I picked up a used gaming PC for $250 and have already upgraded it to 16GB of RAM. For now, I'm using a few smaller SSDs, but I plan to replace them with a larger SSD when I find a good deal. The system currently has a Ryzen 7 1700, RTX 2060 6GB, MSI B450M Bazooka motherboard, 16GB DDR4-2933 memory, a roughly 64GB Windows SSD, a 256GB SATA SSD for games, and a 1TB hard drive for additional storage. It also has a 650W Montech power supply, a 60Hz Acer monitor, and a USB 5GHz Wi-Fi adapter running on Windows 11. What should I upgrade next, and why?
3 Answers
The CPU would be the best first upgrade. A Ryzen 5 5600 is usually affordable and should noticeably improve minimum frame rates, reduce stuttering, and let the RTX 2060 perform closer to its full potential. Since your motherboard uses the AM4 socket, a Ryzen 5000-series chip is a practical upgrade, though you should check BIOS support first.
Your current RTX 2060 is still a reasonable match for 60Hz gaming, so I wouldn’t rush to replace it. After the CPU, I’d prioritize a larger SSD because the current drives are quite small and will fill up quickly. A GPU upgrade makes more sense later if you move to a higher-refresh monitor or want to play newer games at higher settings.
A PCIe Wi-Fi and Bluetooth card based on an Intel AX200 or similar chipset could be a quality-of-life upgrade if the USB adapter gives you unreliable speeds or connection drops. More RAM would be lower priority for now; 16GB is still usable for most games, although 32GB could help with newer titles and multitasking.
If you live near a Micro Center and can find one at a good price, a 5800X3D or 5600X3D would also be worth considering for a longer-term AM4 upgrade.