Hey everyone! I built my gaming PC about five years ago, and I haven't made any upgrades since then. Recently, I've noticed that some newer games are a bit too much for it to handle, so I'm thinking about doing some upgrades. Here's my current setup:
- AMD Ryzen 7 3700X CPU
- ASUS Prime B550M-A Wifi Micro ATX Motherboard
- 16 GB RAM
- 1 TB NVME SSD
- MSI TRI RTX 2070 Video Card
- 550W Power Supply
I'm considering upgrading both the GPU (from the RTX 2070 to something newer) and the CPU as well, but I'm also curious if my 16GB of RAM might be the bottleneck. Would it be smarter to upgrade to 32GB instead? Or perhaps my motherboard is holding me back? My PC has been reliable overall but with upcoming games like Outer Worlds 2 and Borderlands 4, it's struggling to keep up, running at low to medium graphics with only 40-50 fps.
My budget for these upgrades is around $2000, but I'm open to adjustments if it means better performance. Let me know your thoughts!
2 Answers
If you're mostly gaming, a GPU upgrade is usually the best bang for your buck right now. Your CPU is still pretty solid, and 16GB of RAM should be okay for most games, but if you find a good deal on 32GB, it wouldn’t hurt to go for it. Just be careful about trying to upgrade your CPU without planned compatibility for the rest of your parts, as that can blow your budget fast!
It's great that you're looking into upgrades! Since you're considering a CPU upgrade, keep in mind that moving to an AM5 setup will require a new motherboard, DDR5 RAM, and probably a new cooler too. If you want to keep it simple for now, focus on upgrading your GPU first. Graphics cards are pretty pricey right now, so you'll need to factor in potentially upgrading your power supply as well. Check out pcpartpicker for the best deals on the components you want!
So you're saying that just upgrading the GPU might lead to needing a full overhaul rather than just slapping in some new RAM?
Thanks for the advice! I’ll keep that in mind, especially about compatibility!