AMD Enthusiast Gaming Build: CPU
While all of the components we are selecting here today are what we would go with, and priced from vendors we trust, it is always a good idea to shop around as deals on these, or other good options, pop up from other reliable vendors all the time. With that said, let’s dive right into the first order of business.
CPU
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X $750 (Currently $689.99)
60 FPS
- King Of The AMD Hill In Performance
- 4.7GHz Max Boost
- Miserly Power Consumption Relative To Intel HEDT Parts
30 FPS
- Expensive For AMD Land
- Extra Core Count Not Generally As Useful In Gaming
- No HSF Included
CPU Alternate
Ryzen 9 3900XT $399.99 (Currently $479.99)
60 FPS
- Close Second To Ryzen 9 3950X (Often Trades Punches In Gaming)
- Higher Base Clock Than Ryzen 9 3950X
- Same Max Boost Clock As Ryzen 9 3950X
30 FPS
- Lower Core Count Than Ryzen 9 3950X
- Overclocking Potential TBD
There is no doubt about it that Ryzen 9 3950X is still the current “champ” of the enthusiast portion of AMD’s lineup and it shows some real progression among the Ryzen lineup. As our own Dan Dobrowolski recently said in his review, “It’s also fairly expensive, but I actually consider it a bargain for what your (sic) getting. A year ago, that same $750 would have bought you an entry-level Threadripper which would get destroyed by the 3950X today. It would also have required a more expensive motherboard to use it.” So, an early Threadripper Grim Reaper for $750 in an enthusiast setup is a great base to build a system for today (and to carry you forward for some time to come).
For those looking to shave some cost of their system, but not sacrifice much in the way of performance, the Ryzen 9 3900X has been our go-to as it made an excellent alternate pick. Indeed, in the words of our own Dan Dobrowolski, “In short, the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X is an amazing processor that lives up to the hype. It’s faster at multi-threaded workloads and close enough at any single-threaded applications. It costs the same as Intel’s Core i9 9900K, but, gives you more bang for your buck. It’s more efficient per watt and between the two, I’d probably opt for the Ryzen 9 3900X every time. Personally, I’m waiting on the 16c/32t model before I make the jump, but for $500 the 3900X can’t be beat.” That said, a new challenger has emerged in the form of the Ryzen 9 3900XT. This refresh is based on Zen 2 still but nets us a 100MHz Max Boost increase over the previous 3900X. The one downside is we do lose our included cooler. However, if you are overclocking this processor, as many enthusiasts are likely to do, that was going to be tossed anyway. The one last item is this processor is currently above MSRP as it has just launched. However, if you buy it, along with a qualifying motherboard, from the Microcenter link then you can knock $50 off of that price and get a lot closer to MSRP on the chip.