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AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D vs 5900X; 5800X3D + RTX 3080 Ti or the RX 6800 XT: Better GPU for Zen 3D?

AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X3D is the fastest gaming CPU on the market, courtesy of the 64MB 3D stacked L3 die. Other than that, it’s pretty much identical to the 5800X: eight cores, 4MB of L2 cache, and 32MB of 2D L3 cache. So, just how much of an improvement does the additional 32MB of stacked cache bring to the table? That’s what we try to figure out in this post. Granted, it’s been a while since the 5800X3D came out, but we’ll be comparing the performance of the processor with both the Radeon RX 6800 XT as well as the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti.

TestBench

  • Motherboard: MSI X570X Edge WiFi
  • Heatsink: NZXT Kraken X73
  • GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti/AMD RX 6800 XT
  • Memory: 8GB x2 3600MT/s CL17
  • Storage: Samsung 980 1TB
  • PSU: Corsair HX1000i
  • All games were tested at the max quality graphics preset.
  • Ray-tracing was enabled in Far Cry 6, Metro Exodus EE, Crysis Remastered, and Godfall.
  • Re-BAR ON.

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D vs 5800X Gaming Benchmarks

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is clearly the better CPU despite featuring fewer cores and a lower clock frequency. Limited multi-core utilization in modern games and high sensitivity to cache bandwidth and latency catapult it past the pricier 5900X. The performance deltas between the two processors vary greatly from title to title. At 1080p, Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition yields nearly the same frame rates on both chips. Meanwhile, Borderlands 3, Far Cry 6, and Hitman 3 see the 5800X3D lead by as much as 25-30%. Crysis Remastered and Godfall, on the other hand, see little to no gains in performance.

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D gets to stretch its legs at 720p. Some games are a whopping 40-50% faster with the Zen 3D part. These include Borderlands 3, Hitman 3, and Far Cry 6. Even titles like Metro Exodus, Godfall, and Crysis Remastered that seemingly didn’t benefit from the extra L3 cache see healthy boosts at 720p. Crysis goes from 114 FPS on the 5900X to 150 on the 5800X3D, on average. Similarly, Godfall soars from 191 FPS to 228 FPS at 720p when using the Ryzen 7 5800X3D. It’s worth noting that while 720p benchmarks aren’t representative of real-world gaming performance, they do present a scenario where the bottleneck lies almost entirely with the CPU.

NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti vs Radeon RX 6800 XT: Which is the Better GPU for Zen 3D?

In non-RT titles, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and the Radeon RX 6800 XT perform within inches of one another. AMD wins in most of its partner titles such as Assassins’ Creed Valhalla, and Borderlands 3 while narrowly losing in Far Cry 6 and Godfall due to Ampere’s stronger ray-tracing performance. In other RT titles like Crysis Remastered and Metro Exodus, the 6800 XT gets decimated by the RTX 3080 Ti, not even giving it a chance.

Now, for the important part: Pricing. The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti starts from $1,049 on Newegg while the RX 6800 XT costs considerably lower at $799. If you’re on a slim budget with little interest in ray-tracing, then the 6800 XT is clearly the better option. It’s not the fastest but you’re definitely paying a lot less per frame. However, if you can afford to shell out a few more grand for the bells and whistles of RTX, then the 3080 Ti is a decent option as well.

Areej Syed

Processors, PC gaming, and the past. I have been writing about computer hardware for over seven years with more than 5000 published articles. Started off during engineering college and haven't stopped since. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Divinity, Torment, Baldur's Gate and so much more... Contact: areejs12@hardwaretimes.com.
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