Question I need some advice and input on upgrading my current PC for gaming ?

[drjohnnyfever]

The PC I use for everyday surfing, music and tv streaming, and some server-ish sharing of music and movies with the kids and their devices - my setup is thus:

MOBO: ASUS Prime X570 Pro
CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
GPU: SRhonyra Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5
PSU: Seasonic GM-550
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3200 X2 for 32GB RAM
Audio: Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus Pure Edition SABRE32 Ultra-Class 32-bit/384kHz PCI-e Gaming Sound Card and DAC

My son wants me to play RDR 1 and 2 with him. He wants to teach me how to play as I taught him how to play MegaMan 2 and 3 when he was 4, 10 years ago. I imagine he'll want me in Fortnite too.

So I'm thinking I need to upgrade my regular rig a little while still letting it do everything I presently use it for. With just some initial looking, the 5th gen Ryzens are good bargains. The Ryzen 9 5900X is only $234 on Amazon right now and RTX 3060's are $299 and lower. So for around $500-550, I think I'd have a super upgrade. Altho, if I do both of these, I figure I'm in for a bigger PSU too, so another $100 easy for that.

I'm not opposed to using a Radeon GPU's, but I'm more familiar with the Nvidia models. I'm also not opposed to spending less than $500 if there are other recommendations re CPU and GPU combinations. I only highlighted the Ryzen 5 5900X because I happened to see it and was looking at top tier prices out of curiosity. I am limited by having the AM4 socket.

Any and all suggestions and advice is appreciated.

 

[Why_Me]

The 5600 is a noticeable upgrade from your current cpu.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor ($114.81 @ Amazon)
Video Card: *MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X 12G GeForce RTX 3060 12GB 12 GB Video Card ($259.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $374.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-09-14 17:35 EDT-0400
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor ($161.44 @ MemoryC)
Total: $161.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-09-14 17:42 EDT-0400

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D 3 GHz 8-Core Processor ($196.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $196.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-09-14 17:37 EDT-0400

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amd-ryzen-7-5700x3d-cpu-review

 

[drjohnnyfever]

Is there a school of thought with being a little more aggressive in the CPU or GPU in an upgrade like I'm seeking? Or is it a wash? I guess what I'm getting at is this:

If I have about $500 to spend, am I going to see any difference - a novice like me in this kind of gaming - in a CPU combo of a Ryzen 5 5600, 5600X or Ryzen 7 5700 with a RTX 3060 or Radeon 5600? Does it make sense to devote a little more to one area or the other?

 

[Why_Me]

Is there a school of thought with being a little more aggressive in the CPU or GPU in an upgrade like I'm seeking? Or is it a wash? I guess what I'm getting at is this:

If I have about $500 to spend, am I going to see any difference - a novice like me in this kind of gaming - in a CPU combo of a Ryzen 5 5600, 5600X or Ryzen 7 5700 with a RTX 3060 or Radeon 5600? Does it make sense to devote a little more to one area or the other?

Forget the 5600X. The 5600 (non X) made that cpu obsolete. It comes down to those three cpu's imo and that's a tough call. Honestly you can't go wrong with any of those three choices.

 

[drjohnnyfever]

Ok, so say I go with either the 5600 or level up to the 5700, because I think the value is in those CPU's, am I good or plus with either of the two GPU's - RTX 3060 or the Radeon 5600 series. Do I get any real benefit from overspending on the GPU with either of those CPU's, if they are the decision, CPU-wise?

BTW, thanks for carrying on this conversation. I value the talk and perspective.

 

[Flayed]

If you only have $500 to improve gaming performance I would spend it on a new GPU. Don't forget those CPU fps charts are using an RTX 3090 once you halve the GPU performance the gains from a faster CPU drop dramatically.

 

[drjohnnyfever]

If you only have $500 to improve gaming performance I would spend it on a new GPU. Don't forget those CPU fps charts are using an RTX 3090 once you halve the GPU performance the gains from a faster CPU drop dramatically.

Yeah, I noticed that, but I took it as a benchmark. I guess your opinion is that if I'm going to meaningfully overspend, I should do it on a GPU? I was sort of wandering that way in my thought process. If I choose the Ryzen 5 5600 then, is there benefit to going over the $260 for the RTX 4060 @Why_Me suggested above? Or do I get greater benefit with that GPU and the Ryzen 7 5700?

 

[Flayed]

Yeah, I noticed that, but I took it as a benchmark. I guess your opinion is that if I'm going to meaningfully overspend, I should do it on a GPU? I was sort of wandering that way in my thought process. If I choose the Ryzen 5 5600 then, is there benefit to going over the $260 for the RTX 4060 @Why_Me suggested above? Or do I get greater benefit with that GPU and the Ryzen 7 5700?

The gaming performance difference between a Ryzen 5 5600 and a Ryzen 7 5700 is minimal. I wouldn't bother with a CPU upgrade as your current 3600 is perfectly capable of driving an RTX 4060.

I would go for either an RTX 4060ti or an RX 7700XT and call it a day.

 

[ClapTrapper]

I have a 3060 and RDR2 runs great. I don't know about the Megaman game, but with my Ryzen 7 5800x and a 3060, RDR2 runs great
Don't get bogged down in benchmarks, it is the real world world experience that counts. Sorry I can't help you with the cpu, but with my setup and can tell you the 3060 will run RDR 2 great.
Oh and and it does the non-gamming stuff great too (in my case, video editing,streaming,and photoshop run smooth).

 

[drjohnnyfever]

I took a look this morning at prices again and found a nice RTX 3060 12GB for $250 and the Ryzen 5 5700G for $162. I like the idea of gaining an HDMI with the on-board graphics in case I ever run into issues with the GPU. I had one blow on me a while back and had to borrow a card to determine the problem. The Passmark scores are essentially the same with the 5700 and 5700G. The integrated graphics comes for an additional $20 over the R7 5700. The only other consideration is the Ryzen 5 5600; it's only $99 on Amazon and would save $60. $410 with the 4060 and R7 5700G vs. $350 with the R5 5600 and the 4060

So I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the RTX 3060 and then watch the prices on the CPUs for a bit while I see what my present Ryzen 5 3600 can do with the new GPU.

Thanks for the conversation and advice, any other ideas are welcomed, in the meantime.

 

[drjohnnyfever]

Just a quick update here... I decided to test ride my present system with Fortnite to get a feel for what I already had.

MOBO: ASUS Prime X570 Pro
CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
GPU: SRhonyra Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5
PSU: Seasonic GM-550
Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3200 X2 for 32GB RAM
Sound: Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus Pure Edition SABRE32 Ultra-Class 32-bit/384kHz PCI-e Gaming Sound Card and DAC

Should I be shocked and pleased with 80fps? Everything seems to run fine.

 

[Flayed]

I was curious about my systems performance in Fortnite so I installed it. I seem to be getting 50 to 60 fps @1440p with the graphics settings on ultra with RT off.

 

[Unolocogringo]

Late here but my 3600@4.4 all core with a 3060ti FE plays all my games @1080 max/near max settings with playable frame rates.
I would just upgrade the video card and call it a day.
The CPU determines the max frame rate. The GPU determines the max graphics settings you can run.
If you are not chasing high frame rate ( I average 140fps in Rust @ max settings) then your R5 3600 will most likely please you.

 

[drjohnnyfever]

Right now I just have the Windows 11 drivers running the GPU - SRhonyra Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5. It's a cheap Chi-tech card that I got merely because it had the connections I needed to connect a couple TV's. I've tried using it with the Radeon software from AMD, but it makes the system video - the way I use it normally - buggy. And every time it used to update, I was constantly having to adjust it or reset things to get it back to my normal.

Since I'm just dipping my toe in with the games to spend some extra time with my son, is there a way in Windows to adjust the video settings for gaming or would I have to install the actual AMD suite to experiment?

I think the plan is that I'm going to get the RTX 3060 12gb card down the road, but maybe there's some lower degree of urgency if I can tinker with what I have. I'm not upset about not spending money. lol I am surprised that the PC I put together about 3-4 years ago is performing at the level it is, especially since I didn't build it as a gamer. I mean it's not a rocket, but for an old guy just tagging along in the gaming world with his son, it doesn't seem bad.

 

[Unolocogringo]

Your system is similar to my systems.
Have you updated the Bios and /or the system/motherboard drivers?
With newer Bios and Updated chipset drivers from AMD the X570 platform is very stable.
Make sure this is your exact board.
Update BIOS and install Audio and Lan/ethernet drivers from Asus.
https://www.asus.com/motherboards-c...0-pro/helpdesk_bios?model2Name=PRIME-X570-PRO

Motherboard chipset drivers.
https://www.amd.com/en/support/downloads/drivers.html/chipsets/am4/x570.html

Follow the bios update instructions exactly.
Especially if you use bitlocker . You will need to make sure you have a backup of your key.

Then I would install the latest drivers for your video card.
Others here with more Radeon video card experience can help you there.