I bought a fairly inexpensive prebuilt last year with an ASUS Q87M-E motherboard, Intel i7-4770, GTX 1660 Super, 1TB Samsung SSD, and a 400W power supply. I want to upgrade it into a mid-range system that can run competitive games such as Fortnite and Valorant at 1080p with high frame rates. My current plan is to replace the motherboard with an MSI PRO B550M-P, install a Ryzen 5 5500, and upgrade to a 650W power supply while keeping the GTX 1660 Super for now. Is this a sensible upgrade path, or would there be a better affordable graphics card to pair with the new parts?
3 Answers
The Ryzen 5 5500 and 16GB or 32GB of DDR4 should work well for high-FPS 1080p gaming. Check for CPU-and-memory bundles, since they can reduce the total cost. A decent 650W supply is enough for the GTX 1660 Super, but choosing a quality 750W model gives you more room for a future graphics card upgrade.
Keep in mind that the Ryzen 5 5500 uses DDR4, while your i7-4770 system uses DDR3, so you’ll need new memory too. Once you replace the motherboard, CPU, RAM, and power supply, you’re effectively building most of a new PC. Selling the current system and starting with a fresh build may be worth comparing financially.
The GTX 1660 Super is still usable for competitive 1080p gaming, so you can keep it initially and upgrade later. If you find good used prices, an RTX 3060 Ti would be a major step up, while an RTX 3070 would offer even more performance. Just make sure the power supply is a reliable model rather than choosing based only on its wattage.
Thanks, I’ll compare bundle prices and look into those graphics cards once I know what the rest of the build will cost.
That’s fair. I’ve been thinking about selling the whole setup and waiting a little while before building. I may look for affordable DDR4 memory on the used market.