Top comment is best advice I think in terms of your purchase decision. I won’t deviate from that recommendation but I’ll add some explanation for how different factors in a build can affect how much a particular loss in features with the cpu is felt.

The X3D advantage is mainly felt when you have a ram kit that doesn’t run at the fastest speed (talking sub 6000mhz on am5/ddr5 speed and CL latency that is above CL30). X3D chips help mask slower ram. The extra L3 cache helps certain games not need access to the ram as frequently as the GPU and cpu coordinate to draw frames. Not needing to talk with ram as much means less delays. Tied to this means better 1% low fps. Avg fps between a non-x3d chip and its equivalent chip with x3d won’t differ much. But 1% lows will. Pretty important if you are playing any competitive games as that fluidly not only matters for the gameplay itself, those games are also the type that actually run at high enough refresh rates where you could run into cpu bottlenecks instead of gpu bottlenecks. That said, your choice both in 1440p resolution and a strong GPU that is capable of 4k gaming even helps you avoid cpu bottlenecks in most all games outside of a few esports titles and some outdated or poorly optimized games whose code would give you cpu bottlenecks regardless of your hardware.

So overall, I would not have X3D as a hard requirement for you to get. Though if you “cheaped out” on ram (putting in quotations bc who can afford to not cheap out on ram in 2026?), and have a slower / more latent kit, then I’d make X3D a higher priority again.

But more crucially, I think you may want more cores given your focus as a comp sci major. As you progress in your studies, there is a very good chance that you find out that you are far to restricted with just 8 cores. It could develop into a big regret and subsequent upgrade occurring sooner than would otherwise be necessary. Compiling code can be expensive. Maybe you want to use virtual machines to test out software. You can make the 8 cores work of course. You will be okay. But having even just an additional 4 could be very much worth it.

Since the difference in price between AMD 9000 series and 7000 series is seemingly doing you no favors in your market, I’d maybe look into seeing what a 7900x (non 3D) would cost assuming you have a ram kit that is decent. If ram is maybe a tad slow by AM5 standards then look at the 7900X3D. See if it is more expensive than a 9800X3D. The results may surprise you. By both going back a generation AND going with a 12 core processor, which is the least desirable model by core count simply because its use case applies to the least number of customers in comparison to 8 and 16 core options (and not because having the extra 4 cores is actually bad), you could find yourself with a better deal for a better cpu that better fits your particular needs—current and future.

Oh, one last thing: I’m not gonna say don’t ever buy Intel but I will just say you won’t see me ever recommending an Intel cpu for the foreseeable future and I haven’t for years on end at this point. First it was terrible performance for the price. But now ever since the issues seem with their 13th and 14th gen chips literally degrading with no fix available…yeah. I just can’t. I could say that any CPU you buy that is modern (aka released within the last 4-5 years) x86 cpu would be good enough. But that just isn’t the case thanks to Intel’s recent blunders. Wish it was different, believe me.

I guess I gave you more opinionated info than I originally set out to provide with this comment lol. Oh well. Hope it’s more helpful than burdensome to read through. Good luck with your PC, and happy building!