I'm in the UK and have roughly £800–£900 to spend on used parts. My current system has an RTX 5060 and an i5-13420H, but the CPU averages around 96°C at about 70% usage, and I'm only getting 100–120 FPS on low settings. Because the motherboard is soldered and the system isn't practical to upgrade piece by piece, I'm considering replacing everything except the GPU with aftermarket parts. I'd like advice on a sensible upgrade path, ideally aimed at reaching around 360 FPS where the games and GPU allow it.
2 Answers
Just to clarify, is the current hardware from a laptop or a mini PC? The i5-13420H and soldered motherboard make it sound like a compact or mobile system rather than a normal upgradeable desktop.
A new AM5-based system would give you a much better upgrade path. Put the budget toward a Ryzen processor, compatible motherboard, DDR5 memory, a decent cooler, and a suitable power supply, while keeping the RTX 5060 for now. Make sure the PSU has enough headroom for a stronger graphics card later. You can adjust the case, motherboard, or cooler for appearance, but the core platform should be solid. Since memory is expensive at the moment, you could start with 16GB and add another matching 16GB stick later, although 32GB is preferable if the budget allows.
Since there would still be some money left over, would a used Ryzen 7 9800X3D be worth considering?
It’s technically a desktop, but it’s an Acer Nitro N20-style prebuilt. I bought it when I was younger without really knowing what to look for, and the motherboard makes upgrading it difficult.