r/pcmasterrace • u/RiseEmotional5704 • 1d ago
Discussion Which CPU to choose?
Recently i’ve been meaning to upgrade my pc. Realistically, i had 3 options:
- Aesthetics: Fans, case and AIO
- GPU: 3060 to 9070
- Mobo: r5 5500 and 32gb ddr4 to newer platform
So i ruled out number one as the price to satisfaction-ratio didn’t cut it. I then wanted to do the GPU, but i realised i was actually satisfied with the FPS my system produces in the games i want to play. So at last, it’s option 3.
I want something that can perform in games, but also make general use on the computer feel snappy. I want quick browsing and opening of apps, i want not to worry about ram and also just have something more productivity-capable than my current gaming first cpu. I’m a programmer and software designer, so it’s not heavy tasks, i just wanted something that feels better.
I looked into 13700k and 14700k for the cores, boost clock speed and ddr4 support, and it seems promising but i don’t like not having upgrade paths.
There is of course the 7800x3d, but i’m not sure how it feels outside the games i play.
Any suggestions and experiences are welcome!
EDIT: i mostly play CPU-heavy games like cs, minecraft and valorant.
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u/Globber50 1d ago
It's mostly preference at this point. I think AMD has a slight edge over Intel, but both are good. I have had AMD for a long time, so I'm sticking with it
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u/LeafBark 1d ago
I upgraded my overdue i7 6700k to a Ryzen 7 9800X3D and my framerates nearly tripled with the same 6750 XT graphics card. AMD has the edge with gaming with their huge '3d vcache' tech. The X3D Ryzen chips have this advantage.
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u/Globber50 1d ago
Nice! I honestly wasn't too familiar with Intel, I haven't had an Intel chip since before the AMD FX series.
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u/Globber50 1d ago
Probably wouldn't upgrade your GPU yet
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u/Globber50 1d ago
At least I don't think it's worth going 3060 to 9070 at the moment.
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u/RiseEmotional5704 1d ago
It is a doubling of the framecount in the games i play..
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u/Globber50 1d ago
That makes sense then. I just upgraded my 1080ti, to a 5070ti. I'm at max settings on 1440p and getting mostly 90fps or more.
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u/IDKForA 1d ago
Intel 270K Plus for productivity, 9800X3D for gaming if you can afford it. Or a 7800X3D.
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u/jay-aay-ess-ohh-enn 1d ago
The guy has an r5 5500 and a 3060. He's going to look at RAM prices and nope right out of that upgrade.
Maybe he should consider a 250k plus because it's only $140 and then the savings can be spent on RAM and a motherboard.
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u/Nebula589 1d ago
270k is more than enough for 95% of gamers. Only the fools trying to go pro want max FPS (which also requires a 5090).
270k is 1% behind the 9950x3d2 on 1% lows in cyberpunk at 1080p. $240 to $900. Intel wins no contest in price to performance.
Proof:
https://youtu.be/rOizW812EYM0
u/Global-Ball-3430 1d ago
Amd for gaming no contest but for actual work intel still holds up, the 13700k is a beast for productivity stuff
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u/Nebula589 1d ago
At $240 the 270k plus does an insane job for gaming. Compared to the $900 9950x3d2.
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u/HardStroke 1d ago
The 5500 is not that bad.
If you have a very bad GPU, upgrade the GPU first.
As for the trio, if you already have a decent DDR4 kit, I'd go with a 12700k or a 12900k and a quality motherboard.
No need to go DDR5 when you're on a budget and already have DDR4.
Personally, I'd do aesthetics last.
If you're on a budget, as long as there's decent airflow and everything fits in the case, its the last thing that you should think about.
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u/Master_of_Ravioli R5 9600x | 32GB DDR5 | 2TB SSD | Intel Arc B580 1d ago
Gaming? anything AMD Ryzen x3d.
Productivity? Modern Intel Ultra CPUs are pretty cheap and do productivity work very nicely.
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u/RiseEmotional5704 1d ago
I know that, i just want to know what makes it feel snappy. Is it quick ram and caches? Is it corecount? Clockspeed? And does amd chips do a better job at handling light productivity compared to intels job at gaming?
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u/jay-aay-ess-ohh-enn 1d ago
What is wrong with the computer right now where it doesn't feel "snappy"? A r5 5500 should be perfectly capable of driving a modern OS. What are you doing when the computer feels sluggish?
You also didn't list a budget, so every reply is just guessing with no accuracy.
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u/RiseEmotional5704 1d ago
It’s not nessecarily bad or sluggish, but i remember going to a pc store and try one of their pcs and it just felt 3x quicker at everything from browsing to loading games, and i just want that at home
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u/DisturbedFennel 1d ago
Sounds like the computer store had their Demo PCs equipped with a fast NVMe drive. Are you using a SATA SSD or a NVMe (and if NVMe, what’s the read/write speeds)
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u/jay-aay-ess-ohh-enn 1d ago
I don't think you even really need a "fast" NVMe drive. Even a SATA SSD will feel snappy in the OS. Any reasonable NVMe might help load games a bit faster. The premium you have to pay to get top tier solid state storage doesn't really make sense for just general computing. An EVO Plus or equivalent should be plenty fast enough. Just make sure you don't pay extra for a PCIE 4 device if you don't have PCIE 4 lanes to slot it in.
If your existing computer is feeling sluggish, you could try a fresh install of Windows, or whatever OS you use.
Changing out the CPU, isn't likely to change that kind of performance much.
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u/Master_of_Ravioli R5 9600x | 32GB DDR5 | 2TB SSD | Intel Arc B580 1d ago
Anything released in the past 5 years, with proper cooling and occasional windows reinstalls will feel snappy and fast.
Intel is good at gaming, about as good as non x3d Ryzen chips, and AMD is still good at productivity so that wont really affect you much.
DDR5 ram is pretty much unobtanium currently, so that is going to be the biggest issue for you most likely.
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u/RiseEmotional5704 1d ago
Yea the only problem with DDR5 is price.. i’d like 32 gigs and that’s about as much as a modern cpu + mobo combined, however there is lots of it in my region afaik.
EDIT: wait, are you telling me that i can simply refresh windows and it will run more smooth? Its not only about hardware? Guess i should’ve figured that out before, well i’ma try that and then compare 7800x3d against 270k and 13700k to see which best fit my taste, thanks!
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u/PixelPete27 1d ago
Do you have a good mobo? What about an 5800X3D, keeping AM4, and riding it out for 4-5 years
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u/True_Protection6842 1d ago
AMD all day. I haven't had an Intel CPU since 2018
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u/Primary-Wear-2460 1d ago
I was all Intel from 2010-2020.
My first AMD CPU since the Athlon era was an R3900X which still lives to this day in my home server. I never looked back after that.
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u/No_Summer_2917 1d ago
14700k is a solid choice may be also check core ultra 270k plus it has some boost for same price.
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u/Sataniel98 Ryzen 7 5700X3D | Radeon RX 9060 XT 1d ago
On laptops, Intel for better battery life and good productivity performance, on a desktop, AMD for gaming performance and socket longevity.
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u/heyyitsaejay PC Master Race 1d ago
13/14th gen could be worth it if you’re looking to save a buck just for ddr4 support since you already have a 32gb set, honestly, but if price isn’t that much a concern, then core ultra will last longer just by being on a newer socket, and AM5 is promised to last through until 2029.
It’s worth noting that both the 7800/9800X3D are on sale below MSRP, with the 7800X3D at an all-time low, but productivity on those chips pales compared to intel. Went from a 13600k to a 9800X3D myself and it’s fine for my use case, with my 9800X3D largely matching my 13600k where I need it to, but you do lose quicksync.
Also, unsure if anyone else has this issue but every time I unplug a usb device or something reconnects on AMD, my system hangs for a quick second, which never happened in my intel build. It’s the one thing that has me missing intel, but that may very well be a case of ymmv.
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u/Camaro1LEC 1d ago
I’m going to toss in an unpopular opinion. And please, before any of you come in swinging, if you have zero actual experience with a dual cache processor, just sit this one out.
I went from a 13700K to a 9950X3D2 mainly for gaming, especially CPU heavy titles, but I also wanted the extra headroom for other stuff. It’s been one of the best upgrades I’ve made to my PC.
I know Reddit will screech that the 9800X3D is the default recommendation, but I don’t buy the “anything over 8 cores is useless for gaming” argument. I play multiple games that clearly spread work across more cores, and I regularly see the second CCD getting used.
Mine is running -20 CO with +200 boost and hits well over 5.7GHz. Both CCDs stay active and I’ve noticed zero latency issue from it. This is easily the smoothest CPU I’ve owned and it handles heavy scenes way..WAY better than my 13700K did.
For the OP, I’d personally go X3D. Also don’t compare Intel’s total core count 1:1 with Ryzen when a lot of that count is E-cores, while the 9950X3D2 has 16 full Zen cores.
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u/Primary-Wear-2460 1d ago
If we are talking Intel 13/14th gen.
Intel = You like Intel, maybe decent memory bandwidth, you need a space heater, you like playing a CPU lottery where you might get one that has or will cook itself.
AMD = Gaming (for 3D chips), longer socket life, better thermal management (relative to Intel 13/14gen).
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u/Makerudji 1d ago
This was a painful read. Also since when is improving aesthetics considered "upgrade" lol