I bought a prebuilt PC about five years ago for roughly €1,300, and it has served me well. I'm now considering an upgrade, but I'm worried that component prices may continue rising. The current system has a Ryzen 5 3600, 16GB of RAM, a GTX 1660 SUPER 6GB, and about 1.8TB of storage. I mainly want to replay Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at higher settings instead of the lowest settings I used previously. My budget for a new PC would be around €1,500–€2,000, and I currently use a 1080p 144Hz monitor. Would it make more sense to replace the graphics card first, perhaps with something like an RTX 5070, or should I build an entirely new system?
4 Answers
I’d only build a new PC if you want a major platform upgrade or your existing power supply, case, and storage are poor quality. Otherwise, upgrade in stages: check the PSU, install an SSD if needed, then replace the GPU. After that, monitor CPU usage and frame rates. If the Ryzen 5 3600 is holding you back, you can upgrade the processor, motherboard, and RAM later. This approach lets you spend money where you’ll actually see a benefit instead of replacing perfectly usable parts.
The right choice depends on what is limiting you. If Windows and games are installed on that 1.8TB drive and it’s a mechanical hard drive, adding an SSD should be your first upgrade because it will make the whole PC feel much faster. For gaming performance, though, the GTX 1660 SUPER is the obvious weak point. A sensible midrange GPU with roughly twice its performance would be a safer match than immediately buying an expensive flagship card.
I’d start with the graphics card and see how the system performs afterward. The Ryzen 5 3600 is still usable, especially at 1440p, but you should check the power supply before buying a stronger GPU. Make sure it has enough wattage and the right power connectors, and confirm that the card will physically fit in the case.
For a 1080p 144Hz display, a new graphics card will help, but some games may also run into a CPU limit with the Ryzen 5 3600. If you want consistently high frame rates in demanding or competitive games, you could eventually upgrade the CPU as well. With a €1,500–€2,000 budget, a completely new build is possible, but you probably don’t need to replace everything immediately. Consider putting part of the budget toward a better GPU and a 1440p monitor instead of spending it all on a new tower.
My main goal is replaying Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at higher settings. I have around €1,500–€2,000 available if a new PC is the better option, but I’d rather upgrade the current one if it can handle the improvement.
I agree with avoiding an extremely high-end card at first. A midrange GPU that doesn’t use dramatically more power would give a noticeable improvement without forcing you to replace the power supply and the rest of the system.