I have an HP OMEN 30L GT13-1074 purchased around 2021, with a Ryzen 5 5600G, RTX 3060 12GB, 32GB of DDR4 memory, HP's 8876 "Hana" B550 motherboard, and a 1TB PCIe Gen 3 NVMe SSD running Windows 11 Home. Games—especially those built on Unreal Engine—have started running poorly. With a budget of roughly $2,500–$3,000 USD, would it make more sense to upgrade this system or build or buy an entirely new PC?
4 Answers
Before deciding, it would help to know which games and settings are causing trouble. The RTX 3060 and 5600G are getting older, but the best upgrade depends on whether you’re limited by the CPU, graphics card, or something like shader compilation and storage.
I wouldn’t spend heavily upgrading the OMEN 30L. HP used proprietary components in these systems, including the motherboard and some of the controls, and the power supply may only have a single 8-pin GPU connector. Compatibility with a 5800X3D also isn’t guaranteed. For a major gaming improvement, selling it or keeping it as a backup and starting fresh is probably safer.
That’s what I was worried about—the proprietary parts make it difficult to know how far I can upgrade without replacing nearly everything.
You could upgrade the existing system with a Ryzen 7 5800X3D, a decent air cooler such as a Peerless Assassin, and a much stronger graphics card. Depending on pricing, a Radeon 9070 XT could offer excellent value, while an RTX 5080 would be the higher-end option. That said, check motherboard BIOS support and power-supply capacity before buying anything.
With a $2,500–$3,000 budget, a new system built around a Ryzen 7 9800X3D and an RTX 5070 Ti would be a strong choice for 1440p gaming and should last for years. If you’re near a Micro Center, their prebuilt systems may offer especially good value; some configurations with a 9800X3D and RTX 5080 can be around $2,700. Remember to reserve part of the budget for a quality 1440p monitor, or a 4K display if you choose the faster GPU.
The biggest problems are with Unreal Engine-based games. I can list the specific titles if that helps.