My GTX 1660 Super recently died after about seven years of use. The rest of my PC was built in 2019 and currently has a Ryzen 5 1600, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a 550W power supply, an MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX motherboard, one hard drive, and one NVMe SSD. I cannot afford to replace the entire system right now. Should I buy an inexpensive replacement GPU just to keep gaming, such as a used GTX 1060, GTX 1650, or another 1660-class card, or would it make more sense to buy a stronger modern GPU despite the CPU bottleneck and upgrade the rest of the system gradually?
3 Answers
Avoid overspending on a high-end current GPU with this system unless you plan to upgrade soon. A midrange card such as an RTX 3060 or RX 6600 should work well enough, but the Ryzen 5 1600 will limit performance in some games. If a complete modern prebuilt costs close to the combined price of a new GPU, CPU, motherboard, RAM, and power supply, compare both options before buying individual parts.
A sensible upgrade path would be a used Ryzen 5 5500 or 5600, depending on local prices, paired with a reasonably priced GPU such as an RTX 3060 12GB or RX 6600. Check whether the motherboard supports Ryzen 5000 with a BIOS update first. The CPU upgrade will reduce bottlenecks and let you buy a better graphics card now, then upgrade other parts later.
The right choice depends heavily on your budget and resolution. If you only need a temporary replacement, buy used and stay around the performance level of the old 1660 Super. If you can afford a larger staged upgrade, buying a stronger GPU first is fine because the CPU can be replaced later. Just make sure the power supply has the required connectors and is from a reputable model.
The 5500 can be the better value if the 5600 costs much more, though the 5600 is preferable when the price difference is small. Either would be a major improvement over the Ryzen 5 1600.