I'm upgrading a prebuilt PC for better gaming performance and longer-term usability. The current system has a Ryzen 5 5600G, Gigabyte A520M K V2 motherboard, 16GB DDR4-2400 memory, Sapphire RX 580 8GB, 512GB NVMe SSD, 1TB SATA SSD, InPlay GS550 power supply, and a 1920×1080 MSI monitor.
The RX 580 is now causing crashes and visual artifacts, while the 1TB SATA SSD has failed. My current plan is to spend approximately ₱32,000 on an RX 9060 XT 16GB, ₱8,000 on a replacement 1TB SATA SSD, and ₱5,000 on a reliable 650W or 850W power supply, for a total of roughly ₱45,000.
Would that be a sensible upgrade path, or would it be better to buy a cheaper graphics card, such as a 5060, and use the remaining budget for a CPU, memory, motherboard, or other upgrades? I mainly care about gaming performance and longevity, and this is my first major upgrade beyond replacing the graphics card.
5 Answers
The graphics card is still the biggest performance limitation, so upgrading it is a reasonable plan. The 5600G may hold a high-end card back in some CPU-heavy games, especially at 1080p, but it should still be a substantial improvement over the RX 580. You can upgrade the CPU and platform later instead of replacing everything at once.
Since the SATA SSD has failed, include replacement storage in the budget, but consider a 1TB or 2TB NVMe drive if your motherboard has another compatible slot. You can also reuse the existing 512GB NVMe drive for the operating system and use the new drive for games. Upgrading to 32GB of faster DDR4, around 3200–3600 MT/s, would also be worthwhile eventually, since 16GB at 2400 is fairly slow.
A cheaper graphics card paired with a platform upgrade could make sense if you mostly play competitive games at 1080p, where the 5600G can become the limiting factor. However, replacing the motherboard, CPU, RAM, GPU, storage, and PSU at once can mean compromising on several parts. For a first upgrade, I’d get the reliable PSU, replacement storage, and strongest GPU that fits the budget, then save for a later CPU and memory upgrade.
Definitely replace the power supply with a reputable model. The InPlay unit is not something I would trust with an expensive new graphics card, especially since another component from the same prebuilt has already failed. Focus on quality and the correct wattage rather than simply choosing the largest number; a good 650W or 750W unit may be enough depending on the card’s requirements.
Used high-end cards can offer good value, but only consider one if you can test it and verify its condition. If scams and questionable listings are common where you live, a new card with a warranty is safer. A new 9060 XT-class card should also be a better long-term choice than taking a risk on an abused older card.
Used cards are difficult to verify locally, so I’m leaning toward buying new even if the performance-per-peso is not quite as good.
That was my main concern—whether the 5600G would bottleneck the new card badly enough to justify choosing a cheaper GPU first.