I built my current PC with friends about six or seven years ago and have mostly upgraded it with parts they replaced. My system currently has a Ryzen 5 3600X, an RTX 2070 Super, 16GB of DDR4-3200 memory, an MSI X570 Gaming Edge WiFi motherboard, a 1TB Intel 660p NVMe SSD, a Corsair RM750 power supply, and a Fractal Design Define C case.
I play at 1440p on a 32-inch LG IPS monitor. Most of my regular games—Dota 2, Diablo 4, World of Warcraft, Apex Legends, and Civilization VI—run acceptably, but my SSD is around 80–85% full and I would like to play newer games such as Borderlands 4 at higher settings.
I have roughly $1,500–$1,700 to spend. I've considered upgrading to a Ryzen 7 5700X3D or 5800X3D, moving to 32GB of RAM, adding a 2TB NVMe SSD, and replacing the graphics card with something around an RTX 5070/5070 Ti or Radeon RX 9070 XT. Would it make more sense to upgrade the existing system, use a cheaper graphics card, or build an entirely new PC on a newer platform? Also, should additional storage be another SSD or a larger hard drive?
4 Answers
Before buying everything, use a monitoring tool to see whether your games are limited by the CPU, GPU, memory, or storage. At 1440p, the RTX 2070 Super is probably the biggest limitation in visually demanding games, while the 3600X may hold back frame rates in CPU-heavy games. A practical upgrade would be an X3D processor, a faster graphics card, 32GB of RAM, and a reasonably priced 2TB NVMe drive. Avoid paying heavily inflated prices for a premium graphics card; wait for a sale or choose the best-value model available.
I’d prioritize the GPU, CPU, and storage. Add a 2TB SSD rather than using a hard drive for games, since modern titles benefit from faster loading and hard drives are best reserved for bulk storage. Upgrade the memory to a matched 2x16GB DDR4 kit when possible. Adding another 2x8GB kit can work, but four sticks are sometimes harder to run at the rated speed.
The existing motherboard is still perfectly usable, so there’s no urgent reason to replace the whole platform. A second 2TB NVMe drive would solve the storage problem, and a Ryzen 7 5700X3D or 5800X3D would be a major improvement in CPU-heavy games. Update the BIOS before installing it. For graphics, pair that CPU with the best reasonably priced card you can find, such as an RX 9070 XT or a comparable RTX model. Your 750W power supply should be adequate for many of these cards, depending on the exact model.
The X3D chips are especially useful for games like WoW and other CPU-limited titles because of their extra cache. They’re generally a better gaming choice than a regular 5700X if the price difference is reasonable.
With $1,500–$1,700, a completely new AM5 build is also realistic. You could move to a modern Ryzen processor, a B650-class motherboard, 32GB of DDR5, and a strong 1440p graphics card. That gives you a newer upgrade path, but it may not outperform an in-place upgrade by enough to justify throwing away a perfectly good X570 board, case, cooler, and power supply.
I’d only build from scratch if you want a fresh platform for several future upgrades or can find a particularly good bundle. Otherwise, putting the money into the existing system should give better performance per dollar.
You don’t necessarily need to replace the RAM immediately if your games aren’t using all 16GB, but 32GB is becoming a sensible target for newer releases and multitasking.