I'm not very experienced with PC hardware and have been using the same system for several years. It's starting to struggle with newer games, and I'd also like better performance in emulation, especially for PlayStation 3 titles. My current build is a Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite motherboard, Ryzen 5 3600 processor, GTX 1660 Ti, 16GB of DDR4-3200 memory, Corsair CX550M power supply, Phanteks Eclipse P300 case, a 480GB Crucial BX500 SATA SSD, and a 1TB hard drive. My budget is €1,250, although I could spend up to €1,500 if selling the existing parts helps. I'm open to replacing everything, but keeping some components would be convenient if it makes sense. What upgrade path or new build would provide the best gaming and emulation performance for the money in Portugal?
2 Answers
Your Ryzen 5 3600 is still usable, so I’d prioritize the graphics card rather than replacing the whole platform immediately. A modern GPU such as a Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB would be a substantial improvement over the GTX 1660 Ti and would also provide newer upscaling and rendering features. Keep the motherboard, processor, existing SATA SSD, and hard drive for now unless you need more space. Add another 16GB of DDR4 memory if your games or emulators benefit from it, and consider replacing the CX550M with a quality 650W Gold-rated power supply to handle modern GPU power spikes. The P300 can also work, but make sure it has several intake and exhaust fans. A reasonable upgrade along these lines could stay below €1,000, leaving money available for a future CPU upgrade if testing shows the Ryzen 5 3600 is limiting performance.
For a completely new system, around €1,300 can get you a balanced build with a current midrange CPU, 32GB of RAM, a 16GB graphics card, a 1TB NVMe SSD, and a reliable 650W Gold power supply. However, replacing everything may not be the best value here. The BX500 is slower than an NVMe drive but is perfectly fine for gaming, and the existing motherboard and CPU can still support a strong GPU upgrade. I’d only move to a newer CPU platform if you regularly see high CPU usage, poor frame-time consistency, or if PS3 emulation remains CPU-limited after upgrading the graphics card.
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