AMD’s AM4 socket and platform are remarkably resilient, pairing well with four generations of new product lines. With the same motherboard you bought for a Ryzen 3 1200 machine back in 2017, you can install a brand new Ryzen 9 5950X (and probably enjoy it). But with an AM5 update on the horizon, should you upgrade or hold out? Gordon Ung of PCWorld is here to tell you about it in the latest PCWorld YouTube video.
Simply put, the longer you hold out, the more benefits you’ll get from upgrading to a modern Ryzen 5000-series processor. Going from a Ryzen 7 1800X to a comparable Ryzen 7 5800X3D brings improvements in just about everything your PC can do, from simple browsing to applications with heavy use of multimedia, sometimes up to 50 percent increase over older equipment. Even games that you may think depend almost entirely on your graphics card can deliver impressive results. Depending on the title you’re playing, this update can significantly double your productivity once again. This is especially true if you’re not playing in big 4K resolution.
Gordon Mah Ung/IDG
Returns decrease if you upgrade from newer Ryzen 2000 or 3000 series processors, especially at the higher tier. It’s the same if you start with a high-end processor and move up to something mid-range or budget in the new series. On the other hand, if you recently upgraded your GPU and left the CPU in place, fixing this bottleneck could give you much more performance than you think.
Watch the full video for a comprehensive set of tests to help you decide whether to upgrade now or wait for new products to arrive. And if you like this deep dive into nerdy hardware comparisons, be sure to subscribe to the PCWorld YouTube channel!