Question $500-$800 AUD budget to further future proof my current gaming rig

Vegito164

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Mar 22, 2024
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Hey everyone,

Built by first gaming PC with the below specs about 5 years ago and am beginning to think about what would be the best things for me to start upgrading. My current components are:
Mobo: Asrock x570 Phantom gaming 4
CPU: AMD 5600x
GPU: RTX 3070
Memory: Corsair vengeance LPX 16gb 3600MHz
Power: EVGA 750w G+
SSD: Corsair 500Gb m.2 2280 NVMe PCIe

I am first looking into getting a 1440p monitor as my current one is only 1080p. After that though, if you had the set up that I have, what would you first be looking to upgrade to maintain a high level of performance for the newer, more graphically demanding games coming out these days? Appreciate the help and ideas :)
 
if you had the set up that I have, what would you first be looking to upgrade to maintain a high level of performance for the newer, more graphically demanding games coming out these days?
You're advised to stylize your thread with info asked of in this thread;
and the community can chime in with worthwhile suggestions.

As for your current system's specs, please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

Moved thread from Components section to Systems section.
 
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Hey everyone,

Built by first gaming PC with the below specs about 5 years ago and am beginning to think about what would be the best things for me to start upgrading. My current components are:

CPU: AMD 5600x
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black
Motherboard: Asrock x570 Phantom gaming 4 (BIOS: P3.60, 1/12/2020)
Ram: Corsair vengeance LPX 16gb 3600MHz
SSD/HDD: Corsair 500Gb m.2 2280 NVMe PCIe + Samsung 1TB SSD, 860 EVO, 2.5 inch SATA III
GPU: ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3070
PSU: EVGA 750W SuperNOVA G+ Modular Power Supply, 80 PLUS GOLD (about 5 years old)
Chassis: Deepcool Matrexx 50 Black E-ATX Case
OS: Windows 10
Monitor: MSI Optix G32C4W, 1920x1080, 165Hz

Budget Range: Roughly $500-800 AUD
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Primarily gaming
Parts to Upgrade: Any (whatever would offer the most value for money)
Do you need to buy OS: No
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: www.mwave.com.au, www.centrecom.com.au (Any AUS based store)
Location: South Australia
Parts Preferences: No preferences
Overclocking: No
Multiple GPUs: No
Monitor Resolution: Currently 1080p, will be looking to upgrade to a 1440p monitor (I'm not including what a new monitor will cost me in the budget listed above)
Why am I looking to Upgrade: Want to further future proof my set up so I can continue to run newer, more graphically intensive games on medium/high settings at 60+ FPS

Appreciate the help and ideas :)
 
What kinds of games do you play?
fast action?
Multiplayer?
sims,strategy?
From a cpu upgrade point of view, your upgrades are mostly in the realm of more processing threads, from your 12 up to 32 with a 5950X That would help with multipkayer, but not other types.
Here is your cpu support list:
https://pg.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X570 Phantom Gaming 4/index.asp#CPU
The single thread performance is hardly changed with upgrades and there seems to be no X3D support.
A cpu power boost will require a motherboard change and likely a ram change to ddr5 and 32gb.

Go ahead and buy your upgraded monitor. See how you do. I might suggest looking at a 4k monitor in the first place.
You can always adjust the settings or resolution.
With a 3070, I have no problem with the likes of civilization at 120hz.

A big graphics upgrade is likely to also require a psu change.
 
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In this case I would say GPU, especially if going 1440p. You could use more ram though too, but that would exceed the budget.

PCPartPicker Part List

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($115.00 @ Centre Com)
Video Card: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB Video Card ($749.00 @ Centre Com)
Total: $864.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-05-15 23:10 AEST+1000




relative-performance-2560-1440.png
 
of course the most obvious choice would be to replace your graphics card
and also to get 2x16gb 3600MHz cl 16 memory .
sadly $500-800 AUD is too little to do any meaningful gpu upgrade

the cheapest rtx 5060Ti 16gb costs $819 AUD and while it would do better in 1440p
compared to your old rtx 3070 due to more modern features and twice the amount of VRAM
it is still not worth buying
because it is only 10% faster in rasterization compared to rtx 3070 .

i would also not consider an older radeon 7800xt with FSR3 and
only rougly 25% faster performance in rasterization vs rtx 3070
to be a good enough upgrade to pay 750 bucks for ...
just no ...

consider rtx 5070 or radeon 9070 to be a minimum upgrade paths
to make any significant difference over your current gpu .


the second option what you could do with your budget
would be to jump to AM5 platform and upgrade the gpu later .
you would not get any immediate graphics upgrade
but you would get your old AM4 system out of the way .
(9600(x) processor + b850 motherboard and 2x16gb of DDR5 memory should
roughly fit within a $800 AUD budget) .

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 9600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor ($359.00 @ Computer Alliance)
Motherboard: ASRock B850 Pro-A WiFi ATX AM5 Motherboard ($299.00 @ Scorptec)
Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($144.00 @ MSY Technology)
Total: $802.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-05-15 23:27 AEST+1000


you can figure out the rest later .
this cpu comes with a cooler however if you want something better
and also to be able to run PBO you may consider getting something stronger and also more quiet
(or if you can keep your old noctua cooler than even better)

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK400 66.47 CFM CPU Cooler ($35.00 @ Scorptec)
Total: $35.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-05-15 23:29 AEST+1000
 
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I would do the 7800xt, only because of the move to 1440p. Modern titles are already starting to show 1440p and 8gb vram are not a good combination. Sticking with 1080p, I would say yea, new platform first for sure, as while some games can exceed 8gb buffer, at 1080p, it should be much easier to avoid it, when adjusting settings.

 
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What kinds of games do you play?
fast action?
Multiplayer?
sims,strategy?
From a cpu upgrade point of view, your upgrades are mostly in the realm of more processing threads, from your 12 up to 32 with a 5950X That would help with multipkayer, but not other types.
Here is your cpu support list:
https://pg.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X570 Phantom Gaming 4/index.asp#CPU
The single thread performance is hardly changed with upgrades and there seems to be no X3D support.
A cpu power boost will require a motherboard change and likely a ram change to ddr5 and 32gb.

Go ahead and buy your upgraded monitor. See how you do. I might suggest looking at a 4k monitor in the first place.
You can always adjust the settings or resolution.
With a 3070, I have no problem with the likes of civilization at 120hz.

A big graphics upgrade is likely to also require a psu change.
Predominantly singleplayer games at the moment, like Red Dead 2, Cyberpunk, Witcher 3, stuff like that (at 1080p, current build handles Red Dead and Witcher pretty well, Cyberpunk is obviously a bit more graphically intensive). So thinking of newer games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and other games that would be as demanding from a hardware perspective as them.

Will definitely look into 4k monitors as well though because you made a good point regarding being able to adjust resolution if needed anyway. Thank you for your thoughts
 
Predominantly singleplayer games at the moment, like Red Dead 2, Cyberpunk, Witcher 3, stuff like that (at 1080p, current build handles Red Dead and Witcher pretty well, Cyberpunk is obviously a bit more graphically intensive). So thinking of newer games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and other games that would be as demanding from a hardware perspective as them.

Will definitely look into 4k monitors as well though because you made a good point regarding being able to adjust resolution if needed anyway. Thank you for your thoughts
If you are looking at 1440p or 4k then I would skip getting a graphics card because nothing that you get will really be ready for it, especially 4k within 800 AUD. I would do a platform upgrade and piece it together over time buying what you can when you can afford it. Something like this would be fine for 4k, but you may want an extra couple cores for 1440p. Many of the newer games are more core hungry. Even at 4k my 5800X3D is getting over 60% usage with a 5090 in Cyberpunk 2077. When I switch the resolution to 1440p I barely gain 20% FPS over 4k because my 5800X3D is bottlenecking even at 1440p pretty bad. Same story with Monster Hunter wilds. You are going to want a new PSU that can handle any card you want or can afford in the future. You are probably going to want more than 32gb of RAM as well. I have played some games where my system RAM is capping out with some browser tabs and discord open in the background. A really good air cooler for the CPU is in order as well. Most of the graphics cards are implementing passthrough cooling and that dumps hot air into the CPU coolers unless you get a front intake mounted CLC. If you want something you can get now, the CPU, MOBO, and RAM is what I would do, otherwise save up and buy a piece at a time when there are good deals.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 9600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor ($359.00 @ Computer Alliance)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($55.00 @ Centre Com)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B850 GAMING WIFI6 ATX AM5 Motherboard ($287.30 @ Amazon Australia)
Memory: Patriot Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($289.00 @ MSY Technology)
Power Supply: FSP Group Hydro G PRO ATX3.0(PCIe5.0) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($219.00 @ JW Computers)
Total: $1209.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-05-16 01:51 AEST+1000
 
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Amazing, really appreciate all the help and advice from everyone. I'll keep my eye out for any good deals on some of the parts that've been recommended and starting building up a new better platform when I can <3