The Upgrade Path: AMD Ryzen 3700X to 5800X3D vs. Intel Core i9-9900K

I loved my 9900K build.

Ran it for over 3yrs at 5Ghz with a 2080 & then 3080. System never missed a beat, ran everything I threw at it.

I initially went with the i9 build over AMD because they were far superior in emulators, where IPC & Ghz reigns supreme.

trparky said:

Not if you go by Amazon's Best Seller's list for CPUs. AMD has ranked consistently higher than Intel on Amazon.

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Yeah I'm aware of the Amazon charts, I don't think it's representative of the bigger picture though, there's still people recommending Intel for new builds, big OEM's are still pushing Intel all the time.

The whole OEM thing in-particular baffles me, They have to be very stringent on price, performance and power usage when designing these things. AMD CPU's perform better whilst using substantially less power and support the socket for far longer.

Now OEM's obviously don't want you upgrading the CPU but it does save them R&D having to redesign motherboards for new chipsets every year and allows them to really nail the firmware and makes supporting the platform going forward easier since a new chipset isn't introduced every 5 seconds.

I find it interesting that Ryzen has been kicking butt for years now, I get not many OEM's jumping at the R&D costs of going with AMD for the first time, but when they are performing so much better than what Intel can offer, and they've been doing it reliably for years now, the real question is, why haven't they? Intel has been told off in the past for anti-competitive practices, makes you wonder if they're up to their old tricks again.

R00sT3R said:

I loved my 9900K build.

Ran it for over 3yrs at 5Ghz with a 2080 & then 3080. System never missed a beat, ran everything I threw at it.

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I had the 8700K and 1080Ti until earlier this year, also never missed a beat and was rock solid. Computer is still around as well, passed it down to a friend who has also mentioned how solid it is.
This is in-fact the first time I've gone an AMD build myself while in my adult life. I'm aware the 8700K was getting old at this point but I gotta give it to AMD, the X3D CPU's are on another level, especially when you get a game that really takes advantage of the extra cache, they absolutely fly.

Burty117 said:

And yet, Intel still are the top dogs in sales.

The other day someone on these very forums told me the reason people buy intel “is for high frame rate gaming” yet AMD with the 5800X3D and 7800X3D consistently beat anything Intel has to offer at a fraction of the power consumption.

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Cause casual ppl buy things here and now, they don't care upgrading all the time.

Take a closer look - AMD started pushing Intel only after Zen 3 release, when they undoubtedly beat intel in games.

Intel has their own fabs (terrible though they might be) and can provide a dedicated supply of chips in volume to the likes of Dell, HP, etc.

AMD has to secure contracts with TSMC who are also providing chips to Apple and everyone else, so there is more supply constraints there.

As a result Intel is likely able to supply more chips, for a better price, while also still being a household name.

It's also not like their chips are bad or dont work, for the average offer worker or student, just about anything will work reasonably well.

I built a new PC with a 9700K at the end of 2018 to replace my aging i7-860. At the time, the closest AMD competitor was the 2700X, which was inferior in gaming (my analysis based on reviews at the time).

While an upgrade path to a 5800x3D would have been amazing, I do think there’s an argument to make about eschewing a mid-life CPU upgrade in favor of saving funds for a platform upgrade, which brings newer DDR, PCIe, and USB standards.

For my use cases, the 9700K still plays everything I throw at it at 1440p (especially since buying a 3080 last fall). I’m probably not upgrading for a couple of years yet, at which time I’ll look at modernizing the platform.

While the upgrade path on AM4 would have been awesome, I prefer putting funds toward a full platform shift every 8-10 years with a mid-life GPU upgrade. I realize I might be in the minority with that viewpoint on this forum, however.

Don't forget PC components retain decent value. You can sell that old 3700x and recupe at least hlaf of the purchase price.

Burty117 said:

And yet, Intel still are the top dogs in sales.

The other day someone on these very forums told me the reason people buy intel “is for high frame rate gaming” yet AMD with the 5800X3D and 7800X3D consistently beat anything Intel has to offer at a fraction of the power consumption.

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Well the bigger takeaway here is both the 3700X and 9900K are plenty for PC gaming; and the gap massively narrows @4K; making the uprade of either even less appealing.

loki1944 said:

Well the bigger takeaway here is both the 3700X and 9900K are plenty for PC gaming; and the gap massively narrows @4K; making the uprade of either even less appealing.

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So, that's what you learned from all those charts,?

You really think the vast majority of people are gaming @4K ..and that makes " the upGrade of either even less appealing"??

That's the most ludicrous comment of the week!!

R00sT3R said:

I initially went with the i9 build over AMD because they were far superior in emulators, where IPC & Ghz reigns supreme.

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AMD's 3D cache processors have now caught up and are actually substantially faster than Intel's in regards to Switch Emulator.

For PS3 Emulation it's on par with Intel's fastest.

PEnnn said:

So, that's what you learned from all those charts,?

You really think the vast majority of people are gaming @4K ..and that makes " the upGrade of either even less appealing"??

That's the most ludicrous comment of the week!!

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Even at 1080p it's clear the older CPUs are plenty. And yes for the average user the upgrade would net pretty much 0 noticeable difference. We aren't talking fps counting tech snobs here; and this is not the difference between a QX6700 and an i7 920 in terms of playability where the former is typically stuck around 30FPS regardless of GPU and the latter scales even with a 7900XT; capable of still delivering a decent experience.

Great article. I remember how the 9900K was the cat's meow. So the performance of the 5800x3d is simply overwhelming. The AM4 platform has delivered value far beyond anything Intel ever offered. I would hope my x670 motherboard has the same staying power.

AMD has been gaining market share ever since the Zen CPUs hit the market. It has been a slow ascent for AMD at all levels once Zen became a true competitor for Intel - Intel became slow to react to true competition that they hadn't seen since early 2000s. They have had substantial problem with their die shrink since 14nm and still aren't any where close to TSMC 5 nm and now going to 3 nm. If you bought your system from a vendor - whether it's mainstream like Dell or HP or boutique like Buypower or others you really weren't looking (or caring) about upgrade paths for CPUs as Dell/HP don't really make their PCs easy to upgrade. If you're a home user who built a system then the AM4 has been truly revolutionary as you have had FOUR different CPU generations to upgrade as you chose - I have gone from R5-1600 to R5-3600 to R7-5700G - all CPU only upgrades and less than $200 each. Not much of a gamer any more but the upgrades have greatly reduced my video editing times on either Freemake (get rid of commercials) or Handbrake (get rid of front and rear credits) from TV shows and movies using PlayOn and/or Anystream recordings of streaming services.

Tantor said:

Great article. I remember how the 9900K was the cat's meow. So the performance of the 5800x3d is simply overwhelming. The AM4 platform has delivered value far beyond anything Intel ever offered. I would hope my x670 motherboard has the same staying power.

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In what way does the am4 over overwhelming performance? Back in 2022, I had a b350 on an R5 1600, I wanted to upgrade. My options were a 5800x 3d for 450$, or a 12700f + a b660 for 460$. Obviously I went for the latter, new motherboard with upgradability and 12 cores for the price of the 5800x 3d alone. I sold my old stuff as well and got some money back. Upgradability is irrelevant when it's just cheaper to buy a new motherboard, lol.

Strawman said:

In what way does the am4 over overwhelming performance? Back in 2022, I had a b350 on an R5 1600, I wanted to upgrade. My options were a 5800x 3d for 450$, or a 12700f + a b660 for 460$. Obviously I went for the latter, new motherboard with upgradability and 12 cores for the price of the 5800x 3d alone. I sold my old stuff as well and got some money back. Upgradability is irrelevant when it's just cheaper to buy a new motherboard, lol.

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Maybe I read different reviews to yourself:
Intel Core i7-12700 + Intel B660 Review
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Review

But eerrrmm, for gaming anyway, the 5800X3D was the better pick no?
If you're doing other tasks though, the Intel chip made more sense.

Burty117 said:

Maybe I read different reviews to yourself:
Intel Core i7-12700 + Intel B660 Review
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Review

But eerrrmm, for gaming anyway, the 5800X3D was the better pick no?
If you're doing other tasks though, the Intel chip made more sense.

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Maybe you are, the latest review from techpowerup has the 12700k in front of the 5800x 3d. So let's call it even between the 12700 and the 5800x 3d. So the 12700 is equal in games, faster in ST tasks, much faster in MT tasks, and for the same amount of money youll end up with a brand new UPGRADABLE motherboard.

Yeah - great value that 5800x 3d, lol.

Strawman said:

Maybe you are, the latest review from techpowerup has the 12700k in front of the 5800x 3d. So let's call it even between the 12700 and the 5800x 3d. So the 12700 is equal in games, faster in ST tasks, much faster in MT tasks, and for the same amount of money youll end up with a brand new UPGRADABLE motherboard.

Yeah - great value that 5800x 3d, lol.

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Well see, this is why I'm bringing it up, since when did Intel bring any upgrades to the motherboard? There's not even been any performance improvement in three generations now, so what upgrades are you talking about here?

As far as I can tell, you had a perfectly good computer, you could have upgraded to a CPU that's the same performance as the best out there, but you chose to replace it all for the... same performance?

The pricing does make it interesting, but since it's the same price, seems like a lot of effort to move to Intel for the same performance, way more power usage and is an equally dead platform?

Burty117 said:

Well see, this is why I'm bringing it up, since when did Intel bring any upgrades to the motherboard? There's not even been any performance improvement in three generations now, so what upgrades are you talking about here?

As far as I can tell, you had a perfectly good computer, you could have upgraded to a CPU that's the same performance as the best out there, but you chose to replace it all for the... same performance?

The pricing does make it interesting, but since it's the same price, seems like a lot of effort to move to Intel for the same performance, way more power usage and is an equally dead platform?

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You are sating a 14900k for example isn't an upgrade compared to a 12700? It offers almost double the mt performance, what are you talking about man?

I upgraded to a computer that is faster in games, much faster in Mt, got a new mobo with warranty, got a mobo with upgradability and ended up spending less money since I could sell my old motherboard. Only an ***** would go for the 3d when it cost as much as a cpu + a mobo

Im sick of hearing that AMD offers better socket support than Intel does. I dont care, when I buy a new CPU I want a new motherboard. I personally feel that if you are upgrading your CPU within 3 years you made a bad choice in the first place. And AMD dont really support past 3 years. This article and testing just feels like AMD marketing, its actually quite a niche scenario if you think about it.

Right now there are several bundles and deals for a 12700KF and a motherboard. These often cost less than AMDs latest 7800X by itself, hell even a 5800X3D sometimes. If its for gaming you dont need a $400 CPU. Id get the 12700KF and put the rest of the money towards the GPU and monitor.

But yes, if you have a 3700X and you want a small bump in CPU gaming performance. Go and buy a 5800X3D for $360. Personally id wait a year or two and upgrade everything. Youl get way more extra performance for your money along with all new features on your mobo. Are you really struggling on a 3700X? Really?

manowar51 said:

I personally feel that if you are upgrading your CPU within 3 years you made a bad choice in the first place.

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Not if that upgrade suddenly gives you a whopping 20 to 25% increase in performance like AMD has been giving lately. Meanwhile, Intel has been giving us what? Table scraps.

trparky said:

Not if that upgrade suddenly gives you a whopping 20 to 25% increase in performance like AMD has been giving lately. Meanwhile, Intel has been giving us what? Table scraps.

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This is what’s blowing my mind with the comments above, intel literally haven’t improved at all for 3 generations now, literally zero improvement, just more power usage to meet higher frequency’s.

AMD have legitimately been improving their CPU’s generation after generation.

Yet people think Intel support their sockets and have upgrade paths? There must be some logic I’m missing here?

trparky said:

Not if that upgrade suddenly gives you a whopping 20 to 25% increase in performance like AMD has been giving lately. Meanwhile, Intel has been giving us what? Table scraps.

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Burty117 said:

This is what’s blowing my mind with the comments above, intel literally haven’t improved at all for 3 generations now, literally zero improvement, just more power usage to meet higher frequency’s.

AMD have legitimately been improving their CPU’s generation after generation.

Yet people think Intel support their sockets and have upgrade paths? There must be some logic I’m missing here?

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Really? No improvements? None at all? Are you guys actually drunk? There is no improvement between an i7 12700 to an i7 14700? From a 12900 to a 14900? What the actual hell...

Strawman said:

Really? No improvements? None at all? Are you guys actually drunk? There is no improvement between an i7 12700 to an i7 14700? From a 12900 to a 14900? What the actual hell...

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Oh yeah, they added some eCores. Big deal! And then you have to contend with the screwy process of making sure that threads are being routed to the right cores.

With AMD, you don't have to worry about that at all. Even with the upcoming Zen C cores there's no black magic needed because oh yeah, unlike Intel, the microarchitecture is the same.