'Possibly' upgrading an older computer. Advice required!

[lttlejoe]

Hi guys, very soon I'll be in the process of building my new computer but I'm planning on giving my old (current) PC to my grandson. I built it about 5 years ago and it's served me well. The CPU installed is a Ryzen 2600X, the mobo is a Gigabyte Aorus B450 with 16gigs ram, a good PSU, a decent gaming case and various hard drives and SSDs.
The video card is a GTX 1060 3Gb and plays the games I play well enough.
I could just give it to him as it is but I don't mind spending a bit on it to give it a little longer lifespan rather than it just ending up in a cupboard unused.
DDR4 ram is relatively cheap at the moment so that could be upped to 32gigs but I'm wondering if the mobo could accept a better performing CPU or whether, bearing in mind the age of the mobo, the 2600X is about as much as that mobo can take?
I don't want to spend too much on it given it's age but it's still quite quick so if its performance can be improved then so much the better.
Any suggestions?

 

[alec]

It can take 5800X3D for max gaming perf https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B450-AORUS-M-rev-1x/support#support-cpu (bios update F60 needed and recommended doing one anyway)
5700X3D is best value
Will be a big difference compared to 2600X

Whether to replace memory with a [faster] 32GB kit depends on if it runs out of ram in any scenario.

Any GPU upgrade will be big for gaming obviously. Most games struggle with 3GB VRAM

 

[mickyflinn]

There are plenty of upgrade options but first what will your grandson be using it for and if gaming types of games and monitor resolution ?

 

[lttlejoe]

There are plenty of upgrade options but first what will your grandson be using it for and if gaming types of games and monitor resolution ?

He has an Xbox or whatever but he's not a huge gamer in any case so the computer will be a general purpose machine ( surfing, a bit of gaming etc) doing a bit of this and that. I'll just give him this monitor and keyboard.

 

[mickyflinn]

He has an Xbox or whatever but he's not a huge gamer in any case so the computer will be a general purpose machine ( surfing, a bit of gaming etc) doing a bit of this and that. I'll just give him this monitor and keyboard.

Then no need to spend any money until he says it struggling with something ,by then it will be his birthday or Xmas and you can buy an upgrade then.

 

[lttlejoe]

It can take 5800X3D for max gaming perf https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B450-AORUS-M-rev-1x/support#support-cpu (bios update F60 needed and recommended doing one anyway)
5700X3D is best value
Will be a big difference compared to 2600X

Whether to replace memory with a [faster] 32GB kit depends on if it runs out of ram in any scenario.

Any GPU upgrade will be big for gaming obviously. Most games struggle with 3GB VRAM

Thanks for the reply. The CPU upgrade looks to be the first port of call. It's already pretty decent so an increase in its performance sounds like a good option. If 16gb of ram is insufficient then it's not the end of the world if it needs increasing. As for the GPU unless he gets into PC gaming then it will probably suffice for his needs.

 

[Tetras]

DDR4 ram is relatively cheap at the moment so that could be upped to 32gigs but I'm wondering if the mobo could accept a better performing CPU or whether, bearing in mind the age of the mobo, the 2600X is about as much as that mobo can take?

I assume that is used? New it is the most expensive it has been for a long time.

Anything like a 5600/5600x/5700X, would be a good upgrade for casual gaming, though without replacing the graphics card, I wouldn't bother.

Once you have a CPU like the above, it would easily accept anything up to a 5070 / 9070 XT, but realistically a 9060 XT 16GB is the point I'd call it a day (and still a huge upgrade on a 1060).