3700X@$330 vs. 3800X@$370

[Totally]

I can't decided whether or not should I spring for the 3800X or is it still a bad buy post AGESA 1.0.0.3 ABBA that brought the the boost clock fix along with the subsequent update further loosening the boost limit and now that the price difference between the two is just $40 atm. It seems the internet hates the 3800X, merely benches containing the 3800X are far and few in between before even mentioning the above criteria.

 

[John Naylor]

I gad thought we'd see a drop in 3900X pricing but it hasn't happened. We advise users to make their decision by ignoring synthetics, things they never do and things they might do once in the box's lifetime and focus on performance in the specific applications they use. I expected an immediate impact when the 9900KF was at $450 and shown to edge the 3900X in our primary usage areas ... gaming, AutoCAD, Adobe Premier and Photoshop ...my thought was the 3900x would drop to closer to the KF ... but instead, it has maintained the price and the 9900KF is npow back up to $480 ... even $500 on newegg. With the holidays on the horizon, methinks we won't see any significant price drops till January ... I'd wait till then and perhaps yu will see the 3600X / 3800X in a different light as a 3900X nay be in yur price range by then.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I can't decided whether or not should I spring for the 3800X or is it still a bad buy post AGESA 1.0.0.3 ABBA that brought the the boost clock fix along with the subsequent update further loosening the boost limit and now that the price difference between the two is just $40 atm. It seems the internet hates the 3800X, merely benches containing the 3800X are far and few in between before even mentioning the above criteria.

It shouldnt matter about the AGESA since it will be update with a BIOS flash. Other than that, if an extra $40 is in the wallets hidey place, go for the 3800 and profit.

 

[Totally]

I gad thought we'd see a drop in 3900X pricing but it hasn't happened. We advise users to make their decision by ignoring synthetics, things they never do and things they might do once in the box's lifetime and focus on performance in the specific applications they use. I expected an immediate impact when the 9900KF was at $450 and shown to edge the 3900X in our primary usage areas ... gaming, AutoCAD, Adobe Premier and Photoshop ...my thought was the 3900x would drop to closer to the KF ... but instead, it has maintained the price and the 9900KF is npow back up to $480 ... even $500 on newegg. With the holidays on the horizon, methinks we won't see any significant price drops till January ... I'd wait till then and perhaps yu will see the 3600X / 3800X in a different light as a 3900X nay be in yur price range by then.

As much as I would like the 3900x even though it's a bit more processing power than I'd need for the foreseeable future budgeted $400, for the cpu and I feel that it's very unlikely for the 3900X to drop by $130.

It shouldnt matter about the AGESA since it will be update with a BIOS flash. Other than that, if an extra $40 is in the wallets hidey place, go for the 3800 and profit.

The reason or logic behind me asking this is that all comparisons made between the two had both performing nearly identically. These comparisons were made before the Agesa update that fixed the boost issue/bug that prevented Ryzen 3 chips from reaching maximum advertised clocks. If both were boosting to same levels because of the bug with it fixed the 3800x should theoretically boost higher than the 3700x and therefore pull away. I'm curious is after this fix does 3800x pull away if at all, and by how much. If there's no difference I'd prefer to save my $40 and keep my wallet happy.

 

[RealNeil]

I went for the 3800X part. (not built yet, but soon)

 

[oxrufiioxo]

That's a 12% price difference for likely 2-3% gain..... I would invest that $40 into better Ram or Cooling which will likely make a greater difference.

Looks like you already have decent cooling/ram so probably just go with the 3800 lol
Although alternatively considering you have a 1700X I would just save up for the 12 core or wait till a price drop happens.

 

[Hyderz]

1700x is still a very capable cpu, first gen ryzen cpu are still pretty powerful.
but that upgrade itch is very hard to ignore lol. id wait for 4th gen

 

[TheLostSwede]

As someone that used to have a Ryzen 7 1700 and felt like I should've gone for the 1700X at the time, I got a 3800X. I was quite annoyed to start with, but it seems like the 3800X has some minor advantages over the 3700X, but to be honest, I'm not sure they're worth the extra money. Yes, it has a higher base clock, but in general my CPU always runs at higher clocks than the base clock. Yes, it boosts higher and it does it regularly these days after AMD and the board makers fixed the issues with the AGESA, drivers, etc.
I'm still not convinced it's worth the extra money, although I haven't seen any benchmark comparisons after AGESA 1.0.0.4B was released or even 1.0.0.3ABBA, so maybe there's more of a performance difference now, but I doubt it.
It's much less of a difference between the 7 and 8 SKUs this time than the previous two times and if feels like AMD fucked up a bit.

On the other hand, my CPU's IMC is happy to run at 1900MHz at 1:1 with my four sticks of RAM at 3800MHz, which can't be all bad...

 

[Samiam66]

3700 X .........But I maybe a little biased

 

[the54thvoid]

I went from a 1700X to a 3700X and the gaming difference is night and day. PUBG, on a 120fps frame cap, would tank to below 100, frequently on my 1700X. With the 3700X, it stays true to 120fps for about 90% of the game, with only very slight dips. (I game with a 144Hz monitor, so I notice the slight change). I was also torn between the two but ultimately, and for a change, I didn't buy the more expensive part. I've got a first-gen 370X CH6 (not on the latest AGESA) and the chip boosts as high as 4.37Ghz on two cores. PUBG has it at 4.25Ghz on all cores (no manual or BIOS OC - just DOCP for memory).

 

[londiste]

3800X main advantage over 3700X is higher power limit but also slightly better binned dies (YMMV at that).
The advantages it gets apply to heavy multithreaded loads. Unless you do productivity stuff, 3800X is not worth it and even then 3700X will do about the same with OC.

 

[ratirt]

For you, switching to 3000 series makes sense more than for me. You will see a lot of improvement. I've got 2700x and I was going for 3900x but I decided to wait for the new Ryzens which are coming out next year. I'm advising you to wait for the new Ryzens (if you are not in urgent need for more performance) because it won't be too long for the new release but the decision is yours. If I were to upgrade today I'd go with the 3700x over 3800x.

 

[Zach_01]

3700X: 3.6GHz base 4.4GHz boost
3800X: 3.9GHz base 4.5GHz boost
-------300MHz-------100MHz

In what do you care most?
All core boost (all threads working together) =3800X
...or single/light threaded apps = 3700X

 

[EarthDog]

OP - get the best you can afford. I'd go 3800x. Almost no decision like this works out in the performance per dollar category (xx% increase in performance vs $xx increase). It has slightly faster clocks all around and should be slightly faster. They'll both overclock about the same on all c/t.. but if you are just going PBO and tweaking (seemingly the best way for zen 2), the 3800x.

3800X main advantage over 3700X is higher power limit but also slightly better binned dies (YMMV at that).
The advantages it gets apply to heavy multithreaded loads. Unless you do productivity stuff, 3800X is not worth it and even then 3700X will do about the same with OC.

3700X: 3.6GHz base 4.4GHz boost
3800X: 3.9GHz base 4.5GHz boost
-------300MHz-------100MHz

In what do you care most?
All core boost (all threads working together) =3800X
...or single/light threaded apps = 3700X

But isnt the 3800x faster in both all core boost and single/light loads (by clocks and albeit not by much) anyway?

 

[Zach_01]

Yes but if he cares most about single/light loads like games or whatever... the +100MHz over the 4400MHz dont do anything = not woth +40$.
That is if he thinking saving 40$ and it matters. If there is a hard cap in budget he can spent that 40 elsewhere. If not, go with 3800X.

 

[EarthDog]

The 3800x, is faster all around. Worth that difference is up to the OP to decide.

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Zach_01]

It is up to him...

1~3 FPS faster in games out of 110~140FPS

AMD Ryzen 7 3800X review

We reviewed pretty much all Series 3000 processors from AMD, however one review had been missing, until today that is, join us un a review of the feisty and spicy Ryzen 7 3800X eight-core processor. ... Performance - dGPU - Game performance - 1440p

www.guru3d.com

 

[EarthDog]

It is up to him...

1~3 FPS faster in games out of 110~140FPS

AMD Ryzen 7 3800X review

We reviewed pretty much all Series 3000 processors from AMD, however one review had been missing, until today that is, join us un a review of the feisty and spicy Ryzen 7 3800X eight-core processor. ... Performance - dGPU - Game performance - 1440p

www.guru3d.com

That's what I just said, and linked already.

Again, these metrics of performance % increase over $ almost never work out regardless. I dont find it to be a good barometer, personally........


Good luck OP.


Edit: OP, post bios/agesa pdates the difference between both would still be about the same as, in theory, both cpus now boost to what they were designed to do.

 

[Zach_01]

I know...
It just that cinebench showing 4% difference at single, but the reality (like games) is more like 0.5~1% avg difference.
Still the 3800X is a better chip overall.

 

[1000t]

If you plan to upgrade in 2 years again, I'd go for the cheaper option.

If you plan to keep the system for way longer, then I'd choose 3800X.

 

[ratirt]

If you plan to upgrade in 2 years again, I'd go for the cheaper option.

If you plan to keep the system for way longer, then I'd choose 3800X.

These two are basically the same processor and the difference in performance is basically nothing (in games for most reviewers 1-2FPS is a margin of error) Your justification for 3800x as a system to keep way longer than a 3700x is weird at best. 3800x vs 3900x your "way longer" would have been justified.
I'd wait for a new release and then make a decision. I think the next Ryzen will be great and it's worth to way a little bit longer.

 

[Sybaris_Caesar]

This is my mantra: if choosing a lower tier CPU lets me get a higher tier GPU, I'll always choose the GPU.

If there's no constraint like that, choose the best thing you can buy.

 

[ratirt]

This is my mantra: if choosing a lower tier CPU lets me get a higher tier GPU, I'll always choose the GPU.

If there's no constraint like that, choose the best thing you can buy.

Yes, I would consider that. GPU is important if you CPU is good enough then the GPU is something you should be more concerned about. Unless you are not changing GPU than maybe faster RAM or better motherboard

 

[Zach_01]

These two are basically the same processor and the difference in performance is basically nothing (in games for most reviewers 1-2FPS is a margin of error) Your justification for 3800x as system to keep way longer than 3700x is weird at best. 3800x vs 3900x your "way longer" would have been justified.
I'd wait for new release and then make a decision. I think the next Ryzen will be great and it's worth to way a little bit longer.

This the main reason I got with the 3600 since gaming is the primary thing for me. Im waiting for 4000 and may upgrade again in 2021~2022 when prices are really low.

This is my mantra: if choosing a lower tier CPU lets me get a higher tier GPU, I'll always choose the GPU.

If there's no constraint like that, choose the best thing you can buy.

He (OP) has already a nice system and looking for CPU only upgrade. But you comment has point and value.
I'd rather go with 3600+2080 than 3800+2070

 

[1000t]

These two are basically the same processor and the difference in performance is basically nothing (in games for most reviewers 1-2FPS is a margin of error) Your justification for 3800x as system to keep way longer than 3700x is weird at best. 3800x vs 3900x your "way longer" would have been justified.
I'd wait for new release and then make a decision. I think the next Ryzen will be great and it's worth to way a little bit longer.

The idea behind is based on that the chosen performance is basically what OP is fine with and cannot afford something way more expensive now. Short term, the assumption holds, but longer term the price difference isn't that pronounced and those few percent, however insignificant, will be more evident later in future.