My current system has an ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F Gaming motherboard, a Ryzen 5 1600, a GTX 1070 Ti, and 32GB of RAM. Newer games are starting to push the 10-series card pretty hard, so I'm considering a reasonably priced upgrade rather than replacing the whole platform.
For the CPU, I'm looking at the Ryzen 5 5600X, though the 5700X is also worth considering. The 5600X is around $90 cheaper and seems to offer similar gaming performance. For the GPU, I've been considering a Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3070, assuming I can find one at a sensible price.
I mostly play at 1080p and would like to run newer games around medium-to-high settings—especially high settings in MMOs and medium settings in competitive shooters. My budget for the GPU is roughly $500, although I could spend somewhat more if the card would remain useful through a future platform upgrade. Does this combination make sense, and are there better options I should consider?
3 Answers
The Ryzen 5 5600 is usually the better value than the 5600X. It performs almost identically in games, so unless the price difference is tiny, save the money and put it toward the graphics card.
If simulation-heavy games like Cities: Skylines or Civilization are a major part of your library, consider a Ryzen 7 5700X or 5800X instead of the 5600. Those games can benefit from the extra cores, and a higher-end AM4 chip could be your final CPU upgrade on this motherboard. What GPU budget are you working with?
A 6700 XT or RTX 3070 would be a substantial jump over the 1070 Ti and should be a strong fit for 1080p. It’s also worth checking newer cards in the same price range, such as an RX 9060 XT, instead of limiting yourself to older stock.
Around $500 seems reasonable. I’m willing to spend a bit more if the graphics card can survive a later platform upgrade, but I’m not looking to spend anywhere near $1,000. The point about simulation games is especially relevant since Cities: Skylines is one of my main games.