Home > CPU Comparisons > Ryzen 9 5900X or Ryzen 9 3900X: what's better?

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X vs Ryzen 9 3900X

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
VS
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X

We compared two 12-core desktop CPUs: the 3.7 GHz AMD Ryzen 9 5900X against the 3.8 GHz Ryzen 9 3900X. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments (4)

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of electricity consumption
NanoReview Final Score
Generic CPU rating

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 3900X and 5900X
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
  • Newer - released 1-year and 4-months later
  • 24% faster in a single-core Geekbench v5 test - 1644 vs 1327 points
  • 4% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.8 GHz vs 4.6 GHz)

Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs in benchmarks
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
Ryzen 9 5900X +19%
1578
Ryzen 9 3900X
1323
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)
Ryzen 9 5900X +11%
20811
Ryzen 9 3900X
18831
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Ryzen 9 5900X +27%
3476
Ryzen 9 3900X
2728
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Ryzen 9 5900X +20%
39567
Ryzen 9 3900X
32993
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Ryzen 9 5900X +24%
1649
Ryzen 9 3900X
1329
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
Ryzen 9 5900X +17%
14255
Ryzen 9 3900X
12154
Submit your Cinebench R23 result
By purchasing through links on this site, we may receive a commission from Amazon. This does not affect our assessment methodology.

Specifications

Full technical specification of AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 9 3900X

General

Vendor AMD AMD
Released October 8, 2020 July 7, 2019
Type Desktop Desktop
instruction set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Zen 3 (Vermeer) -
Integrated GPU No No

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 12 12
P-Threads 24 24
Base Frequency (P) 3.7 GHz 3.8 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.8 GHz 4.6 GHz
Total
Total Cores 12 12
Total Threads 24 24
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 37x 38x
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 64K (per core)
L2 Cache 512K (per core) 512K (per core)
L3 Cache 64MB (shared) 64MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Transistors 4.15 billions 3.8 billions
Fabrication process 7 nm 7 nm
Socket AM4 AM4
TDP 105 W 105 W
Peak temperature 90°C 95°C

Memory Support

Memory types DDR4-3200 DDR4-3200
Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Max. Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 47.68 GB/s 47.68 GB/s
ECC Support Yes Yes

Misc

Official site AMD Ryzen 9 5900X official page AMD Ryzen 9 3900X official page
PCI Express Version 4.0 4.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 16

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
591 (56.6%)
453 (43.4%)
Total votes: 1044

Сompetitors

1. AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and Intel Core i7 12700K
2. AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 7 6800H
3. AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and Intel Core i9 13900K
4. AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 7 5800X3D
5. AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 5 7600X
6. AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 7 5800X
7. AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and Intel Core i7 13700K
8. AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 7 5800X3D
9. AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 9 7900X
Compare other CPUs (480+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X or Ryzen 9 5900X?
Avatar
Gta5 19 September 2021 23:19
Go for 5900x and you are good for at least 5 years
+7 Reply
Avatar
Jay 22 January 2021 15:11
I'm building a new gaming/workstation should i wait for stock of 5900x or just get 3900x?
+15 Reply
Avatar
Root 22 January 2021 18:55
Go for 3900x, it's still a good CPU.
+23 Reply
Avatar
notimportant 14 November 2020 16:20
upgrade only if you need to, if its required for your work. if gaming is your mainstay then 3900 is way over the top even now even for 4-8k gaming. if your working with freelance, Designe, compression, rendering or movie editing where every minute is a lost revenue then yes upgrading is the best option but then we still have problems with current generation instability that always corps up and if your working, any downtime is lost revenue that's why i always stay 1 generation behind so I wont have to deal with "Problems" that equal lost revenue, stability is king when it comes to my work rig. oh and there is no such thing as Future Proofing in this industry even if i buy a 5950 today there is no guarantee it wont be a bottleneck for next gen Quadro GPUS or hardware upgrades. buy what you need not what you think you need. running previous generation hardware has saved me so Manny headaches when working, money and made me more money. that being said I'm still running Intel and i wont change from intel for my work rig, AMD has not been trustworthy with Bios and Drivers for their hardware, i still remember when i got swamped in work requests cause people who jumped on the Zen 2 craze couldn't get work done, due to AMD's little unprofessional hiccups, that being said 5800x and 6900xt is going straight in to my gaming ring when you can find them available.
+11 Reply
Avatar
JoeComputer 01 November 2020 04:43
I have the 3900x and looking to see if the 5900x is worth the up grade or just go to the 5950x since that thing is a Monster!
+9 Reply
Avatar
Jeff 05 November 2020 04:53
It seems that 5900X isn't worth, as the specs are very similar and the benchmarks aren't so different. As 5000 series is (probably) the last one using AM4 socket, i will keep my 3900X and jump to 6000 series / AM5 socket, with DDR5 and PCI-E 5.0. Of course, this is just my opinion.
+19 Reply
Avatar
Chak 05 November 2020 19:10
Jeff, I am in the same boat, after seeing some modest increase in FPS in games, the difference is not enough to justify a 500$+ purchase especially since I've only had the 3900x less than a year.
+15 Reply
Avatar
Dan 09 November 2020 05:18
Jeff, Your novice interpretation behind these technologies is flawed and wrong. You should read about the IPC gains from the chiplets using one L3 cache instead of 2 L3 caches and how these chips are architecturally different. If you don't understand how to analyze technology or how it functions you should buy whatever is the cheapest thing possible because you're clueless.
+49 Reply
Avatar
Guest User #433 25 November 2020 07:52
Chak, And god only knows when it will actually be here. i am really surprised there is almost no difference between these two chips. Only reason i'm back on intel was the vendor sold me THREE ryzen cpus that had missing pins. And this was not some dodgy small shop. At the time missing pins was a big issue. But i think i will wait.
+13 Reply
Avatar
Memirsbrunnr 11 July 2022 11:25
Jeff, I have a 3900x too. However, your method only makes sense/works for those lesser beings that only have one PC. I have 4 PC on my desk and I tend to upgrade them the following way. My gaming system gets the best gear. and get upgraded piecemeal. Then the items that come out of it are transferred and redistributed amongst the not gaming machines. In my case, it would mean I upgrade my 3900x to a 5900x or hopefully a 5900x3D. Then my 3900x will move and take the place of 2600 that is powering my office /work PC. Then that one might go into the headless TRUENAS server that presently has an ATHLON 3000G. So having a multiple-step might make it a good last-time upgrade before going onto the AM5 train. Making it possible to skip the 1st AM5 generation, having much cheaper DDR5 and likely a more stable more matured system.
0 Reply
Promotion
EnglishРусский