I'm converting my roughly 10-year-old GTX 1080 and i7-7700 gaming PC into a living-room, console-style system. I'd like to keep as much of the existing hardware as possible and spend less than $400 on upgrades.
My main target is 1080p at 60 FPS in modern releases, with 1440p as a bonus for lighter or older games. Since Bazzite and Gamescope generally work well with AMD graphics cards, I'm considering a used RX 6600 XT for about $220. For the platform, I found a Ryzen 5 5500 and ASUS TUF B550 motherboard bundle for $160. The Ryzen 5 5600 is recommended more often, but currently costs nearly twice as much, which is difficult to justify for this budget.
I plan to reuse my 16GB of DDR4 memory, SSD, power supply, case, and other parts. Would this combination handle most new games at 1080p/60 FPS for the next few years, possibly with reduced settings? Are there better-value CPU or GPU alternatives I should consider?
3 Answers
The plan makes sense for a low-cost living-room system, especially since this is your only desktop and you want something more capable than a handheld for demanding games. The main things to verify are that your reused power supply is reliable and that your memory is compatible DDR4. It should work in the new system, though older or slower RAM may limit performance somewhat. Expect the 6600 XT to be primarily a 1080p card rather than a consistent 1440p solution, and use upscaling or lower settings when newer games need it.
That CPU and GPU combination should be comfortable for 1080p gaming for quite a while, although some newer AAA games may require medium settings, upscaling, or a reduced frame-rate target. The Ryzen 5 5500 is usable, but it has only half the L3 cache of chips like the Ryzen 5 5600 and also uses PCIe 3.0. A used Ryzen 5 3600 can sometimes be cheaper and offers more cache, while a Ryzen 5 5500X3D would be a stronger option if you can find one within budget. For a longer-term 1440p option, a used RX 6700 XT would be considerably better because of its extra VRAM, but it may push the total cost beyond your limit.
That helps clarify the mixed opinions about the 5500. The bundle is unusually cheap, so I may still use it and accept the limitations rather than spend much more on the platform.
The RX 6600 XT is still a solid 1080p card and should generally deliver 60 FPS if you’re willing to use high or medium settings in more demanding games. HDR support is also a nice bonus for a modern television. An RX 7600 would be a little faster if you can find one around $240, but the 6600 XT, 6650 XT, or RX 7600 are all reasonable choices for this budget.
I hadn’t realized the 6600 XT supported HDR, so that’s a nice surprise since my TV supports it too.
This would be my only desktop now. It sat unused for several years, and modern games exposed how much the old hardware had fallen behind. I’m trying to make it useful again without turning the project into a completely new high-end build.