I'm trying to improve my gaming experience in Escape from Tarkov without spending close to $1,000, since that could justify building an entirely new system. The game is known to be poorly optimized and often limited more by the CPU than the graphics card.
My current system is:
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B460M DS3H AC V2-Y1
- CPU: Intel Core i5-10400F at 2.90GHz
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060
- Memory: OLOy 2x8GB DDR4-3000, currently running at 2666MHz
I've been told that moving to 32GB of RAM and eventually upgrading to an X3D processor could provide the biggest improvement. Since an X3D upgrade would be significantly more expensive, I'd like to start with memory and see how much that helps.
Because my motherboard uses DDR4, I assume DDR5 is not compatible. Would adding another 2x8GB DDR4 kit be the best approach, or should I replace the current memory with a 2x16GB kit? What specifications should I look for, and would a CPU upgrade make more sense afterward?
2 Answers
Your motherboard only supports DDR4, so DDR5 is not an option unless you replace the motherboard and platform. For now, 32GB is a sensible upgrade for this game. You could add another matching 2x8GB kit, but using four sticks can sometimes make memory compatibility less predictable. If the price is reasonable, a 2x16GB DDR4 kit is the cleaner option. Look for something around DDR4-3000 or DDR4-3200 with similar timings, though your board and CPU may limit the actual speed.
The RTX 3060 should be adequate for the moment. A used i5-10600K or i7-10700K could improve performance through higher clocks and, in the i7’s case, additional cores, but the exact benefit depends on your cooler and whether your motherboard supports the processor properly. I’d upgrade to 32GB first, monitor your frame times and memory usage, then consider the CPU. A newer X3D system would be a larger platform upgrade rather than a simple drop-in replacement.
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