7800x3d vs 9800x3d in the big '25-'26

Posted by Xyrez04@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 34 comments

Hello all I've been running a 5600x in my build with a 3070 for a hot minute, but recently upgraded to a 5070 and have come to realize that I'm starting to bottleneck especially in things like vr (Although part of this is probably from me maybe undervolting my GPU, which I will take a look at and hopefully address soon) As far as I am aware, the AM4 platform does not have much more to offer aside from maybe the 5800x3d, and I'm looking into upgrading to AM5/DDR5 (Ram prices permitting which is a solid maybe at this state). Doing my research, it seems people seem to REALLY like the 7800x3d for gaming applications, but most of the reasons I saw seemed to be cost-benefit ratio vs the 9800x3d, which seems to be less of an issue now with the costs of the cpus a bit closer together now than they were a year ago. My question then, why would I buy a 7800x3d over a 9800x3d given that the price seems to be like $60 apart instead of the $200 it used to be? This is all also dependent on if I can swing spending like 400 bucks on ram too lmao.

Reply to Post

34 Comments

[-]

Any-Neat5158@reddit

I went 7800X3D to get onto AM5. It's very probably that in 5-6 years there will be another X3D chip that will put my AM5 build on life support for 3 years. That way I can buy a CPU and a GPU and keep my build 8 years as opposed to 4-5. One of the reasons I sprung for 64GB DDR5 vs 32. And a 5070TI vs 5070 or 9070XT. I want this build to stay feeling top tier for most of the next 5 years. Maybe I'll even be able to get away with just a GPU upgrade.

[-]

OneManCam@reddit

Nearly a grand in RAM. I hope you're making some money with that and not just gaming. Otherwise, 32gb is plenty enough headroom for years, and id be selling half of that 64gb.

[-]

Any-Neat5158@reddit

I'm making zero dollars with it, but I also paid no where near $1000. I bought maybe 3 to 3.5 weeks ago and got it for $400 on ebay. After paypay pay in 4 and rakuten cash back promos, effective cost was just over $300. I also got a 32GB kit a week before for $180 I may ultimately want to run several VM's and docker containers. I have to decide if I want or need all that. Though I'm not making any brash decisions. I'll sell one of the two kits eventually. Probably within the first few months of next year.

[-]

Explosivpotato@reddit

Honestly for $60 I’d go for the nicer chip. In all reality, both are going to be GPU bound with anything besides a 5090 in any reasonable scenario.

[-]

Bruzie77@reddit

would you still go for it if it is 90 more to upgrade?

[-]

Explosivpotato@reddit

I mean, it depends on how tight the budget is. I have a 9800x3d and a 5090 with 64gb of ram, so $90 in the scale of that build is basically meaningless. If I was trying to get a rig set up for $1300 or less? I’d probably care a lot more about $90.

[-]

Bruzie77@reddit

i have wiggled room for sure. i saced money grabbing some nice deals om ram 32gb at 150! and 2 4tb snx850 at 250 brand new. So not as bad as i thought. Then other stuff came from BH tax free sale stuff. So yeah i could i guess?

[-]

Wondering_wolf1984@reddit

How does it perform, I got myself the 5090 rog astral and was going to upgrade for a x870e mobo but I was wondering if the 9950x3d or the 9800x3d will be best or maybe even waiting for the next gen series? I use it mostly for VR DCS.

[-]

Explosivpotato@reddit

The x870 is a complete waste unless you need eleventy billion NVME slots or something. I run a B650 board, and it absolutely decimates everything I can run at 4K native.

[-]

Wondering_wolf1984@reddit

I need 3 nvme slots, 2x gen 4 1x gen5 + 2x sata ssd

[-]

Fizz_55@reddit

If it was 2 months ago I’d say go for the 7800x3D but the ram prices are rough. I was in the 5600x boat then and love my 7800x3D but I wouldn’t say it’s worth ram prices now. Hopefully hardware lasts a bit longer and people actually optimize games better.

[-]

dirtydragondan@reddit

Counter Q to OP - what are you using (metrics vs vibes) to determine there is CPU bottleneck? Data goes a long way. Some might, its the only thing that goes all the way. I have 2 PCs on AM4 and havent felt a need to upgrade. Main point being - I have a 5070 as of 5 months ago, running with a 5800X3D and I dont decent any kind of slow down, low FPS, or issues. I am fully aware that your AM4 runway is small - only the same CPU or the 5700x3D ,, all of which hard to ever find now. Due to this, AM5 upgrade seems more imminent and sooner, (ouch on DDR5.. ) but its good to confirm what your CPU is doing that lacks. even a 5800X alone could be a bump up without going whole platform

[-]

Hawk7117@reddit

I have 2 AM4 pc's as well, one with a 5800x and one with a 5800x3d. I also build AM5 systems regularly and have seen what performance I could gain going up to something as fast as a 9800x3d. For me personally who mostly games, edits spread sheets, maybe does a bit of light creative work with photo/video editing, I wouldn't see close to enough improvement to justify the current $900ish cost. I have my 2 systems currently paired with a 5070 and a 9070xt and they perform excellent with zero bottleneck for 1440p/4k gaming. Maybe if I had done the upgrade over the summer and spent like $500-600 on a microcenter bundle there would be more of an argument it would have been worth it. I have every intention of hanging on until AM6 in 2027/2028

[-]

OneManCam@reddit

Thats the key difference though, as OP is playing 1080p and there will absolutely be significant gains to take advantage of in that aspect. I know this bc I took the same route he's debating on taking. Even at 1440p though, playing something like BF6, both of those processors will not work for certain people. I absolutely hate having to turn down graphic settings for stutters to stop. Coming from a 5600x, the 9800x3d stopped that in its tracks. Most people arent as picky as someone like me though, and can just turn it down a bit. I wont ever come to understand it though bc at the end of the day, you're not getting everything you can out of that 5070, although id be surprised if 12gb VRAM was enough to keep everything on overkill at 1440p on big maps of conquest and such. It might say VRAM usage isnt capped, but i bet the shared memory is way more and that'll introduce latency.

[-]

Hawk7117@reddit

Yeah that 1080p context is pretty huge in this conversation. In that case the 9800x3d is a pretty hefty improvement, especially in 1% and .1% lows. I will say this about the 5070 and BF6 though, it is incredibly optimized for how beautiful of a game it is. On my 5070 when I was playing on my 3440x1440p display I did have to tweak a couple of things down from ultra to stop occasionally hitting the 12gb VRAM limit, but I suspect on a standard 16:9 1440p display that would be a total non-issue. I also agree that the upgrade from a 5600x to a 5700x3d or a 5800x3d makes very little sense for most people right now outside of a pretty crazy 2nd hand deal. I bought my 5800x3d about a year ago when there was still some in stock with retailers and even sales going on. I paid $270 on a cyber monday deal for mine and I was very happy, but being almost in 2026 and having to spend over $400? Probably not lmao. But you are right that I was just referencing how good of a CPU it is today for people that already own one, not advocating for others to go pay the current scalped pricing.

[-]

dirtydragondan@reddit

you could have literally entered my mind and said what I am thinking. also - this: "I have 2 AM4 pc's as well, one with a 5800x and one with a 5800x3d. " that is SAME for me ! HTPC is the 5800X3D with 5070 (was 3060 with 3060ti , step wise upgrades, also 32 to 64Gb RAM) - Used for all media playing, gaming (console emulation also) Other is a Workstation for well, work, but its not more than MS Office/light graphics design/data work, web time. 5800X with the older 3060ti & also 64Gb RAM (was a 1660 Su, and the whole rig replaced a mega old 3rd gen Intel build with 750 ti) Both of these run so well, clean win10 OS, minimal system crap and bloat, have been stepwise upgrades since 2020 (where both rigs were replaced out from the i3/i7 3rd gen builds ) . So despite being 1-2 gens behind in AMD, they run great and i figure, why change, prior builds went for about 7-8yrs, im on 4-5 now, sure can make it to AM6.

[-]

Hawk7117@reddit

My 5800x pc has the 5070 with it and I use that for a semi HTPC and I use that card for 4k gaming on my 65' Vizio. Honestly even at 4k I can turn up the settings in most games to high/ultra and still get my native 60hz refresh rate no problem. I transplanted the cpu and ram from the older Meshify c case I had them in to a new Corsair 2500x very recently, I think It came out looking great :) [https://pcpartpicker.com/b/2YLscf](https://pcpartpicker.com/b/2YLscf)

[-]

Xyrez04@reddit (OP)

This is gonna sound kinda silly, but it's mostly vibes I've noticed. This is probably gonna sound really stupid, but my uncapped framerate on Minecraft specifically did not change at all. I am well aware a this is a really dumb way of measuring gpu performance, but it's still worth mentioning that my FPS remained within 10fps uncapped (And yes, I did make sure vsync was off). This is pretty much the only "metric" I have but I believe there is a program that you can use to determine where your bottleneck is? I'm planning to look into that tonight, after I verify that I have proper power delivery to my GPU which I have an inkling might be my main issue (Though I still plan to upgrade soonish anyways even if this does turn out to be the issue, just the issue is going to be less pressing). It's also worth mentioning that I play games in 1080p rather than 1440p, and dabble a little in VR, the VR performance being not really "abysmal" but notably worse than I would hope with the card that I have. I sadly do not have any metrics to go by here, but I would expect to have moderately decent vr performance yet somehow it feels no different than how it felt on my 5070.

[-]

Xyrez04@reddit (OP)

Also follow up, where I HAVE noticed an increase in performance funny enough is streaming. I noticed minor stutter before when streaming what I'm playing on discord in 1080p, which has significantly improved performance-wise. That's kinda it for where I've seen performance increases, which for my uneducated brain def tells me that I'm not using the full potential of my GPU

[-]

dirtydragondan@reddit

I think its commendable that you offered these insights - and also that you can recognize where you have maybe gone by vibes -its not that its wrong/evil, but its clearly ont as reliable as real data. So it van be useful to thne weight up the idea of NEED vs WANT. When you cna get access to, and afford newer parts - no harm in going for it, even when its overkill, esp if it makes you happy. As long as you ideally can separate out what was a need or a want. I also say all this because its so so so easy (like just about any other material good area ) to be influenced by the talk on a place like this, tech and device sites and reviews, YT vids of newest things.. we are human after all . It is just good to check in on the actual use case and what the stats say. relevant , but side point - you always of course always want to ensure you are getting the most out of your gear - so in this case, the best you squeeze out from the hardware, through tweaks, software etc. I have for my 5800x and 5800X3D, PBO2 on with undervolt and OC and a really good clean setup. always try to consider these types of things too. In the end - we want more and newer stuff -go that way when its truly going to make a diff. If thats now, then let it be now

[-]

munkiemagik@reddit

If you are particularly interested in using your system for VR I thoroughly recommend getting **fpsVR**. Really handy tool. The History Viewer lets you visually get a deeper understanding of what your hardware is doing. I had a situation where I was struggling with random micro-stuttering in VR and wasn't really sure if it was coming from the CPU, nothing more I can do about the GPU. Knowing that CPU related 1% and 0.1% lows are relevant, I just theorised a newer CPU with 'better' demonstrated-in-youtube-benchmarks 1% lows could improve my situation. But actually running fpsVR on my system I could see that my CPU frametime graph was consistently in the range where it could easily comfortably deliver 120fps worth for the GPU to render at 120fps. I made that determination by seeing that CPU frametime was **always** below 3ms (1000miliseconds(1second) divided by 3milliseconds(time to deliver each frame) = 333 frames in 1 second period, so in theory capable of delivering up to 333fps worth of calculations to feed the GPU if the GPU could render at 333fps in this situation. Turns out the GPU is also capable with <7ms frametimes (142fps capable) so my issue was elsewhere. So had I upgraded my CPU it would have made no difference for my use-case (PCVR/Quest3: Automibilista 2 at 120fps - 7800X3D vs 9800X3D, GPU already maxed out so nowhere else to go)

[-]

OneManCam@reddit

I was actually in your exact shoes recently. 5600x with a brand new Asus Prime 5070. I also play at 1080p/280hz with graphics cranked. You are definitely looking in the right direction to get what you're looking for, as I seen you were talking about Minecraft fps. No, probably not the best gauge but an obvious one. The games I'm currently playing are similar as far as utilization. I'm enjoying BF6, PoE2, Arc Raiders, Tarkov, and Satisfactory. Seems like nowadays, as long as you have the VRAM sweet spot with a newer GPU, a good CPU goes a long way as most of the games I'm into are more CPU dependant. Because of this, I decided to go with the 9800X3D. You're already going hard, why not go all the way? There is no better CPU in today's market for gaming and its only $60 more and on the latest Zen 5 architecture. Not only will you get an abysmal amount of frames, you won't have to worry about an upgrade for years to come. I'm not sure what a previous comment was talking about when it comes to power draw. They're both rated the same so how can the older Zen4 be more efficient than the new Zen5? Sounds like a bunch of bologna. Just do yourself a couple of favors. STAY AWAY from anything Asrock. They've been known to fry X3Ds. Also, when you get that monster installed, go ahead and undervolt and turn on performance core boost(should be a default option in bios in most "gaming" mobos). I could give you instructions how to do this properly, although there are very good guides on YouTube. The 9800X3D gets pretty toasty, just like the 5600x, but with undervolt and core boost, I'm 10c cooler and running at 5.25Ghz. Also make sure you got a flash drive for BIOS flash. I had to do this with my Tuf Gaming B650E-E, but depending on what you get, you may not have to. If you do have to, DO NOT interrupt BIOS flash, and don't turn the whole computer on, only switch the power supply on.

[-]

_Flight_of_icarus_@reddit

Both will be great for years to come, but for a $60 difference I'd just go with the 9800X3D. The 5800X3D has quickly skyrocketed to prices that I don't think are worth it - for what I'm seeing them go for, you could get a kit of DDR5 AND a cheaper AM5 CPU like the 7700/7700x that will offer 5800X3D performance. The ship for reasonably priced 5800X3Ds has more or less sailed. But don't discount the non-X3D AM5 CPUs as they're a great value and can help cushion the blow from DDR5 prices. If you play at resolutions above 1080p, the performance delta between X3D and standard AM5 CPUs does shrink in most games.

[-]

Yellowtoblerone@reddit

I've had 5600 am4 x3ds, zen4 and 5 x3ds. Id suggest a 7600x3d if you can find it, eBay etc. Or 7800x3d on a sale. Even 9600x to 9700x, instead of the premiums of a 9800x3d. If you don't know how or prefer not to OC, theres 0 reason to get it over the others for gaming, unless you must have the highest incremental increase in 1% fps I've benched, ocd and tested them all

[-]

InsertFloppy11@reddit

No reason to get the 7800x3d unless the 60 bucks you spend can get you a better gpu (it probably wont though). I mean if you can spend 400 on the ram you might be good.

[-]

Xyrez04@reddit (OP)

Yeah this seems to be what I've gathered just people are constantly harping on how awesome the 7800x3d is and I thought maybe I was missing something lol

[-]

NegativeSemicolon@reddit

7800x3d is more power efficient than the 9800x3d, 9800x3d outperforms but draws significantly more power to do so.

[-]

InsertFloppy11@reddit

Maybe youre looking at older posts? Cause the 9800x3d is even better since it runs cooler (+ a couple % better performance)

[-]

Lightest2385@reddit

I live near MC so I got my 9800x3D bundled with Mobo so I paid 365$

[-]

Wyldewes@reddit

Although the 7800x3d is amazing( I have it) when the price difference is less than 100 or so(or the difference can upgrade your rig) I’d get the newer chip

[-]

wedgie_this_nerd@reddit

For 60 extra bucks I'd get the 9800 yea but the 7800x3d is still very good. I got it when the price difference was higher

[-]

Nerd-Vol@reddit

I opted for the 9800x3d over the 7800x3d because the price gap was $65. I felt $65 was worth spending to know I got the very best for what I was doing. I play a lot of iRacing which is hard on the CPU.

[-]

alurlol@reddit

Just comes down to cost. For me I got a new 7800X3D for £180 vs £450 for the 9800X3D.

[-]

Significant_Apple904@reddit

for $60 (18% in difference) and if you can afford it, I think it's worth it, because 9800X3D also run more efficiently and cooler than 7800X3D being about 10-20% faster so for cost to performance they are the same value, but 9800X3D gives you higher ceiling for CPU bottlenecks. As for RAM, since you are already going for an X3D CPU, if you want to save cost on RAM, don't bother going for the 30CL 10ns RAM kits, the performance difference would be in the 1-2% if any, but you could save up to $100.