I recently started building and upgrading my own PC. My original 2016 system had a GTX 970, an ASUS Prime Z170-A motherboard, 16GB of DDR4, an i7-6700, a 600W power supply, a basic Intel cooler, and a 250GB NVMe drive. Since then I added a 1TB NVMe drive and two SATA SSDs, replaced the graphics card with a 12GB RTX 2060, and recently upgraded to an ASUS Prime B760-PLUS D4 with an i7-13700K. I also installed a be quiet! Pure Rock 3 Black after discovering my old cooler was incompatible.
The RTX 2060 is now probably the weakest major component, although I still only have 16GB of RAM. I mostly play games at 1440p and would like enough GPU performance for newer titles such as Oblivion Remastered without having to reduce the graphics settings too much. I also do some Blender and After Effects work, though that is not the main use of this computer.
I would prefer to upgrade gradually and avoid paying for extreme performance that I will not use. Is a GPU upgrade worthwhile, and what would be the lowest sensible current-generation or previous-generation card for a system I would like to keep for roughly five years? I am also wondering whether I should upgrade to 32GB of RAM, whether air cooling is sufficient for the 13700K, and if my 600W PSU should be replaced before installing a more powerful graphics card.
3 Answers
A 16GB RX 9060 XT can be a good value choice if you want to spend less, although it will not last as long at high settings as a 9070-class card. Nvidia options may be preferable if Blender or other applications benefit from CUDA, OptiX, or Nvidia's ray-tracing features. A discounted RTX 4070 Ti Super 16GB is also worth considering if you find one at a sensible price.
Your current air cooler is fine in principle, but the i7-13700K can run hot under sustained all-core workloads. A large dual-tower cooler such as a Thermalright Peerless Assassin or Phantom Spirit would be a stronger inexpensive option. Liquid cooling is not required unless you specifically want lower temperatures under heavy workloads or prefer the appearance; a good air cooler is simpler and avoids pump and leak concerns.
Move to 32GB of RAM when convenient, especially for Blender, After Effects, and multitasking. Sixteen gigabytes can still be enough for ordinary gaming, so I would prioritize the GPU first unless you are regularly running out of memory. The 600W PSU may be marginal for many of the recommended cards, so check its exact model, age, and available connectors. For a modern mid-to-high-end GPU, a reputable 750W or 850W unit is the safer long-term choice.
Also update the motherboard BIOS before relying on the 13700K. Recent BIOS versions include important stability and power-management fixes for Intel's 13th-generation desktop processors.