Question Decent (budget) upgrade

[Pallasa]

Hello,

4 years ago i build the following pc:

cpu: ryzen 3200g
mobo: asrock b450m pro4
ram: Corsair lpx 2x8gb 3000
gpu: msi radeon rx 570 armor 4gb oc
psu: fractal design ion+ 560w
case: fractal design define mini c

I am a casual gamer who plays mostly indie titles and once in a while a bigger game. (for example stardew valley, point and click games like monkey island or deponia, or games like divinity original sin 2). I intend to keep playing at 1080p.
Recently i more often find that i get lag to the point that it is unplayable when i try to play games (for example Beyond Blue or Baldurs gate 3).
So i reckon i could do with a upgrade.

What do you think would be a decent path? Change the gpu, change the cpu?
For what it's worth, i run linux, so am partial to amd. But open to alternatives.
Budget would be around 500 euro.

 

[CountMike]

Hello,

4 years ago i build the following pc:

cpu: ryzen 3200g
mobo: asrock b450m pro4
ram: Corsair lpx 2x8gb 3000
gpu: msi radeon rx 570 armor 4gb oc
psu: fractal design ion+ 560w
case: fractal design define mini c

I am a casual gamer who plays mostly indie titles and once in a while a bigger game. (for example stardew valley, point and click games like monkey island or deponia, or games like divinity original sin 2).
Recently i more often find that i get lag when i try to play games (for example Beyond Blue or Baldurs gate 3).
So i reckon i could do with a upgrade.

What do you think would be a decent path? Change the gpu, change the cpu?
For what it's worth, i run linux, so am partial to amd. But open to alternatives.
Budget would be around 500 euro.

Minimum to be able to keep everything else including PSU
CPU: Ryzen 5600x to double CPU performance, will need to update BIOS before change
GPU: Minimum Rx 6600/6650XT. Rx 7800XT with PSU upgrade.
All should work fine with Linux.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

I would second the CPU and GPU upgrade; however, the Ryzen 7 5700X is only a few dollars more than the 5600X right now. Maybe keep reservations for a CPU cooler upgrade.

 

[Pallasa]

Thank you for the recommendations!

@CountMike When you say minimum, what do you mean by that? Will that be able to run most things at 1080p?

@MrN1ce9uy Is the 5700x a better cpu then the 5600x? For cpu cooling i have a be quiet pure rock slim 2.
Will this cooler be adequate for the cpu?

I see that the rx 6650 xt is not readily available. Models of the rx 6600 that are available are (powercolor fighter or asrock challenger D or Sapphire pulse).
What brands would you recommend for amd gpu's nowadays? I reckon that the power would be the same, but the fans may be different? I prefer a quieter system. Is there a brand that stands out in that aspect, or is it dependent on the individual cards?

 

[CountMike]

Thank you for the recommendations!

@CountMike When you say minimum, what do you mean by that? Will that be able to run most things at 1080p?

@MrN1ce9uy Is the 5700x a better cpu then the 5600x? For cpu cooling i have a be quiet pure rock slim 2.
Will this cooler be adequate for the cpu?

I see that the rx 6650 xt is not readily available. Models of the rx 6600 that are available are (powercolor fighter or asrock challenger D or Sapphire pulse).
What brands would you recommend for amd gpu's nowadays? I reckon that the power would be the same, but the fans may be different? I prefer a quieter system. Is there a brand that stands out in that aspect, or is it dependent on the individual cards?

By "minimum" I meant lowest Ryzen that would give you decent performance over the old one. 5700x would be slightly better on account of more cores if needed, 5800X3D would be best but BIOS in 400 series chipset MBs is not properly addressed and needs large coolers that don't fit in small cases.

 

[geofelt]

To test the possible benefit of a gpu upgrade, run this test:
Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
This makes the graphics card loaf a bit.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

If you upgrade your gpu, make it a significant jump or you may be disappointed if you do not see significant results.
Here is tom's gpu hierarchy chart:

GPU Benchmarks and Hierarchy 2023: Graphics Cards Ranked

We've run hundreds of GPU benchmarks on Nvidia, AMD, and Intel graphics cards and ranked them in our comprehensive hierarchy.

www.tomshardware.com

At least one tier, two or more is better.
Your psu will likely restrict your option to a card that needs no more than a single 8 pin aux connector.

If you think the cpu is the issue, then an upgrade to the 3200g is in order.
Here is a list of possible cpu upgrades for your motherboard:

ASRock > B450M Pro4

Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 2000, 3000, 4000 G-Series, 5000 and 5000 G-Series Desktop Processors; Supports DDR4 3200+ (OC); 1 PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 PCIe 2.0 x16, 1 PCIe 2.0 x1; AMD Quad CrossFireX™; Graphics Output: HDMI, DVI-D, D-Sub; 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec), ELNA Audio Caps...

www.asrock.com

for gaming, look more to high single thread performance, not for many threads.
Run the cpu-Z bench on your 3200g and look at the single thread performance score.
You should see about 440:

CPU-Z Benchmark for AMD Ryzen 3 3200G (1T) - CPU-Z VALIDATOR

Best CPU performance - 64-bit - December 2023

valid.x86.fr

I might think something like a 5600x.
If your case has good front intake, the stock cooler should be fine.