I'm looking to upgrade my PC since it's struggling to run the latest games smoothly. My goal is to maximize FPS without spending more than $500 on a GPU and possibly $200-400 on a CPU (including a new motherboard if I need to change chipsets). Here's what I currently have: an Intel i7 8700k, a Rog Strix Z390i motherboard, and a Radeon RX 6650xt. I'm wondering if my CPU is holding back performance, especially since I mainly play competitive shooters and prioritize FPS over graphics quality. Also, there's a 4070 Super FE for sale locally at $480. Are there any better GPU options around $450-500? Lastly, should I consider moving to an AM5 chipset, or is it better to simply get a faster Intel CPU and stick with my current motherboard?
1 Answer
First off, what country are you in? In the US, you can find an RTX 5070 for roughly $500. For your current setup, the i9-9900K is the best you can get on your motherboard, but it's not a massive upgrade for gaming performance. To really improve your CPU performance, you'd need to switch motherboards, and probably RAM too.
Got it. So if I'm in the US, should I consider switching to an AMD CPU and DDR5? Would it be worth selling my whole PC and building a new one since it looks like I need to replace CPU, motherboard, GPU, and RAM?