Need Help Deciding On An Upgrade Versus Full New Build
Posted by Lyagami123@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 13 comments
Hello, I built my first PC back at the start of 2020. At the time I was pretty deep into the building community, but since that build I haven't kept up as much as I'd like, therefore I'm very very rusty on the current PC landscape.
My question is, my current rig is starting to show age quite a bit with gaming and I'm wanting to know if (based on my build below) if there would be some easy upgrades I could add to the PC to help performance or if you think that it's to the point of needing a complete rehaul. Any advice would be great.
Budget: $1k, USD, US
Parts:
2400 MHz 16GB RAM
AMD Ryzen 5 2600x Six-Core 6GB
Asus ROG Strix B450-F Gaming Motherboard
(I have a small case for context)
EVGA 600 Bronze PS
Trombone66@reddit
Lyagami123@reddit (OP)
Discreet, forgot to send the GPU, AMD 5600xt 6gb
Case is DIYPC Rainbow-Flash-V3 Black Steel / Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Trombone66@reddit
Country? Near a MicroCenter, if in the US?
Lyagami123@reddit (OP)
Yes, near a microcenter in the US
Trombone66@reddit
There are a few ways you could go here. You could:
* 1. Upgrade just the GPU. This would be the easiest and cheapest option. Without also having to upgrade your PSU, your best options would be an RX 9060 XT or an RTX 5060 Ti. Although your 2060X will definitely bottleneck your new GPU, you should still see a significant improvement.
* 2. Update the bios, then upgrade to a better AM4 CPU, and also upgrade the GPU. Your best option right now would probably be the 5800XT. However, AMD is reportedly putting the 5800X3D back into production, which should be available very soon for around $310. This would be your best AM4 CPU option. With a new cooler, this option would run you around $800.
* 3. Reuse your storage and case and replace everything else. This would cost you a little over $900, but would give you the best performance and would also give you an upgrade path for the future. This is the option I’m recommending.
* I chose this MicroCenter bundle for the CPU, mb, and memory. This combo saves you over $300, compared to buying the parts individually.
* CPU: The 7600X3D is a great budget CPU for gaming. As you can see here, it’s nearly as fast as the 7800X3D. It’s not shown in this review, but the 7600X3D is also much faster than the 5800X3D.
* CPU COOLER: The Phantom Spirit is a fantastic air cooler.
* MOTHERBOARD: The bundled MSI B850 GAMING PRO WIFI6E is a good mid tier mb. It has good VRMs, two m.2 SDD slots, WiFi 6E and Bluetooth. Note that inventory at different MC stores varies somewhat, so your particular store might substitute a different, but comparable mb for this bundle.
* **MEMORY:** The G.Skill Flare X5 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 is optimized for AM5 systems and has good timings. Note that this is a single stick of 16GB. That’s still plenty for most games and you can easily upgrade later on to 32GB simply by adding an identical 16GB stick.
* **STORAGE:** Reuse your current storage.
* **VIDEO CARD:** The RX 9060 XT is 2-3 times faster than the 5600 XT.
* **CASE:** Reuse your current case b
* **POWER SUPPLY:** Your current PSU has enough wattage, but it lacks a second 8-pin cable for the mb ABs is only mediocre in quality. The ASRock Phantom Gaming PG-750G will provide plenty of headroom for future upgrades and is rated A+ in quality. It comes with a 10-year warranty.
* [PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NryKph)
Sylvi-Fisthaug@reddit
This, u/Lyagami123
Trombone66@reddit
There are a few ways you could go here:
1. You could simply upgrade your GPU. This is the simplest option. Without also having to upgrade your PSU, either a 9060 XT or 5060 Ti would be your best choice. This is also your cheapest option at $450-$575, depending on the GPU choice. Your 2600X a be a bottleneck for sure, but you should still see a fairly significant bump in performance.
2. You could update your bios, then upgrade the CPU (which would likely require a better cooler as well) and upgrade the GPU. If you spent $450 on the GPU, you could easily upgrade your CPU to something like a 5800XT. AMD is reportedly putting the 5800X3D back into production soon, which would be your best CPU upgrade option, without also having to get a new mb and memory.
3. Reuse your case and storage, but otherwise build a new pc. This is the option I’m recommending.
* I chose this MicroCenter bundle for the CPU, mb, and memory. Note that inventory differs somewhat at different MicroCenter stores, so you might get a different, but comparable mb at your particular store. This bundle saves you over $300, compared to buying similar parts online.
* **CPU:** The 7600X3D is an excellent budget CPU for gaming. As you can see in this review, it’s nearly as fast as the 7800X3D for gaming.
* **CPU COOLER:** You will need a new cooler. The Phantom Spirit is a fantastic air cooler.
* **MOTHERBOARD:** The bundled MSI B850 GAMING PRO WIFI6E is a decent mid tier mb. It has good VRMs, two m.2 SSD slots, WiFi 6E and Bluetooth. As mentioned earlier, depending on the MC you go to, they might include a similar mb with this bundle.
* **MEMORY:** This bundle comes with a single stick of 16GB of memory. This is plenty for most games and you can always upgrade to 32GB later on, simply by adding an identical 16GB stick.
* **STORAGE:** You can use your existing storage.
* **VIDEO CARD:** The 9060 XT is about 2-3 times as fast as your current 5600 XT. It will provide excellent 1080p gameplay and decent 1440p gameplay.
* **CASE:** Reuse your current case.
* **POWER SUPPLY:** Your current PSU has sufficient wattage, but it doesn’t have a second 8-pin cable for the mb. It’s also just mediocre in quality. The ASRock Phantom Gaming PG-750G will provide some extra headroom for future upgrades. This unit is rated A+ in quality and comes with a 10-year warranty.
* [PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NryKph)
Sylvi-Fisthaug@reddit
Yeah, need the GPU, looks like the Ryzen CPU and a GPU got garbled together:
If your GPU is at minimum a 2080 / 3060, you can get away with buying a new platform on AM5 for $1k. Get a motherboard bundle with CPU and RAM for whatever sum that costs, and you should be gucci. 600W should be able to handle 7600X / 32GB RAM, but there is room in your budget for something like the Corsair RM850x if you go that route.
If your GPU is older / lower tier than that, then an AM4 upgrade might be better. Get 5600X, update motherboard BIOS before installing new CPU (this is ofc free), get two additional 2400hz sticks of RAM that are ideally the same model, and a new GPU. Also here, consider PSU wattage / age.
Lyagami123@reddit (OP)
AMD Radeon 5600xt 6gb forgot to copy the last part
Sylvi-Fisthaug@reddit
Oh yeah, that should still serve you for another year at least.
Make sure you read u/Trombone66, shorten it with AI if you need more bite sized chunks.
But they know what they are talking about, follow their advice, and pick an alternative there.
Direct-Pie-1788@reddit
Gpu?
Lyagami123@reddit (OP)
My b I forgot to copy that over
AMD Radeon 5600xt 6gb
Direct-Pie-1788@reddit
Intel had fallen down greatly in market share but their comeback cpus are now Core Ultra 5 250K Plus and Core Ultra 7 270K Plus (exactly those models, anything higher in number or lower isn't close in performance btw). These cpus are cheap and offer great performance, the Ultra 7 actually able to compete with Ryzen 7 7800x3D. However the only barrier here is that DDR5 RAM is mandatory to use these new cpus.
There is expected to be no upgrade pathway without having to swap motherboard for your next upgrade from intel btw.
Also, you can upgrade to a Ryzen 7 5800x3D with your current motherboard, though potentially needing a BIOS update. For a gpu, you can get an RX 9070 (power efficient) or a 9070 XT (uses like 80-100 Watts more for 10-13% more performance).
For the RAM, it is your choice on what to do given the insane prices.