I built my desktop in 2018 and am starting to run into performance and compatibility problems in newer games, especially Hell Let Loose. I may also play Vietnam later, once the system is faster.
A coworker is giving me an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 to replace my GTX 1060 6GB. My concern is that the Ryzen 5 1400 in my system could bottleneck the newer graphics card. I mainly want smoother performance and fewer hardware-related problems rather than extremely high graphics settings, so I'm trying to determine whether a CPU upgrade is necessary or just optional.
My current system has a Ryzen 5 1400 at 3.20 GHz, a GTX 1060 6GB, 16 GB of RAM, a 2 TB hard drive, and an AB350M-D3H-CF motherboard. I'm also considering adding an SSD for Windows and newer games. Money is somewhat tight, so I'd prefer to avoid replacing parts that won't make a significant practical difference. What upgrades would provide the best value, and should I upgrade the CPU before or after installing the RTX 2070?
1 Answer
The free RTX 2070 is absolutely worth installing, even with the Ryzen 5 1400. You may be CPU-limited in some newer games, especially at 1080p or with a high-refresh monitor, but you should still see a substantial improvement over the GTX 1060. A CPU bottleneck usually means the graphics card is waiting for the processor in certain situations; it doesn’t damage anything, and lowering graphics settings won’t always fix it.
Before buying a processor, check the exact motherboard revision and update its BIOS while the Ryzen 5 1400 is still installed. That AB350M-D3H-CF board may support newer Ryzen chips with the correct firmware, but compatibility depends on the revision and Gigabyte’s CPU support list. A used Ryzen 5 3600, 5600, or another supported six-core chip could be a good value. If the board supports it after a BIOS update, a Ryzen 5 5600 would pair nicely with the RTX 2070 without requiring a complete platform replacement.
An inexpensive SATA SSD should be your next upgrade if Windows and games are still running from the hard drive. It won’t increase average frame rates much, but it will make booting, loading, and general use feel dramatically faster. Keep the 16 GB of RAM for now unless you notice memory usage reaching its limit.
The motherboard is an AB350M-D3H-CF. I bought it as a budget-friendly board when I built the system, but I wasn’t sure whether it could handle a newer Ryzen processor.