Hi again! So…based on my previous post, it’d seem that it’s going to be quite some headache to get an old intel 6700 CPU with a PCIe 3.0 to work decently with more up to date GPUs (that is, to see a decent improvement in performance at all). I’d like to do a cross-jump to AMD CPUs this time, to be paired with a 6800XT or a 7800XT. I intend to game on Linux, although there will be a Win10 partition for the troublesome games, and also for the Vive Wireless, which is unsupported on Linux. But I’ve been out of the AMD loop for a while. What’s cooking? What would be a good second-to-last generation CPU recommendation or so? Am I missing any important tech if I don’t choose the latest and the greatest? Is ReBAR a thing yet? (Not sure if this is the answer to PS5’s direct asset streaming from the SSD straight to the GPU). At this point, I’d like to know what CPUs are adviseable, in order to get some idea for a PC build, so I can go get quotes…and see if that’s something I’d be able to afford :)
I’ll second what has been said. Depending on what kinds of games you play will guide your CPU purchase. If you play CPU heavy games (simulators, grand strategy, Escape from Tarkov, etc.) the X3D variants would be a good choice. For previous gen that would be the 5800X3D. My brother has this one so I can tell you firsthand that it is a beast of a processor. However, this would lock you into DDR4 ram which means your next upgrade is guaranteed to need a new mobo, processor, and ram. The upside is that it’s fairly inexpensive compared to current products, so it’s good if you’re on a budget. If you don’t play those game the normal 5800X should be good.
If you’re looking for more current DDR5 build that you might be able to reuse parts for on your next upgrade, the 7800 and 7800X3D are what you want to be looking at (the 7800X gives you marginal improvement for way more power usage if I recall correctly, so not worth imo). I upgraded from an i7 7700k to a 7800X3D earlier this year and noticed fairly sizable improvements in performance for the games I play.
Either way, I don’t think you can go wrong with any of these options.