I was recently laid off and am thinking about upgrading my PC as a bit of a distraction. I'd like it to be ready for GTA 6 at 1440p on ultra settings, ideally around 100 FPS, although I realize the game has not been released and its actual performance requirements are unknown. My current system has a Ryzen 5 5600X, a B550I motherboard, 32 GB of DDR4-3600 memory, a 480 GB SATA SSD, an RTX 3070, and a 750 W SFX power supply. I'm working with a budget of up to about $1,000. Which upgrades would provide the biggest improvement, and should I prioritize the CPU, graphics card, or storage?
3 Answers
The best upgrade path on AM4 would probably be a Ryzen 7 5800X3D, or the less expensive 5700X3D if available. The extra cores and much larger 3D V-Cache can provide a noticeable gaming improvement without replacing your motherboard or memory. After that, put the remaining budget toward a graphics card with at least 16 GB of VRAM, such as a Radeon 9070 or 9070 XT. That combination should pair very well for 1440p gaming.
I would prioritize the GPU first, since 1440p ultra settings are generally graphics-card limited. A 16 GB card such as the 9070 XT would be a substantial step up from the RTX 3070. Then upgrade the CPU to a 5700X3D or 5800X3D if the budget allows. Just keep expectations flexible: GTA 6 has not been released, so nobody can guarantee 100 FPS at ultra settings yet, and features like ray tracing could require significantly more powerful hardware.
With roughly $1,000, a new 9070 XT plus a 1 TB NVMe SSD would be a straightforward upgrade. Your current 480 GB drive is pretty cramped, and a larger NVMe drive would give you much more room for modern games. If you are comfortable buying used, a Radeon 7900 XT or GeForce RTX 4070 Ti might also fit the budget at around $500–$600, leaving enough money for a 5800X3D or 5700X3D.
Agreed. A 5700X3D paired with a Radeon 9070 is already a strong combination, so the 5800X3D and 9070 XT should work very well too.