Upgrade gaming pc

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My pc AMD Ryzen 5 2600 AB350 gaming 3 16gb ddr4 GPU gtx1080.
PSU 850 gold

can anyone recommend a 4k GPU upgrade that will work well with my spec?
 
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Which exact PSU do you have? Your motherboard only has PCIe 3.0 so you'll lose about 5% performance on the current highest-end GPUs and the CPU will be a bottleneck (even at 4k) for most games but as long as your PSU has 3x PCIe 8-pin you could even go as high as the 7900 XTX:


The AB350 motherboard can take better processors too, so if you wanted to in the future you could drop in something like a Ryzen 5700X3D which would make the build a bit more balanced. If you're only targeting 60fps at 4k though while the 2600 does bottleneck the GPU in a pretty big way, it's still able to maintain 60fps in a lot of games (excl Cyberpunk): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWVFtX0hAls

It's really depends whether you want to upgrade your CPU in the budget too and have a slightly less 4k future proofed GPU (i.e. 7900XT) or if you want to spend all your budget on one of the most future proofed 4K GPUs and then upgrade the CPU afterwards.
 
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Soldato
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25 Oct 2010
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If sticking with AM4, something like this would fit the bill:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £847.92 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

You'd need to update your motherboard bios to the latest version.

It would handle 4K passably, although obviously it depends on the game and settings.
 
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uk
Which exact PSU do you have? Your motherboard only has PCIe 3.0 so you'll lose about 5% performance on the current highest-end GPUs and the CPU will be a bottleneck (even at 4k) for most games but as long as your PSU has 3x PCIe 8-pin you could even go as high as the 7900 XTX:


The AB350 motherboard can take better processors too, so if you wanted to in the future you could drop in something like a Ryzen 5700X3D which would make the build a bit more balanced. If you're only targeting 60fps at 4k though while the 2600 does bottleneck the GPU in a pretty big way, it's still able to maintain 60fps in a lot of games (excl Cyberpunk): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWVFtX0hAls

It's really depends whether you want to upgrade your CPU in the budget too and have a slightly less 4k future proofed GPU (i.e. 7900XT) or if you want to spend all your budget on one of the most future proofed 4K GPUs and then upgrade the CPU afterwards.
Thanks for you help! My PSU is Cooler Master V850 Gold V2 PSU, I would upgrade prefer to upgrade the CPU and GPU , It sounds like i could also do with upgrading my motherboard ? If i could add some more to my budget, say an extra £300 would you recommend upgrading the motherboard too?
 
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OP
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25 Mar 2024
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Location
uk
If sticking with AM4, something like this would fit the bill:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £847.92 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

You'd need to update your motherboard bios to the latest version.

It would handle 4K passably, although obviously it depends on the game and settings.
Thanks for you help! My ram is teamgroup pro dark drr4 3200 16gb would that be ok to keep ? I was also thinking if i add and extra £300 to my budget would you recommend i upgrade the motherboard >?
 
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Thanks for you help! My ram is teamgroup pro dark drr4 3200 16gb would that be ok to keep ? I was also thinking if i add and extra £300 to my budget would you recommend i upgrade the motherboard >?
If your set on upgrading motherboard you mite as well go AM5 something like this



Total: £1,206.91 (includes delivery: £7.99)​
 
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Associate
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3 Feb 2008
Posts
136
Your power supply is fine.
Keep your motherboard - it's fine. I game at 4k on an Asus 3000 series chipset (the original AMD4 mobo) with no problems.
Do not spend extra on an "x3D" class processor as you are going to have a graphics card bottleneck at 4k unless you plan to buy a 4090 which I assume is not going to happen otherwise you wouldn't be posting here.
Do buy a 5600 processor and tweak it. If you can't or won't tweak it then pay 15 quid extra and buy the 5600X.
Do buy the 7900XT or, if you really want to beast it, then get the 7900XTX which is sitting at 870 quid today.
32GB RAM will make little difference but things do run smoother with it and for the current price it's worth buying.

Just my thoughts - good luck and post back what you buy.
 
Soldato
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Thanks for you help! My ram is teamgroup pro dark drr4 3200 16gb would that be ok to keep ? I was also thinking if i add and extra £300 to my budget would you recommend i upgrade the motherboard >?

Your motherboard should be fine for a 5700X3D, if you insist on changing it I'd take @mickyflinn advice and switch to AM5.

If you keep your current, using four sticks of RAM can be a little iffy at times. I'd replace what you have entirely with a 2x16GB set like the one I suggested above. Games absolutely are starting to use above 16gb, a lot more in fact depending on what exactly you play.

While 4K is generally GPU limited, I'd still go for the best gaming CPU available considering your budget. If staying on your current motherboard (aka the AM4 platform) those would be the 5700X3D or 5800X3D. There are still instances out there where certain games can benefit from the X3D cache, and frankly it's not like saving the money by going to a lower end CPU is going to give you room for a GPU upgrade over a 7900XTX.

If you're dead set on 4K, I'd keep your current motherboard and go with the following personally:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,167.96 (includes delivery: £7.99)​
 
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