What CPU should I upgrade to from a 5 3600 to match 7700XT? Upgrade entire platform?

[DoDaDuckMan]

Hello everyone, at the moment my system has a Ryzen 5 3600 paired with a 7700XT for gaming. I have however found that the CPU limits the GPU quite heavily in certain games, like for example in beamng which renders in a lot of objects at times. In general, I am also a fan of having very high FPS at the cost of visual fidelity when I'm playing games such as Rainbow 6 Siege or Overwatch. On these types of games, my system currently maxes out at around 200fps but I would prefer to have a better CPU to avoid bad 1% low fps, which occur decently often when there's a lot of stuff going on in-game. I have been wondering what a purposeful upgrade for my CPU would be? I have considered buying a 5700x3d and sticking with AM4 for a while. I have also considered the non-X3D 5700X and 5800X, as they're half as expensive as their respective X3D versions. Would it however be worth it to upgrade to AM5? I am ideally looking for something with more than 6 cores to be able to run things like Beamng better.
Excluding the motherboard, I have a budget of about 150€ that I might be happy to spend on a new processor. I'm definitely looking for things on the used market.
Further system specs are below:

• PSU: Seasonic Focus GX 750W
• Motherboard: MSI MPG B550 Gaming plus
• CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
• CPU Cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock slim
• RAM: 2x16GB G-Skill Ripjaws 3200Mhz
• GPU: Sapphire Nitro+ 7700XT 12GB
• I have 1 2.5TB SATA HDD that's relatively slow, 1 512GB Nvme SSD and one 1TB SATA crucial SSD. I have no idea what the exact models are because I won't be home for the next week and I bought these ages ago so I can't remember. I don't think they impact the CPU upgrade decision though.

Important: I run everything at 1440p on a 180hz monitor.

I also only have a very basic understanding of overclocking. I would rather not have to bother with it unless there is a very good opportunity to do so and get a decent performance increase for possibly saved money.
Additionally, I'm not too knowledgable about intel CPUs. If anyone knows of potential good deals on an intel-based motherboard-CPU combination that would fit my requirements I would definitely look into it.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[PowerBuilder]

Don't forget that the R5 3600 is still very good.

 

[MrBanana]

Hello everyone, at the moment my system has a Ryzen 5 3600 paired with a 7700XT for gaming. I have however found that the CPU limits the GPU quite heavily in certain games, like for example in beamng which renders in a lot of objects at times. In general, I am also a fan of having very high FPS at the cost of visual fidelity when I'm playing games such as Rainbow 6 Siege or Overwatch. On these types of games, my system currently maxes out at around 200fps but I would prefer to have a better CPU to avoid bad 1% low fps, which occur decently often when there's a lot of stuff going on in-game. I have been wondering what a purposeful upgrade for my CPU would be? I have considered buying a 5700x3d and sticking with AM4 for a while. I have also considered the non-X3D 5700X and 5800X, as they're half as expensive as their respective X3D versions. Would it however be worth it to upgrade to AM5? I am ideally looking for something with more than 6 cores to be able to run things like Beamng better.
Excluding the motherboard, I have a budget of about 150€ that I might be happy to spend on a new processor. I'm definitely looking for things on the used market.
Further system specs are below:

• PSU: Seasonic Focus GX 750W
• Motherboard: MSI MPG B550 Gaming plus
• CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
• CPU Cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock slim
• RAM: 2x16GB G-Skill Ripjaws 3200Mhz
• GPU: Sapphire Nitro+ 7700XT 12GB
• I have 1 2.5TB SATA HDD that's relatively slow, 1 512GB Nvme SSD and one 1TB SATA crucial SSD. I have no idea what the exact models are because I won't be home for the next week and I bought these ages ago so I can't remember. I don't think they impact the CPU upgrade decision though.

Important: I run everything at 1440p on a 180hz monitor.

I also only have a very basic understanding of overclocking. I would rather not have to bother with it unless there is a very good opportunity to do so and get a decent performance increase for possibly saved money.
Additionally, I'm not too knowledgable about intel CPUs. If anyone knows of potential good deals on an intel-based motherboard-CPU combination that would fit my requirements I would definitely look into it.

Many thanks in advance!

Your best upgrade path is a 5700x3d. Considering your budget, am5 is too expensive.

 

[dirtyferret]

any of the X3D you can get your hands on that meets your budget and your mobo supports, 5600X3D, 5700X3D, 5800X3D (there's even a rare 5500 version in South America)

 

[Drash]

I had an oc 6700k with a 6900XT, upgraded to a 9800X3D with the same 6900XT. I also have a 3600 (and quite a few others) and the 6700k isn't that much slower than a 3600 and depending on the game I'm not seeing that much of an upgrade. Some games it is huge (CPU bound ones obv.) but some not much if anything. So I'd stick for now, unless you are really CPU bound on something you must play now, and then go AM5 later with a next gen GPU. Or go AM6 ...

 

[Macro Device]

I'm not too knowledgable about intel CPUs

Check if 13600KF (or 14600KF; essentially the same CPU but the 14600KF is a little higher clocked) + DDR4 motherboard combo is within your budget. Then you can sell your CPU + mobo and reuse your RAM to get a very serious performance boost.

No idea what you're doing besides gaming on your PC but these E-cores will help with practically any professional workload, be it render, modelling, video editing or whatnot. This won't lose to 5700X3D in gaming (maybe even win on average but gonna be hard to tell) but will destroy it in everything else.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

5700 X3D set it and forget it

Using the 9800 X3D as the base line aka 100%
The 5700 X3D sits around 80%
Meanwhile 3600X sits at 57%

5700X3D is cost effective drop in upgrade that offers enough performance that a GPU upgrade in the future would be fine with little to no issue. You wont see a huge performance uplift unless in a CPU bound scenario but if your the type that spending mass amounts of cash is hard to do. The 5700 X3D will let you get 8 cores reasonable gaming performance with the ability to drop in a new GPU later on and extend the life of the system

 

[DoDaDuckMan]

Check if 13600KF (or 14600KF; essentially the same CPU but the 14600KF is a little higher clocked) + DDR4 motherboard combo is within your budget. Then you can sell your CPU + mobo and reuse your RAM to get a very serious performance boost.

No idea what you're doing besides gaming on your PC but these E-cores will help with practically any professional workload, be it render, modelling, video editing or whatnot. This won't lose to 5700X3D in gaming (maybe even win on average but gonna be hard to tell) but will destroy it in everything else.

Thanks for this, I looked into it a bit and the single core performance is especially impressive. Plus it's around 50 bucks cheaper than any 5000 series X3D processors from AMD for me. I'd just have to get a new motherboard, but maybe it's worth it. Also might have to check my CPU cooler its not the best and this has somewhat higher TDP. These 14th gen Intel's are the last of their platform though right? Didn't intel switch to a new platform with the new naming scheme? Or is it the same? Either way this is a good recommendation, maybe I can wait a bit longer, amass some more money and get a larger upgrade with a new high-quality mother board as well.

5700 X3D set it and forget it

Using the 9800 X3D as the base line aka 100%
The 5700 X3D sits around 80%
Meanwhile 3600X sits at 57%

5700X3D is cost effective drop in upgrade that offers enough performance that a GPU upgrade in the future would be fine with little to no issue. You wont see a huge performance uplift unless in a CPU bound scenario but if your the type that spending mass amounts of cash is hard to do. The 5700 X3D will let you get 8 cores reasonable gaming performance with the ability to drop in a new GPU later on and extend the life of the system

Thanks (and also thanks to everyone else recommending the 5700X3D), this is also helpful. It definitely seems to be the most straight-forward upgrade at the moment for me. I didn't know it was that good compared to the 9800X3D.

I had an oc 6700k with a 6900XT, upgraded to a 9800X3D with the same 6900XT. I also have a 3600 (and quite a few others) and the 6700k isn't that much slower than a 3600 and depending on the game I'm not seeing that much of an upgrade. Some games it is huge (CPU bound ones obv.) but some not much if anything. So I'd stick for now, unless you are really CPU bound on something you must play now, and then go AM5 later with a next gen GPU. Or go AM6 ...

Thanks, I'm also thinking about just waiting for a bit. I definitely do play some games that I know for sure are CPU bound, like the finals, cyberpunk, or Beamng, however they still run decently fine. Either way the longer away, the more money I can also set aside for a while to get a bigger upgrade .

 

[freeagent]

56,57,5800X3D if you are a die hard gamer. R5 3600 is slow as molasses compared to anything modern from AMD.

It might be ok.. but I had a 3600XT before a 5600X, and the Zen 3 part stomped a mudhole in it.

 

[melkor_unlimited]

I have considered buying a 5700x3d and sticking with AM4 for a while. I have also considered the non-X3D 5700X and 5800X, as they're half as expensive as their respective X3D versions. Would it however be worth it to upgrade to AM5?

• Motherboard: MSI MPG B550 Gaming plus
• RAM: 2x16GB G-Skill Ripjaws 3200Mhz
• CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
• GPU: Sapphire Nitro+ 7700XT 12GB

I have had rigs with Ryzen 7 3700x and Ryzen 7 5800x. Upgraded them to Ryzen 7 5700 X3D and Ryzen 7 5800 X3D.
In most cases the Ryzen 7 5800 X3D is the best of them.
Ryzen 7 5700 X3D is cut too much on clock. In some cases Ryzen 7 5800x may be better choice.

When combined with XFX 6800XT (5700 X3D) or Sapphire 7900XT (5800 X3D) and in 1440 or 2160, CPU is not the bottleneck in most cases.

In comparison .. AM5 6-core CPUs
Ryzen 5 8600G is slighty worse than Ryzen 5 5800X3D
Ryzen 5 7600X is slightly better, but not always.

For Beamng check second hand market for 5900x or 5950x.

What I have found ... Physics score (40 cars)
361 MBeams/s = Ryzen 7 3700x
436 MBeams/s = Ryzen 9 3900x + rtx 3080
485 MBeams/s = Ryzen 7 5800x + rtx 3060ti
532 MBeama/s = Ryzen 7 5800x + rtx 4080

 

[dgianstefani]

265K or 5700X3D.

 

[DaemonForce]

5800XT ($141), 5700X3D ($222) or 5900X ($256) are all very attractive coming from the vanilla 3600.
Still happy with mine so I'll have to choose one very soon if I need the additional CPU power.
The door doesn't stay open forever but I also plan on bottlenecking the snot out of the 3600 first.

 

[Chrispy_]

I'm here to throw another vote for 5800X3D, or 5700X3D if you can't get the 5800X3D for a decent price.

Sure, there are faster CPUs, but it's very capable for a drop-in upgrade that will cost you far less than a platform upgrade. It's a significant upgrade over the 3600, and a very decent match for a 7700XT without breaking the bank, something you obviously care about because you're talking about a 7700XT and not a 5090.

I ran a 5800X3D and 7800XT on a 1440p240 display for most of 2024. I still use the 5800X3D in another system with a 5070Ti and it's not even close to feeling slow yet.

 

[GerKNG]

no need for me to comment since everyone gave the absolute best and correct answer... but yeah.
5700X3D or if someone throws his 5800X3D on Ebay for cheap. anything else is irrelevant.

 

[Chrispy_]

Oh, I just noticed your €150 budget. That puts you a bit under-budget for a 5700X3D but IMO it's worth saving up a bit to get one. It'll let you squeeze more time out of your AM4 platform so it's definitely worth the extra money over the (now cheap) 5700X or 5800X.

I bought (with my own money) a 5800X3D soon after launch even though I already had a 5800X and 5950X kicking around at home. For me to spend my own money on hardware is very rare and yet I still have no regrets.

 

[melkor_unlimited]

One aftertough ...
As I have said earlier, Ryzen 5 7600X has similar performance as Ryzen 7 5800 X3D in most cases.

This test shows that in 1440 you would need something like rtx 4080 or better to be limited by CPU.

Ryzen 7 9800X3D vs. Ryzen 5 7600X: CPU and GPU Scaling Benchmark

We're kicking off a new benchmark series with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D vs. Ryzen 5 7600X, testing CPU and GPU scaling across four games, multiple resolutions, and...

www.techspot.com

With $150 budget you have to take the 2nd best (5800x/5700x) or check second hand market for X3D or 5900x.
Change of platform to AM5 (Ryzen 7000, 8000, 9000 series) or Intel s1700 (12th, 13th, 14th gen CPU) do not fit into that budget.
Even if you manage to sell your current rig.

 

[Chomiq]

Budget locks you out of switching platforms. Go with X3D on AM4.

 

[Chrispy_]

Change of platform to AM5 (Ryzen 7000, 8000, 9000 series) or Intel s1700 (12th, 13th, 14th gen CPU) do not fit into that budget.
Even if you manage to sell your current rig.

Indeed. Even if the old system can be sold, AM4 and DDR4 aren't worth enough to really make a dent in the cost of a new B650 board and DDR5. It's another ~€150 net cost just to change to AM5.

AM5 is 100% the right answer for any new build from scratch, and that has been true for 12-18 months now, but until the supply of AM4 X3D chips dries up, there's no reason to upgrade a perfectly decent AM4 board unless you're making the upgrade to a CPU that's also much faster than a 5800X3D.

 

[dgianstefani]

Indeed. Even if the old system can be sold, AM4 and DDR4 aren't worth enough to really make a dent in the cost of a new B650 board and DDR5. It's another ~€150 net cost just to change to AM5.

AM5 is 100% the right answer for any new build from scratch, and that has been true for 12-18 months now, but until the supply of AM4 X3D chips dries up, there's no reason to upgrade a perfectly decent AM4 board unless you're making the upgrade to a CPU that's also much faster than a 5800X3D.

Debatable. Essentially, from AM5, only the X3D processors make sense for gaming/do it all builds. ARL is just that much cheaper and gives that much more perf for non gaming at each price tier, for gaming the perf difference between non-X3D and ARL is like 3-4%, without 200S boost (which pushes it over that line), plus the Z890 platform is simply better than X870/E. In a vacuum, yes, you'd have 50/50 whether to go ARL or Zen 5 non X3D depending on what productivity software you'll be using. But the price differences basically seal the deal, with 265K being barely more expensive than a 9600X, and significantly cheaper than a 9700X, while competing with or being faster than a 9900X.

Inbound 'muh future proof socket' when there is one more gen on AM5, and upgrading to a single gen is mostly stupid.

 

[Why_Me]

Hello everyone, at the moment my system has a Ryzen 5 3600 paired with a 7700XT for gaming. I have however found that the CPU limits the GPU quite heavily in certain games, like for example in beamng which renders in a lot of objects at times. In general, I am also a fan of having very high FPS at the cost of visual fidelity when I'm playing games such as Rainbow 6 Siege or Overwatch. On these types of games, my system currently maxes out at around 200fps but I would prefer to have a better CPU to avoid bad 1% low fps, which occur decently often when there's a lot of stuff going on in-game. I have been wondering what a purposeful upgrade for my CPU would be? I have considered buying a 5700x3d and sticking with AM4 for a while. I have also considered the non-X3D 5700X and 5800X, as they're half as expensive as their respective X3D versions. Would it however be worth it to upgrade to AM5? I am ideally looking for something with more than 6 cores to be able to run things like Beamng better.
Excluding the motherboard, I have a budget of about 150€ that I might be happy to spend on a new processor. I'm definitely looking for things on the used market.
Further system specs are below:

• PSU: Seasonic Focus GX 750W
• Motherboard: MSI MPG B550 Gaming plus
• CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
• CPU Cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock slim
• RAM: 2x16GB G-Skill Ripjaws 3200Mhz
• GPU: Sapphire Nitro+ 7700XT 12GB
• I have 1 2.5TB SATA HDD that's relatively slow, 1 512GB Nvme SSD and one 1TB SATA crucial SSD. I have no idea what the exact models are because I won't be home for the next week and I bought these ages ago so I can't remember. I don't think they impact the CPU upgrade decision though.

Important: I run everything at 1440p on a 180hz monitor.

I also only have a very basic understanding of overclocking. I would rather not have to bother with it unless there is a very good opportunity to do so and get a decent performance increase for possibly saved money.
Additionally, I'm not too knowledgable about intel CPUs. If anyone knows of potential good deals on an intel-based motherboard-CPU combination that would fit my requirements I would definitely look into it.

Many thanks in advance!

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor (€87.90 @ Alza)
Total: €87.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-07-31 15:23 CEST+0200


PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor (€129.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €129.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-07-31 15:25 CEST+0200

 

[dgianstefani]

As within budget as it is, I'm not sure moving from Zen 2 to Zen 3 is worth it, unless you're also moving from non-X3D to X3D. There might be an argument for the cheap 5600, but don't spend more than 100 euro on a non-X3D single generation upgrade.

Otherwise just keep saving till you can get X3D, or a new platform entirely.

 

[Onasi]

As within budget as it is, I'm not sure moving from Zen 2 to Zen 3 is worth it, unless you're also moving from non-X3D to X3D.

It’s not, yeah. The only actual viable upgrade for an AM4 platform is the 5700/5800X3D. I think this is basically the consensus in the thread at this point.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Don't forget that the R5 3600 is still very good.

I have however found that the CPU limits the GPU quite heavily in certain games

Reedng R Hrd.

Hello everyone, at the moment my system has a Ryzen 5 3600 paired with a 7700XT for gaming. I have however found that the CPU limits the GPU quite heavily in certain games, like for example in beamng which renders in a lot of objects at times. In general, I am also a fan of having very high FPS at the cost of visual fidelity when I'm playing games such as Rainbow 6 Siege or Overwatch. On these types of games, my system currently maxes out at around 200fps but I would prefer to have a better CPU to avoid bad 1% low fps, which occur decently often when there's a lot of stuff going on in-game. I have been wondering what a purposeful upgrade for my CPU would be? I have considered buying a 5700x3d and sticking with AM4 for a while. I have also considered the non-X3D 5700X and 5800X, as they're half as expensive as their respective X3D versions. Would it however be worth it to upgrade to AM5? I am ideally looking for something with more than 6 cores to be able to run things like Beamng better.

If you're going to spend money on an upgrade, x3d without a doubt. I will say from experience that my 5800x3d still suffers from load in slow down on beamng, that game loves cores.

There's no reason to go non x3d on an old platform at this point, as it would be wasted capital that could be spent on something better. On my PC the 6800xt is the bottleneck 99% of the time, so I say get the 5700x3d then get a new GPU when the new gen drops and get another 4 years out of your current platform.

If you're going to go new platform, the intel 265/285 outperform normal ryzen chips but lose to x3d for gaming. The 265k when it went on sale for $230 was a genuinely great deal, considering a 9800x3d is $450.

 

[Red Hood]

5700X3D

 

[DoDaDuckMan]

Thanks for all the replies. Can’t reply to everyone individually but I’ve started looking through 5800X3D listings in my area. Rn they range anywhere between 200-400€, so I’ll have to see to find a good and reliable deal.