Should I upgrade? 3700X/X470 > 5950X/X570

Kelvarr

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Curious whether this upgrade would be worth it.

I currently have a 3700X running on an X470 motherboard, 32GB RAM.

I can get a good buy on a 5950X running on an X570 motherboard. Is this a worthwhile upgrade? I know Zen4/AM5 is not terribly far away, but I also know it will be expensive to upgrade.
On a plus note, the 3700X could go in my other rig, which is running a 2700X on a X470 board.

The machine is 100% used for gaming. The 2700X machine is my ripping/production machine.
 
5950X will run on an X470 just fine if it's got good VRM cooling.... However gaming, your just chasing benchmarks
 
I would probably not buy anything yet if you're gaming only and save your money for next gen.

A 5950x for gaming only is kind of a waste. If anything, I'd probably buy that new 5800x3d version as it is supposed to be the top gaming CPU in AMDs lineup and cheaper than a 5950x.
 
I'd either do a CPU only upgrade keeping your old mobo, or wait until next gen and have a mobo that will probably be good for several generations of new CPUs.

But as other people have noted a 5950x is overkill for current - and plausible near future - gaming needs.

If you wanted to combine gaming and video editing/etc on a single box it would be a reasonable option. When you're only using a few of the cores to game it should clock about as high as a smaller 5xxx CPU, while the productivity tasks that can scale over many cores will be happy to use them all.
 
Top end I'd get for gaming is the 5900X, but only because they've come down in price and only if you were going to have it for a long time. Otherwise a 5800X would be fine. 5950X is for a workstation or chasing benchmarks.

And I'd only really make that move if you intend to stay on that platform for a long while. So when you ask if its "worth it", how long would you be intending to use it before getting the upgrade bug again? You mention a potentially new platform being expensive, but wouldn't a 5950X/X570 be expensive too? If it were me, I'd wait.
 
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I'm really only looking at it because it's a bundle. I can get the entire bundle for $650 (5950X, Aorus X570 mobo, 32GB PC4000 Corsair RAM).

I would agree about all the 5950X otherwise, and wouldn't chase it.

Regarding the next gen....if I am topping out current gen, it could be a good while before I upgrade again. Typically, I upgrade once I can no longer do what I want to do at the level I want to do it. That's why my last upgrade went from a i7-2600k to my Ryzen 2700X. I only got my 3700X at the time because I wanted to separate my gaming and production PC's. Additionally, I'll be able to sell my 2700X cpu, x470 mobo, 32GB RAM for a couple hundred probably, which would drop this upgrade price to under $500.
 
I'm really only looking at it because it's a bundle. I can get the entire bundle for $650 (5950X, Aorus X570 mobo, 32GB PC4000 Corsair RAM).

I would agree about all the 5950X otherwise, and wouldn't chase it.

Regarding the next gen....if I am topping out current gen, it could be a good while before I upgrade again. Typically, I upgrade once I can no longer do what I want to do at the level I want to do it. That's why my last upgrade went from a i7-2600k to my Ryzen 2700X. I only got my 3700X at the time because I wanted to separate my gaming and production PC's. Additionally, I'll be able to sell my 2700X cpu, x470 mobo, 32GB RAM for a couple hundred probably, which would drop this upgrade price to under $500.

That's a pretty good price for the bundle. I'd probably jump on that.
 
Curious whether this upgrade would be worth it.

I currently have a 3700X running on an X470 motherboard, 32GB RAM.

I can get a good buy on a 5950X running on an X570 motherboard. Is this a worthwhile upgrade? I know Zen4/AM5 is not terribly far away, but I also know it will be expensive to upgrade.
On a plus note, the 3700X could go in my other rig, which is running a 2700X on a X470 board.

The machine is 100% used for gaming. The 2700X machine is my ripping/production machine.
Honestly, if I were in that spot, I'd just stay with your current machine, provided this is just an upgrade itch type deal. Save that money and put it towards the early adopter tax on AM5 here in a few months.
 
5950x is not a gaming CPU, you want as noted above at most a 5900X for the higher clocks. And even then are you even CPU bound right now in games, prob not, so waste of money.
 
5950x is not a gaming CPU, you want as noted above at most a 5900X for the higher clocks. And even then are you even CPU bound right now in games, prob not, so waste of money.

Yeah my original plan was a 5900x, I only went 5950x for the added ummmph in HEVC encoding - because for something like that if you can swing it it tangibly helps enough to possibly be worth it..
 
Yeah my original plan was a 5900x, I only went 5950x for the added ummmph in HEVC encoding - because for something like that if you can swing it it tangibly helps enough to possibly be worth it..
Def if you have other CPU intensive tasks might be good, but also if you are only gaining say 1min on an encoded is it worth couple hundred bucks to spend now on a dead platform?
 
ve other CPU intensive tasks might be good, but also if you are only gaining say 1min on an encoded is it worth couple hundred bucks to spend now on a dead platform

Yes, I upgraded my Plex library to 4k and I had to encode my entire ripped UHD collection that was sitting in cold storage (starting since 2018) waiting for things like Handbrake to get HDR10 support and for Dolby Vision to be figured out (by the community and/and then me)

Got around 200 4K movies done in 6 months going 24/7 (and ended coincidentally right before electricity rates went up) and now I'm finally done except for new ones that come out from here on out

Worth every penny and second saved in the end
 
If the additional power the CPU uses is less then ya, based on this the 5950x would be almost twice as fast...at least going 1080 to 4k
https://www.anandtech.com/show/1621...-review-5950x-5900x-5800x-and-5700x-tested/15

1648677225350.png
 
As others have said it's not really worth it for gaming. I upgraded from a 3700x to a 5900x and even though the frequency is far higher (4.9Ghz vs like 4.2-4.4 on the 3700x) the performance difference in games isn't even noticeable.
 
It's almost like the people in this thread don't read the OP. He said this is a 100% gaming build. HEVC conversion is irrelevant.

His followup comment about the price he's getting the setup at is the only reason to recommend it for a 100% gaming build.
 
It's almost like the people in this thread don't read the OP. He said this is a 100% gaming build. HEVC conversion is irrelevant.

His followup comment about the price he's getting the setup at is the only reason to recommend it for a 100% gaming build.
Yes we did read it. We're all telling him that the setup he wants to upgrade to is only worth it for a usecase other than the one the computer it'll be going into is being built for.

The 5950X is a great CPU if you want to do compute intensive things other than/in addition to gaming. For a gaming only system it's 💸

One thing I don't think anyone has mentioned is that it's fast enough that it could do both of the OPs existing computer jobs at the same time and be faster with both; and selling both existing CPU/Mobo pairs would cover most of the upgrade cost. Assuming that enough ram/storage could be stuffed into it anyway.

That might be worth it from more free space considerations, although I'd rather have a spare box on hand.
 
Yes we did read it. We're all telling him that the setup he wants to upgrade to is only worth it for a usecase other than the one the computer it'll be going into is being built for.

The 5950X is a great CPU if you want to do compute intensive things other than/in addition to gaming. For a gaming only system it's 💸

One thing I don't think anyone has mentioned is that it's fast enough that it could do both of the OPs existing computer jobs at the same time and be faster with both; and selling both existing CPU/Mobo pairs would cover most of the upgrade cost. Assuming that enough ram/storage could be stuffed into it anyway.

That might be worth it from more free space considerations, although I'd rather have a spare box on hand.

Worth is relative. $650 for a 5950x, 32GB RAM, and x570 motherboard is a pretty good deal anyway you look at it. You'd be lucky to keep it under that if you were buying a new setup just for gaming. Generally, I would say not worth it at all, but at the price he is getting the setup at, I think it's very much worth it just for gaming. Honestly, I would probably buy the combo and then sell the 5950x and buy a used 5800x and pocket the difference.
 
Worth is relative. $650 for a 5950x, 32GB RAM, and x570 motherboard is a pretty good deal anyway you look at it. You'd be lucky to keep it under that if you were buying a new setup just for gaming. Generally, I would say not worth it at all, but at the price he is getting the setup at, I think it's very much worth it just for gaming. Honestly, I would probably buy the combo and then sell the 5950x and buy a used 5800x and pocket the difference.
Selling the 5950X is also an option. I'll look into that.
 
Curious whether this upgrade would be worth it.

I currently have a 3700X running on an X470 motherboard, 32GB RAM.

I can get a good buy on a 5950X running on an X570 motherboard. Is this a worthwhile upgrade? I know Zen4/AM5 is not terribly far away, but I also know it will be expensive to upgrade.
On a plus note, the 3700X could go in my other rig, which is running a 2700X on a X470 board.

The machine is 100% used for gaming. The 2700X machine is my ripping/production machine.
what's your video card?

and on a side note: Nvidia's HEVC encoding on Turing and Ampere is very good. At the bitrates people typically use-----you would be hard pressed to tell the difference (if you use something like Staxrip, which allows you to utilize all of the quality gaining features). And its a lot faster than encoding on the CPU (again, if you don't use handbrake and use something else like staxrip, which fully utilizes GPUs).
 
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what's your video card?

and on a side note: Nvidia's HEVC encoding on Turing and Ampere is very good. At the bitrates people typically use-----you would be hard pressed to tell the difference (if you use something like Staxrip, which allows you to utilize all of the quality gaining features). And its a lot faster than encoding on the CPU (again, if you don't use handbrake and use something else like staxrip, which fully utilizes GPUs).
Radeon 6800xt reference.

I've not heard of staxrip. I use Handbrake for my ripping. That work is all currently done on my other box though, and it only has a 5450 in it. At most, I'd only be able to put a Vega64 in it right now.
 
Radeon 6800xt reference.

I've not heard of staxrip. I use Handbrake for my ripping. That work is all currently done on my other box though, and it only has a 5450 in it. At most, I'd only be able to put a Vega64 in it right now.
AMD's encoding isn't good for streaming bitrates. But for ripping 4K, its actually quite good. Especially their HEVC/H.265. at bitrates of 30,000kbps or higher, you would again be hard pressed to find meaningful differences.

For a 6800xt, a CPU upgrade would bring you decent, but not HUGE benefits. Its up to you to look at benchmarks and reviews, to decide if the improvements are worth your money right now.
 
I started my AM4 adventure in November 2020.. started with a 3600XT because I couldn't get a 5600X.. shortages.. that XT was a pretty good CPU. But then I got my 5600X.. and it blew it away in pretty much everything. Then I got a 5900X because I had the cash, and couldn't get a GPU.. another solid bump. So yeah.. it would be worth it.
 
You got another 18 months in that setup at least. I now sweat as long as I can till I can't do something software wise or run some hardware that would benefit me. Upgrading every 18 months or so isn't worth it like back in the single core days.
 
Yes, you could easily upgrade the CPU. No, don't waste the money on a motherboard upgrade when your current motherboard will handle even a 5950x just fine. The only real feature you'll be missing is PCIE 4.0, but that will make almost no difference even if you had a top end GPU.
 
If you're just after gaming I'd wait on the 5800x3d and see how it compares to a PBO/CO 5950x before buying either. I will say going from zen 2 to zen 3 was a pretty big jump in cpu bound games (I went 3950x to 5950x) especially given the much better PBO+CO o/c ability. I gained around 15% single thread and 35% all core - with around 20-25% in cpu bound games like for like (PBO+UV on the zen2, PBO+CO on the zen3). I'm able to maintain 4.4-4.5ghz all core vs. around 4ghz all core at 205W (which is about the limit my board outputs) zen 3 vs zen 2.
 
Radeon 6800xt reference.
That combo price is amazing. Heck, last summer when the 5950's were going for as much as $1000 and not available from retailers, I scored one for $800. Yes, it's overkill for gaming, but buy the combo and sell the CPU off for a 5800x, as others have suggested.
I found it nteresting that I have the exact X470 combo. same mb, CPU..... but only with a GTX 1070. I have a gigabyte X570 Ultra in the 5950x PC, and again, only a 1080. Just yesterday, I finally scored a RTX 3060Ti at MSRP, via EVGA. Been on their notify list for over a year. I'm a photographer and shoot some video, as high as 8K raw, so the best CPU helps. GPU not as important for photo editing, but the RTX will surely help!
 
After seeing reviews, I'd go 5800x3d in your x370 board when a bios is available. It'll be the cheapest and most effective final upgrade for gaming purposes. I have a 5800x3d sitting on my desk waiting to get some side by side testing against my pbo/co 5950 in VR (as that's the only thing that taxes my cpu gaming wise).
 
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