I built this PC in 2021 for competitive gaming, but after recently returning to it, newer games feel less smooth and I'm noticing FPS drops and stuttering. I used to run several software optimizations, though the system may simply need an upgrade now.
My current hardware is a Ryzen 5 5600X, Corsair H115i PRO RGB 280mm AIO, Gigabyte B550 AORUS ELITE AX V2 motherboard, 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3200 memory, MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X 12GB, a 256GB NVMe boot drive, a 2TB 7200RPM hard drive for games, and a Corsair CX750M 750W Bronze power supply.
I suspect the hard drive is contributing to the stutters, especially in newer games that stream assets while playing. Would replacing it with a 2TB NVMe SSD be the best first step, or should I prioritize upgrading to 32GB of RAM, replacing the CPU with a higher-end AM4 chip, or getting a faster graphics card? I'd prefer a sensible staged upgrade path that offers good value.
1 Answer
The 2TB hard drive is the first thing I’d replace. It won’t increase your average FPS, but modern games often stream data while you play, so a mechanical drive can cause noticeable loading delays, hitching, and texture-streaming stutters. A good 2TB PCIe 3.0 or PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD would be a sensible choice; there’s no need to pay extra for PCIe 5.0 on this platform.
Your B550 board has two M.2 slots, with one supporting PCIe 4.0 and the other PCIe 3.0. Depending on how your current boot drive is installed, you may be able to move it to the PCIe 3.0 slot and use the faster slot for the new game drive. Check the motherboard manual first, since using the second M.2 slot can disable a lower expansion slot on some boards.
The rest of the system is still capable. After storage, the GPU would likely provide the largest gaming performance improvement, while the 5600X remains usable for now.
That matches the kind of stutter I’m seeing. I hadn’t considered rearranging the M.2 drives to free up the faster slot, so I’ll check the motherboard manual and replace the hard drive first. I’ll probably wait for a good GPU deal after that.