I built my PC around eight years ago and have only made a few upgrades, including increasing the memory from 16GB to 32GB. The current parts are an ASUS B450-F Gaming motherboard, Ryzen 7 2700X, RTX 2080, 32GB of DDR4-3200, and a 2TB M.2 drive with an additional 1TB external drive. My CPU has started struggling in War Dogs, so I'm looking for a relatively inexpensive upgrade to keep this system going for about another year while I finish school. I need to stay on AM4 because moving to AM5 would also require buying DDR5 memory. I'm considering a Ryzen 5 5600X3D for around $180, or a Ryzen 7 5700X3D/5800X3D for roughly $310–$330. Most of my games are World of Warcraft, War Dogs, Battlefield 6, and some single-player AAA titles. Which option makes the most sense for this build and budget?
3 Answers
Before installing any Ryzen 5000 processor, update the motherboard BIOS while the 2700X is still installed. After that, the 5600X3D should be a straightforward drop-in upgrade. A 5700X3D or 5800X3D only really makes sense if you plan to keep this AM4 system for several more years or need the additional cores for heavy productivity work.
The Ryzen 5 5600X3D is probably the best fit here. It’s a big jump from the 2700X, has excellent gaming performance thanks to the extra cache, and should pair well with the RTX 2080. For only needing the system to last another year, spending over $300 on a higher-end AM4 chip doesn’t offer much extra value.
The 5600X3D should be more than adequate for your games, including CPU-heavy titles and World of Warcraft. Even a regular 5600X would likely be a noticeable improvement over the 2700X, so the X3D model at that price is especially appealing. The six cores shouldn’t be a concern for this gaming-focused build.
That’s pretty much what I was hoping to hear. I’d rather keep the upgrade focused and inexpensive for now.