Upgraded to 7950X3D but no improvement in speed.
Upgraded to 7950X3D but no improvement in speed.
I just changed my hardware from a 5950X to a 7950X3D, since all the benchmarks and reviews indicate a significant boost in gaming performance. Yet I haven’t noticed it yet. My current setup uses an overclocked, modified RTX 3090, and my previous 5950X was also pushed to its peak settings. I haven’t yet overclocked the new CPU, but I anticipated at least some improvement. The only change is that when the PC runs in game mode now it stutters. The main reason for this upgrade was reaching the simulation speed limit in Cities Skylines 2, which helped a bit but not as much as hoped. The new CPU is much more power-efficient; my old model consumed around 240W under heavy load, while mine is now at 100W—the lowest I've seen so far.
You need to perform a fresh setup of Windows 11 using the 7950x3D chipset. Make sure to obtain the necessary chipset drivers. Using a 3090 won’t provide significant improvements compared to a 7950x3D. A 4090 would offer better performance, though a 7800x3D might be sufficient for gaming. Clarify what you were tuning on a 5950x, as those options are quite restricted.
I really don't want to do that either. The game mode appears to be functioning as expected, though I experience stuttering when activating it—something that seems typical. Many online reports suggest this issue isn't unusual, as some claim the magic 3DV cache should enhance performance across most GPUs, which aligns with my expectations. Cities Skylines 2 utilizes all 16 CPU cores at roughly 85% utilization, far surpassing the 7800X3D limits. Generally, it ran a custom PBO profile that sometimes reached a 5.1Ghz boost, but in this case it shifted to a full-core OC of 4.85Ghz, which caused the system to draw 240W at 96°C.
You're working with a 7950x3D setup, which means you'll need a clean install unfortunately because of how the CPU scheduler handles it. A 7800x3D Windows install won't work properly either. 3D Vcache can make a big difference in some games but not others—like Cities Skylines 2, where it was so poorly optimized that people doubted its beta status. It's pretty surprising your CPU lasted that long; it must have cut into its lifespan significantly.
The PBO tweaking really boosted my performance on the old chip, reaching nearly 10% in some games. It also provided a solid gaming experience. The new version looks nice, but I’m still struggling to hit around 5.25 on the X3D CCD and 5.75 on the regular CCD—really frustrating. Still, it’s disappointing that many games are so poor these days. It’s sad we can’t easily run triple A titles with high settings in 4K using outdated hardware. I just wanted a bit more than 10-20% extra FPS without breaking the bank on a new CPU, motherboard, and GPU. That’s what most articles and videos seemed to suggest.
The game relies heavily on GPU resources, even with over 100k players at 1080p. Many users focus only on CPU stats while overlooking the game's actual performance. In truth, benchmarks indicate the 7800X3D handles Cities Skylines 2 well, often running mostly on the GPU regardless of hardware specs.
I've been using that game for more than 150 hours, and it's definitely causing GPU problems. My 3090 stays at 95% usage, making it hard to maintain 30 frames per second. The GPU issue seems to be limited to frame rate, while the simulation speed is mainly CPU-dependent and only becomes noticeable around 180K on a strong system.
It varies by game; most require strong GPU power, while others see only minor gains, especially in FPS. You probably don’t need to reinstall the OS unless switching between Intel and AMD. I’ve swapped drives multiple times without issues. The last three upgrades on my 8700k, 10900k, and 13700k all performed identically, with no noticeable performance drop.