AM4’s best gaming CPU?

We all know it’s the 5800X3D but is it really?

Today we’re going to take a look at the best CPU for gaming on the AM4 platform but what do we say when we mean the best? The one that gives us the most frames or the one that gives the best value?

The 5800X3D is obviously what most people think of when this question comes up and the 5600X3D doesn’t count for this conversation because it was scarce at launch and has been almost unavailable since then never mind that it was a Micro Center exclusive.

Time to introduce our competitor for today, the oft forgotten 5700X3D. For all intents and purposes it’s a 5800X3D but slower how much slower is what we’re going to be looking at today.

The specs for the 5800X3D and the 5700X3D are all the same apart from the 400Mhz max boost clock difference from 4,5Ghz to 4,1Ghz on the 5700X3D.

So what does than mean for a gaming system?

In a comparison of 18 games tested with a 4090 we got an answer that the 5800X3D is anywhere from 1-11% faster than the 5700X3D but most games came in at around the 5% mark with the average being a 6% faster than the 5700X3D while the normal 5700X comes in at 16% slower in a smaller 10 game sample.

Now on to pricing. Currently the 5800X3D can be had for about $300 or slightly lower although launch pricing was a smidge higher at $450. The 5700X3D can be had for under $200 normally and on sales dip down to around $180. So that’s generally about a 50% increase in cost for a tenth of that in performance.

Which is why I am recommending the 5700X3D as the CPU to get for anyone considering an AM4 drop in replacement and in my opinion the best AM4 CPU for gaming.