Flip Flopping between macOS and Windows

[pshufd]

I have the scheduling bandwidth to visit my local Microcenter this weekend. I'm re-considering upgrading my 3700X. Microcenter has the 5800X for 200, and the 5800X3D for 350. Asking Chatgpt, it tells me that the 5800X makes more sense, where as Claude tells me the 5800X3D. Gotta love AI, lol The explanation in Claude makes more sense then what ChatGPT offered. Ch

From my research, the games I play (mostly RPG) the 3700x is largely the bottleneck and the 5800X3D makes sense. A fly in the ointment (something AI didn't mentioned) is that for Bethesda based games, particularly for the older games frame rates are largely capped, for instance you cannot easily get beyond 60fps from Fallout 76, regardless of your setup.

With that said, the 5800X3D draws less power and is cooler running then the 5800X. I think overall, while its a bit more (quite a bit) money, the 5800X3D seems to make more sense to give me AM4 setup a longer life span and not be as loud/hot as the 5800X

View attachment 2642475

I looked at X3D vs not for my usage case and the non-X3D would make more sense for me but X3D seems to be the holy grail for gaming. It will also have other benefits for other purposes. I didn't realize the price difference was so large.

Are there chips like the 7 series that would work as you'd have power savings from a smaller process geometry?

 

[maflynn]

Are there chips like the 7 series that would work as you'd have power savings from a smaller process geometry?

I think my hands are largely tied given that I'm on AM4, and have no plans on upgrading. I can justify a few hundred dollars, I cannot justify adding a comma to the cost of upgrading to AM5 based products

 

[pshufd]

I think my hands are largely tied given that I'm on AM4, and have no plans on upgrading. I can justify a few hundred dollars, I cannot justify adding a comma to the cost of upgrading to AM5 based products

The comma is only recent. Before the recent price hikes, you could go AM5 for under $500. An example would be 9700X, MB and 32 GB of RAM.

 

[diamond.g]

I have the scheduling bandwidth to visit my local Microcenter this weekend. I'm re-considering upgrading my 3700X. Microcenter has the 5800X for 200, and the 5800X3D for 350. Asking Chatgpt, it tells me that the 5800X makes more sense, where as Claude tells me the 5800X3D. Gotta love AI, lol The explanation in Claude makes more sense then what ChatGPT offered. Ch

From my research, the games I play (mostly RPG) the 3700x is largely the bottleneck and the 5800X3D makes sense. A fly in the ointment (something AI didn't mentioned) is that for Bethesda based games, particularly for the older games frame rates are largely capped, for instance you cannot easily get beyond 60fps from Fallout 76, regardless of your setup.

With that said, the 5800X3D draws less power and is cooler running then the 5800X. I think overall, while its a bit more (quite a bit) money, the 5800X3D seems to make more sense to give me AM4 setup a longer life span and not be as loud/hot as the 5800X

View attachment 2642475

For the same 350...

https://www.microcenter.com/product/5007384/amd-ryzen-5-7500x3d,-asrock-b850m-c-am5,-gskill-flare-x5-series-16gb-ddr5-6000,-computer-build-bundle

though only coming with 16GB of ram could be an issue depending on how much you have now.

 

[maflynn]

For the same 350...
...
though only coming with 16GB of ram could be an issue depending on how much you have now.

LOL,
I'll have to look at the bundles more closely. I'm not a fan of asrock, and 16GB is a bit on the low end for me. I'll have to see if this sort of makes sense.

There's is gigabyte bundle in the 400 range - here's the thing, I start off at 200 (5800x), move up to the 5800x3d, now I'm looking at 350. The bundle does interest me, but not the asrock, now I'm looking to spend in the 400 range. Do I then upgrade my PSU? case, etc? I could see myself spend way more then I initially intended, lol

My case uses a Mini-itx motherboard so that largely hurts me.

 

[diamond.g]

View attachment 2642490

LOL,
I'll have to look at the bundles more closely. I'm not a fan of asrock, and 16GB is a bit on the low end for me. I'll have to see if this sort of makes sense.

There's is gigabyte bundle in the 400 range - here's the thing, I start off at 200 (5800x), move up to the 5800x3d, now I'm looking at 350. The bundle does interest me, but not the asrock, now I'm looking to spend in the 400 range. Do I then upgrade my PSU? case, etc? I could see myself spend way more then I initially intended, lol

My case uses a Mini-itx motherboard so that largely hurts me.

Oh you in the mITX club (welcome) and yeah none of these bundles apply, lol. But that is the burden we must bare when wanting SFF.... (or at least that is what I tell myself and my wife).

 

[Steve Adams]

I would just go with the X3D and call er a day. It give's you a bit of headroom in processing and it's not "THAT" much more.

 

[pshufd]

View attachment 2642490

LOL,
I'll have to look at the bundles more closely. I'm not a fan of asrock, and 16GB is a bit on the low end for me. I'll have to see if this sort of makes sense.

There's is gigabyte bundle in the 400 range - here's the thing, I start off at 200 (5800x), move up to the 5800x3d, now I'm looking at 350. The bundle does interest me, but not the asrock, now I'm looking to spend in the 400 range. Do I then upgrade my PSU? case, etc? I could see myself spend way more then I initially intended, lol

My case uses a Mini-itx motherboard so that largely hurts me.

I'd personally look for a 65 watt solution with a better CPU. The improved motherboard and RAM should give you a performance bump and lower power CPUs often cost less than 105 or 125 watt CPUs.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Yeah when I looked into the X3D, the performance didn't seem to justify the price. It was like 4% better at gaming.

I still am using an "all of the above" approach. I have taken to leaving my Lenovo Legion 7 Pro RTX 5090 Intel 275HX at home and remoting into it (and using it for the Windows App for my day job), and then using my Macbook Air M4 for on-the-go. I use my iPad Pro M1 12.9" for tablet-y stuff and my trusty iPhone 17e (which is awesome, by the way. Great phone for $599 free and clear).

But, yes, the true test will come when something breaks and I have to pay today's dollars for a new device.

 

[pshufd]

Yeah when I looked into the X3D, the performance didn't seem to justify the price. It was like 4% better at gaming.

I still am using an "all of the above" approach. I have taken to leaving my Lenovo Legion 7 Pro RTX 5090 Intel 275HX at home and remoting into it (and using it for the Windows App for my day job), and then using my Macbook Air M4 for on-the-go. I use my iPad Pro M1 12.9" for tablet-y stuff and my trusty iPhone 17e (which is awesome, by the way. Great phone for $599 free and clear).

But, yes, the true test will come when something breaks and I have to pay today's dollars for a new device.

Same approach. Windows and Macs on the laptop and desktop.

If something breaks, though, at least you already have a backup so you don't have to panic buy.

All of my desktops can handle my entire workload though with less performance than using all three together.

 

[maflynn]

But, yes, the true test will come when something breaks and I have to pay today's dollars for a new device.

Yeah, do I spend money now on new-ish components, either the 5800x3d, or one of the bundle deals from microcenter. Its a slippery slope, but by the same token, the cost of components isn't going to be going down anytime soon - at least ram and nand

Edit: let me just add, that I'm largely content with my machine in terms of performance, noise and setup. I'm sure I can part out the 64GB of ddr4 ram to help offset the cost, so I have that going for me.

 

[MacCheetah3]

I have the scheduling bandwidth to visit my local Microcenter this weekend. I'm re-considering upgrading my 3700X. Microcenter has the 5800X for 200, and the 5800X3D for 350. Asking Chatgpt, it tells me that the 5800X makes more sense, where as Claude tells me the 5800X3D. Gotta love AI, lol The explanation in Claude makes more sense then what ChatGPT offered. Ch

From my research, the games I play (mostly RPG) the 3700x is largely the bottleneck and the 5800X3D makes sense. A fly in the ointment (something AI didn't mentioned) is that for Bethesda based games, particularly for the older games frame rates are largely capped, for instance you cannot easily get beyond 60fps from Fallout 76, regardless of your setup.

With that said, the 5800X3D draws less power and is cooler running then the 5800X. I think overall, while its a bit more (quite a bit) money, the 5800X3D seems to make more sense to give me AM4 setup a longer life span and not be as loud/hot as the 5800X

I hate to muddy the water but (I might)...

4 scenarios where a Ryzen X3D CPU is not the best choice

Despite the fame, Ryzen X3D CPUs might be a bad investment for you

www.xda-developers.com

AMD's X3D CPUs only help with two things, and most gamers have neither

3D V-Cache isn't a reason to buy blindly.

www.xda-developers.com

These 6 games will benefit most from the Ryzen 7 9800X3D

If you frequently play any of these titles, a 9800X3D should be on your wishlist

www.xda-developers.com

Review compares all Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 X3D CPUs, up to 64% gaming gap - VideoCardz.com

AMD Zen3, Zen4 and Zen5 X3D CPUs compared Hardware Unboxed has published a 12-game average comparing all mainstream Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 X3D processors,

videocardz.com

I recommend trying to find comparative benchmarks for the specific games you play.

Yeah when I looked into the X3D, the performance didn't seem to justify the price. It was like 4% better at gaming.

Yeah… The pool in which there’s any actually noticeable benefit is really quite tiny. The extra cache does improve latency (i.e., CPU responsiveness) in high I/O operations (i.e., lots of PCIe traffic, such as very/extremely high FPS gaming). Even in those scenarios, the typical gain is <25%. Basically, it’s not a (great) value choice (i.e., performance per dollar). It really is for the enthusiast or someone otherwise wanting/needing to squeeze out every last bit of performance.

CPUs, bottlenecks, and games: the problem with CPU benchmarking

Benchmarking a CPU in games isn't as simple as you think.

www.xda-developers.com

An AI summary (snippet) on the subject does note a valid aspect:

While critics argue this creates unrealistic scenarios for average users who are often GPU-limited at higher resolutions, proponents contend it is necessary to reveal a CPU’s true limits and predict future performance as graphics cards improve.

In other words, gaming-focused CPU benchmarks are primarily useful for future-proofing, when you upgrade components other than the platform.