Considering a CPU upgrade can be tricky—worth it depends on your needs and budget.
Considering a CPU upgrade can be tricky—worth it depends on your needs and budget.
If you are getting serious about video editing and sound design then the 5800X could be a good upgrade, although people do forget that the 3600XT is still a very capable chip. I am curious, have you tried some serious video editing on your 3600XT? If you haven’t, I don’t see why not. If the experience is bad, then you should seriously consider an upgrade. As for an AIO, I’m not sure if it’s worth it, some air coolers half the price will do the job just as well. And for the RAM, just keep it. Spending that much money for that little of a performance bonus (3200 -> 3600) simply isn’t worth it.
Begin with sound and video editing to gauge your interest. If you enjoy it, consider upgrading later. Your current setup won’t limit these capabilities—it may only add a bit more time. I’d prefer a solid air cooler instead. You might find good offers on Ryzen 9 5900 series (non-X) models; their lower TDP could simplify cooling. Don’t rush to faster RAM—maximize what you already have. Save a full DDR5 replacement for later.
Moved to CPUs, motherboards, and memory. Not sure why this was originally about PC gaming, as your questions focus more on CPU performance in other uses than on games. Are you noticing any problems or slowdowns in the tasks you’re performing? Upgrades are seldom justified until you understand the types of workloads you run and how much they strain your hardware.
Yeah, sorry about that, I originally put it in gaming since that’s most of what I do, wasn’t really sure where to put it, I’m not that experienced in the forums haha I’m mostly concerned about the CPU temperatures and bottlenecking the GPU. I’ve noticed my CPU does not get below 70 Cº usually (given that I live in a tropical country where the temperatures are usually 20-30 Cº, I’m not sure if that’s normal), and I’m not entirely sure if the GPU is being hindered by the CPU, since I know this GPU should be giving me some really good performance Does AM4 support DDR5? I thought that’s was just an intel 12th gen thing, that’s why I was thinking on staying on DDR4 I haven’t tried it on the 3600XT mostly due to heat concerns. I rarely see it going below 70 Cº, and that’s just with my usual gaming (Destiny 2, Witcher 3, Death Stranding and Cyberpunk at 1440p High), and I know editing would be more taxing. Additionally, the upgrade is mainly to get the most out of the GPU, since I am not sure if I am bottlenecking it
You're right about the performance at 1440p—resolution usually means less strain on the CPU. These games are tough on hardware, which explains the heat. I’ll give it a go with some light tweaks. As for my gear, I’m using a newer cooler and a solid case setup.
Great! I wasn’t aware the stock cooler included with the CPU was the one you’re using. The Corsair 4000D Airflow case holds six LL120s, and I’ve noticed the AMD built-in cooler works well, though perhaps upgrading could improve performance.