AMD - gamebastion.com

If you've already decided that Nvidia's new GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card is the one for you, after reading Dave's in-depth full review, then you might also want to consider giving your gaming PC a bit of all-round update to ensure the mighty Blackwell GPU is supported by the best CPU, motherboard, RAM, and PSU for that graphics card.

I use and test numerous processors, motherboards, RAM kits and power supply units on a daily basis, but not all of them would really suit the RTX 5090. Its high power consumption and ludicrous number of shader cores means it needs an ultra-fast and responsive system to keep it going.

So here are the components that I think are the best match for the RTX 5090. Yes, some of them are expensive, but Jen-Hsun's new GPU isn't exactly cheap, right?

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D | 8 cores | 16 threads | 5.2 GHz boost | 96 MB L3 cache
AMD's 3D V-Cache technology is like magic for minimum frame rates in games, so if you're going to be using Nvidia's new Multi-Frame Generation everywhere, then this is the CPU to get. Actually, it's the best gaming CPU full-stop so it's a no-brainer as to what processor should be matched with the RTX 5090.

There's nothing I can say about the Ryzen 7 9800X3D that we've not already covered in our full review and anyone who's anyone in PC gaming will know that this is the CPU to get for an all-conquering gaming PC.

Except there's just one teensy weensy problem. It's either out of stock or hugely over-priced because the demand right now is far ahead of the supply. And it's not like you could go with the last-gen Ryzen 7 7800X3D either—because it's only a little slower than the 9800X3D, it's in short supply or sporting a ridiculous price tag, too.

If you're happy to pay the extra price, then you'll find various offers at Amazon, starting at $596. Alternatively, you could just go with a Ryzen 7 9700X ($315 at Amazon) and wait until stocks improve, forcing prices to come back down, but just when that will happen isn't clear. But