I'm not super experienced with PC building, but I bought an Intel i5 10400F a few years ago and paired it with my RX 6600 GPU. I'm planning to upgrade my PC this year as I want to play some newer AAA games. I'm sticking with my 16GB DDR4 RAM for now, but with GPU prices on the rise, I want to buy a new one soon and I have about $400 saved up for that. I'm looking at the 9060 XT 16GB card as my top choice. The issue is, my motherboard supports PCIe 4.0, but my current CPU only supports PCIe 3.0. I want to make sure my next GPU runs at its full potential. Would it be worth upgrading to an 11th Gen Intel CPU like the i5-11400F to use PCIe 4.0 instead? Is there a significant difference in performance? Also, should I consider switching to an AM4 setup since Intel CPUs seem pricier for the same specs?
1 Answer
Your current setup is solid, but moving to a faster CPU likely won't show much benefit compared to the RX 6600. The RX 6600 doesn't really suffer on PCIe 3.0—it's not missing out on much, even though x8 vs x16 is a technical difference. If you go for something faster, like an RX 7060 or 9060 XT, that's when you might want a better CPU. Otherwise, if you upgrade, consider a more advanced model like the 14600K or the 7600X; those would be worth it. If you're set on an Intel upgrade, stick with DDR4 for better cost efficiency right now. AM4 don't offer a massive boost unless you get specific higher-end chips like the 5700X3D.
Thanks for the quick insights! I just realized my motherboard is LGA1200, which means I could use 11th Gen Intel CPUs, including the i9-11900K or i7-11700K. Should I think about upgrading my motherboard too?