Will upgrading to an RX 5700 XT cause issues with my Ryzen 5 1600?

It's worth noting that while the Ryzen 5 1600 is decent, you might want to consider upgrading in the future for even better performance. I upgraded from a Ryzen 1600 to a 5600X and noticed a huge leap in performance in modern games. If you can, save up for a new CPU and check for BIOS updates to support it.

Bottlenecking can be a misleading term. There will always be a limit on how your components can perform together. A better CPU will help achieve higher FPS, especially in newer titles, but if you're happy with your performance now, just enjoy the upgrade! It's totally fine to run a 5700 XT with the Ryzen 5 1600 for now.

Generally, you won't notice a huge difference, but benchmarks may show you're losing frames compared to setups with better CPUs. I used a 5700 XT with an older CPU and it was fine, but an upgrade definitely made a noticeable difference in more demanding games.

It really depends on the games you're playing, the settings, and your target framerate. Some games are more CPU-bound than others, so you might experience variations in performance. Just remember, each person's FPS target can differ greatly—some prioritize 60 FPS while others want 150 FPS or more.

In most cases, if you’re primarily GPU-bound, you probably won’t notice much of a bottleneck. The 5700 XT is a solid card, so you should still get a decent performance. Just keep an eye on the types of games you're playing, as some may expose the CPU limitations more than others.