I recently bought my first desktop PC second-hand for €750. The components are only about two months old and still under warranty. It has a Ryzen 5 9600X, ASRock B650 PG Lightning motherboard, RX 7600 8GB, 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory, a 1TB Lexar NM790 SSD, Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 Digital cooler, and a be quiet! System Power 11 M 750W Gold ATX 3.1 power supply. Was €750 a good price for this system? The RX 7600 is currently the weakest part, so I'm considering selling it and buying an RX 9070 XT for around €800. Is the 750W power supply sufficient, or should it be replaced? How complicated is the upgrade process, and are there any precautions I should take when changing the card and installing drivers? Finally, is the RX 9070 XT the best option around this price, including on the used market, and will the Ryzen 5 9600X be fast enough for it at 1440p or higher resolutions?
4 Answers
Your 750W Gold PSU should generally be enough for an RX 9070 XT with the 9600X. The system will usually be well below the PSU’s total capacity, but make sure you use the proper, separate PCIe power cables and check the exact power and connector requirements of the card you buy. If the PSU is in good condition, there is no automatic need to replace it.
€750 sounds like a very good deal for the complete system, especially with relatively new parts and remaining warranty. The 9600X is a strong match for an RX 9070 XT, particularly at 1440p and above. You might see a small CPU limit in a few CPU-heavy games or at very high frame rates, but it should not be a serious problem. The 9070 XT is also a sensible choice around €800, although it’s worth comparing new and used prices before buying.
Keep the motherboard BIOS reasonably up to date, but there is no need to panic about the Ryzen and ASRock combination. Older reports about CPU damage were associated mainly with specific X3D-related issues and were uncommon. Updating the BIOS according to ASRock’s instructions is normal maintenance, not a reason by itself to replace the board.
The physical upgrade is fairly straightforward: download the new driver, shut down the PC, unplug it, remove the old card, install the new one securely, connect its power cables, and boot into Windows. Since both cards use AMD drivers, you can often simply install or update Adrenalin after swapping them. For the cleanest change, you can use Display Driver Uninstaller in Safe Mode first, ideally with the internet temporarily disconnected so Windows does not install a driver automatically. After the new driver is installed, reconnect and reboot.
The older problem was largely tied to X3D processors and unusual voltage behavior, so it should not be treated as a common failure with a 9600X. Still, checking for a current stable BIOS is good practice.