Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 5 5600X CPU for gaming, you can expect good game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler. The 5800X3D is a beast in the Factorio benchmark and here we see that X370 and B350 boards are capable of the same extreme performance seen on the latest and greatest X570 models.

We're going to skip over the individual results for F1 22, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Cyberpunk 2077, The Riftbreaker, CSGO, ACC, Horizon Zero Dawn and Spider-Man Remastered graphs as they'll blow over your attention span and instead jump to the 12 game average data as that's the important information for this comparison... WiFi 6E support basically extends support to the 6 GHz band, which provides a huge 1200 MHz spectrum that will greatly increase signal strength, but across a slightly shorter range. We’re also looking at speeds of 1 GB/s and more on WiFi 6E, so this is another massive upgrade in I/O. USB 3.2

How we picked the best motherboards for Ryzen 7 5800X3D

The 5800X3D saw a massive 18% increase to 1% lows when using the lower latency memory which isn't terribly surprising as Far Cry 6 is a very DRAM latency sensitive title. Now for some FPS benchmark marks, we'll start with Rainbow Six Extraction. It's worth noting that after a 3-run average we did see a 4% performance variation between the MSI and Asus X570 boards with Asus delivering the best result. So this is something to keep in mind before you decide to choose between the two AMD CPUs. With that out of the way, let’s conclude the topic. Which One To Get?

Precision Boost Overdrive requires a compatible AMD Ryzen Threadripper, 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen processor, or AMD Ryzen 5000 Series processor and a motherboard compatible with one or more of these processors. AMD 2nd Ryzen processors including the Ryzen 3200G processor are not compatible with Precision Boost Overdrive. Because Precision Boost Overdrive enables operation of the processor outside of specifications and in excess of factory settings, use of the feature invalidates the AMD product warranty and may also void warranties offered by the system manufacturer or retailer. GD-135.

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There does appear to be a bug with Radeon drivers as they were unable to detect the availability of SAM on 300-series boards, instead reporting that the feature was unavailable. However, it was possible to enable it at the BIOS level and the expected performance uplift was achieved nonetheless, so it is working despite what the Radeon Adrenaline drivers are reporting. Finally, you might need to switch out your CPU cooling unit for a better one to accommodate 7700X’s thermals. At the same time, you’ll be paying more on your electricity bills due to the significantly higher power draw on the 7700X. This might also lead you to buy a PSU of higher wattage. Precision Boost Overdrive requires a compatible AMD Ryzen Threadripper, 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen processor, or Ryzen 5000 Series processor and a motherboard compatible with one or more of these processors. 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen processors including the Ryzen 3200G processor are not compatible with Precision Boost Overdrive. Because Precision Boost Overdrive enables operation of the processor outside of specifications and in excess of factory settings, use of the feature invalidates the AMD product warranty and may also void warranties offered by the system manufacturer or retailer. GD-135.

At 1440p the 5800X3D was 20% faster, seen when looking at the 1% lows. Interestingly, that margin opens up to 28% with the Radeon 6600 XT at 1080p and we even see a 12% performance advantage at 1440p for the 5800X3D. Next we have Hitman 3 and in this game at 1080p we see that the 7600X is 10% faster using the higher frequency DDR5 memory. Then with the 13600K we only saw a 2.5% increase from CL16 to CL14, while DDR5 increased performance over CL14 DDR4 by 8%. Let’s look at the gaming performance first. Keep in mind that all the gaming benchmarks are carried out at the same resolution ( 1920×1080). Another thing is that the presets are switched from game to game to get the best idea of performance differences in the games, which will be better represented by the mean FPS shown at the end. Quite surprisingly, the 13600K is slightly worse than the 7600X in terms of value when pairing both with quality DDR5 memory, we're only talking about a mere 5%, but it's good to see the cheaper B650 boards really helping with the value of AM5.

So when looking at this comparison purely through a gaming lens, the 7600X looks great assuming B650 pricing is competitive in your region. Should AM5 motherboard prices drop closer to that of AM4, Ryzen 7000 would then become the obvious choice. We had expected the sweet-spot DDR4-3600 CL16 memory to improve the value of the Core i5-13600K, and it did, but not to a degree where the 7600X was written off. In fact, pairing the 7600X with DDR5-5200 generally seemed like a better option. Then in Far Cry 6, the 12900K was 9% slower which isn't great given total system power usage was 20% higher. The Hitman 3 data is interesting because both CPUs delivered the same level of performance, but the 12900K pushed total system power usage 9% higher. While not always the fastest gaming CPU, the 5800X3D is the more efficient part. 8 Game Average Performance Here, AMD is using TSMC’s 5nm nodes as AMD continues its push on the roadmap to Zen 5, which will presumably be based on a 4nm process. With this, AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series also became the first lineup of desktop CPUs to use a 5nm node. Paired with this is the 6nm processing node for the I/O, which also contains the integrated GPU. Ryzen 7000’s boost in single-threaded performance over Ryzen 5000 (Courtesy: AMD)

This was easy on the MSI and Gigabyte boards, where I simply started with the latest BIOS supporting the 1.2.0.7 microcode, but for Asus several previous BIOS revisions needed to be installed first before the board would accept the latest microcode, so it was more of an incremental update process. MSI B350 Tomahawk [B350] Taking all those prices into account we get our entire platform cost which is relevant for those upgrading their platform or building a new PC. Moving to the 5800X3D, which is the fastest CPU in this test, we saw a reasonable 8% increase in performance from CL14 to CL16 3600 memory and then we see an even larger 11% increase with the 5600X. So the lower latency memory is certainly far more beneficial for Ryzen than it is the 12th and 13th gen Core i5 processors. The 3800X3D's code compilation performance was similar to the 5800X. We're looking at a miniscule 1% difference. If the purpose is only productivity tasks, then the 7700X is the way to go, and the extra costs are worth it. DDR5 also provides major boosts in a few workloads, and you might be benefitted from them depending on your particular tasks.The idle temperatures provide similar results, which is not surprising. But a major concern for the 7700X appears when both the CPUs are put under load, the Ryzen 7 7700X sees the temperatures jumping to 95 degrees centigrade. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is cooled just adequately by the Corsair iCue H115i, but there’s clearly a problem here for the 7700X in the fact that the 280mm AIO isn’t enough to keep it cool under load. Power Draw Power Draw Under Load Bottom line, 300-series boards all look to have improved memory support with Ryzen 5000 CPUs, the ability to utilize SAM for a performance boost, and most importantly, mirror the performance of much newer X570 motherboards. We take a look at the power draw for the two CPUs under load, with Handbrake being our tool to stress the CPU. Here, the 7700X shows cause for concern again, pushing 148 watts of TDP under load, which is very well above its 105 watts TDP rating. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is the better CPU, maintaining the TDP at under 105 watts under load. Pricing Difference When compared to modern budget AMD B550 and Intel B660 boards, you're really not missing out on much. Sure it's PCIe 3.0 only, but that's still fine for gaming and most gamers will be happy with the USB 3.1 Gen 1 support, there's even a type-C and in total the I/O panel features 6 USB ports. There's a single M.2 slot, but again, for gamers this is likely fine, so we'll be very keen to see how this one handles the 5800X3D. Asus ROG Strix B350-F Gaming [B350]