That's a really helpful reply man, cleared the air a lot for me and helped me decide.Well, my reasoning was to get another couple of years out of AM4 as I don't see anything exciting sim-wise on the horizon to get me hyped for a whole new platform. (Ok, maybe AC2...)
I find Ryzen 7000 a little lacklustre, not far enough in front of the 3d to warrant a whole new platform. If i were moving to AM5 i would only be interested in the 7800X3D or whatever they call it. And as you say, the cost of MB's are a bit of a joke. Also, DDR5 needs time to more time to mature for better pricing.
I don't have all of the money together for a gpu yet, saving has become a bit of a slow process lately, but i have been watching the falling price of the 6800xt. If you can get a good deal, it is a lot of card compared to the 5700xt. If i'd had the money a couple of months ago i would have grabbed one but i think if i had the money today i would sit on my hands and wait.
The 7800 non xt Vs 6800xt should (hopefully) be in the same ballpark price and performance wise, maybe with a performance bump but definitely better power consumption and heat output (important with rising energy costs and for those two weeks of non air conditioned British summers...).
...
Stick with AM4 for the next few years (same in that there's nothing exciting on the horizon), get all the value from that that I can and then decide on a GPU early next year.
The x3D is, I now believe, the better investment; it has longevity and sits on solid architecture, AM4. The thing with AM4 is, unless there's a bombshell development, 7xxxGPUs will work in a 4/5xx mother board.
x3D it is; cheers for the input, and I'll be sure to flame you, and hold you personally responsible for my decisions if I'm not happy with the CPU