Question Graphics card upgrade recommendation

[Billm_in_Texas]

I built my first computer from a guide here at Tom's. I built a second one a few years later with the same motherboard and all new components. I am attaching a screen grab of a Speccy summary. I want to upgrade my graphics card a bit and seek advice on a suitable upgrade from the AMD Radeon RX 560 4 GB card. I primarily use it for Lightroom/Photoshop photography processing. I doubled my RAM a while back and this seems to be the next upgrade I should do where that type of work is concerned. Thanks.

 

[Order 66]

I built my first computer from a guide here at Tom's. I built a second one a few years later with the same motherboard and all new components. I am attaching a screen grab of a Speccy summary. I want to upgrade my graphics card a bit and seek advice on a suitable upgrade from the AMD Radeon RX 560 4 GB card. I primarily use it for Lightroom/Photoshop photography processing. I doubled my RAM a while back and this seems to be the next upgrade I should do where that type of work is concerned. Thanks.

You need to upgrade your CPU first. That CPU is 11 years old at this point. What is your budget?

 

[Billm_in_Texas]

I haven't really thought about budget though I know this stuff has really gone up. I like AMD. I suppose I should see what is compatible with my motherboard and go from there?

 

[Order 66]

I haven't really thought about budget though I know this stuff has really gone up. I like AMD. I suppose I should see what is compatible with my motherboard and go from there?

You could, but there is not much use investing more money into a dead platform from over 10 years ago. If I were you, I would go with Ryzen 7000 so that you have an upgrade path for the future.

 

[Billm_in_Texas]

Are you talking about a new motherboard/cpu? I'm not prepared to do that right now.
Would the FX-4350 be an upgrade from what I have as far as the cpu is concerned? I appreciate you taking the time. I really haven't been keeping up with this stuff in a while as you can probably tell.

 

[Order 66]

Are you talking about a new motherboard/cpu? I'm not prepared to do that right now.
Would the FX-4350 be an upgrade from what I have as far as the cpu is concerned? I appreciate you taking the time. I really haven't been keeping up with this stuff in a while as you can probably tell.

no, the fx 4350 would be a huge downgrade from what you have now.

 

[COLGeek]

There is no appreciable upgrade path where you keep you current motherboard and memory. Those technologies are completely dead end.

What Order 66 is suggesting is a more practical upgrade path which would require a new CPU, motherboard, and memory.

If you can't do that, don't spend any money trying to improve your current motherboard/CPU/memory, you really can't.

 

[cirdecus]

I would agree, you've hit the limit of upgradability. The motherboard, CPU and RAM will have to be upgraded at once. 11 years or so is a great long life for that platform, you got your money's worth.

Right now, assuming your budget is very low, I'd pick up an AMD Ryzen 5600, a B550 Motherboard and 16GB of 3200Mhz RAM. All three can be had on Amazon for $274.

Use the GPU you have now and upgrade when you need to in the future.

 

[Billm_in_Texas]

no, the fx 4350 would be a huge downgrade from what you have now.

Thank you!

There is no appreciable upgrade path where you keep you current motherboard and memory. Those technologies are completely dead end.

What Order 66 is suggesting is a more practical upgrade path which would require a new CPU, motherboard, and memory.

If you can't do that, don't spend any money trying to improve your current motherboard/CPU/memory, you really can't.

I appreciate the advise.

I would agree, you've hit the limit of upgradability. The motherboard, CPU and RAM will have to be upgraded at once. 11 years or so is a great long life for that platform, you got your money's worth.

Right now, assuming your budget is very low, I'd pick up an AMD Ryzen 5600, a B550 Motherboard and 16GB of 3200Mhz RAM. All three can be had on Amazon for $274.

Use the GPU you have now and upgrade when you need to in the future.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely look into this.

I assume I can use everything in my current case which is a full size but not gaming size.

 

[Billm_in_Texas]

I would agree, you've hit the limit of upgradability. The motherboard, CPU and RAM will have to be upgraded at once. 11 years or so is a great long life for that platform, you got your money's worth.

Right now, assuming your budget is very low, I'd pick up an AMD Ryzen 5600, a B550 Motherboard and 16GB of 3200Mhz RAM. All three can be had on Amazon for $274.

Use the GPU you have now and upgrade when you need to in the future.

I have looked at the 3 items. Would these specifics meet your recommendations and I have to assume this will be considerably faster than what I currently have. I also assume I would have to go to Win11. I look up the specs on the motherboard to see if I can go 32 GB RAM.

AMD Ryzen™ 5 5600 6-Core, 12-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler ​

GIGABYTE B550M DS3H AC (AM4 AMD/B550/Micro ATX/Dual M.2/SATA 6Gb/s/USB 3.2 Gen 1/PCIe 4.0/HMDI/DVI/DDR4/Motherboard) ​

Corsair VENGEANCE LPX DDR4 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz CL16 Intel XMP 2.0 Computer Memory ​

​

 

[ohio_buckeye]

For a value option on the cpu, look at the ryzen 5 5500. Not as fast as the 5600, but compared to what you have now still a huge upgrade and gets you on more current tech.

As far as 32gb of ram, check the specs but my current b450 supports that, which is an older chipset than the b550.

Windows 11, you might as well make the jump. If you’ve been using windows 10, it’s a little different but shouldn’t be so much so that you can’t basically pick it up and use it. Microsoft will pull windows 10 support in 2025 so you’ll need to think about moving sooner or later anyway.

 

[Billm_in_Texas]

For a value option on the cpu, look at the ryzen 5 5500. Not as fast as the 5600, but compared to what you have now still a huge upgrade and gets you on more current tech.

As far as 32gb of ram, check the specs but my current b450 supports that, which is an older chipset than the b550.

Windows 11, you might as well make the jump. If you’ve been using windows 10, it’s a little different but shouldn’t be so much so that you can’t basically pick it up and use it. Microsoft will pull windows 10 support in 2025 so you’ll need to think about moving sooner or later anyway.

Thanks for the additional information. I have a laptop with Win 11 so I'm familiar with it.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Yeah it's not bad, and actually if you go under taskbar settings you can move the start button to the left if that makes things more familiar.

 

[Billm_in_Texas]

I would agree, you've hit the limit of upgradability. The motherboard, CPU and RAM will have to be upgraded at once. 11 years or so is a great long life for that platform, you got your money's worth.

Right now, assuming your budget is very low, I'd pick up an AMD Ryzen 5600, a B550 Motherboard and 16GB of 3200Mhz RAM. All three can be had on Amazon for $274.

Use the GPU you have now and upgrade when you need to in the future.

I appreciate y'all saving me money but now I'll spend a bit more. I looked around and can't find anything on new builds. I am putting together a list of what I want to buy and what I can still use. I put these in a wishlist and they have gone up a little. Is there somewhere here to plan a new build? Thanks.

 

[Unolocogringo]

If you are near a Microcenter they have some good bundles.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/5006269/amd-ryzen-7-7700x,-msi-b650-p-pro-wifi,-gskill-flare-x5-series-32gb-ddr5-6000-kit,-computer-build-combo

 

[DSzymborski]

And stuff like Stardock's Start11 can make your Windows 11 look basically like Windows 10 and give you additional customization they only charge $7 for it.