Conclusion

After another long benchmarking session, we have a much better idea how big the difference between Ryzen 7 5800X and 5800X3D is. Under the hood, they are very similar in their CPU config—both are 8-core/16-thread processors based on the AMD Zen 3 architecture, using Socket AM4 with DDR4 memory, of course the X3D has the 3DV Cache, but the rest is very similar. While the 5800X is clocked at 4.7 GHz (with 3.8 GHz base frequency), the Ryzen 7 5800X3D runs at a slightly lower frequency of 4.5 GHz (with 3.5 GHz base clock). The reason for the lower operating frequency is that AMD is clocking the 3DV Cache at the same frequency as the CPU cores, and the maximum frequency on the cache (at a given voltage and power) is slightly lower than what the compute cores can do.

For gaming, these lower clocks make almost no difference. What offers a huge performance gain though is the 3DV Cache. At 1080p, the performance increase goes up to 50%! Even the average of 19% is very impressive, but things vary a lot between games. Out of 53 titles there's only six or seven that don't show serious gains. Rendering at 1080p Full HD is definitely a best-case scenario for RTX 4090 + 5800X3D. The RTX 4090 is so fast, most games are running CPU-limited, i.e. the GPU renders the frames very quickly, and the CPU can't supply new frame data fast enough, so the GPU sits idle between frames. It's important to realize here though that RTX 4090 is complete overkill for 1080p Full HD gaming. There's no way you should spend that much money on a graphics card to play at such a low resolution. In some way these results are similar to when reviewers use 720p in their benchmarks, to take the GPU out of the equation and show a best-case scaling scenario for the processor.

While the RTX 4090 handles 1440p at super high framerates, too, I feel like some gamers could be interested in running such a setup. If you want the highest possible framerates, but aren't willing to dial down the graphics settings, and have the money to spend, then RTX 4090 at 1440p is the best way currently to ensure you're getting the best framerates (and lowest latencies) for your high-refresh monitor. On average, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D pushed out 266 frames per second, while the Ryzen 7 5800X achieved "only" 230 FPS. Both numbers are highly impressive, and I'm not sure if the difference is significant enough for a conclusion that applies to all gamers. If we look at individual results though, and consider that high FPS = lower latency, I'd say that serious competitive gamers might want to consider upgrading their CPU, for that little extra edge. But it's not gonna be cheap—remember, we're talking about RTX 4090 at 1440p here, and you need a good high-refresh-rate monitor, too.

At 4K, which is really the territory the GeForce RTX 4090 was built for, we're seeing very solid gains in many titles, especially those that are lighter in their rendering requirements. Many games are fully GPU limited here though, and show negligible differences. Especially modern, demanding titles are able to fully load the GPU at that resolution, even with a weaker CPU. Averaged FPS across all of the games was 170 on the 5800X and 183 on the 5800X3D—wow, just a few years ago we dreamed about 4K60.

The brute force of 5800X3D will also help to safeguard against those frame drops in hectic situations, or busy map areas. With a weaker CPU you might encounter lower FPS from time to time, as the CPU gets overwhelmed, which of course happens quicker with a weaker processor. Also, while it's not reported in this review, the minimum FPS on 5800X3D are considerably better on Ryzen 5800X3D than on Ryzen 5800X.

We also looked at special subsets of our games, such as "DirectX 11 only", or "older games that were released in 2018 and before". At 4K resolution, there's surprisingly small differences between these groups. Rather it seems that 5800X3D is a great fit for all games, no matter if old or new. If you already have a Socket AM4 platform, then the 5800X3D is your best option for an upgrade. It's now available for less than $400, and will plop right into your existing motherboard, without further upgrade requirements besides a BIOS update for maximum performance. The alternative would be a more expensive DDR5-based platform like the Ryzen 7000 Series or the Intel 13th gen, which I will be testing next: 5800X3D vs 13900K soon.