I'm about to buy a used PC from a friend for $400. It has a GeForce RTX 2070, an Intel i5 8600, and 32GB of DDR4 RAM. What are some budget-friendly upgrade options I could consider for this setup?
6 Answers
Why not hold off on upgrades until you're ready to switch platforms? If you're keen to upgrade now, going for an AM5 setup could be worthwhile, but that means replacing the CPU, motherboard, and RAM. Some places have good bundle deals for that.
Check out an i9-9900K on eBay for around $220. After that, save up a bit more for a GPU upgrade like a 3080 or 7700XT for about $400, and you'll be golden.
Consider adding a 2TB NVMe drive. You might also want to upgrade the power supply, and that should pretty much set you up well for now.
You might want to look into a cheap DDR4 LGA 1700 socket motherboard and pair it with an Intel i5-12400F. It'll give a decent boost without breaking the bank.
The RAM is solid, and with GPU prices being all over the place, upgrading the CPU could be more beneficial. Swapping out the motherboard for an Intel 12400F would cost you under $200, and you can always scale up later to more powerful options like the 14700K or 14900K. Alternatively, if you consider AMD, a 5600 is a great option.
Honestly, I think the GPU could use an upgrade, but given the current market conditions, I'm not sure that's the best move right now since prices are really high.
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