I'm contemplating upgrading my PC soon, but the current prices have really caught me off guard. My system is almost 5 years old, and I'm getting frustrated with how poorly it runs games like Star Citizen — I'm only seeing about 25fps! A friend of mine recently upgraded for around $1400 and he's getting 70fps, which has got me thinking about doing the same. However, when I looked at RAM prices, I thought I must be dreaming.
I feel I could stretch it for another 3 years without a full upgrade but I'm out of touch with parts and pricing these days. Should I keep an eye on prices for a few months hoping they drop to normal, or should I just go ahead and build a new system before prices climb even higher?
I'm in Switzerland and my budget is around $2000 — thankfully, prices here aren't as outrageous as they are in the US. For context, here's my current setup:
- **CPU**: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X (8 cores, 3.9 GHz)
- **GPU**: Powercolor Radeon RX 5700 XT, 8 GB GDDR6
- **Motherboard**: ASUS PRIME A520M-K
- **RAM**: 32 GB DDR4 (2 x 16 GB) Kingston HyperX Fury RGB, 3733 MHz
- **Power Supply**: Chieftec Polaris PPS-1250FC (1250 W, 80 Plus Gold, fully modular)
Any advice or tips would be much appreciated, including websites to check prices or set alerts for potential deals!
5 Answers
Instead of a full rebuild, consider just upgrading your CPU and GPU. That could give you a significant performance boost without the high costs of starting from scratch. Your current motherboard could support a 5000 series Ryzen, like an X3D. It's a solid upgrade without breaking the bank!
Absolutely, the 9070XT is a fantastic choice for an upgrade. If you go for that and pair it with a 5700X or 5800X (the X3D would be amazing if you can snag it at a good price), you'll be in great shape! Also, the RAM isn't what's holding you back right now—it's those inflated prices that are tough. You should easily be able to build a solid rig within your budget!
I've been thinking about the 9070XT too. Just worried that my motherboard is the real bottleneck right now.
Can you still use your current RAM? It looks like you have DDR4, which is good since that's what most modern builds use. Just making sure you're set there!
Yes, I mentioned my parts above. It's DDR4. Why do you ask?
You might want to check out PCPartPicker. It's a great site to put together a build and see historical prices for components. That'll help you keep an eye on price drops!
Will check that out tomorrow, thanks!
I have a 5600x3d CPU and wouldn't hesitate to drop in a good GPU, like an RTX 5080, if I wanted better performance. So a simple CPU and GPU upgrade could really boost your system and you might not need a full rebuild right now. Plus, GPU prices are somewhat reasonable at the moment!
I just learned about the AMD RX 9070 XT. Would that work for my setup as well? Seems like you get a lot for the price!
I think I’d rather replace the motherboard first, though. I was hoping to build a whole new PC, except for maybe the power supply.