Upgrade or new?

TomC.

TomC.

TomC.

Associate
Joined
27 Aug 2010
Posts
31
Hello,

Probably on my 3rd or 4th pre-built OCUK rig now... current one is about 6 years old

AMD Ryzen 5 2600
Radeon RX Vega 8GB
16GB RAM

Still generally seems to be fine for most stuff, but do get occasional 40FPS / stuttering with more demanding games

Tend to play most Blizzard games, Cyberpunk, Battlefield, Street Fighter 6

I'm also a big Borderlands fan and I'm looking forward to Borderlands 4 - Which I'd like to play on at least high settings.

Should I be looking at upgrading my entire rig or is it worth investing in some new components for my current system?

I'd also like to upgrade my harddrive, which is a paltry 500gb.

Please can I ask for some suggestions / advice?

Cheers,

Tom.
 
If you're happy with secondhand bargains, you could make a very decent budget AM4 system, something like a 5700X3D, RX 6700XT/6800? Or even pair it with a new 9060XT?
I'm guessing you're fine with 1080P?
 
deviation said:
ecent budget AM4 system, something like a 5700X3D, RX 6
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deviation said:
If you're happy with secondhand bargains, you could make a very decent budget AM4 system, something like a 5700X3D, RX 6700XT/6800? Or even pair it with a new 9060XT?
I'm guessing you're fine with 1080P?
Click to expand...
Not fussed about the latest and greatest 4k, no.

Would just like a bit more power to turn up the graphics on higher end games and have a solid / reliable 60fps at higher settings.

Thanks.
 
TomC. said:
Not fussed about the latest and greatest 4k, no.

Would just like a bit more power to turn up the graphics on higher end games and have a solid / reliable 60fps at higher settings.

Thanks.
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Nice, yeah then you'll have no trouble building a pretty decent and competent 1080p mid-high system for not too much outlay :)
I'd go 5700X3D secondhand if possible, and a RX 9060XT, keep your ram or the meantime, unless you find a game that needs more - which you won't at 1080P unless you're running loads of mods? But you can upgrade that at any time :)

What is your current motherboard?
 
TomC. said:
I have a B450 Aorus Elite by Gigabyte Tech
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You haven't given us a budget as far as I can see but the go for a lot of people to is to upgrade to a 5700X3D and an AMD 9070 XT if you want excellent bang for the buck.

You'd need to let us know what PSU you have currently as if it's under a certain wattage, you may need to upgrade it too.

FYI: Update your BIOS to the latest version before you upgrade anything.
 
I used to practice a 2-3y upgrade cycle within a socket or mobo constraints, but lately technology has been moving quicker so you can get so much more milage with 2nd hand upgrades for much lower budget but with a bit bigger rebuild.
I think you need to realistically set a target for how much you're prepared to pend so folks here can give you good advice.
 
Budgetwise... I was prepared to start with a whole new rig, where I'd usually spend £1200-1500.

But if upgrades are worthwhile, then I'm happy to do that.

I guess it would be cool to get a new CPU/GPU and a bigger hard drive for about £600? I guess the cheaper the better :)

I think RAM is reasonably cheap now isn't it? I could always upgrade that later if needed.

Thanks for all your help so far.
 
TomC. said:
Budgetwise... I was prepared to start with a whole new rig, where I'd usually spend £1200-1500.

But if upgrades are worthwhile, then I'm happy to do that.

I guess it would be cool to get a new CPU/GPU and a bigger hard drive for about £600? I guess the cheaper the better :)
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We can do both specs, a new build for £1200-£1500 and an upgrade to CPU/GPU/SSD for £600.

For the upgrade spec, need to know the case and the PSU.

TomC. said:
I think RAM is reasonably cheap now isn't it? I could always upgrade that later if needed.
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DDR5 is still relatively cheap, but DDR4 (at least, new) has gone up a lot recently.
 
16GB ram will be fine for 1080P unless you're using loads of mods?
secondhand or new 5700X3D + 9060XT, whatever SSD/NVME/HDD you fancy. Job jobbed, unless you want to or need a new PSU.
Upgrade ram with secondhand as and when you need it - I haven't had an issue playing anything with 16GB ram, STALKER 2 and all the UE5 games played fine at max settings native 1440P or 4K DLSS, then I got 32GB and haven't seen the benefit, yet. I don't really do many mods, the odd tweak here and there. So take from that what you will.
 
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The PSU is terrible, if you're going to upgrade anything get a new PSU first.

If you can afford a new AM5 PC - definitely go with that. Sell the old one on eBay.
 
TomC. said:
Am I better off just going for something new then?

This seems to fit tick all the boxes...

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,099.99 (includes delivery: £0.00)​
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I would just fit a £200 5700X3D into your B450M motherboard, buy a decent 850W PSU, a 9060XT, and upgrade the ram with a 32GB secondhand kit as and when you need it... You'd be well under budget versus that pre-built.
 
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