I built this gaming PC nearly six years ago, and it still performs well, but I'd like to give it a worthwhile refresh. My budget is around $500. The system has a Ryzen 7 3700X, RTX 3070, 32GB of DDR4-3200 memory, an ASUS X570 motherboard, a 750W power supply, NVMe storage, and a 1440p 170Hz monitor. What upgrade would provide the biggest improvement for gaming?
2 Answers
Your system is still fairly capable, so a graphics card upgrade may not be especially meaningful within a $500 budget. Since you’re already on AM4, the best value upgrade would probably be a Ryzen 7 5700X3D. It offers a substantial gaming improvement over the 3700X and should work with your existing motherboard after a BIOS update. The 5800X3D is faster, but usually costs enough more that the 5700X3D makes better sense. You already have 32GB of RAM, so there’s no need to upgrade that.
Before spending the money, check whether the current PC is actually holding you back in the games you play. A 3700X and RTX 3070 can still handle 1440p gaming well, although newer demanding games may require reduced settings or upscaling. A monitor upgrade could be worthwhile if you want a different experience, but your existing 1440p 170Hz display is already quite good. Otherwise, I’d save the budget for a larger future GPU upgrade rather than making a small sidegrade now.
A 27-inch monitor can be found for roughly $300–$400, but I’d only choose that route if you specifically want OLED, ultrawide, or a larger display. The current monitor is already a strong match for the RTX 3070.
Good catch on the memory—I listed two 16GB kits, so I already have 32GB installed.