I mainly play lightweight games such as Old School RuneScape, League of Legends, and Counter-Strike 2, but my FPS is lower than expected, especially in League. The system also becomes sluggish and occasionally freezes when I have several programs open. I commonly run five to seven browser tabs with YouTube or Twitch while gaming.
My current system has a Ryzen 5 4500, Radeon RX 6700 10GB, 16GB of DDR4, a 500GB PNY CS1030 NVMe SSD, and a Gigabyte B450M S2H motherboard running BIOS F63d on Windows 11 Pro. Memory usage reaches roughly 85% with only the browser open, while CPU usage is usually around 30–55% and GPU usage is low outside games.
I am considering replacing the memory with a 2x16GB DDR4-3200 kit and upgrading to a Ryzen 5 5600 after updating the BIOS. Would that be enough to improve gaming smoothness and multitasking, or is a Ryzen 7 5700X3D worth the extra cost on this board? I would also appreciate advice on suitable memory kits and other checks, such as SSD capacity, BIOS settings, background software, and power supply health.
4 Answers
Both upgrades make sense, but they address different problems. The Ryzen 5 4500 has only 8MB of L3 cache, while the 5600 has 32MB, which can noticeably improve CPU-limited games such as CS2 and League, especially the low FPS dips. The extra memory should help with browser tabs, video streams, and general multitasking, though the 85% reading by itself is not proof that RAM is causing the gaming FPS loss.
Buy one matched 2x16GB kit rather than adding two more 8GB sticks. DDR4-3200 CL16 is a safe choice, and DDR4-3600 CL18 is also reasonable if the price is similar. Four DIMMs can be harder for a B450 board to run reliably at its rated profile. Enable XMP or DOCP after installation and test for stability.
Before buying anything, check GPU usage and CPU usage per core while the FPS is low, along with frametime graphs. Also check how much free space remains on the 500GB SSD. A nearly full budget SSD can contribute to sluggishness, especially when Windows starts paging. If the freezes remain after moving to 32GB, investigate storage health, temperatures, drivers, startup programs, and the power supply. A clean Windows installation may help if the software installation has become bloated, but it is less likely to solve consistently low FPS that has always been present.
The Ryzen 5 5600 is probably the best-value drop-in upgrade for this system. Update the motherboard BIOS before changing the processor and confirm that the exact BIOS supports the CPU. A 5700X3D is substantially faster for CPU-limited games, but it is only worth the premium if you want to keep the AM4 platform for several more years and the price difference is acceptable. The RX 6700 is capable enough that either CPU could be a useful improvement at lower resolutions or competitive settings.
I would compare the current price of the 5700X3D against the 5600 rather than assuming the faster chip is automatically the better deal. If it costs close to twice as much, the 5600 leaves more money for a future platform upgrade.
The FPS has always been mediocre, but the freezes and general sluggishness have gradually become more noticeable.