I built my PC with a friend several years ago, but I'm not very familiar with the hardware and need advice on upgrading it. I'd like to play milsim games and modern RTS titles, but my current system struggles with them. My budget is around $1,000, although spending less would be preferable. The current specs are an AMD Ryzen 5 2600, 16GB of RAM, and a Radeon RX 5700 XT. The motherboard is a Gigabyte B450M DS3H-CF. What would be the most worthwhile upgrade, and are there any compatibility or BIOS issues I should know about?
3 Answers
Your B450M DS3H-CF should support newer Ryzen processors with the appropriate BIOS version. If you can find one at a good price, a Ryzen 5 5600X3D or 5500X3D would be a strong gaming upgrade. You may also want to move from 16GB to 32GB of RAM, especially for large-scale milsim games, but I’d make the CPU the first priority.
For 1080p gaming without ray tracing, I’d prioritize the CPU rather than replacing the graphics card first. RTS and milsim games can be especially CPU-heavy, and the RX 5700 XT is still capable in many titles. A Ryzen 5 5600 would be a relatively inexpensive upgrade, while an X3D chip such as the 5500X3D or 5600X3D would provide a bigger improvement in CPU-limited games. Check your motherboard’s supported CPU list and update the BIOS before swapping processors if necessary.
The RX 5700 XT is still decent, so I wouldn’t spend the entire budget on a graphics card immediately. If the CPU upgrade still doesn’t provide enough performance, a used RTX 3070 in the roughly $240–$260 range could be a cost-effective next step. Before buying anything, check the game requirements, your power supply wattage, and whether you’re targeting 1080p or a higher resolution.
That’s helpful, thanks! I hadn’t realized those games could be more CPU-limited than GPU-limited.