My son's PC has a Ryzen 5 5500, Radeon RX 570, 32GB of RAM, and a B550 motherboard. The goal is 1080p gaming at roughly 120–140 FPS. I'm considering a Ryzen 5 5600, 5600X, or possibly a Ryzen 7 5700X3D, but I'm also unsure which graphics card would offer the best value. Would an RX 7700 XT be excessive for this system, or should I look for something more affordable? We'll mainly be shopping for used components.
4 Answers
A used RTX 3060 12GB is a sensible target if you can find one at a good price. The extra VRAM is useful, and the Ryzen 5 5500 should handle it well. You could also consider other used 30-series cards with at least 8GB of VRAM.
Start with the graphics card. Replacing the CPU while keeping an RX 570 would leave the old GPU as the main bottleneck. Once you have a stronger card, upgrade to a Ryzen 5 5600 or Ryzen 7 5700X3D only if specific games still show CPU-limited performance or you need higher minimum frame rates.
Upgrade the GPU first. The RX 570 is the biggest limitation here, while the Ryzen 5 5500 is still a capable entry-level processor for 1080p gaming. A used RTX 3060 12GB, RTX 2070, or similar card could be a good match depending on local prices.
The 5500 is fine for now, especially if the target is simply smooth 1080p gaming. A used RTX 3070 or RTX 3080 would also work with it, though those cards may be more performance than necessary and can use considerably more power. I’d choose based on price, condition, and the power supply before considering a CPU upgrade.
That makes sense. I’m mainly looking at used cards for 1080p, so I’ll compare prices on those models before changing the CPU.