Question I7 9800x for gaming?

[roliboqu]

I already have a full x299 system so switching platforms isnt really an option. I had to RMA my i5 7640x and since it's old, if they find something wrong with it they will probably offer a refund. I've been needing an upgrade anyway. Would the i7 9700x be a good x299 option for gaming? Would I see any improvement in fps?

I mostly play call of duty, (the newer ones), but I might play different games in the future. Will my 1060 6gb bottleneck this cpu? I play on 1080p 60hz atleast until I upgrade my monitor.

If not, which x299 cpu would you recommend for gaming? I cant afford the i9s and I'm not sure buying used is a good idea. The i9 10900x is more on my price range but 10 core 20 thread vs 8 core 16 thread.

 

[Gideon]

9800X is totally fine if you can find it at a good price. Unless you need the cores (for stuff other than gaming) there is really no need to get the 10900x.

You can also try some limited mesh-overclocking for best results in gaming. It probably isn't worth overclocking anything else, but this will improve gaming performance somewhat.

All in all, It really depends on the price. I wouldn't really but it for anything more than $500 and would rather get the $589 10900x instead. At this range things are getting pricy though and a rebuild on the mainstream platform is looking more indicting.

 

[aigomorla]

There is no such thing as a 9700x.
I think you mean't the 9800X.

The 9800X is acceptable chip and seem to be on sale for a good price here:

Intel Core i7-9800X 3.8 GHz Eight-Core LGA 2066 Processor

Buy Intel Core i7-9800X 3.8 GHz Eight-Core LGA 2066 Processor featuring 8 Cores & 16 Threads, 3.8 GHz Clock Speed, 4.5 GHz Maximum Turbo Frequency, LGA 2066 Socket, 16.5MB Cache Memory, No Integrated Graphics, Supports DDR4 Memory, Supports Intel Optane Memory, Supports up to 44 PCIe Lanes, 9th...

www.bhphotovideo.com

So if your asking me:
10900x has 48 pci-e lanes
9800x has 44 pci-e lanes

How many additional cards / nVME / GPU's does your system have or intend to have?
Is it worth the extra 200 dollars for +4 pci-e lanes on the 10900X?

As for gaming performance, they both turbo well into the 4.5-4.7ghz territory on stock settings, which is more then acceptable unless your a FPS counter and like seeing over 9000 fps. (exaggeration, but you get my point).
If your gaming at 1440p or 4k, your going to be GPU bound anyhow unless you got lucky in fighting bots, and somehow scored a RX 6800XT or a 3080/3090.

If your really really tight on budget, i would look on ebay for a i7-7740x. These are 4c/8t processors, but only half your ram slots will work.
They are very limited in pci-e lanes, but they are excellent overclockers and excellent gaming cpus.
Infact i had one ramped up to 5.5ghz for lulz and it didn't even break a sweat.
But again, its majorly limited in the pci-e lanes and memory chanel being dual and not quad like on the other higher end i9's.

So my overall recommendation...
If you already have the quad channel ram (4 sticks of identical ram), try to get the 9800X as it will be future proof for a few more generations as AMD seems to pop new cpu's like candy and its really hard to not get buyers remorse on AMD.
At least this way you can wait to see what happens on threadripper side for settle, before you go over to the AMD ship.

If you have only 2 ram sticks go on ebay and try to secure a i7-7740X. They should only run you 200 or so dollars, and should hold you out until you can secure a Ryzen 7 system later on should you go that route. But again, the 7740X route is very short lived, so i would not recommend this unless you intend to upgrade soon, and would recommend the 9800X route.

I recommend the 9800X route, as the price is just more competitive to the 10900X unless you absolutely need those extra 4 lanes.

 

[Thunder 57]

Find out what they say about the CPU first. They could have plenty of them or similar, as they support them for some time. And RMA a CPU? What went wrong with it? Never had to do that before.

Honestly I wouldn't spend too much regardless of what CPU you can get. Eventually it's just throwing good money after bad. If you do get a refund and sell your motherboard that would be a good chunk of change to start with for another build. Unless you need HEDT, which it doesn't look like you do. You were already limited to 16 PCIe lanes. I doubt you were memory bandwidth starved either. Is there a reason you went for x299 over a mainstream build?

I mean, just look at this in Bench:

CPU 2019 Benchmarks - Compare Products on AnandTech

CPU 2019 benchmarks: Compare two products side-by-side or see a cascading list of product ratings along with our annotations.

www.anandtech.com

The 9800X is only 200MHz faster than the 7820X, so results wouldn't be very different. The 9800X is a 165W TDP CPU though. the 3700X is $305 on Amazon and beats it in just about everything with a 65W TDP. And it's not like AM4 boards have to cost a lot. You would also be able to upgrade all the way up to a 6950X one day if you wanted. Just something to think about.