[SOLVED] Gaming PC Upgrade

[grana92]

Hello, I'm planning on upgrading my gaming PC by the end of this year.

The main goal is to be able to play basically anything at 1080p on ultra/max settings

Current setup:
PSU: Corsair CX500M
MBO: Gigabyte H170 Gaming
CPU: Core i5 6500
GPU: Gigabyte GTX1060 6GB G1
RAM: G.Skill 16GB 2400MHz
SSD: Samsung 960 Evo Pro M.2 NVMe 250GB

Upgrade:
CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
MBO: Need advice
GPU: RX 5700 - advice needed on which aftermarket to buy
PSU: Upgrade not planned but I will if required

To narrow it down here's a few games that I play in random order:

• Cities Skylines
• Frostpunk
• Witcher 3
• Civilization VI
• Assassin's Creed Odissey
• Anno 1800

 

[Eximo]

Step one, buy the GPU, see how it goes. Many of those titles could use more CPU and switching to AMD is a decent idea. But if you plan on keeping the memory, that will negatively impact Ryzen more than Intel, so I highly recommend including some DDR4 3200 in your upgrade plan if you go down that route.

As for which RX5700, look at Gamer's Nexus for a good comparison. They have good insight on which coolers to avoid. Then shop around for pricing.

Motherboard selection, any B450 motherboard with some heatsinks on the VRMs is my usual recommendation. You could potentially wait for the B550 boards to come out, that should be only a few weeks away I believe. Not sure I can recommend getting an X570 board unless you have plans for CPUs larger than the 3600. But that guarantees compatibility. Some B450 boards will need a flash to work with the 3000 series.

Another option would be to see what you can get a used i7 for. Then you wouldn't have to go to the trouble of re-installing your OS. You will have to try bidding low, people are still expecting full retail since you can still buy them new (i7-7700, i7-7700k). You could look at the pricing for 6700 and 6700k, but if you are going to stick with it, might as well get the fastest options.