I'm putting together a very budget-friendly gaming PC mainly for ARK: Survival Evolved. I'd like it to run the game smoothly without constant lag, although I understand ARK can be demanding. I'm not very familiar with PC hardware, so a friend suggested this setup. Should I spend more on any components, or is this balanced enough as it is?
- AMD Ryzen 5 5600
- MSI B550M PRO-VDH
- G.SKILL Ripjaws V 16GB (2×8GB) DDR4-3600 CL18
- Gigabyte GP-P650SS 650W power supply
- Lexar NM620 1TB SSD
- GeForce RTX 5060 Eagle OC
- Krux Helio case
- Thermalright Assassin X 120R SE Plus CPU cooler
1 Answer
The build should work, but the graphics card’s 8GB of VRAM may become a limitation in ARK, especially at higher settings or resolutions. If the price difference is reasonable, a 16GB card such as the Radeon RX 9060 XT would give you more breathing room for textures and future games. I’d also consider starting with 32GB of RAM if your budget allows, since ARK can use quite a lot of memory.
I had assumed GeForce cards were generally the better choice. Is the Radeon option actually preferable for this game?