I recently upgraded my PC with an RX 9070 XT to replace my old GTX 1650. The new GPU works great, although I've encountered some minor issues with the AMD Adrenalin application. However, I've realized my current case doesn't accommodate the GPU's PCIe cable properly, and it's hanging out a bit where the tempered glass should go. Now, while I'm looking to fix that, I'd love some advice on what else in my system might be outdated or potentially limiting the performance of my new GPU. I don't have much experience with the technical aspects of PC building and usually rely on PCPartPicker for my builds. Here's my current setup:
- **CPU**: AMD Ryzen 5 3500 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor
- **CPU Cooler**: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler
- **Motherboard**: Gigabyte B550M AORUS ELITE Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard
- **Memory**: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 RAM
- **Storage**: Kingston A2000 500 GB M.2 NVME SSD and Seagate Barracuda 8 TB HDD
- **Video Card**: Asus PRIME OC Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB
- **Power Supply**: Cooler Master V650 V2 650 W Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Do you think the motherboard and PSU are still good enough? I'm curious if I should be looking at replacing the CPU next.
3 Answers
Honestly, I would also suggest looking into a better CPU and maybe adding more SSD storage. The CPU upgrade could be any AM4 chip from the 5600X and up. For your storage, running games off an HDD can really slow things down these days, so having more space on a fast SSD is definitely worth it.
Exactly, an SSD can really help with load times, and I’d consider upgrading that first if you’re limited on space.
To really get the most out of your RX 9070 XT, you should definitely upgrade your CPU to at least a Ryzen 5 5600X. The Ryzen 5 3500 can bottleneck the performance of your GPU quite a bit, especially in demanding games.
So, I should definitely aim for a Ryzen 5 5600X? I’ll start looking for that!
Just a heads up, in games like Cyberpunk, the RX 9070 XT will still be bottlenecked by a 5600X under heavy load, even with ray tracing.
For your power setup, using two ports on the PSU is generally fine for the 9070. While daisy-chaining isn't ideal, it usually won't be an issue unless you're pushing a lot of watts, which you shouldn't with your current hardware.
Thanks for clarifying! I was worried about the daisy-chain setup.
I do keep my heavier games on the SSD, but with only 500GB, I'm running out of space quickly. Luckily I can reinstall games pretty fast with good Internet!