I bought my current PC in 2017 mainly to play Planet Zoo and other lighter simulation games. I'm in Canada, and while I could spend around $3,000 CAD on a high-end prebuilt, I'd rather upgrade the existing system if that makes sense. I'm also interested in learning to build and upgrade PCs, but I'm still fairly new to it. My current hardware is an Intel Core i5-9600KF, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super with 6 GB of VRAM, 16 GB of RAM, and a liquid-cooling setup. The announced minimum requirements for Planet Zoo 2 list an Intel i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600, an RTX 2060, RX 5600 XT, or Arc A750, plus 16 GB of RAM. Is my system still worth upgrading, or would I be better off building a completely new PC?
3 Answers
A lightly used RTX 2080 or 2080 Super could be a reasonable budget upgrade if you can find one from a reputable seller. Around 550 W or more from a decent power supply is generally worth checking for, though the exact requirement depends on the rest of the system and the card. Your current CPU and motherboard can likely stay for now; a newer platform would be an optional upgrade rather than an immediate necessity.
Your processor is around the level of the listed minimum CPU, and 16 GB of RAM also meets the requirement. The GTX 1660 Super is the main part that falls short, so replacing the graphics card should be the first upgrade to investigate. If you eventually build a new system, you could carry that newer GPU over to it.
The graphics card is the obvious bottleneck here. You probably don’t need to spend anywhere near $3,000 CAD just to meet the game’s minimum requirements. Check what power supply you have before buying a card, since an older or low-wattage unit may need replacing as well.
I had set aside about $3,000 CAD for a completely new computer, but I’d definitely prefer to save that money if a GPU upgrade is enough.