMO exclusively for gaming would be to buy the 5600X. Unless you're playing something very specific on a very high refresh rate monitor that will benefit from more then 12 threads. Evidence here in the Techpowerup 5900X review.

I have no doubt the 5600X will provide a good gaming performance across the board for the next few years. If you have money burning a hole in your pocket sure buy the 5900X. But know that youre buying it on the off chance it might help, and it will just as likely make no difference at all before its time to upgrade that as well.

You also wouldn't need a new PSU for the 5900X. A good quality750 watt will be more than enough for a 5900X and a 3080.

 

[LennyLeonard]

Thanks for your reply.

I am using a 27inch 144Hz 1440p monitor.

As far as RAM & motherboard go that isn't really an issue because I am going from Intel to AMD so I would need a new mobo anyway.

I am fairly sure that as of right now the 5600X would be perfectly adequate, and as you say it may well be the case that it is for another 6 or 7 years. But I was hoping to maybe get some sort of consensus on whether people think that games developers may be utilising all 8 cores in the foreseeable future.

I understand that it is a guessing game, but I just thought I'd put it out there.

The only reason I said about my PSU not being up to snuff is that Nvidia recommended an 850W PSU with use of any i9 or Ryzen 9 CPU alongside the 3080. Do you think that isn't the case??.

I am currently edging towards getting the 5600X right now and then being open to the idea of swapping it out for a 5800X or 5900X in the future if it became obvious that I needed to. Otherwise I will keep the chip until the day comes I want to do a full upgrade in another 6 years or so.

Thanks for any other help you might be able to offer.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

No problem.

I was asking about your CPU because it might not necessarily be worth (1440p benchies) upgrading at all in reality depending on what you have already. But if you made your mind up you need more, I'm not going to try and talk you out of it

No way I can't know the future obviously but as we know all games coming to PC being basically based off/limited by the performance of the consoles.

The consoles are running Zen 2 cores. They basically have underclocked Ryzen 3700X's. You can find plenty of benchmarks to compare the performance of the new 5XXX chips vs Zen 2. The 5600X is faster in all cases. Clearly the consoles are not directly comparable but its as close as we can get. Also consider the consoles might reserve 1 or two cores for system usage, and games might not get to use all available threads.

If you're wondering if more cores may help in the future, find some current day benchmarks of the Ryzen 1700/1800X or even 2700X. These chips are still mostly behind even my old 7700K (Scroll down to see gaming benchies) with half the cores getting on for 4 years later. That's my reasoning for not trying to future proof with cores.

Nvidia/AMD recommend way over the odds for their PSU requirements to cover their backs from people buying fire hazard off brand models that do not safely output their stated wattage. Heres the review from TPU showing full system gaming load on a 5900X with a 2080Ti at about 400 watts overclocked. If a 3080 is using 200 more watts than a 2080Ti (its not) you still have 150 watts spare on a quality 750 watt PSU. As long as youre using a decent quality PSU

Edit to add Tweaktown showing Peak gaming load at 679 watts with 3080 and I assume overclocked 5900X. Little closer then TPU have it, I'll scout around a bit more.

2nd Edit Toms power draw numbers show 5900X 133 watts using AIDA. Anandtech has peak package power at 140 watts stock, add to that a generous 400 watts for 3080 you're still going to need a lot of peripherals all running at full pelt at the same time to push it close to 750 watts.

 

[LennyLeonard]

Thanks for all your help, it is very much appreciated.

I am currently running an i7 4790K & 1080 GPU.

I actually asked the question a few months ago as to whether I needed to upgrade my CPU in order to bother with getting a 3080 or not. I was left undecided and I still am.

I suppose the prudent thing to do would be to get myself a 3080 and see whether I still need a new CPU??. If everything works OK and I am happy with my gaming performance then maybe I should wait a little longer before buying a new mobo/cpu??.

How often would you recommend upgrading your CPU??. I tend to buy a new GPU every other generation (so I skipped the 2000 series for example). I know it isn't an exact science but would you think a CPU could potentially handle 3 or 4 GPU upgrades if bought in this way??.

Obviously, I understand that to get full utilisation out of that new GPU I would need a beefier CPU, but would I benefit still from keeping hold of the old CPU or would I be wasting my money by using a 3080 on a 6 year old CPU??.

Thanks for the links you have provided. That is good to know about PSU usage because I was slightly concerned that I had wasted £150 on a new PSU.

And thanks again for all your help.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

No worries, I try and show my working to show I base what I say off of tests I've read.

I don't think there's a clear way of saying when to upgrade your CPU unfortunately. Hardware progress is not always linear like that. The best advice I can give is to do it when your gaming performance is suffering noticeably, usually things start to chug or don't feel smooth somehow in game.

Gamers Nexus did a revisit of the 4790K about a year ago. It will limit a 3080 significantly as it did a 2080Ti in their test, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't see any benefit from it. Perhaps if you were going to buy a 3080 anyway get one and see how it feels, as you say.

When your CPU is a little slower than a AMD 3300X or I3 10100 like mine I wouldn't recommend pairing one of those with a 3080 in a new system. But you already have the CPU so its not really the same thing.

You would see better minimum frames and so smoother gameplay for sure from a 5600X, in some games more then others though.

If I'm unclear its because I am myself undecided whether to upgrade. But I hope my thought process is useful to your decision, somehow at least.

 

[tyr8338]

If you want to buy a cpu and just forget about it for next 6 years then go for 5800x or even 5900x.

 

[LennyLeonard]

Thanks for your help.

I think I will keep my CPU as it is right now and see how performance is throttled after installing a 3080. If I feel the need to upgrade then I will make the decision then.

Thanks again!!!.

 

[Boon72]

don't forget by getting the AMD cpu ypu can alos get the AMD gpu and utilise the rage mode when combined to gether.

 

[LennyLeonard]

Yeah, on that point. My current monitor is G-Sync enabled but not Freesync. Which is why I am planning on going with Nvidia again. But how much benefit would I genuinely get from G-Sync over just having maybe a more powerful AMD GPU??.

I feel like I would be missing out on a feature, but does it genuinely make much difference at this level of GPU??.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I'm interested to see what the effect of 'Smart access memory' is in gaming performance too. No way to know until proper reviews are out though.

If it were me and I'd bought into a Gsync monitor I'd be sticking with Nvidia for the forseeable future. VRR is way more beneficial to smoothness then the possibility of a few extra frames on top with stutter and screen tearing to go with it.

 

[LennyLeonard]

Yeah, that is what I assumed. Unfortunately for me I bought my monitor just before most brands offered both Freesync & G-Sync on their most recent panels. That is why I decided fairly early on to stick with Nvidia.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Yea it does tie you in. Not really a problem though as performance between the two companies is ball park the same going by early impressions of the AMD 6800 etc. I havent used Gsync but I understand it works a little better at low frame rates than Freesync, so there's that too.

 

[LennyLeonard]

Yeah, I think your right. I'm not too fussed about whether my GPU is Nvidia or AMD because as you say they seem so close in terms of performance that it isn't much of an issue. And with me already having G-Sync it seems like an easy choice to just stick with Nvidia for now.