How important are X3D processors at 1440p and beyond?

[azrael]

Title almost says it all. I'm going for an AM5 build with an interim processor (have my eyes set on "Medusa"). Thinking of a 7700, because it's fairly cheap and according to Passmark is about 33% faster than my 3800X. I believe I've heard somewhere, that X3D processors make less sense the higher the resolution is. Right now, I'm using 1440p and I certainly won't go lower ever again.

 

[Solaris17]

Not exactly; CPUs are less constrained at higher resolutions because it’s all on the GPU. But cpu tasks and thread handling still benefit from fast CPUs and fast cache. You still want the best you can get you just don’t expect 100% load avg.

 

[Contra]

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Review - The Best Gaming CPU

AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D is everything that gamers want: eight fast cores, in a single CCD, with 3D VCache stacked on top at a price point of $450. In our review we can confirm that 7800X3D is indeed the fastest gaming CPU available, beating Intel's 13900K and even the 7950X3D.

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AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Review - The Best Gaming Processor

The Ryzen 7 9800X3D establishes AMD as the leader in gaming performance. This Zen 5-based X3D chip is not only fast, it also comes with full support for overclocking. Besides gaming, application performance is considerably improved over the 7800X3D, but that comes at a price.

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Right now, I'm using 1440p and I certainly won't go lower ever again.

If you use dlss/fsr/xess in any mode other than native, it will reduce rendering resolution and increase CPU load.

 

[dirtyferret]

Title almost says it all. I'm going for an AM5 build with an interim processor (have my eyes set on "Medusa"). Thinking of a 7700, because it's fairly cheap and according to Passmark is about 33% faster than my 3800X. I believe I've heard somewhere, that X3D processors make less sense the higher the resolution is. Right now, I'm using 1440p and I certainly won't go lower ever again.

I assume we are talking about gaming? If so, depends on the exact games. Some games they make no difference, in some they make some difference and in some they make a big deal. Look at the games you play and like to play and check out some benchmarks @ 1440p just realize if you are sticking with your GTX 1080 the difference between CPUs will be less than most modern benchmarks that are run with a RTX 4090

 

[Dragam1337]

Title almost says it all. I'm going for an AM5 build with an interim processor (have my eyes set on "Medusa"). Thinking of a 7700, because it's fairly cheap and according to Passmark is about 33% faster than my 3800X. I believe I've heard somewhere, that X3D processors make less sense the higher the resolution is. Right now, I'm using 1440p and I certainly won't go lower ever again.

Serious lack of info here - we need your full specs.

Also, what games are you playing, and what is your fps goal.

 

[Macro Device]

Long story short: CPUs don't care about the resolution. If the CPU can only give you 200 FPS then if the GPU allows for that, it'll be 200 FPS in any resolution.

So it might be reasonable to cut CPU spendings a little bit if you go high resolutions such as 4K in favour of a better GPU but generally speaking, you better buy the best CPU you can afford instead of overthinking it.

 

[bug]

Title almost says it all. I'm going for an AM5 build with an interim processor (have my eyes set on "Medusa"). Thinking of a 7700, because it's fairly cheap and according to Passmark is about 33% faster than my 3800X. I believe I've heard somewhere, that X3D processors make less sense the higher the resolution is. Right now, I'm using 1440p and I certainly won't go lower ever again.

Just read the reviews on TPU. Spoiler alert: performance-wise, not that important.

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Review - The Best Gaming Processor

The Ryzen 7 9800X3D establishes AMD as the leader in gaming performance. This Zen 5-based X3D chip is not only fast, it also comes with full support for overclocking. Besides gaming, application performance is considerably improved over the 7800X3D, but that comes at a price.

www.techpowerup.com

And that's with a 4090.

 

[Dragam1337]

Just read the reviews on TPU. Spoiler alert: performance-wise, not that important.

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Review - The Best Gaming Processor

The Ryzen 7 9800X3D establishes AMD as the leader in gaming performance. This Zen 5-based X3D chip is not only fast, it also comes with full support for overclocking. Besides gaming, application performance is considerably improved over the 7800X3D, but that comes at a price.

www.techpowerup.com

And that's with a 4090.

Again, depends entirely on what games are played - if it's esports, then cpu will deffo matter. But op gave us close to zero info...

 

[Frizz]

Not exactly; CPUs are less constrained at higher resolutions because it’s all on the GPU. But cpu tasks and thread handling still benefit from fast CPUs and fast cache. You still want the best you can get you just don’t expect 100% load avg.

Hmm I balanced my build because of this since I use a 4k monitor, a CPU thats current and mid range and up arent really going to make any meaningful difference in games, it didnt make sense for me to get the 9800x3d hence why I went intel. Really I was going to end up with a similar performing CPU for a whopping 400 aud more since no meaningful difference in games at 4K and comparable production power and significantly less rendering prowess

 

[mb194dc]

Not much unless you've got a very high end gfx card as well. Or you do other tasks on CPU.

If you're gpu bottlenecked, any modern cpu will do. I'm still using a 4790k in one rig and don't see any reason to change it due to that.

Ultimately, it depends on your use case.

 

[bug]

Again, depends entirely on what games are played - if it's esports, then cpu will deffo matter. But op gave us close to zero info...

Having read your reply, I was 90% sure you bought a 3DVCache CPU before I looked at your system specs.
Yeah, esports is something else, you'll 3DVCache for those regardless. For anything else, at QHD or above it's just a nice to have.

 

[ir_cow]

Long story short: CPUs don't care about the resolution. If the CPU can only give you 200 FPS then if the GPU allows for that, it'll be 200 FPS in any resolution.

So it might be reasonable to cut CPU spendings a little bit if you go high resolutions such as 4K in favour of a better GPU but generally speaking, you better buy the best CPU you can afford instead of overthinking it.

This is a nice way of explaining it actually.

 

[droopyRO]

It dose matter if you play online stuff that requires it. For example when your fps drops from 80 to 40 when a hoard of enemies comes at you and your allies in Darktide or Vermintide, you would have wanted an X3D or a more powerful CPU. But in a single player title, it dose not matter if you die, cause you can quick load at any time.

Title almost says it all

 

[azrael]

Thanks for all your input. My new system will use an RTX 4080. And yes, I'm asking for the gaming part of things. I'm pretty sure the 7700 would cover my needs since it's faster than the 3800X I'm using now. However, I don't want to get either a 7800X3D or 9800X3D, because they're way too pricey at the moment. I just need something useful until Zen 6 ("Medusa") comes around. If nothing else, the 9000 series would probably be quite a bit cheaper by then.

 

[DaemonForce]

How important? Yes.
If it's 1st gen X3D you're all set for 1440p until next generation GPUs.
For now the 5900X and similar non-X3D are good at maxxing 5K capable GPUs at 100%.
So if you're on newer X3D or just need lots of cores, your big honkin chonkin GPU will push ALL the pixels that it can.

 

[LabRat 891]

It's 'important', period.
IME, X3D improves performance 'all around', with emphasis on 1% and 0.1% FPS avgs.

IIRC, a 5800X performs (near) universally worse vs, 5800X3D, regardless of resolution

RTX 4090 & 53 Games: Ryzen 7 5800X vs Ryzen 7 5800X3D Review

How much performance can you gain with Ryzen 7 5800X3D over the non-3DV Cache Ryzen 7 5800X when using the mighty GeForce RTX 4090? Our review has the answer, we test 53 games at three resolutions.

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Shakallia]

Title almost says it all. I'm going for an AM5 build with an interim processor (have my eyes set on "Medusa"). Thinking of a 7700, because it's fairly cheap and according to Passmark is about 33% faster than my 3800X. I believe I've heard somewhere, that X3D processors make less sense the higher the resolution is. Right now, I'm using 1440p and I certainly won't go lower ever again.

The biggest benefit is the overall smoothness, especially in CPU intensive games like WoW, its litterally day and night, even playing at 1440p all maxed, and I mean all.

A lot less fps spikes.

 

[dirtyferret]

CPU intensive games like WoW, its litterally day and night, even playing at 1440p all maxed,

anything you do to lower core latency will impact WoW performance which is why the 5800X3D will outperform a 7700x with DDR5 (still very good results)

 

[dgianstefani]

Balanced builds are bullshit. You buy the best CPU you can afford and upgrade it maybe in five years. GPU upgrades are priority.

When your GPU isn't at 100% it's wasted budget.

"Matching" a CPU to a GPU is pointless because you're going to end up buying a faster GPU eventually.

 

[Toothless]

Thanks for all your input. My new system will use an RTX 4080. And yes, I'm asking for the gaming part of things. I'm pretty sure the 7700 would cover my needs since it's faster than the 3800X I'm using now. However, I don't want to get either a 7800X3D or 9800X3D, because they're way too pricey at the moment. I just need something useful until Zen 6 ("Medusa") comes around. If nothing else, the 9000 series would probably be quite a bit cheaper by then.

5700x3d would be your friend. Fits same socket as your 3800x.

 

[LastDudeALive]

Like others have said, as the resolution increases, the CPU becomes less important for overall performance because it increases the GPU load, not the CPU load, outside of a few games where the 3D cache provides enough benefit to still provide a notable performance boost at higher resolutions. And you could get a 5700X3D instead which would be a nice upgrade and probably allow you to feel comfortable enough to skip AM5 entirely, that's my plan with my 5800X3D.

However, there is one benefit of the 3D cache at higher resolutions, and that's better stability. If your GPU is getting ~200fps at 1080p, but there's a momentary dip down to ~150fps, that's not very noticeable. However, if your GPU is getting ~80fps at 1440p and there's a dip down to 50fps, that will be a very noticeable stutter. The X3D CPUs provide much better stability and fewer stutters like that, and stutters are more noticeable at higher resolutions where your average framerate is lower.

 

[Dragam1337]

Thanks for all your input. My new system will use an RTX 4080. And yes, I'm asking for the gaming part of things. I'm pretty sure the 7700 would cover my needs since it's faster than the 3800X I'm using now. However, I don't want to get either a 7800X3D or 9800X3D, because they're way too pricey at the moment. I just need something useful until Zen 6 ("Medusa") comes around. If nothing else, the 9000 series would probably be quite a bit cheaper by then.

And again you gave us fack all details - what games are you going to be playing, and what is your fps target...