Is Upgrading RAM Better Than Overclocking an RTX 4060 for 1440p Gaming?

GPU overclocking is unlikely to make a major difference here. Even a decent overclock usually only adds a small percentage of performance, so it probably won’t turn an unplayable game into a smooth one. Try DLSS, lower demanding settings, and use frame generation when the game supports it. Playing at 1080p or using a lower render scale is also completely reasonable on a 1440p display.

The 4060 is mainly a 1080p card, though it can handle 1440p with sensible settings and upscaling. Its 8GB of VRAM can become a limitation in newer games at high textures, so lowering texture quality and ray tracing may help. Since the Ryzen 5 5500 uses PCIe 3.0 and the 4060 uses an x8 connection, there can also be a small performance penalty compared with a PCIe 4.0 system, but that is not usually the first thing to fix. Add the second RAM stick first, then consider a Ryzen 5 5600 or a stronger GPU later if you want consistently high 1440p performance.

Adding a second matching 16GB stick should be the first upgrade. Running one stick puts the system in single-channel mode, which can hurt CPU performance and frame-time consistency, especially with a Ryzen 5 5500. It may not dramatically raise average FPS in every 1440p game, but it can improve minimums and stuttering much more reliably than overclocking the 4060. Make sure the new module matches the existing one as closely as possible and enable the memory profile in the BIOS.