My girlfriend wants to make sure her PC can handle The Witcher 3 Remastered and would also like some extra headroom for future games. She mainly plays indie titles but also uses Photoshop, Figma, and other design software, so she doesn't need an extreme high-end gaming system. Budget isn't a major limitation, but value and longevity matter more than buying a flagship GPU. The announced requirements list a Ryzen 5 2600 or Core i5-8400, a GTX 1660 or RX 5500 XT 8GB, 6GB of VRAM, and 12GB of RAM. Her current system has a Prime B450M-A II motherboard, Ryzen 5 3600, GeForce GTX 1660 Super, and 32GB of DDR4 memory. The PSU is unknown and can be replaced if necessary. What CPU, GPU, and PSU upgrades would make the most sense, and are there any operating-system or storage requirements to check?
3 Answers
The current platform has a straightforward upgrade path. First identify the existing PSU and replace it with a reputable 750W model if its quality or capacity is questionable. For the CPU, a Ryzen 5 5600 is a sensible affordable upgrade, while an AM4 X3D chip such as the 5700X3D or 5800X3D offers the strongest gaming performance if the price is reasonable. For 1080p, an RX 9060 XT 16GB-class card should be plenty. At 1440p, an RX 9070 or 9070 XT gives substantially more headroom, especially for demanding settings and ray tracing. Check motherboard BIOS support before installing a newer processor.
The Ryzen 5 3600 already exceeds the listed minimum CPU requirement, so a graphics-card upgrade is likely to provide the biggest immediate improvement. An RX 9060 XT 16GB or comparable midrange card should be a good match for 1080p and some 1440p gaming. If she wants a longer-term 1440p system, consider an RX 9070 or 9070 XT instead. The CPU can be upgraded later if testing shows a frame-rate bottleneck.
Before buying anything, it would be worth testing the existing system. With an SSD and a supported operating system, the current PC may already run the game acceptably, though the GTX 1660 Super is still the component most likely to need replacing.
Also verify the non-hardware requirements. The remastered release is expected to require Windows 11, DirectX 12, and an SSD rather than a mechanical hard drive. Make sure the B450 motherboard has a BIOS version that supports whichever Ryzen 5000 processor you choose. For a replacement PSU, use a current, well-reviewed 750W unit from a reliable line; an 850W model is only necessary if choosing a particularly power-hungry graphics card or planning further upgrades.
Resolution matters a lot here: a 9070-class card would be excessive for basic 1080p gaming, while it makes much more sense for high-refresh or 1440p play.
The 5800X3D is the maximum gaming upgrade for this motherboard, but it can be difficult to justify at a high price. A 5700X3D or similar chip usually makes more sense.