Question Upgrade my current PC or get a whole new one ?

[CattyCatt]

My current PC specs:
Ryzen 9 3900x
MSI 2070 Super 8GB
16GB DDR4 1333mhz ram
3GB M.2 SSD I put windows on with some cheaper non-m2 SSD's for games
Power supply - Super Flower 750w gold
B350M PRO-VDH (MS-7A38) Motherboard
Monitor is a basic 1080p monitor

It's served me great for a good 4 or so years but its chugging a at times in some modern games like Helldivers 2. I have a budget of about $1,300 ( I figure with how expensive everything is that probably won't get me much these days)

Should I upgrade what I currently have or go for a whole new PC? I was thinking of upgrading my GPU given that seems to be the biggest bottleneck currently but wasn't sure what to do

 

[Why_Me]

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/windows-11-free-or-cheap

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor ($366.91 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: *ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: *Gigabyte B850 GAMING X WIFI6E ATX AM5 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: *TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($88.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: *ASRock Challenger OC Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB Video Card ($369.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1035.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-08-01 20:56 EDT-0400


PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor ($366.91 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: *ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: *Gigabyte B850 GAMING X WIFI6E ATX AM5 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: *TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: *Silicon Power UD90 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($95.97 @ B&H)
Video Card: *ASRock Challenger OC Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB Video Card ($369.99 @ Newegg)
Case: *Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $1202.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-08-02 07:27 EDT-0400

 

[beyondlogic]

My current PC specs:
Ryzen 9 3900x
MSI 2070 Super 8GB
16GB DDR4 1333mhz ram
3GB M.2 SSD I put windows on with some cheaper non-m2 SSD's for games
Power supply - Super Flower 750w gold
B350M PRO-VDH (MS-7A38) Motherboard
Monitor is a basic 1080p monitor

It's served me great for a good 4 or so years but its chugging a at times in some modern games like Helldivers 2. I have a budget of about $1,300 ( I figure with how expensive everything is that probably won't get me much these days)

Should I upgrade what I currently have or go for a whole new PC? I was thinking of upgrading my GPU given that seems to be the biggest bottleneck currently but wasn't sure what to do

Something wrong with that ram I'd it's only 1333mhz. Ryzen should be able to do 3200 easy

Honestly your biggest upgrade will be GPU put money into that. 5070 ti or rx 9070 it's quite efficient and better value and ram is quite cheap on DDR4.

3200 kit of 16gbx2. Cl16.

If your a steamer you would be better with 5900x with aio liquid or if for just gaming 5700x3d

 

[--SID--]

Something wrong with that ram I'd it's only 1333mhz. Ryzen should be able to do 3200 easy

1333MHz is 2666MT/s. If it's rated at 2666 it's not gonna run much faster with XMP enabled.

 

[beyondlogic]

1333MHz is 2666MT/s. If it's rated at 2666 it's not gonna run much faster with XMP enabled.

True dunno if it's a single stick of memory either that can cut performance in half.

 

[CattyCatt]

Something wrong with that ram I'd it's only 1333mhz. Ryzen should be able to do 3200 easy

Honestly your biggest upgrade will be GPU put money into that. 5070 ti or rx 9070 it's quite efficient and better value and ram is quite cheap on DDR4.

3200 kit of 16gbx2. Cl16.

If your a steamer you would be better with 5900x with aio liquid or if for just gaming 5700x3d

My bad my ram is 2666 mhz. Showed up as 1333 in cpuz for some reason but task manager has it as 2666 and its 2x8 sticks

 

[beyondlogic]

My bad my ram is 2666 mhz. Showed up as 1333 in cpuz for some reason but task manager has it as 2666 and its 2x8 sticks

16gb is still quite low. GPU also could be off loading vram to system ram.

 

[Unolocogringo]

Your ram is holding back max frames per second.
A kit of 3600 cas 16 would also up your low fps spikes. Instead of running 100 and suddenly dropping to 60 the drop would be to 75. +/- depending on game.
Your biggest upgrade would be the video card.
A 4070 class would be a big enough upgrade to notice a difference with the memory change.1080p max settings in most games or 1440p high settings in most games.
To improve max and low FPS even more a CPU upgrade to 5700-5800x would add an additional 15-25% more FPS .But only if you upgraded the memory to 3600 cas 16. Less if you keep the slow memory.

 

[Why_Me]

My bad my ram is 2666 mhz. Showed up as 1333 in cpuz for some reason but task manager has it as 2666 and its 2x8 sticks

The 2070 nets about the same frames per second as the Intel Arc B570 on this chart. Your current board supports PCIe 3.0 and this most recent generation of AMD and Nvidia cards support PCIe 5.0. That build I posted up above comes in well below your budget and will literally mop the floor with your current setup no matter what you upgrade whether it be cpu, gpu, RAM or all three.

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/amd-radeon-rx-9060-xt-16gb-review/4

 

[beyondlogic]

Am4 has plenty of life your CPU should be easily handling 1080p close to 100 FPS what's killing your performance is the GPU if you want to save money while also getting a bump change the b350 for a b550.

Make sure that your windows 11 or 10 license is connected to your email. If you upgraded from 10-11 you may need a new license. If your on 10 that's better. Id recommend backing up all games and save files to another portable drive.

Using your existing cpu and staying on am4 get a rx 9070xt new PSU as it needs a min of 850w on most models.

I've added a 240 aio into this build cost cause my guta telling me your r9 is under performing and could be a cooling issue what are you running the r9 with.

I've added much faster storage to the mix as well.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4mWyzP

Nvme heatsink
https://www.amazon.com/quiet-BZ003-...e+heatsink+be+quiet,aps,165&sr=8-1&th=1&psc=1

If you have nvme storage without a heatsink I recommend getting one as it will thermal throttle on nvme 4.0 and high temps kill drives.

What is your current case ?.

 

[LordVile]

My current PC specs:
Ryzen 9 3900x
MSI 2070 Super 8GB
16GB DDR4 1333mhz ram
3GB M.2 SSD I put windows on with some cheaper non-m2 SSD's for games
Power supply - Super Flower 750w gold
B350M PRO-VDH (MS-7A38) Motherboard
Monitor is a basic 1080p monitor

It's served me great for a good 4 or so years but its chugging a at times in some modern games like Helldivers 2. I have a budget of about $1,300 ( I figure with how expensive everything is that probably won't get me much these days)

Should I upgrade what I currently have or go for a whole new PC? I was thinking of upgrading my GPU given that seems to be the biggest bottleneck currently but wasn't sure what to do

Cheapest way would be put a 5700X3D or 5800X3D into it with a new cooler and then a 5070 for your budget. Other than that it’s a full platform upgrade

 

[CyberFlash]

I would upgrade to a whole new PC. I suggest shifting to a 2k or 4k gaming PC with parts planned around a 9070 XT(Don't care about ray tracing,DLSS, Framegen etc features much) or RTX 5070(Care a lot about those features).

 

[LOGAN54321]

For now i will not comment on some of the advices/comments given so far, so as not to hurt some people's feelings.

PCPartPicker Part List
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 9600X 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor ($191.04 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650M GAMING PLUS WIFI Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard ($125.66 @ Amazon)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($88.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: MSI SPATIUM M480 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($119.99 @ MSI)
Video Card: ASRock Challenger Radeon RX 9070 16 GB Video Card ($599.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Montech CENTURY II 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.90 @ Amazon)
Total: $1310.54
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-08-02 10:09 EDT-0400

 

[MEMOFLEX]

Helldivers 2 is quite a heavy cpu game and with the combination of a 3000 Ryzen and slower memory then this is not helping performance. I have ran this game on a 2070 super with a 5700x3d / 3600 c16 memory and it runs well. Yes the 2070 super is an older card but there is still life in it across a number of modern games although settings will need to be managed obviously.

Regarding what to do next then if you didn't have to upgrade your memory as well as your processor I would suggest staying with AM4 for a while longer as the most cost effective solution. As you will likley need to change the cpu, memory and possible cpu cooler then you are already changing most of the core components other than motherboard, and so I would really be looking at a complete upgrade. Something along the lines of a 9600x / B650 or B850 / 32gb DDR5 6000 C30 Memory as already suggested by others, offers great bang for the buck, significant improvement over your current system and a number of in socket upgrades in the future.

For the GPU then I would be looking at either a 9060xt 16gb or or 9070 / 9070xt depending on remaining budget. Again these seem to offer the best bang for the buck at present. 16gb of vram as a minimum to ensure getting the maximum life out of the card. Nvidia will be releasing super variants of their current cards with increased vram it seems although I expect the pricing to inflated as a consequence.

Obviously all of these cards would potentially be overkill for a basic 1080p monitor but will give you options down the line should you move to 1440p +