Should i upgrade CPU or GPU?
Posted by walther_write_123@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 56 comments
Hi, i have extra money so i thought about upgrading my pc but i cant decide what should i upgrade. Currently i have Ryzen 5 4500, GTX 1080 Ti, one stick of 16gb DDR4, 2TB samsung 990 pro, 650W psu, mobo MSI A520M-A PRO. That CPU combination would be Ryzen 7 9800x3d plus new AM5 motherboard probably this one GIGABYTE B850M DS3H and some used 16 gb DDR5 ram and after calculations together this option would cost me 629 euros. That GPU option would be RX 9070 XT and new psu this one Raijintek CRATOS 850 and this option would cost me 607 euros. So what should i upgrade first if i want to play on 1440p without any problems? Thank you for all comments and help.
AcrobaticNetwork5918@reddit
If you are gearing for 1440p and do not want to be bottlenecked by either GPU or CPU, I would invest in a 5800X CPU and then a 9060 XT 16GB. I was able to hit around 100-120FPS at higher settings in Fortnite with a 5700x3D and a 9060 XT in 1440p.
It is unfortunate that you would have to pivot towards an AM5 upgrade or invest all in a GPU, so this is really the best middleground until you get the funds to upgrade your socket.
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
how big will be bottleneck from that R5 4500 and RX 9070 XT? because if i want to do upgrade i want to have either the best CPU i can get or the best GPU i can get with my money so i dont want to buy 9060 XT, i know it may sound stupid but either CPU or GPU
2raysdiver@reddit
The Ryzen 7 9800X3D will be severely held back by the GTX 1080 Ti and the 9700 XT will be held back by the Ryzen 5 4500. This is why people are suggesting a more balanced upgrade. If you go with the 9800X3D, you'll see a small increase in performance of games that are limited by CPU, but no increase in performance in games limited by your GPU. If you go with the 9070 XT, you'll see a small improvement in GPU-bound games (up to the point where the R5 4500 is holding you back), and no improvement in CPU intensive games. If you get a 5800XT and a 9060 XT 16GB (or 9070 16GB) you'll see a bigger improvement in both kinds of games.
Can you tell us why you only want to upgrade just the CPU or just the GPU? Are you planning on upgrading the other component in the next couple months?
And if you really only want to upgrade one, use a hardware monitor to see what CPU and GPU utilization are for the games you play and upgrade the component that has the most utilization.
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
because i will upgrade next component after some time, like if i buy that 9070xt after month i will buy 5600x cpu used in perfect condition for 85 euros and if i buy that 9 9800x3d cpu well the gpu upgrade will take much longer time because GPUs are much more expensive
2raysdiver@reddit
Then I'd get the 9070 XT now and the 5600X (or 5600XT or 5800XT) in a month. Memory prices are starting to come down and waiting on AM5 for DDR5 prices to get lower is the smart move right now unless you can get a very good deal on a bundle.
Sleddoggamer@reddit
I don't really see a win for them unless we know what their plan is. If they go GPU their CPU bottleneck will be big enough to home them back, CPU means their GPU will pushed to its limits at 1440p, and going AM5 only means they'll have upgrade room they might not be able to afford until the AI bubble pops and AM6 is probanly already out
Sleddoggamer@reddit
I was thinking they wanted to do one big upgrade now and upgrade later when they can afford it and i get that because i was going to do the same, but even then its hard to feel good about a recommendation to AM5 right now.
If they do the GPU upgrade, they'll have a strong GPU secured they can drop into a better build later with no wasted funds, but they won't much if any of a performance increase over a 9060xt with their current CPU until their ready to go AM5 if they don't want to waste anything on AM4.
If they make the swap to AM5 and go with the 9800x3d, they'll have a CPU that will probably make them more then happy until AM6 is out and probably stay happy with it for years, but they'll be trying to run games on their 1080 Ti again taking very limited gains if any if not running purely CPU intensive games, while current ram prices eat their budget
Sleddoggamer@reddit
I'm not them and it'll depend on what you try run, but it would be significant.
You'd probably get a bigger upgrade with the 5800 and 9060xt across the board than trying to pair a new high end GPU with a older budget CPU, and the 9060xt 16gb model would still be a significant upgrade over the 1080 ti
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
yeah it will be for sure but as i said either the best CPU i can get or the best GPU i can get, it sounds stupid but i want it like this
Onemoreuserdoesnot@reddit
Answering like the other guys, take the GPU first. If you're only gaming, for a older platform like yours AMD is a bit better because of the way they deal with driver and gpu overhead. There's also the thing with Infinity Cache which helps a bit too. Take a vanilla 9070 though, a 9070XT although not that much stronger, will still make this 4500 weep hard. Btw, for cards like the ones we are talking about ( pcie 5 x16 ), it should not hurt the card much to be on a pcie 3 slot. Keep in mind, however, to make sure that your cpu is not having it's PCIe lanes shared to any other device, as your 4500 only have 16 lanes. THIS is the thing that can hurt your performance badly. Just talked about those last 2 things because of some other comments I've read. Btw, a cpu drop in upgrade like a 5700X would do wonders later.
Sadly I don't know which shops are good in slovakia, looked up in google and could not find anything that would be close to the 600-650 euros you're looking for to put those 2 together to upgrade rn. Btw, if you did find a 9070*XT* for 607 euros, man, get that right now, 600 euros is the cheapest I'm finding for a new vanilla 9070 in your country ( Acer Bifrost 9070 from Alka when using some discount code from heureka ). Meanwhile, the best price I could find on a 5700X was 170 euros ( you could get a 5600 for 114 or 5600XT for 134 though, they would still be a big enough upgrade and be mostly fine ).
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
i found 5600x in perfect condition on used market for 85 euros so i will probably buy this CPU and that 9070xt gpu
HigaMigu@reddit
yeah? Get the GPU then. You can upgrade the CPU when you'll eventually be better off phasing off of the AM4 platform.
MorkSal@reddit
Not the same person again, but assuming you plan to update the other component at some point and that's why you want to upgrade to a higher spec then I'd go for the GPU first.
You'll get bottlenecked in probably games, not much in others. Then when you upgrade your CPU a bit down the road, and ram etc, hopefully with a good price drop, you'll gain the full benefit of the GPU
Big-Pineapple-9954@reddit
In your situation it's better to do a rounded upgrade with both CPU and a 9060XT than maxing out CPU or GPU when you are going for 1440p. Your current setup is an older one.
While a new platform, CPU/RAM/MB will help you for future proofing, that is a fairly expensive, and then keep a GPU that is also starting to struggle getting good 1440p results. And a 9070XT will as you say bottleneck your current setup noticeable. And you won't be able to fully utilize a 9070XT either because your motherboard is PCI gen3.
So even with an upgrade to the 5800X and 9060XT as proposed you wont be able to fully utilize it, but it will be a less performance loss than if you go with either just a new GPU and PSU, or just the new platform.
Of course, if you had the money to do both the upgrades, to AM5 and a 9070XT, that would be the best option, but it will also be really expensive.
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
and what about 9070 XT and Ryzen 5 5600X because i found that cpu on used market for 85 euros
Big-Pineapple-9954@reddit
It's a better choice, but what's really making the worst bottleneck is your motherboard only being PCIe Gen 3. And you will need to upgrade the PSU too. I would kinda see if there is a cheap B550 motherboard around too. And if not, I would Get a B550 motherboard, a 5600x/5800X, and a 9060XT 16GB.
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
of course i would upgrade PSU, i will buy it together with that GPU and it would be Raijintek CRATOS 850, okay i will be able to upgrade motherboard too, is this one good? ASUS PRIME B550M-K ARGB
Big-Pineapple-9954@reddit
That board have PCIe Gen 4, so it should be able to utilize a RX 9070 XT fully.
_Presence_@reddit
For most games, they will be GPU limited at 1440p. So you’re better off upgrading GPU if you can pick only one. If you get the 9060xt 16gb (DONT GET 8gb) you won’t have to upgrade your PSU, you might be a little CPU limited for some games, but not too much and it’s a well balanced combo. Especially at 1440. You could upgrade ram to 32gb as well. You’ll get several more years of life out of your current rig.
wienercat@reddit
For what its worth, you can find new in box 5500x3d CPUs for about $215.
They perform about 5-10% lower than 5700x3d in most games. Downside is they are only 6 core CPUs, but that doesnt matter in most games.
But they still come with that big beefy 96mb cache that really shines in games.
17Fiddy@reddit
I would just move the 990 pro into a new PC. That drive is so expensive now. If the CPU you are trying to get is the 9800X3D and you aren't pairing it with a high end GPU you are misappropriating your available PC funds. That CPU is pointless with a 1080ti.
Give us a total budget available not including the storage (those are basically $500 now) and say what games you play and it will be easier to tell you what to do.
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
i already have pc and that 990 pro, i just asked about upgrade and my budget is around 650 to 700 euros max
aygross@reddit
What games are you playing
I don't think the 9070xt will be significantly bottlenecked in most sigle player games at 1440
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
single player ones mainly, the only multiplayer game that i play is war thunder and thats very rarely
secretagentstv@reddit
What is your country and total budget?
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
Slovakia in Europe and budget is 650 euros max
bombastic6339locks@reddit
you could get better cpu and gpu imo
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
how? i cant buy them at once, if i bought that GPU after month i would be able to buy Ryzen 5 5600X from used market for 85 euros and it is in perfect condition
thelovebat@reddit
I'd replace your CPU now to upgrade to the 5600X, then get your graphics card whenever you have the time to spare for it. A 1080 TI should sell relatively quickly to recoup your costs since it's still a solid budget card. A Ryzen 4500 CPU you will probably need to either wait a bit for it to sell or you need to list it for good deal compared to other prices.
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
yeah, i found 5600x in perfect condition on used market for 85 euros, so i will buy that 5600x and then that psu and 9070xt
bombastic6339locks@reddit
Do what you want, id just sell what you can and get new cpu and gpu used.
WulfTheSaxon@reddit
If I were you I’d get a new GPU now and stay on AM4. That 1x16 RAM should be traded for 2x8 unless you can get a good deal on 2x16.
Then later get a 5700X, 5800X, or 5800XT (or a used 5_00X3D of some sort) depending on pricing and you’ll probably be set until AM6 and the return of normal RAM prices.
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
yeah thats a good advice, okay i will buy that 9070xt and when i will have money again i would buy better AM4 cpu and another stick of 16 gb ddr4 ram
Puzzleheaded-West159@reddit
1080 Ti is still goat gpu,
I recommend you take CPU option
Desperate-Big3982@reddit
So Nvidia support for the 1080Ti ended last October. You can still play recent games on it, and older games will still run well if they did before. But modern games will start to have issues because there are no new game optimalizations coming for this GPU.
It seems like this might be the direction to upgrade, but it depends on what games you are playing and performance in those games.
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
i am playing mostly single player games and mostly the big ones like RDR2 or something similar but modern and the issue i ran into with my GTX was that when i tried to play doom the dark ages i found out that i cant because gtx doesnt support rtx which is built into that game, the only multiplayer game that i play is War Thunder but i dont play it often
ime1em@reddit
yea with ray tracing only games, you will have to upgrade
rednemesis337@reddit
You will want to have 32gb these days not 16. The cheapest option I think it will to upgrade the cpu to one of the x3D 5000 series add 16gb ram and upgrade the gpu. You could do maybe a 9060 xt or you can even consider high end previous models. Unless you can buy that am5 combo and then the next month buy another 16gb ram
WulfTheSaxon@reddit
16 GB should be okay for DDR4. The reason 32 GB became the norm is that 8 GB DIMMs don’t run at the full bus width, not because games really need that much. You definitely want two DIMMs though. OP should probably sell his 16 GB and get a matching pair of 2x8 or 2x16, depending on local pricing.
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
i can work with 16, currently i have 16 and i am using linux so it is not consuming ram as windows, it may sound stupid but if i should upgrade i want either the best CPU i can get or the best GPU i can get so i dont want to buy weaker CPU and weaker GPU together, either CPU upgrade only for now or GPU upgrade
rednemesis337@reddit
The best CPU won’t make as much of a difference for 1440p gaming as the best gpu, depending on which games you play, unless you play World of Warcraft which is very CPU intensive. If you play single player games most likely will be the GPU doing most of the work. But for 1440p the 16gb ram may limit your games if you want to play on ultra settings. Your AM4 system can still live for a couple more years before you need to upgrade
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
okay so i should buy that GPU and then i would buy another 16 gb ram stick and i found on used market Ryzen 5 5600X for 85 euros so i would buy that too later and i would use AM4 and when i will have enough money i would do that AM5 upgrade
rednemesis337@reddit
Yes that would be good, as I think you put it in a comment a better value for your money. If you tried to simply go for either one or the other you won’t have a system that is capable of running anything properly.
I personally have a 5509x and just recently upgraded my previous rx 580 to an rx 6800. It’s still old but it’s very much capable of 1440p at least my games
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
so that 5600x plus 9070 XT would be good? someone before said that the biggest bottleneck is my mobo so should i upgrade CPU or mobo? btw in my previous pc i had rx 6800 too and it is extremely good for its price, in that pc i had 5600x and 64 gb of ddr4 too
rednemesis337@reddit
Motherboards generally speaking for the average user doesn’t matter as long as they work and can hold the parts you have. Example if you have ram with a speed of 3600mhz you need to make sure your motherboard can do those speeds. Other than that it doesn’t matter, again like I said for the average user. There are more expensive and better ones because of better features, like overclocking or certain protections but not really important if you’re just going to plug your stuff and play.
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
okay so i will do that GPU, PSU plus that used CPU combination
Laparca90@reddit
The R7 7800x3d has better FPS/dollar invested; if you want to optimize your investment, I would consider it.
WulfTheSaxon@reddit
OP is on AM4, he’d need a new motherboard and RAM for a 7800X3D.
nosg@reddit
Well, I'd rather be with a R4500+9070XT for a year, than a 9800X3D+1080TI. Specially at 1440p.
jbshell@reddit
Maybe could sell some of the parts and upgrade at the same time?
Such as after a board BIOS update, upgrade CPU to 5500X3D/5700x/5800x/5800XT (whichever is less cost) and sell the 4500 after verify up and running. Also, upgrade the CPU cooler if running the stock cooler, currently.
For RAM, and chance can find the exact matching stick to make 32GB? Assuming is a 3200+ rated speed?
Storage is top tier gold 🪙🥇 already.
For GPU, maybe 9060 XT 16GB/5060 Ti 16GB/RTX 5070 or RX 9070 (non XT), and maybe can keep your PSU. Then, sell the 1080 Ti after up and running.
Then maybe swap case(if looking for new look) or add fans depending on remaining budget?
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
it is not possible for me to upgrade at once because i cant sell those current components for high price because i bought the whole computer for 430 euros so each part would be very cheap so it wouldnt be enough, i want to upgrade only one part, either GPU or CPU because i want the best i can get with my money and after some time when i would have money i would upgrade the last part, so what do you think would be better to upgrade first and only right now, GPU or CPU, both of the choices would have negatives i just cant decide which one
jbshell@reddit
Prob would say GPU since can get modern driver support. Wouldn't go too crazy, but something modest and new 9060 XT 16GB/5060 Ti 16GB. Not sure if I'm your current market might also be able to find a pre-owned cpu such as a 5600/5600x maybe. Just trying to think of the most cost effective option for the long haul.
Overall, would say, CPU, GPU and RAM(since no dual channel) are the performance limits.
This also depends on the games as well. For example, might try to run an overlay such as if can support the Nvidia overlay to monitor real time stats when gaming. This way can see CPU/ GPU % to see where the main bottleneck is.
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
i found Ryzen 5 5600X on used market almost new for 85 euros so should i buy that 9070 xt gpu with new psu and after like month i would buy that used cpu and after longer time when i would have money i would buy new AM5 mobo with that 9800x3d cpu and 16 gb ddr5 used ram
jbshell@reddit
If the rx 9070(non xt) might save some cash, might also go that route since much more power efficient, and only about 12% less on performance. Either way, that cpu does sound like a good bargain if no 5700x/5800x/5800xt on sales.
walther_write_123@reddit (OP)
i would be able to save up little more and buy that 9070 xt, PSU plus that used CPU at once because i really want that 9070 XT but good advice
jbshell@reddit
Sounds like a solid plan, Congrats on the start of the upgrades!