Compare Zen 3 and Zen 2 for your Ryzen CPU choice.
Compare Zen 3 and Zen 2 for your Ryzen CPU choice.
Hey there! You're starting your PC build this month, which is awesome. I get it—choosing the right CPU can be tricky. You're thinking about the Ryzen 7 3700X, but you're also considering the newer 5800X and the 6-core 5600X with Zen 3. It's a tough call! The 5800X adds about 100 watts more, but does that really matter? A newer 6-core 5600X offers solid performance for everyday tasks and streaming, while the 8-core 3700X with Zen 2 gives you more power for heavy gaming. If you're on a budget, the 8-core Zen 2 might be the best value right now. What's your main use case—gaming, streaming, or both? That could help narrow it down!
I don’t have background in streaming, but this scenario could favor more cores over quicker ones. No matter which CPU you choose, if your system gets a newer graphics card, you can still swap it out later if your needs increase.
5600X, and play with your GPU (Nvidia's built-in encoder was already the best choice with Turing, and I hope AMD will match that with RDNA2).
The quicker cores and higher speed of the Zen 3 Ryzen 5 might justify their cost if you prioritize performance over quantity. Fewer cores can still deliver strong results for specific tasks, especially in gaming or creative work.
By the time Zen 3 arrives, feedback on the 3070 should likely be available, given it drops about a week earlier. We have no details on RDNA2 and its release timeline. AMD mentioned it would come out before next-gen consoles, which suggests RDNA2 might be on the horizon around the same period. Navi has improved significantly, and driver updates have made NVENC much better compared to previous versions like Polaris and Vega.
For streamers who use GPU encoding, there remains some processing cost in the streaming pipeline that could be improved with additional cores. The idea was that more cores would lead to a more consistent and fluid experience, even if it didn’t always translate to the absolute highest frame rates. Many assume streaming performance stays around 60fps, so higher average potential frames aren’t really a big advantage.