Is it worth building a new system around a 5800x3D?

[Dragon1-1]

I'm considering a PC upgrade as soon as funds for that free up. I've heard good things about the 5800x3D, and the setup I have in mind looks pretty reasonably priced, with 32GB of DDR4 RAM, two M.2 SSDs (mostly because I want to just transfer the system drive over from the old rig and then kick DCS to its own SSD) and the 1080ti from my current rig. Hopefully, the current PSU can come over, too, as it's pretty beefy. 

The problem is, the AM4 socket is basically done. On one hand, this makes mobos cheaper, on the other, it means no way to upgrade from there. The 5800x3D is also non-overclockable, I kind of wanted to make my own cooling water loop at some point in the future, and now it'd make no difference beyond looking pretty, unless a GPU upgrade makes me go for that. It also takes DDR4, which had also been superseded already, but from what I heard, DDR5 is nothing to write home about.

I'm pretty sure that the current DCS will do pretty well on the rig I have in mind, but the question is, how long till I have to swap the guts out again? GPU upgrades are not a problem (relatively speaking, of course), but CPU demands will continue to increase, too. Am I better off buying something from the latest generation (Intel or AMD) and building the rig around it, or can the 5800x3D be expected remain up top for the foreseeable future?

Edited December 6, 2022 by Dragon1-1

[BitMaster]

There is no easy answer to this because there are way too many things to consider and right now, many stars do not align the way they should, in many aspects.

Just two things up front. From what I read few days ago Asus newest Bios does allow PBO2 for the 5800X3D, so it can be tuned and thus better cooling does fully make sense.

A DIY-Loop defines itself with adaptability, and changing a CPU water block is one of them. If that is the only thing you have to change in 3-5 years when you move to Socket XYZ

is still a good deal. The rest of the loop runs for many more years in general, my last pump worked 6 years and I just changed it cuz the new one looks so much better with the nice res I got myself last Xmas for myself. They tend to be cheap top maintain.

 

OK, enough water talks.

Does it make sense to still buy a AM4 socket chip, a 5800X3D.....well, yes and no.

Yes because it still fights with the top dog CPU's for the first few places in many games, does pretty good in MS Flight Sim and many in here say the same about DCS and 5800X3D.

Now, coupled with a 1080ti ( I have the same, still ) your differences either way will mostly be Null because any half modern CPU will bring the GPU to 99% load. So from that regard, 

it won't harm but you also won't benefit much apart from smoother gameplay ( more consistent fps ). Do not expect higher general fps if your GPU is already fully stressed.

If you plan to buy into the 4080 or higher arena and also think 4k it might be that the 5800X3D will fall behind. 

The RAM way cheaper and you could get 64GB DDR4 for the price of 32GB DDR5, keep that in mind. The board is also pretty easy, you don't need 99Phases+12+6 to fire a 65w CPU.

Any midrange B450 or B550 can do that. If money is a concern or a point of where you say "5800X3D yes, if it stays below 750€" or similar. You can get away with a board for 100-150€,

get 64GB RAM 3200-3600 DDR4 and a 5800X3D and still not break the bank. If you go 7600X, 64GB DDR5 and a "modest" Ryzen 7000 board you spend like almost twice the money but 

dont get speed you think you paid for.

 

Then, I think 2023 will be the time when multi-core will arrive in Open-Beta ( my personal assumption ! ) and CPU single core speed will still be relevant but not as crucial as before.

I will keep my 5900X for a few years to come and I won't upgrade my CPU just for DCS unless I need more than 12 cores for DCS, I doubt that will be the case before my system is obsolete. My hope is MC support will free up enough resources on the CPU that my then "old" 5900X will still have enough power to deliver the FPS I need, 60 at 1440p.

When I get another GPU, likely not a 1500€ model, I will still stay reasonable and might not even go for 4k or VR again, just maybe 120fps at 1440p at higher LOD....if the CPU can deliver that.

My old 8700k, now serving as a Linux TV machine in my living room, saturated my 1080ti the same way as my 5900X did. My GPU is too small to see a benefit in fps. What got better was lowest fps and scenes where the AMD did not struggle as much as the 800k did, but ALL CPU's struggle there and none cures the symptom 100%. 

 

Many things come into play, decide wisely.

 

* the missing characters are due to my shtty Logitech LED BLING BLING keyboard that hates "5" and some characters...   SANTA...can I have a keyb.....

I like the LEDs at night but it seems it needs a 100€+ keyboard to get proper mechanics. During my first 15 years I soild all my PC's in less than 1-1.5 years to my friends and family, "as they were, with ALL installed and attached"  BUT NOT MY OLD IBM/Lexmark KEYBOARD, god, how I miss that quality of keyboard mechanics. Now I change keyboards like I change my shoes, like that. No more keyboard that lasts 1+ decade, takes a ton of cigarette ash and still works, just bullet proof robust and a KLICK.

Edited December 6, 2022 by BitMaster

[SkateZilla]

If you dont want to spend the money to move to AM5, 5800X3D is the best AM4 Chip you can get.

If you want to go AM5, Wait for the 7900X3D Chip.

With DDR4 and More for DDR5, it's not about the Freq, lower latencies offer more performance gains than the higher freq.

Already had to call out a few buddies for trying to shove the fastest DDR5 kit they could into their Zen 4 System, told them they could save $100 and get a slower kit with a lower latency and get better performance

Edited December 6, 2022 by SkateZilla

[Dragon1-1]

Well, I'm not going to have enough money in the bank before January, anyway (in fact, I'm probably looking at early February with what I have lined up at the moment), so I guess we should see the 7900X3D by the time.

However, now that I look at it, AM5 mobos are more expensive, DDR5 is expensive (especially low latency stuff), and 7900X3D will most likely be in the 7900 price bracket (which stands to reason), not 7800. This looks like a much more expensive system, and quite frankly, I wonder whether this will provide enough bang for my (currently limited, because current events) buck. In fact, given the price difference, probably not. Ultimately, the goal is to drive the Reverb G2. Sure, headsets will get bigger and better, but I think I'll wait for when they do with splurging to a top-line system. If the 5800X3D is the top dog now, well, the second best still shouldn't be too bad for quite a while.