I'm currently using an Intel Core i9-9900K, 16GB of RAM, and an RX 5500 XT. This system has been reliable for about six years. I mainly play PUBG on PC—around 90% of my gaming time—and currently run it at 1440p on very low settings to maintain roughly 80–100 FPS. I'd like to upgrade to ultra settings while staying above 100 FPS at 1440p. I also occasionally edit videos in 1440p and 4K, but gaming is the priority. What's the cheapest graphics card upgrade that would meet these goals? I'm located in India, if that affects pricing or recommendations.
3 Answers
A Radeon RX 9070 XT would be a strong option for high-refresh 1440p gaming and should give you plenty of GPU performance for ultra settings. Since you also edit video, upgrading to 32GB of RAM would be worthwhile. The RX 9070 XT may be more performance than you strictly need, though, so compare local prices carefully.
If your budget allows it, replacing the whole platform may be the better long-term move rather than pairing a high-end modern GPU with a six-year-old CPU and only 16GB of RAM. The best choice depends heavily on current pricing in India and your total budget, so compare the cost of a GPU-only upgrade against a new CPU, motherboard, RAM, and graphics card together.
Before buying a very powerful graphics card, keep in mind that the i9-9900K is now an older platform and may limit high frame rates in PUBG, especially if you’re targeting well over 100 FPS. A newer CPU, motherboard, and memory kit could make a major difference. One upgrade example would be moving to a modern 12th-generation Core i9-class platform, which can deliver a substantial FPS increase even with the same graphics card.
That would mean replacing the motherboard, CPU, and probably the RAM as well. I’m concerned the platform upgrade could cost about as much as the graphics card, so I’m trying to understand which option would provide the better improvement.
The regular RX 9070 could be better value. It uses less power and is only around 10–15% slower, so the money saved could go toward another 16GB of RAM.