Should I Upgrade My GPU First or Build a New AM5 Gaming PC?

Upgrade the graphics card first. The Ryzen 7 5700X is still capable, especially at 1440p, while the RTX 3060 is likely to be the main limitation in newer and more demanding games. You can reassess the CPU and platform after seeing how much the GPU upgrade helps.

The 5700X should pair well with a 9070 XT at 1440p. In many GPU-heavy games, the graphics card will remain the bottleneck, so jumping straight to a 9800X3D may provide a relatively small improvement compared with the cost of a new CPU, motherboard, and DDR5 memory. I’d only rebuild now if you specifically need very high frame rates in CPU-heavy games or want the newest platform for other reasons.

Try the GPU upgrade on its own first and see whether you’re satisfied. A 5700X with a 9070 XT has been reported to perform very well at 1440p, and there may be no urgent reason to replace the platform. Nvidia still has an advantage if DLSS, ray tracing, or specific supported features are especially important to you, but the Radeon card can offer excellent traditional rendering performance.

A 5070 Ti or RX 9070 XT should be a substantial upgrade and could keep the rest of the system useful for several more years. Since you’re playing at 1440p, the GPU usually matters more than moving immediately to AM5. Waiting may also give you better prices and more mature options for a future platform upgrade.

A faster GPU would make the biggest difference for the money. If you eventually run into CPU limits, you could look for a Ryzen 7 5700X3D or 5800X3D to get more gaming performance while staying on AM4. That would cost much less than replacing the motherboard, memory, and processor together.