7500X3D (16GB) vs 7600X3D (16GB) vs 7800X3D (32GB) Microcenter bundle for SO's occasionally used HTPC.

Posted by Intranetusa@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 24 comments

My family has an HTPC hooked up to a TV that we use to watch movies and my SO occasionally uses to play some games (like maybe a few times a month, not a lot). I am thinking of upgrading it to AM5 since I live next to a Microcenter.

i have my main PC that I use as my daily driver and gamer - Ryzen 7700, 32GB RAM, Gigabyte B650 fullATX AM5 motherboard, and a 9070.

Microcenter has the following bundles.

7500x3d, randomly selected matx AM5 motherboard, 16GB DDR5 = $330
7600X3D, ASUS B650E MAX Gaming WiFi full ATX AM5 motherboard, and 16GB DDR4 = $380
7800X3D, ASUS B850-E TUF Gaming WiFi full ATX AM5 motherboard, and 32GB DDR5 = $660

I was considering getting the 7500x3d or the 7600x3d to save a few bucks abd maybe get another 16gb DDR5 a year or two down the line when the prices might be more reasonable.

I read a few posts claiming the 7800x3d is a much better deal because it gives you more RAM. However, we wont be using this PC that much anyways and I have my main PC with 32gigs of RAM. I plan to upgrade my main pc's 7700 to a 12 core Zen 6 when it comes out in 2027 or 2028, and maybe get another +16 GB ddr5 ram for this HTPC next year or two when RAM prices hopefully isn't as bad.

is the 7800X3D bundle worth it for me due to the better RAM and cpu (I read b850 mobos are basically the same as b650s in many cases) or should I just stick to a cheaper 7500x3d or 7600x3d bundle?

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Primus_is_OK_I_guess@reddit

Get the 7800x3d and upgrade your PC, put your old CPU in the HTPC.

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Intranetusa@reddit (OP)

I plan to go AM6 with its 12 core CPUs when it comes out. Shouldn't I skip the 7800X3D?

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Primus_is_OK_I_guess@reddit

Unless you also plan to get a much more powerful GPU, you wouldn't have any compelling reason to upgrade your CPU again on this platform. The 9070 cannot exceed the capabilities of the 7800x3d. If you're planning to wait a few years before upgrading your GPU, you could do a full platform upgrade to AM6/Zen7 at that point.

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Glittering_Ad1664@reddit

Stick to cheapest bundle imo, 7500x3d will handle any game in 60fps many years down the line

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Intranetusa@reddit (OP)

Thanks. I found out the cheaper 7500X3D comes with the MSI B850M-VC Pro WiFi AM5. It is strange this cheaper bundle comes with a [newer?] B850M motherboard while the 7600X3D bundle comes with the [older?] ASUS B650E motherboard?

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Technova_SgrA@reddit

7600x3d. It’s a fair bit faster than the 7500x3d overall for only $50 more.

No sense in getting a 7800x3d for a barely used pc.

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Intranetusa@reddit (OP)

Thanks. Strangely, I found out the 7500X3D comes with a B850 mATX motherboard while the 7600X3D comes with a B650. It's a bit strange the cheaper bundle comes with a seemingly newer or more advanced motherboard?

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nickisgonnahate@reddit

I just got the 7500x3d bundle and I love it. That b850 board is a mATX but it’s totally fine for me, I stuck it in a Lian Li v100 mini with a rx6800 and it kicks ass.

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Intranetusa@reddit (OP)

Interesting. Are all of the matx boards in the bundle b850? Is it completely random or is it actually consistently 1 model.

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nickisgonnahate@reddit

I believe the 7500x3d only comes with that matx b850 mobo. The CPU comes preinstalled in the motherboard unlike the other bundles where it’s in a separate box. I think you can also buy the 7500x3d with a b850m c mobo but it’s not included in the build bundle, only the one with the b850m-VC, and it’s $100 more than the bundle with the ram.

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Intranetusa@reddit (OP)

Hmm, thanks. It's interesting how the 7500X3D comes with a seemingly more advanced B850 motherboard but the more expensive 7600X3D bundle comes with an older B650 motherboard?

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nickisgonnahate@reddit

It is a pretty damn ugly motherboard. Functionally it is fine for me so far, but that’s all I really care about. For the price im not trying to make the prettiest build, just want it to work well and it does!

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New_Mix_2215@reddit

yah no way way i would buy 7800x3d in that bundle with those prices. Its better to buy 2x 7500x3d bundles, and sell the motherboard and cpu of the second combo ...

Youll be fine with 16gb with a htcp though.

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Intranetusa@reddit (OP)

What are (or were) the good prices for the 7800X3D bundles? Would it be worth it at day, 500?

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Big-Pineapple-9954@reddit

I would go for the 7800x3d combo. And put it in your gaming PC. Then I would take the setup from your gaming PC and put it in the HTPC. Then you will get a nice upgrade, and most likely PCIe 5 for your 9070 with the B850. And the HTPC will be more than powerful enough for it's purpose.

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Intranetusa@reddit (OP)

My main computer's B650 mobo already has PCIe5 slot for GPUs, and it doesn't matter much anyways because Gamersnexus tests showed no difference between PCIE 4 vs PCIe5 with a RTX5090, and even an old ass PCIe 3 slot was only 2-3% slower running the 5090.

https://gamersnexus.net/gpus/nvidia-rtx-5090-pcie-50-vs-40-vs-30-x16-scaling-benchmarks

I did consider swapping everything around but that would be a lot of work, lol.

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Big-Pineapple-9954@reddit

B650 only supports PCIe 5 for 1 NVMe SSD slot, that's a chipset specification. The X670 chipset supports PCIe GPUs.

The newer B850 boards have support for PCIe 5 GPUs.

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Intranetusa@reddit (OP)

Yeh, offically. My Gigabyte B650 board unoffically had PCIe5 GPU lanes, and apparently Gigabyte's later BIOS revisions tried to disable it:

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/motherboards/gigabyte-quietly-disables-gen5-pcie-5-0-gpu-support-on-b650-motherboards-in-f35-bios-update-stay-on-f34-if-you-value-the-unofficial-pcie-5-0-support

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The_soulprophet@reddit

I’ve had both the 5600x3d and 7600x3d. Awesome processors.

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gamblodar@reddit

I'd get the $599 7800X3D bundle. And immediately put CPU and motherboard in my own computer. Sell the second 16GB of ram for $150, and you're only out $450.

Or get the 7600X3D bundle and steal the motherboard. 7700X to 7600X3D isn't a guaranteed win, since you're losing two cores. It'll be faster at some and slower at other games.

You want the B850 or B650E board because they supports PCI Express 5.0 gpus and ssds.

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Intranetusa@reddit (OP)

The 7700 is my main computer. This bundle is replacing a different slower computer.

My main computer's B650 has a PCIE5 gpu slot. I don't care that much about m2 PCIE5 and I heard they get really hot anyways.

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