Ryzen 7 9800X3D or wait?

Posted by PumpkinEater6000@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 19 comments

i am upgrading my setup, going from i3 12th gen to AMD, don't get me wrong, the i3 runs fast and I have had a great experience with it. i initially bought a i7 14th gen, but decided to return it as I heard a lot of negativity about intel. e.g. dead platforms (1700, 1851) due to frequent socket changes, stability issues, cpu damage.... AMD seems to have better overall satisfaction, especially for gaming, and much fewer issues.

I am essentially 50/50 on gaming and productivity

the i7 14th gen had 20 cores and 28 threads, which would have made it a beast for productivity, but I don't want to upgrade on an already dead platform, especially since its successor is also currently undergoing a replacement. there are also massive amounts of positive reviews for the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, especially on high frame rates in games. issue is it only has 8 cores and suffers more in productivity and non gaming tasks/multitasking than the i7.

i have looked at the Ryzen 9 9950X/3D, which do have 16 cores, but are a bit too pricey.

i can purchase a new Ryzen 7 9800X3D below the average retail price for 420 USD (which is actually more expensive than the i7 14th gen)

I want to know if I am making the right decision in buying the Ryzen 7 9800X3D or if I should wait for the Ryzen 9 processors to go down in price or if I should do something completely different.

thanks

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9okm@reddit

I dunno, from a 12th gen i3 you have a perfect in-motherboard upgrade option in the 14600k/kf.

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PumpkinEater6000@reddit (OP)

Apologies, i realised i didn't give enough details in my post. Running a 32GB DDR5 system with Z790 atm. Do you reckon I might be a little bit too paranoid with the "dead platform" commotion with the LGA 1700?

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9okm@reddit

In your shoes I’d do 14600k/kf and put the savings towards an eventual GPU upgrade.

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greggm2000@reddit

LGA1700 is a dead platform, yeah, but still serviceable. I’m on a 12700K myself, considered a 9800X3D, but ultimately decided to hold out for Intel Nova Lake or Zen 6 especially, the rumors for the latter especially, have it to be a beast. If you want lots of cores, both will top out at 52 threads, both will have tons of cache, and even single-core performance is rumored to be way better. Ofc those rumors could be wrong. Current expectation is that both Intel and AMD will announce/release at CES is January 2027 (so, 9 months from now)… though maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll come out this Fall.

As to your GPU, yeah, 8GB of VRAM is going to be a problem when it comes to many modern games. Yes, they’ll play, but some of the benefit of a 9800X3D will be wasted unless you are playing games like Fortnite or PoE where CPU (and cache) is king, and graphics doesn’t matter so much.

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greggm2000@reddit

Unfortunately, availability of even your very reasonable CPU suggestion has become much more expensive recently. Newegg still has a decent price, but they won’t even be getting in any stock until the end of this month. But yeah, given that OP very likely is using DDR4, the 14600K is the way to go.

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TheKitler@reddit

I completely agree. Upgrading on a dead platform makes sense when the upgrade is substantial. Lots of people are doing the same thing on AM4 right now as well.

Australasian25@reddit

I see you have 3060ti

Do you game on 1440p or have any views on going to 4k?

If so bigger bang for your buck might be a new gpu.

All those aside, 9800x3d is a better option. They've made cooling it tremendously easier by changing positions of l3 cache compared to 7800x3d.

With 9800x3d, you don't need to sacrifice productivity for gaming. Easily cooled, means better clockspeeds for longer periods of time.

deeznutz133769@reddit

Unless you already have a really good GPU and you're minmaxing frames, I would just stick with that motherboard and get something like a 13600k/14600k/14700k. The 14700k in particular is REALLY solid for its price. Worrying about upgrading on a 'dead' platform doesn't make a lot of sense to me, because either way you're going to buy a new motherboard, either now or in the future. It would make sense if you didn't already have a 14th gen capable mobo, but you do.

As has been mentioned in another comment(s), the 14600K/KF is probably your smartest choice for now. Going to the CPUs you suggest is going to cost you way more than you have budgeted for, since you’ll need a motherboard and DDR5 RAM, the latter of which is currently outrageously expensive. Honestly, if you don’t have a strong need to upgrade, I suggest you wait for the AI bubble to burst and next-gen CPUs to arrive, and spend more and do a new Zen 6 or Intel Nova Lake build next year.

.. ofc if you have a lot more flexibility in your budget than seems apparent, and especially if you need a more modern GPU (since you mention gaming), then that opens up possibilities.

camdenpike@reddit

If your doing productivity at all, just get the 270k, gaming performance is still really really solid, and you basically get arguably the best consumer productivity chip for half the price of the 9950X. This is an especially easy decision if your productivity has to do with video, because Intel has Quick Sync.