I built this PC in December 2020 and it still performs well, but I'm starting to notice its age. The system has a Ryzen 5 5600X, MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk WiFi motherboard, 16GB of G.Skill Trident Z RGB DDR4-3600 CL18 memory, and an EVGA RTX 3070 XC3 Ultra. I mostly game at 1080p and 165Hz, although I play less often now. My main workloads are coding, AI-assisted development, and heavy browser multitasking. During demanding use, RAM sits in the high-80% to mid-90% range, while CPU usage can fluctuate from roughly 50% to 90% or higher. Would moving to 32GB provide a noticeable benefit, or should I keep the system as-is until I replace the whole platform? If upgrading makes sense, should I add another matching 2x8GB kit or replace the current memory with a 2x16GB DDR4-3600 kit? I've heard that four sticks can be less reliable at 3600 MT/s on AM4. Also, what kind of performance limitation or hardware failure should trigger a full rebuild, considering AM4 and DDR4 are older platforms?
3 Answers
Your Ryzen 5 5600X and RTX 3070 are still a reasonable pairing for 1080p gaming. CPU usage bouncing around isn’t automatically a problem, while consistently high memory usage is more relevant to the sluggishness you’re noticing during multitasking. Upgrade the RAM when the system feels constrained rather than waiting for a complete platform failure. Rebuild when the CPU or GPU can no longer deliver the performance you want in the games and applications you actually use.
I’d move to 32GB now. RAM usage in the high 80s or 90s means you’re close to exhausting the available capacity, especially with lots of browser tabs and development tools open. More memory probably won’t increase average gaming FPS much, but it should make multitasking and switching between applications smoother by reducing compression and paging. A matched 2x16GB DDR4-3600 CL18 kit is the safer option. On a daisy-chain AM4 board, four DIMMs may need to run closer to 3200 MT/s for stability.
There’s no urgent reason to abandon the AM4 platform just because newer generations exist. If gaming becomes CPU-limited later, a drop-in AM4 upgrade such as a 5800X3D-class processor could extend the system’s life, assuming the price is reasonable. For now, 32GB is the practical upgrade, and DDR4 should remain usable for several more years. A full rebuild makes more sense when you need substantially better CPU or GPU performance, more modern connectivity, or a new memory platform—not simply because DDR4 is no longer current.
In my heaviest games, the CPU fluctuates between about 50% and 90% or more, but RAM stays consistently in the high-80% to mid-90% range.