9700K or 3800X
9700K or 3800X
I’m leaning toward choosing the 3800x myself, as it’s also available at the same discounted rate as the 3700x. While Intel chips might offer better single-core speed, there’s a growing concern about new security vulnerabilities appearing regularly with Intel processors. Gaming tends to be more single-threaded lately, and it looks like this trend will continue. For instance, developers like Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord have openly mentioned they’re building games to leverage multicore CPUs. It seems other studios are likely following suit soon. Also, AMD seems more inclined to use the AM4 socket, which could provide a better upgrade path in the next generation of processors compared to Intel. This is just speculation, but it makes sense that we should opt for the newest technology. I’d rather have PCI 4.0 than be left without it, and having more cores would definitely help. Even if Intel still edges out in gaming performance, the difference is minimal, and the actual impact on frames per second is negligible. I’m inclined to go with AMD because it offers better future-proofing—about a 5% boost in FPS would be a solid advantage.
I actually attempted to turn off SMT on my 3800X to observe its impact in the IL-2 Battle at Bodenplattte. Running without SMT resulted in roughly a 20% reduction in costs for the minimum settings. It was unexpected, considering how single-threaded Il-2 has always been in VR. My reasoning is that it’s not affecting heavy threads and is preventing them from running. However, I don’t have comparable data for the 9700 or non-HT enabled 9900K version of the current release. The recent update split the terrain engine into a separate thread, which invalidated previous benchmarks and disrupted the final round of standard tests.
Turning off smt could negatively affect stock configurations, offering benefits mainly for all-core overclocking setups.