Why My Zen 3 To Zen 5 Upgrade Will Have Nothing To Do With The New Ryzen 9000 CPUs

Key Takeaways

The new Ryzen 9000 chips bring a decent IPC boost, but I was hoping for more.
I’m looking forward to the Ryzen 9000X3D chips to finally upgrade from my Ryzen 7 5700X.
The upcoming B850 chipset motherboards might offer an alternative to the B650 options.

AMD recently announced the first of its Ryzen 9000 series CPUs — the Ryzen 9 9950X, Ryzen 9 9900X, Ryzen 7 9700X, and Ryzen 5 9600X. AMD may have won Computex by extending support for the AM5 socket till 2027 and launching some AM4 CPUs as well, but I personally don’t see myself upgrading to any of these Zen 5 chips.

I’m currently rocking a Ryzen 7 5700X in my gaming PC, paired with an RTX 3080. If I were to upgrade to a new processor (and consequently a new motherboard and memory kit), I could justify it only with the upcoming Ryzen 9000X3D CPUs for the extra gaming performance they would offer compared to both my current CPU as well as the Ryzen 7000X3D chips.

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The new Ryzen CPUs are kinda boring

Consistent but not groundbreaking IPC gains

AMD has promised around 16% IPC gains over Zen 4 with its newly announced Zen 5 processors. While that’s certainly nothing to be scoffed at, considering the gains are coming without any increase in core clocks, I was hoping for a bigger performance jump. I’ve been running the Ryzen 7 5700X since mid-2022 and though I’m pretty satisfied with its gaming performance, I’m now contemplating an upgrade.

Upgrading to the Ryzen 7 5800X3D didn’t seem like a big jump, so I had already set my sights on a complete platform upgrade to AM5. But, as the rumor mill for the Ryzen 9000 CPUs grew stronger, I decided to wait it out and see what AMD had in store. At Computex, AMD finally unveiled four new Zen 5 chips, but they’re mostly similar to the Ryzen 7000 chips we already have — the same core configuration and clock speeds with an IPC uplift that might turn out to be as low as 10% in reality.

But, if reports are to be believed, AMD’s famed X3D chips might be coming sooner than anyone thought.

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I’m waiting for the Ryzen 9000X3D chips

How fast will the Zen 5 3D V-Cache be?

AMD has consistently ruled the best gaming CPU charts with its X3D processors, thanks to the “game-changing” 3D V-Cache technology. Intel hasn’t been able to counter these gaming-focused chips yet, but that might change in the future, if CEO Pat Gelsinger is to be believed. But, I believe even if Intel were to introduce its “stacked cache” with the 15th Gen Arrow Lake CPUs, AMD’s Ryzen X3D chips would still remain far ahead.

I might not consider the 5800X3D that big of a jump over my 5700X but an upgrade to a potential Ryzen 7 9800X3D would be tremendous.

Hence, I have my eyes set on what AMD will offer with its upcoming Ryzen 9000X3D CPUs, which might launch as early as September this year. I might not consider the 5800X3D that big of a jump over my 5700X but an upgrade to a potential Ryzen 7 9800X3D would be tremendous. I might even be able to delay a GPU upgrade to late 2025 or further down the line.

A nearly 40-50% boost in FPS going from the 5700X to the 9800X3D seems like a great upgrade, even after factoring in the cost of a new AM5 motherboard and DDR5 RAM.

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT graphics card.

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Choosing between AMD’s 600 and 800 series chipsets

The wait will allow me to assess both options

Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX Ice RAM DIMM Slots

Accompanying the new Zen 5 processors, AMD also announced two new chipsets based on its AM5 socket — X870 and X870E. These new chipsets bring USB 4.0, PCIe 5.0 on all the boards, and higher EXPO memory clock support. But, I’m more interested in the upcoming B850 chipset that will succeed the existing and more affordable B650 chipset.

If the new B850 motherboards support higher DDR5 memory speeds compared to the current B650 boards, I might consider them. So, waiting a bit for these new boards as well as the Ryzen 9000X3D chips to arrive seems like the right decision for now. If the B850 boards turn out to be not all that impressive, I always have the option of picking a decent B650 option and flashing a new firmware to support the Ryzen 7 9800X3D.

A render of a Ryzen 7000 CPU in an AM5 motherboard.

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I’m excited for new CPUs after a long time

The entire PC market seems to be going through a renaissance period as far as new CPUs are concerned. Whether you’re excited about the upcoming Intel Lunar Lake or Arrow Lake chips, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite or X Plus processors, or AMD’s Ryzen 9000X3D chips, it’s a happening year for computing in general. I’m personally looking forward to the “Ryzen 7 9800X3D” and will finally make the upgrade to Zen 5.