51-70k Should I upgrade from i7-9700k

[sanz1112]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently running an i7-9700K paired with an RTX 3090, and I'm considering whether it's worth upgrading to AMD's AM5 platform especially to 9800x3D or 9950x. My primary use case includes gaming at 4K (or 1440P if Frames are two low on 4k), some light video editing, coding, compiling and general multitasking.

While the 9700K has served me well, I feel like it might be bottlenecking my RTX 3090 in some newer CPU-heavy games.

If I go for AM5, I know I’d also need DDR5 RAM and a new motherboard, which adds to the cost. So my main concerns are:

Will the performance uplift be significant enough to justify the cost?

Will a modern AM5 CPU (e.g., Ryzen 9800X3D or 9950x) significantly improve my 1% lows and gaming experience?

Should I consider Intel’s Core Ultra series instead, or is AM5 a better long-term platform?

Would love to hear your thoughts, especially from those who have upgraded from similar setups!

Thanks in advance.

 

[nRiTeCh]

What challenges are you facing with your current rig given that you do only light editing, nothing heavy.

Only for 4k gaming purpose I dont think its worth the massive upgrade.
From ddr4 to 5 there's very little to no difference esp. in gaming but in editing jobs DDR5's increased bandwidth can significantly reduce rendering times.
AMD recently announced at Computex 2024 that the AM5 socket will be supported until 2027.

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/1ix9nvx/i79700k_to_ryzen_7_9800x3d_or_wait_for_9950x3d

 

[Typhon]

9700k is 8core 8threads. In multitasking and other productivity apps you will see a major uplift even if you go with 7700x, forget about 9950x.

At the same time if you don’t have a usecase where you are seeing 9700k slow down, then it may not be worth it.

For gaming at 4k, I don’t think it will make a lot of difference, though the 1% low would improve and games with higher bandwidth requirement will love the DDR5 ram.

 

[DigitalDude]

Yes. Apart from the advantages said by others you will get nice upgrade of all other features like more NVME slots, better wifi/LAN, better USB ports etc. there will definitely be a massive jump in performance with a new CPU alone. DDR5 RAMs are also reasonably priced now.

I'm also in a similar boat considering upgrading to a Ryzen 9900X from my 8700K.

 

[PunkX 75]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently running an i7-9700K paired with an RTX 3090, and I'm considering whether it's worth upgrading to AMD's AM5 platform especially to 9800x3D or 9950x. My primary use case includes gaming at 4K (or 1440P if Frames are two low on 4k), some light video editing, coding, compiling and general multitasking.

While the 9700K has served me well, I feel like it might be bottlenecking my RTX 3090 in some newer CPU-heavy games.

If I go for AM5, I know I’d also need DDR5 RAM and a new motherboard, which adds to the cost. So my main concerns are:

Will the performance uplift be significant enough to justify the cost?

Will a modern AM5 CPU (e.g., Ryzen 9800X3D or 9950x) significantly improve my 1% lows and gaming experience?

Should I consider Intel’s Core Ultra series instead, or is AM5 a better long-term platform?

Would love to hear your thoughts, especially from those who have upgraded from similar setups!

Thanks in advance.

I run a 7800x3D with a 3080 and play at 1440p. Upgraded from a 5600.

1. For 1440p gaming, yes, you will see a decent uplift in games with just the CPU alone. You will likely be doing 1440p in the near future since the 3090 isn't really good enough for native 4K gaming anymore
2. If you stick to 4K, you'd see a difference, but noticably smaller
3. Productivity will be a massive improvement
4. AM5 is the better option. Core Ultra is garbage, by comparison, and given Intel's track record, long-term platform support is questionable, at best

 

[sanz1112]

What challenges are you facing with your current rig given that you do only light editing, nothing heavy.

In some games I'm not getting as much of uplift as I would expect on lower resolutions. This means even with DLSS scaling I'm not getting good enough FPS to max out my 4k 144hz monitor. And I'm pretty sure it is because of CPU bottlenecking.

For 1440p gaming, yes, you will see a decent uplift in games with just the CPU alone. You will likely be doing 1440p in the near future since the 3090 isn't really good enough for native 4K gaming anymore

Exactly I will soon be playing at 1440P as 3090 is not keeping up with newer titles at 4k. And with current prices of new gen GPUs I don't think I'll be upgrading my 3090 anytime soon.
How much of a uplift it was for you going from 5600 to 7800x3D and is it good enough for productivity tasks.
I'm really confused between 9800x3D and 9950x. One is a amazing for gaming but not so much for productivity and the other is a beast at productivity but you will loose gaming performance. I would have gone with 9950x3D if my budget allowed it, but it's too expensive.

 

[PunkX 75]

In some games I'm not getting as much of uplift as I would expect on lower resolutions. This means even with DLSS scaling I'm not getting good enough FPS to max out my 4k 144hz monitor. And I'm pretty sure it is because of CPU bottlenecking.

Exactly I will soon be playing at 1440P as 3090 is not keeping up with newer titles at 4k. And with current prices of new gen GPUs I don't think I'll be upgrading my 3090 anytime soon.
How much of a uplift it was for you going from 5600 to 7800x3D and is it good enough for productivity tasks.
I'm really confused between 9800x3D and 9950x. One is a amazing for gaming but not so much for productivity and the other is a beast at productivity but you will loose gaming performance. I would have gone with 9950x3D if my budget allowed it, but it's too expensive.

My upgrade resulted in much better frame times. CPU-bound titles saw very noticeable uplifts.

If your productivity isn't too intensive and your use case is more of gaming, get the 9800x3D. Else, consider the 7950X3D. Cheaper than the 9950X, equally good at productivity, and better at gaming.