Which is better for gaming?

Close. The 5800X3D's 96 MB cache wins some games, but the 7900X's higher clocks and newer cores win others, and it is ahead overall. If you already own an AM4 board, the 5800X3D is the cheaper upgrade.

Which is better for video editing and rendering?

The 7900X. Its 12 cores and 24 threads finish multi-core renders and encodes well ahead of the 8-core 5800X3D.

Do I need a new motherboard for the 7900X?

Yes. It uses Socket AM5 and DDR5 memory, so an AM4 board and DDR4 sticks will not fit. The 5800X3D uses the older AM4 socket.

Is the 7900X worth it at $274.00?

Yes. As of November 3 it is $65 cheaper than the 5800X3D at $339.00 and faster in most work, though you must budget for a new board, DDR5 and a cooler.

Which one runs cooler?

The 5800X3D at 105 W TDP. The 7900X is rated 170 W and needs a larger air cooler or a 240 mm or bigger liquid cooler.

Does either have integrated graphics?

Only the 7900X. It has a basic RDNA 2 iGPU for display output. The 5800X3D has none, so you need a discrete graphics card.

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D vs AMD Ryzen 9 7900X

Buy the Ryzen 9 7900X for a new build or any workload that uses many cores: it is faster, runs on AM5 with DDR5, and at $274.00 as of November 3 it costs less than the Ryzen 7 5800X3D at $339.00 as of November 3. Buy the 5800X3D only if you already own an AM4 board and DDR4 and want the cheapest way to a big gaming upgrade. The 5800X3D's 96 MB 3D V-Cache still wins some games, but the 7900X is the better buy at these prices.

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