I bought a pre-built CyberpowerPC back in 2020, which has an AMD Ryzen 3 2300X, 8GB of RAM, an AMD Radeon RX 570, a 1TB HDD, and a 240GB SSD. Now that it's time to upgrade, I'm looking for guidance. I've heard starting with RAM is a good idea, followed by either the processor or graphics card. My budget is around $500-$600, and I'd like to play newer games like Silent Hill without any stuttering or freezing. Any recommendations would be really helpful!
2 Answers
Another option is to sell your current CPU, RAM, and GPU. That could net you at least $125 back, which would boost your budget to about $625-$725. With that, you could grab a 2x8GB or 2x16GB DDR4 RAM kit, along with a nice GPU like a 9060XT and a Ryzen 5000 series CPU. Don’t forget, getting an NVMe SSD instead of just a regular SATA SSD would be beneficial too! This setup should roughly double your FPS!
For your upgrade, I'd recommend kicking things off with an extra 8GB of RAM. Prices have been fluctuating, so getting it now is a good move since 8GB is becoming too limiting. Also, consider replacing your small SSD if your games are stored on the HDD; a larger SSD will significantly speed things up. After that, focus on upgrading the CPU and GPU – if your motherboard supports it, grab a Ryzen 5600 or 5600X for a nice performance bump. But definitely put your budget toward a solid GPU upgrade afterward!
That’s good advice, but I’d say go for an NVMe SSD if possible. It might cost a bit more, but the speed difference is worth it!
Just make sure to ditch the HDD once you’ve upgraded to an NVMe; they’re pretty much obsolete for gaming now.