Hey everyone! I've got a 5-year-old setup running a Ryzen 5 3600 with an RX 5700 XT, and I finally feel it's time for an upgrade. Unfortunately, prices here are way higher than in North America, and the used market is pretty grim. I'm primarily into gaming (including VR), recording/streaming, and video editing. Ray tracing and things like upscaling and frame generation don't really interest me, so I'm looking to keep my budget around $300 unless the Ryzen 7 5700X3D is really worth it. Here are my options:
- R7 5800X for $205
- R9 5900XT for $267
- R7 5700X3D for $322
A couple of extra questions:
1. I currently have a 32GB RAM kit at 2400MHz. Do I need to upgrade for optimal performance with these CPUs? I used to have a 3600MHz kit, but one stick died.
2. I'm considering a GPU upgrade. The options are:
- RX 9060 XT for $458
- RTX 5070 for $659
I'm leaning towards the 5070 for features like CUDA and NVENC, but the 9060 XT offers an extra 4GB of VRAM, which is tempting. What do you think would be the smarter choice?
3. Finally, can my 650W PSU support these upgrades, or should I switch to a questionable 1000W Chinese brand PSU I have lying around?
2 Answers
When it comes to CPUs, jumping from a Ryzen 3000 to 5000 series isn’t going to give you a massive performance boost for gaming since the extra cores don't really help. The 5700X3D is pretty solid but keep in mind you'll only see about a 20% increase. Also, your current RAM is holding you back quite a bit; upgrading to something like 3200MHz could improve performance more than you'd think!
Honestly, you can't go wrong with either the RX 9060 XT or the RTX 5070, but the price difference seems steep. If CUDA and NVENC are important to your recording and streaming, the 5070 might be worth it; just check the prices of AM5 CPUs in your area as they might be a better long-term option. Also, about that 5700X3D being expensive—are the 7600 or 9600 available where you are?
Yeah, those AM5 CPUs would require a new motherboard, which isn't worth the extra cost for me right now.