CPU upgrade for 1440p advice

[Orbs]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and after plenty of research, I still would like a little advice on a CPU upgrade.

CPU: 3500X (6C 6T) (Slightly slower performance to the 3600, as it has only 6 threads, closer to the 2600)
GPU: RTX 3070
1TB SSD, 16GB DDR4 3200

I upgraded from a 1080p 144hz to 1440p 144hz, understanding that at a higher resolution, I'm more GPU bound. However, I play a lot of RPGs such as AC: Odyssey, and will probably be playing AC Valhalla after. I've noticed that even at 1080p, from time to time, I get noticeable frame drops in cities, and other areas. When this happens my CPU usage comes close to 100%.

Therefore I'd like to ask for advice if it will be a reasonable upgrade going from a 3500X to something like a 5600X or a 3700X (both priced similar where I live) to reduce these frame drops and have a more smoother stable gaming experience. Also, I would like to ask anyone who has gone from a Zen+/Zen 2 to a Zen 3, what was you experience gaming wise?

Thank you for reading my question and I look forward to hearing your replies.

EDIT: I should've mentioned that I'm sticking with my AM4 board.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Out of those two the 5600X is gonna be better for gaming.

Your issue in open world games like AC is the 3500X only has 6 threads although I'm sorta surprised 1440p is giving you issues even with a 3070....

The Nvidia driver/gpu's does offload scheduling to the cpu so that could be why you're having issues

 

[WatEagle]

CPU: 3500X (6C 6T) (Slightly slower performance to the 3600, as it has only 6 threads, closer to the 2600)
GPU: RTX 3070

Before buying a new cpu you can always try to tweak it via PBO and see if you can save up some money
Also if you want to buy a new one if it's only for gaming I would go with the 5600x, but if you do some other lind of workloads I would buy the 3700x

 

[Mussels]

I can answer this with pretty exact advice, since i've followed that upgrade path.

I could game at 1440p 165hz (not reaching 165FPS in all titles) with a 2700x and GTX 1080 in any title, as long as i turned fancy effects down to medium or so.

When i upgraded to the 3090, i found an FPS cap of around 120 in modern titles due to the 2700x
When i upgraded to the 5800x my FPS went through the roof, flatlining my 165Hz monitor - i retested with the GTX 1080 and found overall FPS much higher in a lot of games, putting me around the 140 mark at the same settings i'd always used


My advice for you is a simple one: Turn your GPU res down to 720p, see what FPS you get running around doing stuff. Thats your CPU limit.
Turn it to native res and see the FPS there, thats the GPU limit.

If theyre the same, upgrade the CPU - if the gaps large, upgrade the GPU
(From what you said about the cities in games, also look into your storage and RAM)

 

[Orbs]

My advice for you is a simple one: Turn your GPU res down to 720p, see what FPS you get running around doing stuff. Thats your CPU limit.
Turn it to native res and see the FPS there, thats the GPU limit.

If theyre the same, upgrade the CPU - if the gaps large, upgrade the GPU
(From what you said about the cities in games, also look into your storage and RAM)

I've done this on the AC: Odyssey benchmark tool, setting both my resolution at 720p and 1440p, the results were the same.
I am going to try play the game at 720p. As far as it goes, it looks like I should be upgrading my CPU sometime soon.

 

[Chrispy_]

I cannot recommend a 6T CPU in 2021. Way back in 2019 we already started seeing plenty of games taking advantage of 8T, with 6T CPUs like the older 9th Gen i5 really starting to fall behind 8T options like the 9700K.

Given that your 3070 is going to be expensive if you're buying right now, I would say it's a good idea to pony up the cash for a 5600X or even a 5800X if you can afford it and find one. That way you're not wasting the potential of that expensive 3070 with a CPU bottleneck. Rocket Lake 11600K seems to be a viable alternative to the 5600X if you are willing to spend the time/effort/money cooling it properly and spending the money on a higher-end board/RAM

I grabbed a 5800X for myself. They don't seem to be too hard to get at the moment and the pricing is reasonable - close to MSRP which makes it a steal in the current market. I previously had both a 3900X and vanilla 3600 and whilst both were good enough for gaming, the additional single-core speed of the 5800X makes everything I do feel faster. I didn't think I'd be saying that as the 3900X was already quick but it's enough of an upgrade that I notice it in browsers, application launches, productivity that isn't rendering etc. Zen3 is epic....

 

[GerKNG]

10700k
cheaper than 5600X
with OC faster (except in some cherry picked titles)
2 cores more (much better for future games since consoles run a 8/16 CPU.)

 

[Orbs]

I cannot recommend a 6T CPU in 2021. Way back in 2019 we already started seeing plenty of games taking advantage of 8T, with 6T CPUs like the older 9th Gen i5 really starting to fall behind 8T options like the 9700K.

Given that your 3070 is going to be expensive if you're buying right now, I would say it's a good idea to pony up the cash for a 5600X or even a 5800X if you can afford it and find one. That way you're not wasting the potential of that expensive 3070 with a CPU bottleneck. Rocket Lake 11600K seems to be a viable alternative to the 5600X if you are willing to spend the time/effort/money cooling it properly and spending the money on a higher-end board/RAM

I grabbed a 5800X for myself. They don't seem to be too hard to get at the moment and the pricing is reasonable - close to MSRP which makes it a steal in the current market. I previously had both a 3900X and vanilla 3600 and whilst both were good enough for gaming, the additional single-core speed of the 5800X makes everything I do feel faster. I didn't think I'd be saying that as the 3900X was already quick but it's enough of an upgrade that I notice it in browsers, application launches, productivity that isn't rendering etc. Zen3 is epic....

Thank you for your response.

I've noticed this YouTube review showing barely any improvements over a CPU upgrade at 1440p although the 1600X has 12T. Also, I've been reading around that the 5800X will only provide very minimal improvements in gaming as the extra cores and threads are more useful for other tasks (streaming, editing and etc) which I'm not too concerned about. However, shelling out a little extra on the 5800X seems like a higher step up and future-proof upgrade compared to the 5600X.

10700k
cheaper than 5600X

I'm also sticking with my current AM4 board.

 

[Mussels]

the 5600x is faster than many 8 core chips because each core is just that fast - dont get a slower 8 core, the fast 6 core is better for everything

seriously, the 5600x is faster than the 3800x in *multi* threaded tests


Is your 3500x stock or overclocked? if its got a low base clock/turbo it might be one of the few ryzens worth manually OCing

 

[Chrispy_]

Yeah, the CPUs job is just to feed the GPU. Most games seem happy with 8 threads and most GPUs are the bottleneck in AAA titles especially at higher resolutions.

6T is no longer sufficient to feed the GPU in plenty of titles. 8C/8T or 6C/12T is probably the sensible current "optimal" CPU but if you want games a few years from now to hit no bottlenecks it makes sense to aim higher than that. Bear in mind that both the PS5 and XBSX have 8C/16T CPUs in them and that is often what developers focus their efforts on. That video you linked is a great example of the creeping increase in CPU requirements. The newer, more demanding games show the biggest difference between the 1600X and 5600X.

What board are you using, and can your RAM reach 3600MHz? Again, if you are spending THE BIG BUCKS on a 3070, it doesn't seem right to save a few bucks by using an older platform. The 3070 will definitely hit 144Hz vsync at 1440p in many games if your CPU can feed it fast enough.

For what it's worth, the 3600 was noticeably slower than the 5800X on a 1440p165Hz monitor. Both CPUs were capable of hitting 165Hz a lot of the time, but the 5800X stayed closer to that limit when things got busy, whilst the 3600 would falter occasionally. I'm assuming this is a function of both the game wanting more than six real cores to run threads concurrently and also the 5800X simply doing the math on those threads 30% faster.

If you were playing at 4K60 or didn't have a high-refresh monitor, your choice of CPU would be far less important. As it stands, your planned GPU is beefy enough that it raises the bar on what CPUs can feed it effectively.

 

[Calmmo]

I would PBO the 3500x and wait for AMD to release their next lineup and then buy a discounted 5800x in a year's time or so.
My very personal opinion/prediction is that 6core CPU's from this point in time will age similarly to quad core i5's from a few years ago - unless the upgrade is meant to be very short term (like 1-2 years) in which case sidegrading to another 6core with smt will bring an... ok boost to your rig. 5600x and 5800x are both as it stands massively overpriced for what they offer.

 

[Durvelle27]

I’d easily suggest the Ryzen 5600X s the IPC is much greater and you will get much better per core performance

 

[Chrispy_]

I would PBO the 3500x and wait for AMD to release their next lineup and then buy a discounted 5800x in a year's time or so.
My very personal opinion/prediction is that 6core CPU's from this point in time will age similarly to quad core i5's from a few years ago - unless the upgrade is meant to be very short term (like 1-2 years) in which case sidegrading to another 6core with smt will bring an... ok boost to your rig. 5600x and 5800x are both as it stands massively overpriced for what they offer.

I suspect vanilla 5800 and 5600 chips are imminent, and my guess is that the 8C/16T will be the new i5 - plenty for years to come, and then outstaying its welcome ;D

 

[Orbs]

I really appreciate everybody's replies.

Is your 3500x stock or overclocked? if its got a low base clock/turbo it might be one of the few ryzens worth manually OCing

It is stock, under load it goes up to 4.1Ghz. I've tried manually OCing but no luck.

For what it's worth, the 3600 was noticeably slower than the 5800X on a 1440p165Hz monitor. Both CPUs were capable of hitting 165Hz a lot of the time, but the 5800X stayed closer to that limit when things got busy, whilst the 3600 would falter occasionally. I'm assuming this is a function of both the game wanting more than six real cores to run threads concurrently and also the 5800X simply doing the math on those threads 30% faster.

If you were playing at 4K60 or didn't have a high-refresh monitor, your choice of CPU would be far less important. As it stands, your planned GPU is beefy enough that it raises the bar on what CPUs can feed it effectively.

I don't plan on moving to 4K60 anytime soon. That was the sort of upgrade I was looking for. To have a better consistent frame rate. At times when I noticed drastic frame drops, the CPU usage usually hits 100%. I was hoping an upgrade would somewhat increase my 1% lows if I'm not mistaken.

As we speak right now the last 5600X I saw available got sold out. I'd probably wait until it gets back in stock and if the price is right, I just might get it.

 

[adnpst]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and after plenty of research, I still would like a little advice on a CPU upgrade.

CPU: 3500X (6C 6T) (Slightly slower performance to the 3600, as it has only 6 threads, closer to the 2600)
GPU: RTX 3070
1TB SSD, 16GB DDR4 3200

I upgraded from a 1080p 144hz to 1440p 144hz, understanding that at a higher resolution, I'm more GPU bound. However, I play a lot of RPGs such as AC: Odyssey, and will probably be playing AC Valhalla after. I've noticed that even at 1080p, from time to time, I get noticeable frame drops in cities, and other areas. When this happens my CPU usage comes close to 100%.

Therefore I'd like to ask for advice if it will be a reasonable upgrade going from a 3500X to something like a 5600X or a 3700X (both priced similar where I live) to reduce these frame drops and have a more smoother stable gaming experience. Also, I would like to ask anyone who has gone from a Zen+/Zen 2 to a Zen 3, what was you experience gaming wise?

Thank you for reading my question and I look forward to hearing your replies.

EDIT: I should've mentioned that I'm sticking with my AM4 board.

5600X would be the smarter choice in my opinion if it's exclusively for higher refresh rate, the Zen 3 IPC improvements have been ridiculously good, but really only higher frame-rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

It really all comes down to price, if you can find a good deal on a 3700X then it would still be a noticeable improvement, and with a RTX 3070 at 1440P you will mostly be GPU bound (at high-ultra settings ) anyways so the difference between a 5600X and 3700X will be much less noticeable than say 1080P.

 

[Ruru]

My vote goes to 5600X as well as I suppose OP's board supports it.

 

[Mussels]

I really appreciate everybody's replies.



It is stock, under load it goes up to 4.1Ghz. I've tried manually OCing but no luck.

considering my 5800x boosts to 5GHz, even without the IPC gain i see some large benefits coming your way if you upgrade


just keep an eye out for zen 3 chips like the 5600x or any new ones that launch - its not like your PC is unusable until that happens

 

[Orbs]

Update for everyone.

I was able to find someone selling a brand new 5600X for close to MSRP and bought it. The upgrade was quite amazing. Right off the bat I'm seeing at least 15 - 20 fps gains and a much stable 1440p gaming experience in the games I play. It is quite noticeable.

I would like to point out however only in AC: Odyssey, while I am quite surprised with the FPS gains (I was expecting none based on the reviews I've seen), I still experience the little stutters and a surprisingly lower "Low FPS" value in the benchmark. I guess its either the game engine, or I might have to do a Windows clean install or a CMOS battery reset in my motherboard (I've updated the BIOS, reset and etc).

 

[Mussels]

The improvements to zen 3 are pretty insane arent they?

As for the stutter issue, i've heard unconfirmed reports the beta BIOS with AGESA 1.2.0.1 Patch A have helped some users with stutter related to USB Devices - supposedly the final 1.2.0.2 is due very soon (this month)

 

[Chrispy_]

Update for everyone.

I was able to find someone selling a brand new 5600X for close to MSRP and bought it. The upgrade was quite amazing. Right off the bat I'm seeing at least 15 - 20 fps gains and a much stable 1440p gaming experience in the games I play. It is quite noticeable.

I would like to point out however only in AC: Odyssey, while I am quite surprised with the FPS gains (I was expecting none based on the reviews I've seen), I still experience the little stutters and a surprisingly lower "Low FPS" value in the benchmark. I guess its either the game engine, or I might have to do a Windows clean install or a CMOS battery reset in my motherboard (I've updated the BIOS, reset and etc).

Yeah, like I said I moved to a 5800X from a 3900X (the 3900X wasn't mine, I just stole it for a few months). I didn't actually expect to notice any difference since the 3900X is no slouch but it was immediately apparrent that the whole PC was just better. This was a back-to-back swap, too. I didn't even change the RAM at first as I still need to use 128GB of cripplingly-slow RAM for work. I'm expecting some improvements when I'm done with this huge dataset and stick some DDR4-3600 back into the system.

Also, I don't play AC:Odyssey but stuttering in that game apparently happens no matter what; Shit game code that's unfixable by throwing more hardware at it and most reviews show abysmal frametime plots riddled with hitches and stuttering even when using the highest-end testbeds and best GPUs on the market. There are so many search results for AC:O stuttering that it's clearly a bad console port. Lock it to 60Hz refresh, 60fps cap, and exclusive fullscreen and it's supposed to be better but that's a Ubisoft problem and I doubt it's ever gonna be fixed. The only Ubisoft games I can think of that run well are the FarCry franchise and that's 100% a Crytek studio that's Ubisoft in name only.

 

[Orbs]

The improvements to zen 3 are pretty insane arent they?

As for the stutter issue, i've heard unconfirmed reports the beta BIOS with AGESA 1.2.0.1 Patch A have helped some users with stutter related to USB Devices - supposedly the final 1.2.0.2 is due very soon (this month)

Yes they are. I've also just recently updated my AMD chipset drivers (totally forgot!) and again, I'm seeing an extra slight performance boost and a much better 1% low FPS. This is insane, it is totally worth the upgrade!

 

[Mussels]

slightly off topic, but i played killing floor 2 with a friend yesterday, first time in a while
This used to be a game i'd struggle to maintain high FPS, especially noticeable since as your FPS goes up, your mouse speed goes down due to an engine bug

Now however? it just flatlines 165 and doesnt dip at all. the single and multi threaded performance on these chips is absurd, and its mostly idling since it just gets its tasks done so damn fast. If they didnt have the heat density issues (need better IHS soldering?) they'd be absolute god tier chips.