Buy 3900X now or wait for a 5800X

Justnotsleeping · 21 Oct 2020 at 07:36

Im looking to buy a CPU upgrade for my Ryzen 3 Zen+ chip and could do with some advice
Looking at the benchmarks which have leaked online which still had this slightly ahead, do you think the Zen 2 3900X is a reasonable purchase now for around £400 or wait for the newer 5800X for about £50 more?

My use is mainly going to be gaming.
Thanks

mickyflinn · 21 Oct 2020 at 07:51

There is always a trade off going previous gen , the 5800x will be a stronger gaming chip but higher resolutions have are less affected by cpu performance.

1080p high refresh you would want a stronger cpu to push those frames rates.

The advantage of the 3900x is it's 12 cores the 5800x will have 8. The 5800x supposedly beat Intel's 10900k so look at benchmarks around that but there has been no independent testing yet to confirm this.

You need to compare 3800x with a 5800x and price to performance ratio.

Justnotsleeping · 21 Oct 2020 at 08:57

Yes, the 3800x also looked quite appealing as that can be got for a little over £300, but the 5800x looks to be a quite a bump over the 3700x.

I guess, in reality though, I'm not going to be disappointed with whatever I go for, so no reason why I cant wait a few weeks to see the independent testing. Hopefully the availability situation will be a little better than the recent Nvida GPU launch!

Justnotsleeping · 21 Oct 2020 at 08:58

sorry i meant 5800x looks to be quite a bump over the 3800x!

mickyflinn · 21 Oct 2020 at 09:25

Justnotsleeping said:
Yes, the 3800x also looked quite appealing as that can be got for a little over £300, but the 5800x looks to be a quite a bump over the 3700x.

I guess, in reality though, I'm not going to be disappointed with whatever I go for, so no reason why I cant wait a few weeks to see the independent testing. Hopefully the availability situation will be a little better than the recent Nvida GPU launch!

That's the thing availability if your in no rush then it makes sense to wait.

What your system spec and what you gaming at ?

zoffster1 · 21 Oct 2020 at 09:37

If you can wait, do so.

Mr Oblong · 21 Oct 2020 at 11:55

zoffster1 said:
If you can wait, do so.

Yep, we'll see all sorts of use cases and comparisons coming out so we'll be able to make better decisions.

oldbanana · 21 Oct 2020 at 16:41

dont see the point in buying 3900x right now

iamtheoneneo · 21 Oct 2020 at 19:35

Id wait since even if you go 3900x the launch of the new chips might push their price down a little.

clv101 · 21 Oct 2020 at 19:47

Availability for the 5800X might be better on launch week as the 5600X and 5900X will probably be a lot more popular.

CuriousTomCat · 21 Oct 2020 at 20:20

Please wait for the reviews before you decide. So many posts about this. People seem to value rumours/leaks/gossip/presentations more than good old fashioned reviews these days.

Only a couple weeks left.

clv101 · 21 Oct 2020 at 20:22

CuriousTomCat said:
Please wait for the reviews before you decide. So many posts about this. People seem to value rumours/leaks/gossip/presentations more than good old fashioned reviews these days.

Only a couple weeks left.

It's not that folk value rumours over reviews! It's in absence of reviews, there isn't anything else to talk about.

Rom · 21 Oct 2020 at 20:31

And the fear that there wont be stock, I feel like if I want one, I need to just jump on it and try and get one. If i wait for reviews, they may be like 3080s, over a month after launch and a vast majority or orders have not been filled.

Mr Oblong · 21 Oct 2020 at 20:55

CuriousTomCat said:
Please wait for the reviews before you decide. So many posts about this. People seem to value rumours/leaks/gossip/presentations more than good old fashioned reviews these days.

Only a couple weeks left.

It's not like people will be able to buy before the reviews will be up, so I think we're gonna be okay.

If people decide now and skip reviews, that's pretty weird!

Rom said:
And the fear that there wont be stock, I feel like if I want one, I need to just jump on it and try and get one. If i wait for reviews, they may be like 3080s, over a month after launch and a vast majority or orders have not been filled.

I'm not trying to tempt fate here, but 3080 supply has been incredibly, historically bad.

Slinky69 · 21 Oct 2020 at 20:58

I picked up a 3800x at a good price rather than waiting - I think if you see a bargain, snap it up, otherwise wait - Either you will feel good about saving money, or feel good about having the latest - Win, win!

chaparral · 21 Oct 2020 at 21:25

Justnotsleeping said:
or wait for the newer 5800X for about £50 more?

I would wait,

One the reasons why i would wait is the new gen should have better resale value
(But then you may have to pay more for it in the first place)

Mr Oblong · 21 Oct 2020 at 21:44

Slinky69 said:
I picked up a 3800x at a good price rather than waiting - I think if you see a bargain, snap it up, otherwise wait - Either you will feel good about saving money, or feel good about having the latest - Win, win!

It's not a bad move, but when I'm this close it feels daft to not at least wait and see when j might want the extra grunt.

Mr Oblong · 21 Oct 2020 at 21:44

chaparral said:
I would wait,

One the reasons why i would wait is the new gen should have better resale value
(But then you may have to pay more for it in the first place)

I agree. Reviews will give us a better sense of things of course.

Chaos666 · 21 Oct 2020 at 22:51

chaparral said:
I would wait,

One the reasons why i would wait is the new gen should have better resale value
(But then you may have to pay more for it in the first place)

new gen is also the last cpu for AM4.. so it depends how you look at it

Justnotsleeping · 21 Oct 2020 at 23:42

That's another good point I guess for me just waiting. If this is the last of the AM4 cpu, then i may as well get the Zen 3 to give me the longer time before I have to change the motherboard.....although as mentioned above, its all swings and roundabouts really!