Should you pay more to buy the Ryzen 7 3800XT or you can buy cheaper 3700X? I’ve tested games to show you the differences and help you decide if the 3800XT is worth the extra.
 |  |
|---|---|
| AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT | AMD Ryzen 7 3700X |
| BUY NOW | BUY NOW |
| PROS | PROS |
| Clear gains in Cinebench R15 and R20. Fast single-core POV-Ray results. Capable overclocker, in our sample. | Incredible price to performance. Affordable. Included cooler. |
| CONS | CONS |
| Ryzen 7 3700X is a tough eight-core price competitor. For pure gaming, a difficult value play against Ryzen 3 3300X. Other Ryzen chips are more cost-effective engines for content creation. Unlike Ryzen 7 3700X, no bundled cooler. | Single-threaded performance still falls behind Intel. |
SPECIFICATIONS
| RYZEN 7 3700X | RYZEN 7 3800XT | |
| FREQUENCY | 3.60 GHz | 4.20 GHz |
| TURBO (1 CORE) | 4.40 GHz | 4.70 GHz |
| TURBO (ALL CORES) | 4.00 GHz | 4.50 GHz |
| CORES | 8 | 8 |
| HYPERTHREADING | Yes | Yes |
| OVERCLOCKABLE | Yes | Yes |
| CACHE | 32.00 MB | 32.00 MB |
| ARCHITECTURE | Zen 2 | Zen 2 Refresh |
| MEMORY | DDR4-3200 | DDR4-3200 |
| MEMORY CHANNELS | 2 | 2 |
| MAX. MEMORY | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| ECC | Yes | Yes |
| PCIe VERSION | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| PCIe LANES | 20 | 20 |
| TECHNOLOGY | 7 nm | 7 nm |
| SOCKET | AM4 | AM4 |
| TDP | 65W | 105W |
| AES-NI | Yes | Yes |
| VIRTUALIZATION | AMD-V, SEV | AMD-V, SEV |
| RELEASE DATE | Q3/2019 | Q2/2020 |
There is not too much difference in specifications of these two processors. You will see the difference in base and maximum boost clock speeds. The launch price of the 3800XT is $400 and the standard price of 3700X is $330.
3700x is the cheapest 8 core processor in the Zen2 series and 3800xt is the most expensive, so that’s why I am comparing these processors.
PERFORMANCE
We tested both processors in the same PC. All testing was performed using the same updates of Windows and Nvidia drivers.
TEST SYSTEM SPECS:
| RAM: 32GB of DDR4-3200 CL14 | BUY HERE |
| MOTHERBOARD: ASRock X570 Taichi | BUY HERE |
| GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti | BUY HERE |
Gaming Benchmarks:
1. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was tested with the built in benchmark. In this game, the Ryzen 7 3800XT was ahead at both resolutions. At 1080p, Ryzen 7 3800XT was 2.5% ahead and at 1440p, it was just 1% ahead.
2. Battlefield V
Battlefield V was also tested with the built in benchmark, and in this test AMD’s 3800XT was actually ahead. In terms of average frame rate the 3800XT was 0.7% ahead at 1440p and 8.4% ahead at 1080p.
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was tested in campaign mode. At 1080p there wasn’t too much of a difference in average FPS. At max settings the 3700X was almost 2% higher than the 3800XT in terms of average FPS. At 1440p, 3700X is now scoring 2% higher average FPS at max settings.
4. Control
Control was tested with the built in benchmark. There is no difference in both resolutions. Both were scoring same average frame rates, as you you can see in our above message.
5. Counter Strike GO
Counter Strike GO is a game that loves CPU power, and at 1080p was another game where the 3800XT was in front. At 1080p the 3800XT was 1FPS higher when compared against the 3900X, though I admit I couldn’t tell you the difference between the two while actually playing the game. At 1440p there’s not too much of a change.
6. Dota 2
Dota 2 is a game that’s well known for performing better on 3800XT. I’ve tested it with the Ulletical FPS benchmark, and the results weren’t really too different.
7. Red Dead Redemption 2
I’ve also tested out Red Dead Redemption 2 with the built in benchmark. At 1080p and 1440p with high settings there wasn’t much of a difference.
8. Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested using the benchmark tool. At either rate, the 3800XT was only a few FPS ahead, placing it about 2% faster.
9. The Division 2
The gap here has been even smaller, so we can’t really draw any meaningful conclusions and Division 2 has been tested using the benchmark tool.
10. The Witcher 3
In reality, the Witcher 3 saw slightly lower performance with the 3800XT, not really sure why this was the case given that the 3800XT should be very similar with higher clock speeds only.
CONCLUSION
If you’re after an 8-core processor, the Ryzen 7 3700X looks like a better option for most people, when compared to the more expensive 3800XT. I will recommend you to wait for Zen3 to be released this year in 2020.
