My partner's gaming PC, built around 2019, is starting to struggle with newer games and occasionally crashes. She mainly plays Final Fantasy XIV and is currently playing Blood of the Dawnwalker, with interest in Borderlands 4 and the Final Fantasy VII remake games. She isn't particularly demanding about frame rates, but modern titles are becoming difficult to enjoy.
Her current system has a Ryzen 5 3600, B450 Tomahawk, 16GB of DDR4-3600, a GTX 1660 Super, a 650W power supply, and an NZXT H510 case. My current system has a Ryzen 9 5900X, X570S Tomahawk, 32GB of DDR4-3600, an RTX 4080, a 1000W power supply, and a large case that fits the graphics card.
My original idea was to give her my platform, keeping my RTX 4080 and 1000W PSU, then buy her a Radeon 9070 XT and an 850W PSU. I would replace my own system with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, an X870E motherboard, 32GB of DDR5-6000 memory, and a Peerless Assassin cooler. The estimated cost would be about $1,900 AUD for my upgrade and $1,300 AUD for hers, with her budget ideally staying below $1,500 AUD.
Would it make more sense to buy only the new GPU and power supply for her first, then test how well they perform with her existing Ryzen 5 3600 system? Should I delay my own AM5 upgrade until it would provide a more meaningful improvement? I'd also appreciate advice on choosing a good airflow-focused case, since I'm considering the Corsair FRAME 4000D but don't fully understand what separates a good case from one that merely fits the components.
3 Answers
There’s no need to decide in advance which computer gets the new graphics card. Purchase the card you already know you want, test it in her current build, and then choose the final arrangement based on actual performance. Your 5900X system is still strong, so upgrading yourself to AM5 may feel more like a platform refresh than a dramatic gaming upgrade unless you specifically need the extra CPU performance or want a longer upgrade path.
The right graphics card depends heavily on the games and resolution she uses. Final Fantasy XIV should be fine with the current CPU, but newer AAA games may benefit from a stronger GPU and more than 16GB of RAM. If the existing machine is crashing, troubleshoot temperatures, drivers, memory, and storage before assuming every component needs replacement.
The Ryzen 5 3600 is still perfectly serviceable for many games, so the GTX 1660 Super is probably the first part to replace. Rather than committing to the whole hand-me-down plan immediately, buy the new graphics card and power supply, install them in her current system, and see how it performs. You can always move the parts between systems later.
That makes sense. I was probably assuming the rest of her parts needed replacing sooner than they actually do. I’ll likely start with the GPU and PSU and hold off on my AM5 upgrade until it represents a more substantial improvement.
Her main games are Final Fantasy XIV and Blood of the Dawnwalker, and she’s interested in Borderlands 4 and the Final Fantasy VII remake games. That’s why I’m leaning toward a modern GPU, but I’ll check the current system for stability issues first.