I'd rather pay for AM5 than waste $349 on AM4's last gasp

Published Aug 30, 2026, 7:00 AM EDT Hamlin has been in the tech field for over nine years. Since 2017, his work has appeared on MakeUseOf, Android Police, OSXDaily, Beebom, and more. He served as the Senior Editor at Valnet's MakeUseOf for over two years before joining XDA. He uses a high-end gaming rig for desktop use and a MacBook for traveling, but dislikes some of the quirks of macOS. You're more likely to catch him at the gym or on a flight than anywhere else. Ten years ago, if someone said people would still be buying AM4 CPUs in 2026, they'd be laughed at. After all, AMD originally planned to support AM4 only through 2020, but the platform surpassed everybody's expectations, probably even AMD's. Despite AM5's launch in 2022, AMD kept releasing new AM4 CPUs, and now, a decade later, the company has brought one of AM4's most beloved CPUs back to market. There's a reason why people loved the 5800X3D so much. When AM4 was on its last legs, it gave users one final drop-in upgrade. I know how good of an upgrade it was because I went from a Ryzen 9 5900X to the 5800X3D myself before eventually moving to AM5. Back when it launched, it was the best gaming CPU you could buy, but re-releasing it in 2026 is just AMD giving those who missed the boat a second chance. Except this time, I'd argue anyone still considering this CPU is four years too late. The 5800X3D was the best gaming CPU four years ago Today, it's two generations behind and only relevant to AM4 holdouts Credit where it's due, the 5800X3D was a no-brainer for gamers when it launched in 2022. AMD's 3D V-Cache made a huge difference in cache-sensitive games. It was fast enough to trade blows with Intel's flagship 12900K in gaming benchmarks, all while costing less and not forcing you to buy a new motherboard. If you were already on AM4, a BIOS update was all you needed for this drop-in upgrade. Even if you were upgrading from a 5800X or a 5900X, the 5800X3D was good enough to give you a noticeable FPS uplift. In fact, that's why I sidegraded from the 5900X to the 5800X3D despite giving up four cores. Fast-forward to today, and you have much faster CPUs to choose from. Yes, the 5800X3D still holds its own against newer CPUs, and I wouldn't tell anyone who already owns one to upgrade just yet. But buying one today is a completely different story. Those who upgraded when it first launched already got years of use out of it, but right now, you're paying full price for a CPU that's already two generations behind. AM4 has nowhere left to go, but AM5 has years left $349 sounds great until you realize you're investing in an outdated platform My problem with the 5800X3D today isn't the CPU itself. It's the platform you're putting another $349 into. Even though it's a whole $100 cheaper than what early adopters paid in 2022, you're still spending hundreds on a platform that has had nothing new to offer in years. Today, you can get the 7800X3D, which is actually about 20% faster than the 5800X3D, for less. As of this writing, I saw it on Newegg for just $300. Of course, that means paying hundreds of dollars for a new motherboard and RAM kit, but hear me out. If you get a four-year-old CPU like the 5800X3D today, what are the chances you'll stick with it for another four or five years? Sooner or later, it won't be able to keep up with newer GPUs, and then you'll have no choice but to pay for a new motherboard and DDR5 memory anyway. So you're not really avoiding the cost of upgrading to AM5. You're just delaying it while dropping another $349 into AM4 along the way. With AMD planning to support AM5 through 2029, you're better off making the move as soon as possible rather than waiting until it's nearing the end of its life too. The 5800X3D is still more than good enough for now But that's a reason to keep one, not buy one Before you come at me in the comments, I'm not writing off the 5800X3D. This CPU can still handle almost any game you throw at it, and at higher resolutions like 1440p or 4K, you're far more likely to be GPU-limited anyway. There are exceptions, like pairing it with an RTX 4090 or 5090, as I did, or playing CPU-bound competitive titles at very high frame rates. But the average gamer won't find the 5800X3D bottlenecking their GPU anytime soon. But there's a big difference between the 5800X3D being good enough to keep and being good enough to pay $349 for in 2026. Buying one today is like buying a PS5 in 2026, knowing it'll be left behind sooner rather than later. Sure, you're avoiding absurd RAM prices today by spending that $349, but nobody knows if or when those prices will come back down. And if you wait another couple of years to make the jump, AM5 won't be as enticing because you may not have a meaningful drop-in upgrade left. You missed the boat, but don't jump at the second chance I'm sure plenty of people will happily take advantage of AMD's 5800X3D relaunch, especially those holding onto an older Zen 2 CPU and not wanting to pay today's ridiculous prices. If you're one of them, just know I'm not trying to stop you. I just hope you think ahead about how this upgrade will play out in a few years' time. The best years of the 5800X3D are behind it, and you're essentially paying full price to delay an inevitable platform upgrade. Sometimes, biting the bullet might seem ridiculous at first, but a few years down the line, that extra $300 you spent on RAM probably won't even feel like much.