I'm looking to upgrade my PC setup with a budget of around $300-350 after selling what I replace. I primarily game at 1440p and want to run AAA titles smoothly, while also playing competitive games like Valorant. Additionally, I regularly edit videos on YouTube using Filmora.
Currently, I have an i5-11400F CPU on an ASUS PRIME H510M-E motherboard, paired with an RX 6600 XT GPU, 16GB of TEAMGROUP Vulcan Z DDR4 RAM running at 2400MT/s, and a Samsung 870 EVO 1TB SATA drive. My power supply is 650W, and I use a 1440p 180Hz monitor along with two 1080p 75Hz monitors. Generally, I find my PC performs decently, but I feel it's capable of more. I'm usually getting 70-90 FPS in AAA games and Minecraft with heavy shaders.
I've considered upgrading the GPU by selling my 6600 XT for about $180-200 and getting either an RTX 4060 Ti or RX 7700 XT for around $200-240 net. Alternatively, I'm thinking about a platform upgrade with a Ryzen 5 7600, B650M-HDV, and 16GB of DDR5 RAM for $320-370 net. However, I could also save some cash for a bigger upgrade later with a new CPU/motherboard/RAM combo plus a better GPU. What do you all think? Should I go for the GPU upgrade or will my i5-11400F bottleneck something better? Would increasing my RAM also improve my editing performance? Looking forward to your advice!
4 Answers
Consider getting a 5060 8GB GPU and add an extra 16GB of RAM to your setup for the most noticeable performance boost.
At higher resolutions like 1440p, the GPU gets more stressed, while the CPU shines at 1080p. With your budget, I’d recommend boosting your RAM to at least 32GB. Unless you can snag a GPU or a CPU upgrade within your limit, stick with prioritizing a GPU.
You definitely want to upgrade to a fast NVMe SSD. The SATA drive is holding you back.
Before making a move, check your GPU utilization in the games you care about. If it's around 100%, then upgrading the GPU is the way to go. If not, then a CPU upgrade might be more beneficial. Also, why are you targeting the RTX 40 series and Radeon 7000 series? Are you considering second-hand options? Those are previous gen after all.

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