I'm upgrading a pre-pandemic gaming PC and want to get another several years out of it. My current Ryzen 5 3600, RTX 2070 Super, and 16GB of DDR4 are beginning to struggle in newer AAA games and some competitive titles. I'd like to move beyond medium settings and 60 FPS at 1440p, ideally getting as close as possible to my 144Hz monitor at high or higher settings.
I'm keeping my MSI B450/X570-era AM4 motherboard, Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Duo cooler, Fractal Meshify C case, existing storage, case fans, and Samsung 27-inch 1440p 144Hz monitor. The planned upgrades are a Ryzen 7 5800X3D, 32GB of DDR4-3200 CL16 memory, an RTX 5070 Ti 16GB, and a Corsair RM850e power supply. The total comes to roughly £1,500 in the UK.
Does this look balanced, and are there any compatibility issues or better alternatives before I buy? I'm especially interested in whether it makes more sense to stay on AM4 or spend extra moving to AM5, and whether a Radeon 9070 XT or cheaper memory would offer better value.
3 Answers
It’s worth comparing the RTX 5070 Ti with a Radeon 9070 XT before committing. Depending on current UK pricing and the games you play, the 9070 XT may offer stronger raster performance or better value. Just weigh up ray tracing, upscaling, and any specific features you care about.
AM5 would be the more future-proof platform. A Ryzen 5 9600X or similar would give you a newer socket and an easier CPU upgrade path later, but the motherboard and DDR5 memory add to the cost. For a fixed £1,500 budget, keeping the existing AM4 board and using a 5800X3D is still a sensible gaming-focused upgrade, provided the board supports it with an up-to-date BIOS.
You can save quite a bit on the memory. A used 32GB DDR4 kit from a reputable retailer could be under £100 and still come with a decent warranty, so paying over £200 for DDR4-3200 seems hard to justify. Put the savings toward the graphics card or keep them in reserve.
The motherboard and other parts are carryovers from my current system, so I’m not buying another AM4 board. A complete AM5 rebuild looks difficult to fit within the budget. What advantages would the newer platform provide compared with upgrading the CPU, GPU, and RAM now?