9800x3d or 9900x/9950x

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kesslerwiz@reddit

I know this is a week old so I don't know if you're looking at this thread anymore, but I have 2 cents to throw in.

I do plenty of gaming and plenty of productivity stuff. I love my dose of Cyberpunk 77, RDR2, and all the generic, older, fun stuff in between. I also do a TON of photo processing for my astrophotography which uses both a ton of AI stuff which I use my GPU's CUDA cores for and a ton of multi-core tasks using intense software like Pixinsight and some Adobe Photoshop.

My prior chip was a 7900X3D which was obviously extremely solid in gaming performance coupled with my 4070Ti Super, but the productivity was getting difficult as compiling and calibrating dozens of hours of subframes of deep space photos was literally taking 4+ hours to complete for a single image, and that was BEFORE actually editing and processing.

I needed to find a good balance and not just load into the gaming. The 9000X series launch was a notorious thud and the general consensus was that, especially if you already had a 7000x3d chip it was a total waste to bother upgrading to a 9000X as the price to perfomance increase was terrible value. The key phrase here being "terrible value."

Well, here's the thing, the 9000X chips have come down in price DRAMATICALLY. The actual dollar to performance value increased a ton as a result. I decided to purchase a 9900X for $400 flat and I am absolutely in love with this chip and it has exceeded my expectations.

I've found that for my very particular needs it is the closest to a perfect balance out of all the CPUs I've owned. The speeds, extra cores, etc are all VERY solid for my productivity workload. Indescribably better performance for my image processing. While it isn't a x3d chip and doesn't need to park cores for ideal gaming performance the same way the 7900x3d did, it still ROCKS at gaming. I game in 1440p and with my 4070Ti Super I'm still getting consistent, buttery smooth 100+ FPS in Cyberpunk 77 with DLSS and ray path tracing enabled. I should note that I've overclocked both the CPU and GPU via afterburner and Port Royal on 3D Mark to achieve a "Legendary" score of 16,500+ on the 3DMark benchmark leaderboard.

Is this the best combo for gaming? Absolutely not. Best for pure productivity? Eh. Has it been an extremely good value for a balanced system. Absolutely.

As of today, Newegg has the 9900X at $380. If you're looking to have your system be good at everything and are comfortable with your PC not being a powerhouse in any one thing, I think the 9900X at it's current discount is an insanely good value. I think a lot of the hate on the CPU and it's siblings will quickly turn around as the prices come down and reflect the better value.

I would sincerely recommend the 9900X at it's current price as I've experienced first hand that it can game very, very well and be productive at the same time. I genuinely consider it a straight upgrade from the 7900X as it games at pretty much the same high standard and has increased productivity but a very noticeably amount. All for a price that's literally close to $200 freakin dollars cheaper now.

I don't think you'll be disappointed by the 9900X at all.

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Aurora900@reddit (OP)

Thanks, I appreciate this. I ended up grabbing a 9950x over the weekend and the new machine is running great, though it would have been a lot funnier to upgrade from a 9900k to a 9900x. We all know Xs are better than Ks of course, that's like 13 letters higher.

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darkeningsoul@reddit

How is gaming on the 9950x? Any core parking issues? I'm having this debate now myself

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Aurora900@reddit (OP)

Only the x3d chips need core parking because the faster cache is only accessible to half the cores in the CPU and you want to make sure it doesn't use the cores with the slower cache. The plain old x chips don't have this problem. But in general gaming is great. With my 5080 I'm getting a solid 60 fps in cyberpunk with most settings on max and ray tracing turned up, and no dlss crap enabled, running at 3440x1440 (those extra pixels on the ultrawide really take a toll on fps heh)

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darkeningsoul@reddit

Oh, I thought core parking was required for any dual CCD chips when gaming, so processes were not being scheduled across them?

Glad to hear it's working well for you. I may take the 9950x3D I purchased back to save money and get a 9950x

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Aurora900@reddit (OP)

i mean theres like a 37% improvement in some things from the 9950x to the 9950x3d, I would probably keep it. At this point in my life I'm tipping towards productivity being more important than gaming so I'm fine with where I ended up. If you really want to drive as many frames as possible in games and also have no compromise productivity performance, the x3d is where its at. I would swap mine out for a 9950x3d if I had the extra money, I didn't expect there to be so much of a difference but flipping the cache to the bottom really helped them this generation.

And there's always the possibility I'm wrong about the core parking but I haven't thought about it and I'm getting the performance I'm expecting soooo shrug

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Aurora900@reddit (OP)

i mean theres like a 37% improvement in some things from the 9950x to the 9950x3d, I would probably keep it. At this point in my life I'm tipping towards productivity being more important than gaming so I'm fine with where I ended up. If you really want to drive as many frames as possible in games and also have no compromise productivity performance, the x3d is where its at. I would swap mine out for a 9950x3d if I had the extra money, I didn't expect there to be so much of a difference but flipping the cache to the bottom really helped them this generation.

And there's always the possibility I'm wrong about the core parking but I haven't thought about it and I'm getting the performance I'm expecting soooo shrug

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kesslerwiz@reddit

Hey, that's even better! Glad it's working out for you, I'm sure it's going to continue treating you well and be well worth the purchase.

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MU404@reddit

I was looking for the post, I'm in the same boat with gaming/Photoshop/Pixinsight. Thanks.

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FreeMeson@reddit

A bit late to this, but I'm in a boat similar to yours. I do some astrophotography and some gaming. I currently use Siril but want to move to PixInisght, although both are CPU-dependent. 9900x is available for $360 right now and I'm seriously considering it since that feels like a steal. Do you still feel good about the purchase? My main thought is just going with a 9800x3d due to worrying about losing on gaming performance, but I've also heard at higher resolution the difference is negligible. I have also considered waiting for the 9900x3d but it'll be a lot more expensive and there is the possibility of tariffs here in the States.

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kesslerwiz@reddit

Still no regrets at all. 9900x absolutely crushes on Pixinsight. There's a link on the Pixinsight website that actually has a list of a ton of different CPUs and their scores on how they perform on Pixinsight and the 9900x is right up there near the very top.

I think if you really want to get some solid gaming performance and absolutely crush Pixinsight productivity, the only chip above the 9900x that would do that (currently) is the 7950X3D. There's been some wild price fluctuations so you can get it as low as $425 (which is what it was in Amazon for a couple hours last week).

If I hadnt bought the 9900x and I had seen the 7950x3d for $425 that would have been my choice, but I don't regret the 9900x. The 7950x3d would have some better game performance but I think it's literally the 3rd best ranked CPU on the market for Pixinsight just behind the 9950X and the threadripper.

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FreeMeson@reddit

Appreciate your thoughts! I think I'm going to go with 9900x. It seems like the gaming uplift from the 7950x3d and 9800x3d is marginal at higher resolutions and the 9900x will be more than enough for most games. I considered the 7950x3d but it seems like you have to tinker a bit to get it working optimally. Its also a bit expensive right now.

I also saw the Pixinsight benchmarks and 9900x seemed decent, especially for the current price. Maybe I can go for a 9950x3d when its been out for a while and heavily discounted in a couple of years.

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kesslerwiz@reddit

I think that you're making a super solid choice. The performance per dollar value of the 9900X is outstanding.

I get that certain major review outlets want to objectively show which CPUs are truly best for gaming or productivity in their own right, but I just wish many of them would really point out that just because a Ryzen chip is an X and not an X3D doesn't mean it's somehow "bad" for gaming. Technically as good as the gaming dedicated chips? Of course not. But do they play the most top tier games at top notch level that's still overkill for 99% of gamers? YES.

I think they get a bit lost in the sauce and forget that the Steam hardware survey still shows that the overwhelming majority of gamers play at 1080p with GPUs less powerful than a 1080.

You're not going to have any regrets.

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FreeMeson@reddit

I pulled the trigger on the 9900x (and a 4080 super) yesterday and will be building it this weekend. I feel good about the decision. Thanks for the advice. Clear skies!

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polo2006@reddit

I'm pretty much in the same bout as you, thinking of pulling the same.

On a side note, what psu w did you settle with? been hearing wildy mixed commentary on that 750 is enough and that i should get 850w+.

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FreeMeson@reddit

I am using my old PSU which is 750W. It was overkill on the last setup with a Ryzen 3800x + GTX 1080. According to multiple calculators, this should be enough but I'll be watching for random shutoffs and weird behavior in case I need to get a higher wattage.

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Heym21@reddit

I have a 9900x and a little butthurt I didn’t wait 3 weeks to buy a 9800x3d. All I do is game

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Dex4Sure@reddit

if all you do is game 3d chips are best option ofc. but mixed workload ppl are better off with higher core count, non 3d chips.

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covidcode69@reddit

If you game, X3D no questions.

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SeaworthinessBig5701@reddit

thats what I thought initially, but this is only true if you game at 1080p, otherwise, wouldn't it make sense to get a different CPU?

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covidcode69@reddit

Yes. You will be future proof for a decade IMO

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Dex4Sure@reddit

no you wont. only 8 cores.

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Sea-Mathematician634@reddit

This is simply not true if you game at high settings above 1080p, the performance diffrence between top end CPU's will always only be a frame or two, the bottle neck will be the GPU.
Watch this video from Linus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-ZfIxa6dhY

The difference at at 1440p ultra for Cyber punk between the Ryzen 7 5800x3D and the 9800X3D is 3 frames. at 4k it's 1 frame.

Just gives you a general idea of how little CPU matters when it comes to gaming, But the diffrence in productivity apps like the OP is talking about would be huge in comparison.

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OldRice3456@reddit

I've made a post about a similar thing a few days ago, basically I'm planning out a rig with a ultra wide qhd and an rx 7900 xt (which seems like a reasonable, but high-end choice). Since my resolution is slightly above 1440p, it probably makes more sense to go 9700X or 9900X to avoid the crazy shortages leading to crazy prices doesn't it? Also I wanna use that PC almost the same for both gaming and computationally heavy work, so so far, there hasn't been a clear answer, but this might have just been decided by this.

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Salty-Alps-4460@reddit

For those that have the 9900x and 9800x3d and now have had some time to use in Lightroom what are your thoughts? I’m still getting mixed reviews. Puget is stating 9800x3d is better for LR.

I bought a 9900x from Microcenter while traveling and have to make a call by flight tomorrow if I return for 9800x3d.

I also switched to team red 7900xt from 3060ti. I will use AFMF and FSR in 4k. With frame gen does the CPU matter more even at 4k? I know in rasterization 4k will be virtually no difference.

Thanks all

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BJBBJB99@reddit

XDA has a good article on the X3D about gaming vs. productivity performance

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BJBBJB99@reddit

I have the exact same use case as the OP and also have been Intel forever. Photos, some video editing, some gaming. I only build every 5 or 6 years so will buy a high end Asus ROG MB if that helps.

I know the AMD chips beat Arrow Lake for gaming, but in a mixed case scenario, how do the 9800x3d and 9900x compare to the "Core Ultra 9" or as I say the new i9. Or even the price gen i9.

Just learning my AMD's here😀

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Aurora900@reddit (OP)

If your productivity load is mostly photoshop the 9800x3d would be a good choice, it performs better than the 9900x and 9950x in the testing gamers nexus did which surprised me, but I think in premier it lags behind. For the most part the benchmarks land where I expected and the 9800x3d might have been an okay choice for me, but I'm happy with the 9950x so far and cyberpunk has more framegen options now apparently so I'm running like 90fps at 3440x1440 with ray tracing and most of the settings turned up to max except for shadows and a couple other things

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BJBBJB99@reddit

Thanks! Lightroom and premiere Pro here with a little

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peekeesh@reddit

Hey there, I'm thinking about switching to 9950x. I currently have an i7 12th gen and this PC worked fine editing A7iii raw files. But i switched to A7R5 and it takes longer to edit those large raw photos in lightroom. Do you think there's going to be a very noticeable difference if I upgrade to 9950x? I sometimes edit videos in Premiere pro as well.

Not too worried about games as I rarely play anymore. When I do, i only play racing sim like Assetto Corsa. I still have 3080ti and it works perfectly fine with the titles I play.

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sob727@reddit

I (occasionally) game on my 7950X and have no complaints. I'm more GPU bound in RDR2 or CP77 (5k2k monitor). I mostly do productivity on the machine though.