With the release of Ryzen Zen 2 processors just around the corner, many prospective AMD builders looking to build with the Ryzen 7 3800X, Ryzen 7 3700X and Ryzen 5 3600X will be asking the question – which Zen 2 processor is the sensible one to go for?
In this guide, we will try to navigate the likely differences between the Ryzen 7 3800X and the 3700X, and decide whether it is worth the small price premium over the 3700X.
1. Specs
| Ryzen 7 3800x | Ryzen 7 3700X | |
 | |
|
| Price | $399 | $329 |
| Cores / Threads | 8 / 16 | 8 / 16 |
| Base Clock | 3.9 GHz | 3.6 GHz |
| Boost Clock | 4.5 GHz | 4.4 GHz |
| Cache | 32 MB | 32 MB |
| TDP | 105 W | 65 W |
| PCIe | 4 | 4 |
| Availability | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
The Ryzen 7 3700X and the Ryzen 7 3800X are actually very similar in terms of real specs, with the main difference being in the clock speeds and TDP. Both Zen 2 processors are octa-core processors with 16 threads, a nice 32MB L3 cache, 7nm CMOS and PCIe 4.0 support. Both processors are recommended to be run on the new X570 chipset, whilst B450 and X470 motherboard are also supported.
For those comparing the Ryzen 7 3800x and 3700X to a comparable intel processor, then the likely rival be the i9-9900K, with similar core count and clock speeds. We just just written up a comparison of the 3800X vs 9900K.
2. Price
The Ryzen 7 3700X retails for $329, whilst the 3800X retails at a $70 premium at $399. The price premium is difficult to determine its worth without real-world performance, but we are expecting that the Ryzen 7 3700X will provide better value, and the 3700x will likely be binned 3800X instead.
3. Performance
With the release of the 3800x and 3700X set to be in early July, we are yet to see real world comparisons and hands-on reviews of these two processors. We can only wait until July until we see a perfromance comparison between the Ryzen 7 3800x and 3700X.
4. Binning
This is only a prediction and looking at previous iterations of Ryzen Zen processors, but we are predicting that the Ryzen 7 3800x is better binned than the 3700X – meaning the 3800X price premium will get you a approximately 0.2 GHz higher stock clock and boost clock speeds at stock settings. This will be due to the higher TDP, although we take TDP values with a pinch of salt as they become irrelevant as soon as you disable the limit in the systems BIOS.
To be sure of this, we need to wait and see until real-world benchmarks and hands-on reviews are available for the Ryzen 7 3800X and 3700x.