Hey everyone, I'm looking to upgrade my PC because I've had it for a couple of years and I'm concerned about performance and potential bottlenecks. Currently, I have an Intel i3 9100F paired with a GTX 1050 Ti. I want to make the best use of my budget for upgrades. I'm considering moving to an i5 10th gen CPU, but my existing H310M motherboard isn't compatible. I'm also eyeballing the RX 5500 XT for a GPU upgrade. Given that both the i5 9400 and the RX 5500 XT cost about $150 for me, I want to know if they would work well together or if there's a better option. Just so you know, I have a 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM too.
2 Answers
I'd recommend looking into a Ryzen chip like the 5600 instead. This would give you more upgrade flexibility down the line. While the RX 5500 XT is decent, you might find better value in a used GTX 1070 or something higher for more robust performance.
If you're gearing up for a GPU upgrade, I'd say go all in with something like a 5700XT or 6600 if those are within your price range. It would be a significant step up. Just a heads up though: using a high-end GPU with your i3 might lead to some performance limitations, but you could sell your old parts and transition more smoothly that way!
I've read about the 5700XT, and I'm worried it might be too much for my i3? I'm not entirely sure how bottlenecking works, so that’s kinda stressing me out! The goal is to keep my PC running while I sell off my old components to fund the upgrade, but I’m feeling a bit lost.