Should I upgrade this AM4 system or move to AM5?
Asked by
MellowPine47
I'm deciding whether to make a few final upgrades to my current AM4 gaming PC or save for a complete move to AM5 when prices improve. The system has been upgraded gradually since 2016, but I'm unsure whether investing more into the platform makes sense. I mainly play at 1440p on a 240 Hz monitor, though I'm fine using 1080p on my secondary display when a game is too demanding for high settings. My RX 6750 XT should work with either platform, so I'm primarily considering CPU and memory upgrades. The current system has a Ryzen 5 5600X, an ASRock AB350 Pro4, 16 GB of DDR4-3000, and an RX 6750 XT. Would a Ryzen 7 5700X3D or 5800X3D with 32 GB of DDR4 be a worthwhile upgrade, or should I replace the motherboard, CPU, and RAM with an AM5 setup?
Answers
This is a good drop-in upgrade situation. Check the motherboard’s CPU support list and update the BIOS first, then look for a Ryzen 7 5700X3D or 5800X3D. Pair it with an affordable 32 GB kit of DDR4-3600. For an RX 6750 XT at 1440p, changing platforms probably won’t provide enough extra performance to justify the cost.
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A Zen 3 X3D processor and 32 GB of DDR4 should let this system remain capable for quite a while. Before buying, make sure your B350 board has a BIOS version that supports the selected CPU. If you mix your existing DDR4-3000 with a new DDR4-3200 kit, all of the memory will normally run at the slower kit’s settings, and mixing kits can sometimes cause stability problems. A matched 2x16 GB kit is preferable.
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Going from a Ryzen 5 5600X to a Ryzen 7 5700X3D can be a very noticeable improvement, especially in minimum frame rates and CPU-heavy games. It also lets you keep your motherboard, cooler, and existing DDR4 instead of buying a whole new platform.
MellowPine47: That sounds like a much better value than spending heavily on 32 GB of DDR5. I’ll compare the prices of the 5700X3D and 5800X3D, but the cheaper model may make more sense.
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I’d stay on AM4 for this build. A 5700X3D, or a reasonably priced 5800X3D, plus 32 GB of DDR4 is likely enough to carry the system through another major platform generation. Put the money saved toward a future GPU upgrade instead of paying for AM5 memory and a motherboard right now.
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MellowPine47: So the safest option would be replacing the current 2x8 GB kit with a matched 2x16 GB kit rather than combining different speeds?