What's the best gaming CPU for this board?

[Danny101]

I have an Asus Prime X370-A board. The best CPU I can buy for this board is the Ryzen 9 3950X. The thing is, this is a professional CPU that would be more than I need. So I'm trying to determine the one that fits my needs. Gaming mostly. There's been discussion that many don't like so many CPU cores. So what is the optimal core count for let's say the next five years? 8ct or 12ct?

 

[Squid Surprise]

The difference between the 3900 and 3800 is about $50, depending on where you shop.... but the 3950 is about double the cost of the 3900.... I’d go 3900 unless you really want to burn an extra $400 or so....

 

[Ashen97]

Why not go for the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X with the 8 cores?

 

[Kshipper]

I use this site to sort all the CPUs and compare power:

PassMark - AMD Ryzen 9 3950X - Price performance comparison

The most important number for gamers is the single thread score underneath large overall number. The large number is important too as many modern games take advantage of multi core and multi threaded CPUs. I would think that any 4 core CPU is good enough. CPUs beyond 8 cores for a gaming is not going to make much difference that you will be able to perceive in game. Only in static benchmarks will you be able to measure small gains at a huge hit to your wallet.

I bet the Ryzen 5 3600 would satisfy and would be cheaper to keep cool. That is another expense to think about. Those upper end CPUs need some fancy cooling where the 3600 comes with a factory heatsink/cooler that will work just fine =)

 

[Danny101]

I'm so use to buying the best CPU the motherboard can handle that it's almost sacrilege to not do it any longer. It's nice now that I really don't have to though.

 

[Kshipper]

If you have money to burn, more power to you. I should point out that you are using an older chipset. Maybe go X570 and grab a 5000 series CPU. The 5600X is my CPU of choice but you could go 5800X. You will need some deluxe cooling tho'

 

[Bawlsdeep]

Get the best CPU you can fit in that board and relax a few years.

Intel and AMD both launches next gen platforms soon. No need to rush out and buy a new board for AM4 just to be able to use Ryzen 5000 series. AM5 is coming next year. Sub 5nm CPU's. DDR5 etc.

Go the cheap route now and save for a true next gen build in a few years when the platforms and DDR5 has matured.

I would get 3700X minimum.

 

[Danny101]

you should go for i9 10900k as far I know best for gamers and graphic stuff. Using almost 5 months and running with 32gb ram and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti.

At this point, I'm just dreaming. With all that has gone on, it's going to take years for me to even do incremental upgrades let alone a brand new build. Thanks for the suggestion though.