Plan to upgrade 6 year-old PC?
Posted by jarow_@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 13 comments
Hi guys,
Back in late 2019, I built my current PC. At the time, it was a solid midranger, but it has started to struggle in newer titles. The specs are:
Nvidia GTX 1660ti
Ryzen 5 2600X
2x8gb DDR4-3000
Gigabyte Aorus B450M
I am looking to make an upgrade. At first, I wanted to build something completely new, but I feel £1500 in one go for something decent is too much to spend at once and I'm therefore considering upgrading in stages.
I was considering getting a 9060XT, upgrading my case to something a bit bigger, and getting a new CPU cooler as I'm still running the Wraith Spire stock cooler. I may also get a new PSU in this first stage.
I was then considering a second phase a few months later down the line, where I get a new 9th gen Ryzen, motherboard and 32gb DDR5 and maybe a new SSD.
How does this sound in terms of an upgrade path? Is DDR5 likely to increase even further? I am also assuming I am likely to face heavy bottlenecks from the CPU+GPU pairing until I enter the second upgrade phase?
Icy_Teacher3320@reddit
staged approach makes sense but i’d actually flip the order upgrade the cpu platform first, not the gpu. the 2600x will bottleneck the 9060 xt noticeably so you’d be leaving performance on the table for months. if you do gpu first just be aware you won’t see its full potential until phase 2. ddr5 prices have actually come down a lot recently so the platform jump might cost less than you expect. either way the 9060 xt 16gb is a solid gpu choice for the end goal
Sue_Generoux@reddit
What's the storage situation? The SSD or NVME can make a difference in how spry the system feels.
jarow_@reddit (OP)
I have two SSDs currently which would be retained
solid_cake20@reddit
Sounds like a decent plan. But why not go for a 9070XT? I say this because for roughly £1500. You can actually build a AM5 build that includes a 9070XT right now.
Why not get a 9070XT and a new case now and maybe a new PSU. The CPU you have now will bottleneck the 9070xt at 1080p and 1440p but not at 4k so just keep that in mind.
Or go AM5 now. For about £500 you can grab a 32GB DDR5 stick, Ryzen 7500X3D (if you sell your current motherboard,ram,CPU extra funds for a 9800D3D maybe?) Plus a b850 motherboard. Then stick with the GPU and case and PSU and storage for now. Then upgrade them when your ready?
I really wouldn't be putting anymore money into AM4 now.
Accomplished_Trade23@reddit
buy 5600x , 5700x and 5060 , 9060
AshleyxAffliction@reddit
My old Ryzen 5 3600 didn't bottleneck my 9060 XT much, only a little and only in some games. Framerates definitely aren't as high as now with my 5500X3D, but the GPU would still see at least 80-90% usage in most games if not 100%.
jarow_@reddit (OP)
That's good to know, thanks. How have you found the driver support with the 9060?
CombatDork@reddit
I's day you need only upgrade the processor a bit and slap an modern gpu on it. a 5700x would be plenty.
AshleyxAffliction@reddit
I haven't had any major issues so far, and the Adrenalin software itself is less buggy than the Nvidia app in my experience. I even forgot to uninstall my Nvidia drivers beforehand and uninstalled them after the fact with DDU and it was fine.
MorkSal@reddit
I would probably just upgrade the CPU to a compatible CPU (5000 series but double check your mobo). I went from a 1500x to a 5600x for example.
Could go used (I did), or I believe they are re-releasing the 5800x3d. Which is still very capable.
I also grabbed a 9060xt. Pretty nice card, and unless you want nvidia specific features then it's a good price to performance card. I kind of wish I had sprung for a 9070 though, but then I would have needed a new PSU too.
jarow_@reddit (OP)
You make a good point regarding CPU and I did consider this however my motherboard is not good and I would like to upgrade it at somepoint and I figure I may aswell go onto the AM5 socket, even if that means increased RAM prices. Gigabyte's support for this board has been shocking - BIOS updates are very sketchy for some reason and I'm having a few little issues that are making me want to upgrade at somepoint
MorkSal@reddit
Makes sense to me.
Faux_Grey@reddit
Get an RX 9060XT and a Ryzen 5500X3D/5600X3D/5700X3D/5800X3D and call it a day.