Worth upgrading to AM5 for FPS drops or improve current AM4 system?
Posted by Elgigantisk@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 23 comments
Hi everyone,
I’m thinking about upgrading my PC and would appreciate some advice before I spend money.
I built my current system about 4 years ago. Specs are:
- Ryzen 7 5800X
- RTX 3070 Ti
- 64GB DDR4 RAM
I play on a 3440x1440 ultrawide monitor. I don’t really play very demanding AAA games at high/ultra settings (no 4K gaming). Most of what I play is World of Warcraft, League of Legends, and similar games.
Recently I’ve noticed performance issues, especially in WoW. My graphic settings are around 7/10, and my FPS looks like this:
- \~110 FPS when I’m alone / in open areas
- \~35–70 FPS in raids, dungeons, or crowded cities
The drops feel pretty noticeable in group content and it affects the experience.
I'd like to sit maybe at 120 FPS during group content, and have higher settings.
At first I was thinking about upgrading to:
- Ryzen 7 9800X3D
But that would also mean:
- new AM5 motherboard
- new DDR5 RAM
So the cost of the upgrade suddenly becomes quite a bit higher than just a CPU swap.
Or could i try some other methods to enhance my PC's performance?
What would you recommend?
Kionera@reddit
You could wait for the 5800X3D relaunch, it'll perform better than any non-X3D option on AM5 for MMOs and you don't need to swap your other parts. You won't get stable 100+FPS in crowded content, but at least it's unlikely to drop below 60.
9800X3D if you want triple digit FPS in all scenarios.
Elgigantisk@reddit (OP)
Do we know anything about when the release date will be? cant seem to find much online
Kionera@reddit
No official info as of yet but leaks point to a Q2 2026 launch so possibly next month.
Old_Resident8050@reddit
9950x3d2 if monies is not an issue. 9800x3d already can bottleneck to lower than 60fps on a few games.
Puiucs@reddit
what?
Old_Resident8050@reddit
What?
Puiucs@reddit
why are you recommending the 9950x3d2? for games it's not going to help. there are no games that are "bottlenecked" by the 9800x3d at 60fps.
at best you could tell him to check if the 9850x3d is reasonably priced compared to the 9800x3d in his region.
Old_Resident8050@reddit
True that. I was only exaggerating 😎
9850 would be just fine.
Star Citizen which i play drops below 35fps (cpu bottleneck) so my recommendation is not totally wild, and yes, there is good difference to be had.
Puiucs@reddit
Star Citizen is a tech demo scam not a game :)
Old_Resident8050@reddit
Best cpu benchmark though!
Puiucs@reddit
true, it's the best way to see how a CPU handles constant crashes, game breaking bugs and poor optimization :)
Old_Resident8050@reddit
Yeah that too!
Lelman2424@reddit
It's depends on the game if it's cpu bounded like cs2 it would be a huge fps boost.
Elgigantisk@reddit (OP)
Yea WoW is notoriously CPU-bound...
Lelman2424@reddit
It's depends on how much money are you willing to spend. You could buy a used 5800x3d it will be a big upgrade
Old_Resident8050@reddit
I haven't played Night xpac but Drogall didn't drop sub 60s on the 9800x3d.
Puiucs@reddit
can't find an x3d CPU for AM4 and slug it out until prices become decent for DDR5?
Elgigantisk@reddit (OP)
I was thinking about 5800x3d but seems to be no longer in stock, just resellers that sell it for more than new price...
According_Spare7788@reddit
I don't have any experience with said games. But i would recommend you use an overlay to confirm the CPU bottleneck problems you mentioned. Typically, when there is a CPU bottleneck, you'll see GPU utilization/power draw drop, even if the CPU utilization doesn't rise exponentially. That's because typical games can't utitlize all the cores/threads of modern processors effectively, so it usually doesn't eat up all the CPU utilization, but probably straining some of the cores heavily while others are idling.
Steam's performance overlay does a good job at showing that, as it also includes the use percentage of the power heavily utilized core in the metrics. Another piece of software that can show CPU bottleneck is something like Intel PresentMon.
Elgigantisk@reddit (OP)
Yeah havent tought of that, Ill check it!
Verdreht@reddit
League of Legends would run on a potato
WoW is famously a CPU heavy game, I haven't played it though, so I can't tell you for sure. Try a WoW sub and ask there
Which other games?
Elgigantisk@reddit (OP)
Thanks ill look into this
Lelman2424@reddit
You need a really good cpu to run lol with high fps