AMD upgrade question

N

narsbars

2[H]4U
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
2,985
Currently on a 5900X, 570 MB, 64gig, 3070vid, with gen 4 NVMEs. I want to go to AM5 with whatever is needed to give me another few years but don't want to buy a CPU that will actually result in a downgrade. Doing light AAA gaming, trying to learn how to spell AI, and the upgrade bug has bitten. I can't afford a $399.00 and up MB, but my thoughts are to spend more on the MB initially in order to be able to grow in the future while buying the least expensive CPU that is actually faster than the 5900 real world, not benchmarks. Suggestions?
 
you can get by with a B650 board but you are only going to side grade with anything other than a 7900x or higher...
 
Motherboard doesn't matter all that much as long as you aren't getting a $80 bottom of the line board. Worry more about how many SATA and USB ports you want, m.2 slots, fan headers. Are you actually using all 12 cores of that 5900X?
 
If you're looking to upgrade to AM5, the X670E Steel Legend (if you can find it) for $259 is an amazing bang for the buck board and it's almost as good as the $600+ boards. It's actually better than its successor, the X870 Steel Legend, which is a B650 equivalent.

Depending on what you need, it may still be overkill. I've got mine loaded up with a 4090 in the top slot, RAID card in the bottom x16 physical slot (x4 electrical), a 10GbE NIC in the open back x1 slot (gotta disable onboard wifi for that slot to work, and yes it caps out at just under 800MB/s), four NVME slots in use (two with U.2 adapters for enterprise grade SSDs), and I'm using the 9800X3D's iGPU as a Dolby Atmos sound output to my receiver. The one thing that I'd change about the board is the lack of a 7 segment error display.
 
narsbars said:
I want to go to AM5 with whatever is needed to give me another few years but don't want to buy a CPU that will actually result in a downgrade.
Click to expand...

The 9800X3D is actually faster than the 5900X even in highly multi-threaded non-gaming tasks, despite having 4 fewer cores. It usually sits between the 5900X and 5950X, but even manages to beat the 5950X on occasion. Meanwhile it would be a massive upgrade for anything that is less multi-threaded, including gaming. So in a nutshell, it would never be a downgrade, and would be a significant upgrade in "real world" usage. Since it only has 8 cores, the 9800X3D is pretty forgiving when pairing it with cheaper motherboards.
 
My 9800x3d is close to equal to my old 7900x3d 12 core in cinebench. Which is one reason I was willing to switch. Have the cake and eat it too.

I got the 9800x3d in a combo with a $150 x870 gigabyte with plain wifi6 etc.

I disagree with expensive motherboards entirely. Motherboard feature differences are largely marketing and if you need a specific expensive feature for a specific reason THEN you look at more expensive boards.

Even if you can't find that good of a deal again in the near future as I did, I think there are going to be sub $200 B850 boards soon. If you can just hold on another couple of months you should be able to get into that.

Either that or the least expensive x870 that has good memory compatibility.

All this stuff gets old fast. Don't overpay for gimmicks any more than necessary.
 
Advil said:
My 9800x3d is close to equal to my old 7900x3d 12 core in cinebench. Which is one reason I was willing to switch. Have the cake and eat it too.

I got the 9800x3d in a combo with a $150 x870 gigabyte with plain wifi6 etc.

I disagree with expensive motherboards entirely. Motherboard feature differences are largely marketing and if you need a specific expensive feature for a specific reason THEN you look at more expensive boards.

Even if you can't find that good of a deal again in the near future as I did, I think there are going to be sub $200 B850 boards soon. If you can just hold on another couple of months you should be able to get into that.

Either that or the least expensive x870 that has good memory compatibility.

All this stuff gets old fast. Don't overpay for gimmicks any more than necessary.
Click to expand...
I am torn, it doesn't seem like I would get any WOW! factor from any of the available upgrades, the price seems good but I wonder if it is just a limitation of the current crop of CPUs and the AMD upgradeability will bail me out whenever the next gen comes out. So far I am thinking about a bottom end 870, 64 gigs of good, not top end ram, but have not settled on a CPU yet.
 
There isn't a choice really. If you aren't going 9800x3d or 9950x3d don't upgrade right now you won't gain enough.

A 5900x is still decent.

IMHO You need the X3D to really gain on what you own in a noticeable way. You'd like the enhanced lows in the AAA games. Otherwise wait another year.
 
Gotta stay off the interwebs.. tech sites.. etc... or your "itch" will just get stronger and you'll eventually be brainwashed into thinking you need to upgrade...
You can probably skip AM5 altogether .. and wait for AM6
 
I own a 5900X as well as multiple AM5 CPUs. You don't NEED to upgrade that 5900X. The money you'd spend to get a meaningful upgrade would be better spent on a better GPU.

If you absolutely insist on upgrading, I'd agree that the 9800X3D or better would be the minimum to justify the cost to move to AM5.
 
Fluxmaven said:
I own a 5900X as well as multiple AM5 CPUs. You don't NEED to upgrade that 5900X. The money you'd spend to get a meaningful upgrade would be better spent on a better GPU.

If you absolutely insist on upgrading, I'd agree that the 9800X3D or better would be the minimum to justify the cost to move to AM5.
Click to expand...
Seems like the consensus is wait, so I think I will wait unless I see a great combo deal on the H. Nowhere near a Microcenter so I can't get tempted that way.
 
I find myself in a similar boat w/ my 5900x and 6950xt machine and actually came here to share something I found yesterday.

After getting sick of a couple of recurring error messages and an inability to install python for messing w/ my Coral TPU, I did a nuke and pave and reinstalled Windows 11 from scratch. Previously, I was running Win11 from a Windows 10 upgrade.

I ran 3DMark just before wiping the system and immediately after. The fresh install rec'd 12% higher benchmark scores than the existing system.

Seems the 5900x will stick around until viable and affordable options appear.
 
narsbars said:
Currently on a 5900X, 570 MB, 64gig, 3070vid, with gen 4 NVMEs. I want to go to AM5 with whatever is needed to give me another few years but don't want to buy a CPU that will actually result in a downgrade. Doing light AAA gaming, trying to learn how to spell AI, and the upgrade bug has bitten. I can't afford a $399.00 and up MB, but my thoughts are to spend more on the MB initially in order to be able to grow in the future while buying the least expensive CPU that is actually faster than the 5900 real world, not benchmarks. Suggestions?
Click to expand...
If you want a solid gaming upgrade, get a used 5800X3D or a new 5700X3D.

I wouldn't pay over about $280 for a used 5800X3D. $250 would be better. So, be careful with that. There are plenty of skyhigh used ones out there...

5700X3D can often be bought for about $175. Or if you go Aliexpress, that can be as low as like $130.

Hardware Unboxed did a new CPU performance video, just a couple of weeks ago. So, you can see how they stack up (rather well)

View: https://youtu.be/2mE4YEm2L-g?si=b2y5PjbqMiQLiMc3
 
Last edited:
I do live near a Microcenter which is both a blessing and a curse lol. I often get tempted by combo deals or deeply discounted open box stuff. They are one of the few places that always has the 9800X3D in stock, but I told myself I'm not buying any more CPUs for a bit.

Doesn't cost anything but a bit of time to do a fresh OS install as mentioned above. That plus tightening up your RAM timings if you haven't already would likely jazz up that 5900X enough to fend off the upgrade urge a bit longer.
 
narsbars said:
Currently on a 5900X, 570 MB, 64gig, 3070vid, with gen 4 NVMEs. I want to go to AM5 with whatever is needed to give me another few years but don't want to buy a CPU that will actually result in a downgrade. Doing light AAA gaming, trying to learn how to spell AI, and the upgrade bug has bitten. I can't afford a $399.00 and up MB, but my thoughts are to spend more on the MB initially in order to be able to grow in the future while buying the least expensive CPU that is actually faster than the 5900 real world, not benchmarks. Suggestions?
Click to expand...
Re-evaluate whether you really need/want to upgrade?

From your description, an upgrade to am5 seems like too much bother and cost for the benefit to me.
 
narsbars said:
Currently on a 5900X, 570 MB, 64gig, 3070vid, with gen 4 NVMEs. I want to go to AM5 with whatever is needed to give me another few years but don't want to buy a CPU that will actually result in a downgrade. Doing light AAA gaming, trying to learn how to spell AI, and the upgrade bug has bitten. I can't afford a $399.00 and up MB, but my thoughts are to spend more on the MB initially in order to be able to grow in the future while buying the least expensive CPU that is actually faster than the 5900 real world, not benchmarks. Suggestions?
Click to expand...
It depends on what you are looking for.
Your 5900x does fine with the 3070 card for gaming and work.
If you don't work and only play games, then 7600x3D + some faster card is the best and cheapest upgrade.
Or just wait and get an RX 9070 XT and don't touch anything else.
 
AVATARAT said:
It depends on what you are looking for.
Your 5900x does fine with the 3070 card for gaming and work.
If you don't work and only play games, then 7600x3D + some faster card is the best and cheapest upgrade.
Or just wait and get an RX 9070 XT and don't touch anything else.
Click to expand...
Does anyone see those twin marks on my neck? I have been bitten by the upgrade bug but after the responses I have gotten I may just hang on for a while longer. I MUST UPGRADE! MUST BUY NEW! It is just the voices sometimes quiet down for a while if I get an upgrade. I do some work and I game so it looks like I might be throwing money away at this point.
 
Of course it’s throwing money away. Haven’t you all heard if pissing money down the drain on hobbies? The last time I upgraded my PC because it NEEDED it was when the first Far Cry came out. I’m trying to slow down now that I’m middle aged and have 3 kids and 1 money.

Good luck resisting the itch my friend!!
 
narsbars said:
Does anyone see those twin marks on my neck? I have been bitten by the upgrade bug but after the responses I have gotten I may just hang on for a while longer. I MUST UPGRADE! MUST BUY NEW! It is just the voices sometimes quiet down for a while if I get an upgrade. I do some work and I game so it looks like I might be throwing money away at this point.
Click to expand...
So it depends on whether your programs need more multithreading to finish faster - if so, then something with more cores:
7950x3D / 9900x
My 9700x with some tuning gets multi like your 5900x, so if that's enough - FPS will jump and your programs will be fine too.
 
Just keep telling yourself that it's a business expense. I've been pondering this exact dilemma. Everytime I get sensible advice about an x3D chip I feel like Ralphy from A Christmas Story hearing an adult admonish him with that musical chant about shooting his eye out.

The sensible option in my case would be to simply wait out until the next entry model CPU's that out perform my setup across the board because I'm not sure how many different ways that I can be told that it doesn't really exist yet.

I've got to veer back towards your initial question. Clearly arestavo has the most sensible advice regarding the motherboard. So allow me to jump straight to enabling you with bad advice.
Get a 9600x or whatever and get the rush of new architecture now. You could be one of the multitude of people who always chime in about their 5600x being the best financial decision right before they themselves upgrade to the latest x3D chip. Its not good advice but it could be pretty fun.
 
Tactlesss said:
Just keep telling yourself that it's a business expense. I've been pondering this exact dilemma. Everytime I get sensible advice about an x3D chip I feel like Ralphy from A Christmas Story hearing an adult admonish him with that musical chant about shooting his eye out.

The sensible option in my case would be to simply wait out until the next entry model CPU's that out perform my setup across the board because I'm not sure how many different ways that I can be told that it doesn't really exist yet.

I've got to veer back towards your initial question. Clearly arestavo has the most sensible advice regarding the motherboard. So allow me to jump straight to enabling you with bad advice.
Get a 9600x or whatever and get the rush of new architecture now. You could be one of the multitude of people who always chime in about their 5600x being the best financial decision right before they themselves upgrade to the latest x3D chip ppf car wrap. Its not good advice but it could be pretty fun.
Click to expand...
I got a 5950x, but should I upgrade or wait? I've only had it for about 2 years.
 
5900X to 5800X3D was a decent upgrade for me and also no more micro stuttering. Load times in some games increased but overall gaming was smoother in terms of minimums and frame times - things you won’t notice in averages.
 
stevenlee said:
I got a 5950x, but should I upgrade or wait? I've only had it for about 2 years.
Click to expand...

For me, on AM4, I went from 3900X to 5900X to 5800X3D. The upgrade from the 5900X to 5800X3D felt significantly more substantial than the upgrade from the 3900X to 5900X, even though the later was a generational upgrade while the former was not and actually resulted in me losing 4 cores. If your primary goal is gaming performance, that 3D cache can really make a big impact.

Of course, you've mostly missed the 5800X3D train at this point, unless you can find one used. You could still get a 5700X3D if you are on a budget. It would definitely be worth it to upgrade to AM5 if you can sell your old hardware. That's what I just did. After upgrading my system to a 9800X3D, I built a system out of my old 5800X3D using a mix of new and used parts and sold it for a good chunk of money.
 
5800X3D is holding ridiculous resale value at the moment. You basically can't find them for under $300, which almost makes a used 7800X3D a better value proposition. 7700x and 9700x almost definitely offer better value than going for a 5800X3D at this point in time.
 
Unless I get really lucky...or really unlucky, I'm going to hold on to my 5950x. I'm only CPU bound in one game currently and from the looks of the online chatter, it's not a problem that I can just buy my way to the solution. And I don't have the entrepreneurial spirit to recoup the costs of these kinds of purchases.
 
narsbars said:
Playing with local AI. I think the bottleneck is the GPU
Click to expand...
better off getting a dedicated system to handle this imo. you just need PCI-e lanes and uses Tesla cards from eBay as you can spread things over multipe gpus
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top