My current PC has a Ryzen 5 3600, GTX 1660 Ti 6GB, 16GB DDR4-3200, and a 1TB PCIe Gen 3 NVMe SSD. In Warzone at 1080p on the lowest settings, I usually get around 80–100 FPS without upscaling, FSR, or frame generation. Lowering the render resolution to 65% still leaves me near 100 FPS, but I experience noticeable stuttering. My available CPU options are a Ryzen 7 5700X3D for $353.37, Ryzen 7 5800X3D for $392.64, Ryzen 5 5600XT for $138.77, or Ryzen 7 5700X for $173.88. For GPUs, I can get an RX 9060 XT 16GB for $448.73 or an RTX 5060 8GB for $392.64. I earn about $201.93 per month, so I can only make one major upgrade after saving for roughly three to six months. Which upgrade would make the biggest difference to my FPS and stuttering?
4 Answers
The fact that lowering render resolution barely changes your FPS strongly suggests that the Ryzen 5 3600 is limiting performance in this situation. A 5700X3D would be the best drop-in CPU upgrade for gaming on your current platform and should noticeably improve frame times and reduce stuttering. The 5800X3D is usually not worth paying much more for unless you find it close in price to the 5700X3D. I would save for the 5700X3D first, then upgrade the GPU later.
The cheaper Ryzen 7 5700X is a reasonable general-purpose upgrade, but the 5700X3D is substantially better for CPU-heavy games because of its extra cache. I would skip the 5600XT unless it is significantly cheaper than listed, since it would be a smaller improvement and may not solve the frame-time problem. Also check that your motherboard BIOS supports the chosen processor and that your temperatures and background programs are not contributing to the stutters.
Before spending anything, try setting an FPS cap a little below the level you can consistently maintain. For example, if your gameplay fluctuates around 80–100 FPS, try capping it near 80 or 85. That will not increase peak FPS, but it can make the game feel much smoother and reduce stuttering while you save for an upgrade.
There are two different bottlenecks here. The GTX 1660 Ti is old and the RX 9060 XT would be a huge graphics upgrade, especially for newer games and higher settings. However, at low 1080p settings, Warzone can become CPU-limited, so the GPU upgrade may not raise your average FPS as much as expected if the 3600 is already holding it back. Based on your render-resolution test, I would lean toward the 5700X3D rather than buying the GPU first.
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