I'm considering replacing my current PC, which has an Intel i5-10400F, RTX 3060 12GB, 16GB DDR4, and a 1TB SSD. The system I'm looking at costs about £600, but I think I could sell my current PC for roughly £500, making the upgrade effectively around £100. The replacement has a Ryzen 5 5600X, RTX 3080 10GB, 16GB DDR4-3200, a B550 motherboard, a 512GB NVMe SSD, a 2TB hard drive, and an 850W Corsair RM850x power supply. I mainly want better gaming and streaming performance, since I've been experiencing stuttering in some games. Is this a worthwhile upgrade, or would it make more sense to keep my RTX 3060 and upgrade to a newer platform such as AM5?
4 Answers
The RTX 3080 would be a noticeable graphics upgrade, but remember that it only has 10GB of VRAM and uses considerably more power than the RTX 3060. The 850W power supply in the replacement system is plenty, but I’d still judge the deal based on the condition of the GPU and the exact CPU model. If it really is a Ryzen 5 5600X, £600 could be reasonable, but it isn’t a particularly strong future-proof platform.
If you want a long-term upgrade path, skip AM4 and look at AM5 instead. A modern Ryzen gaming CPU, a suitable motherboard, and DDR5 memory would give you a stronger foundation, while you could keep the RTX 3060 and replace the graphics card later. The 3060 is still perfectly usable for 1080p gaming.
Before changing platforms, check whether your motherboard supports an i5-11400 or i5-11500 after a BIOS update. Your ASUS PRIME H510M-E may support one of those chips, and that could improve CPU performance without replacing the entire PC. However, verify the motherboard’s supported CPUs and BIOS requirements first.
I wouldn’t spend that much moving to AM4 unless the deal is exceptionally good. Your i5-10400F and RTX 3060 are still a reasonable pairing, especially at 1080p. It may be better to identify whether the CPU, memory capacity, or game settings are actually causing the stuttering before replacing the whole system.
The CPU does seem to be the main limitation, especially when I’m streaming. I’m considering the other PC because I could sell mine for around £500, so the effective cost would be close to £100, and it seems to offer a better upgrade path. I’m still unsure whether that makes more sense than upgrading individual parts.
You’ll also want to confirm whether the listing says Ryzen 5 5600X or something else. “5600XT” is normally associated with a graphics card name, not a standard Ryzen desktop CPU.