I currently have a Ryzen 5 5600X, RTX 3070, 32GB of DDR4 memory, an ASUS PRIME B550-PLUS motherboard, and a 750W Be Quiet! Straight Power 11 Gold PSU. I mainly play at 1080p, including Path of Exile 2 and Aion 2. Performance is usually fine, but it can drop to around 30–50 FPS in towns and demanding late-game situations.
I was considering either upgrading to an RTX 5070 Ti or moving to a Ryzen 7 9800X3D. The CPU upgrade would also require a new motherboard and DDR5 memory, so I'm not sure whether the extra cost is worthwhile. Would a modern graphics card work with my current B550 motherboard, and which upgrade would make the biggest difference for my games?
3 Answers
Don’t use UserBenchmark to decide this; its comparisons and recommendations are widely considered unreliable. Since you play at 1080p, the 5600X can become the limiting factor in CPU-heavy areas such as towns and late-game scenes. A Ryzen 7 5800X3D, or a 5700X3D if priced well, would be a much simpler upgrade because it works with your existing motherboard and DDR4 memory. You could then upgrade the graphics card later.
For the money, I’d consider a 5700X3D or 5800X3D combined with an RX 9070 or RX 9070 XT rather than spending the entire budget on one component. That keeps your current board and RAM while giving you a substantial CPU improvement and a strong GPU upgrade. If you move to a new platform later, a Ryzen X3D chip with DDR5 would make more sense as a complete rebuild, but it isn’t necessary for your current setup.
A newer graphics card will work with your B550 board. PCIe is backward-compatible, so an RTX 5070 Ti or RX 9070 XT can be installed in the main PCIe slot. Your 750W power supply should generally be sufficient, but check the graphics card’s connector requirements and use the appropriate cable or adapter. At 1080p, though, a powerful new GPU may be held back by the 5600X in CPU-limited games.
So changing the motherboard isn’t required just to install one of those GPUs. The main question is whether my games are GPU-limited or CPU-limited at 1080p.
That’s appealing because I’d avoid replacing the motherboard and RAM. I’ll compare the 5700X3D and 5800X3D prices before deciding.