I have a prebuilt gaming setup that includes an ROG STRIX X470-I Gaming Motherboard, an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-core Processor running at 3.60 GHz, 16GB of Micron DDR4 RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 with 8GB, a 477 GB Samsung SSD, and a 2.73 TB Seagate HDD. I've been using this system for about 5 years now, and I'm interested in learning more about PC building and possibly transitioning to building my own in the future. How do I know when I should upgrade my hardware? Do I need to start looking for upgrades now, or can I wait a bit longer?
3 Answers
That setup is still decent for 1080p gaming, but it's nearing the end. A complete upgrade will give you much better performance compared to squeezing more out of your current components. It’s a good idea to start planning for a full upgrade if you want to dive deeper into PC building.
You could upgrade your CPU, RAM, GPU, and possibly the PSU, and it might be worth considering a new case too. What’s your budget and where do you live?
I’m in the US with a budget of less than $1500 ideally.
It's definitely time to think about upgrades! Both your CPU and GPU are on the older side. An upgrade now can really boost your performance.
Do I need to rebuild everything, or can I just swap out the CPU and GPU? Will my motherboard support newer parts?
Are there any components I can keep from my current setup, or is it better to just start fresh?