What PC upgrades make sense for 4–5 years of high-quality gaming?
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MellowCedar42
I'm planning a long-term PC upgrade so I can play upcoming games at high to ultra settings for the next four or five years. My current system has an AMD Radeon RX 5700, Ryzen 5 3600, 16 GB of RAM, and a B450 Gaming X motherboard. My budget is around $1,400, though I may be able to stretch it to about $1,700. What parts should I prioritize upgrading, and is it realistic to meet that performance goal without replacing the entire system?
Answers
Your platform may still have a worthwhile upgrade path. After updating the motherboard BIOS, a Ryzen 7 5800X3D would be a major gaming improvement, and a newer graphics card such as an RX 9070 XT could provide a large jump over the RX 5700. Upgrade to 32 GB of RAM as well. Before choosing parts, check the exact power-supply model and wattage, and make sure your case cooling and CPU cooler are adequate. If the PSU or cooling is outdated, those may need to be replaced too.
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With a $1,400 budget, guaranteed high-to-ultra performance in every future game for four or five years is probably too ambitious. You’ll need to decide whether the priority is resolution, frame rate, or visual settings, since upcoming games will vary a lot in how demanding they are.
MellowCedar42: I may be able to increase the budget to around $1,700, but I still want to spend it where it will make the biggest difference.
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MellowCedar42: I’ll need to check which power supply I have. I’m also not sure what model my cooler is; I currently have two case fans, so I may need to upgrade the cooling as part of the build.