My current gaming PC has a Ryzen 7 5700X, 16GB of Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro SL DDR4-3600, a B550 motherboard, and an RTX 3090. I'm regularly maxing out my memory and dealing with poor performance and crashes. CPU-heavy games such as Helldivers 2 can sit around 40 FPS and sometimes drop to 20 FPS, and crashes happen during many sessions. I'm considering either replacing the RAM with a 32GB DDR4 kit or making a larger platform upgrade to AM5 with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D and 32GB of DDR5. Since money matters, I'd prefer the sensible option rather than spending on a short-term upgrade, but I also want to avoid wasting money or troubleshooting the wrong problem. What would be the best upgrade path, and what should I check before replacing major components?
4 Answers
There isn’t really a future-proof purchase. If you want the best value, go to 32GB DDR4 first and keep the 5700X. If the CPU remains the clear bottleneck after that, a 5800X3D can extend the life of the AM4 system. Move to AM5 only when you’re ready to pay for a full platform upgrade and specifically need the extra CPU performance; don’t do it solely because DDR4 feels outdated.
Before committing to AM5, troubleshoot the crashes. Check the memory with a proper error test, try disabling DOCP/XMP temporarily, monitor CPU and GPU temperatures, verify drivers, and check whether the game is actually exhausting system RAM. A 750W EVGA BQ may run the setup, but an RTX 3090 can have large power spikes, so the PSU is also worth investigating if crashes happen under heavy GPU load.
Start with 32GB of DDR4. Your 16GB capacity is clearly a problem, and a 2x16GB DDR4-3600 kit is far cheaper than replacing the motherboard, CPU, and memory. AM4 is still perfectly usable, so this isn’t automatically throwing money away. If you still want more CPU performance afterward, a 5800X3D would be the strongest gaming upgrade for that platform.
Replace the current memory rather than adding two more sticks if possible. Get a matched 2x16GB DDR4-3600 kit and sell the 2x8GB kit. Four sticks can work on AM4, but two modules usually make memory configuration and stability easier. Also test the system after the upgrade instead of assuming every crash is caused by capacity.
Four DDR4 sticks can run fine on AM4 when configured properly, but replacing the old kit with 2x16GB is still the cleaner option and gives you fewer variables while troubleshooting.
The biggest issue is definitely RAM usage, but I’m also seeing low frame rates in CPU-heavy games. Helldivers 2 is the worst example, with around 40 FPS and drops to 20 FPS on some maps, plus frequent crashes.