Question Upgrading suggestions/advice

[mattwerew]

Ok, I have an RX 6600 paired with a Ryzen 5 3600 plugged into a Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 motherboard with a 550W power supply.

I play mostly FPS games but also games like RDR2 and occasionally VR. And I like doing some multitasking such as recording while gaming and talking on Discord at the same time.

I first considered upgrading to a CPU like the 5 5600x or the 7 5700x as they have the same
TDP and AM4 socket, because I don’t necessarily want to buy a new mobo and power supply. However I realised that I won’t get a substantial and worthwhile performance increase and would only really benefit in VR and CPU intensive games like BeamNG.

I heard from some that upgrading your GPU instead is more worth it, but then I would have to contend with possibly bottlenecks and high TDP.

So I guess I have two decisions, upgrade CPU or GPU first. But I’m not good at making decisions, so that’s why I’m looking for some suggestions or advice.

 

[geofelt]

My stock approach to this perennial question:

Some games are graphics limited like fast action shooters.
Others are cpu core speed limited like strategy, sims, and mmo.
Multiplayer tends to like many threads.

You need to find out which.
------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run this test:

Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
This makes the graphics card loaf a bit.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

 

[jeremyj_83]

Ok, I have an RX 6600 paired with a Ryzen 5 3600 plugged into a Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 motherboard with a 550W power supply.

I play mostly FPS games but also games like RDR2 and occasionally VR. And I like doing some multitasking such as recording while gaming and talking on Discord at the same time.

I first considered upgrading to a CPU like the 5 5600x or the 7 5700x as they have the same
TDP and AM4 socket, because I don’t necessarily want to buy a new mobo and power supply. However I realised that I won’t get a substantial and worthwhile performance increase and would only really benefit in VR and CPU intensive games like BeamNG.

I heard from some that upgrading your GPU instead is more worth it, but then I would have to contend with possibly bottlenecks and high TDP.

So I guess I have two decisions, upgrade CPU or GPU first. But I’m not good at making decisions, so that’s why I’m looking for some suggestions or advice.

What make and model do you have for your PSU?

 

[dark_globe]

5700x is a significant upgrade over the ryzen 3600 and it´s certainly worthwhile .
benchmarks will only tell you some average performance numbers ,
but the overall experience and options with 5700x will be much better and smoother -
you can run things in background , you can use OBS while playing and it still runs great -
on the contrary if you try to do the same with 3600 you will experience FSP drops
annoying micro stutters etc .

not so long ago i tested 10400f (similar cpu) and it bottlenecked even rtx 2060 super -
things run much smoother even on older i7 9700
and 5700x is a whole new level of performance than 3600 overall.

 

[mattwerew]

What make and model do you have for your PSU?

It is the Corsair CX550M 550 W 80+ Bronze Semi-modular ATX Power Supply. It is only a few months old.

 

[mattwerew]

My stock approach to this perennial question:

Some games are graphics limited like fast action shooters.
Others are cpu core speed limited like strategy, sims, and mmo.
Multiplayer tends to like many threads.

You need to find out which.

Interesting, personally I play more sims and FPS multiplayer so a better CPU would be ideal.

 

[mattwerew]

5700x is a significant upgrade over the ryzen 3600 and it´s certainly worthwhile .
benchmarks will only tell you some average performance numbers ,
but the overall experience and options with 5700x will be much better and smoother -
you can run things in background , you can use OBS while playing and it still runs great -
on the contrary if you try to do the same with 3600 you will experience FSP drops
annoying micro stutters etc .

not so long ago i tested 10400f (similar cpu) and it bottlenecked even rtx 2060 super -
things run much smoother even on older i7 9700
and 5700x is a whole new level of performance than 3600 overall.

I agree, I hate micro stutters. I used to have V-sync off when I played my games but now I have it on all the time because I want smoothness in my gameplay. I also had endless problems with recording as it made my game a stuttering mess. I will consider this.

 

[jeremyj_83]

It is the Corsair CX550M 550 W 80+ Bronze Semi-modular ATX Power Supply. It is only a few months old.

Sad that the PSU is only a couple months old as it is average at best. The Corsair CX-M made Jonnyguru's, current head of Corsair PSU R&D, list of "it will do" PSUs.

The following are my "it will do" suggestions. They all have double forward topologies. I wouldn't use any of the below, but if you're on a really tight budget, they are options. Keep in mind, if you use a high end graphics card like an Nvidia 20 series (Turing) or AMD Vega or 5000 series, the main transformer is going to squeal like a pig. All of the below suggestions DO have DC to DC for the +3.3V and +5V (i.e.: They are not group regulated).

Corsair: CX-M. Not to be confused with the non-M above. This one is not LLC. But it does have DC to DC like it's cousin. "Bronze" efficiency. Semi-modular. Black cables.

Question - Recommended PSU to buy

I am looking to upgrade my psu;I have a thermaltake smart series 500w 80 plus right now and I am looking to get a new psu that has 600w-700w. I want to know which ones I should be looking into at an affordable price.

forums.tomshardware.com

Basically the CX is better than the CX-M for some reason. While the PSU will not blow up your computer, it will be loud when pushed hard if you were to get like a 6750XT.

 

[mattwerew]

Sad that the PSU is only a couple months old as it is average at best. The Corsair CX-M made Jonnyguru's, current head of Corsair PSU R&D, list of "it will do" PSUs.

Question - Recommended PSU to buy

I am looking to upgrade my psu;I have a thermaltake smart series 500w 80 plus right now and I am looking to get a new psu that has 600w-700w. I want to know which ones I should be looking into at an affordable price.

forums.tomshardware.com

Basically the CX is better than the CX-M for some reason. While the PSU will not blow up your computer, it will be loud when pushed hard if you were to get like a 6750XT.

Hm, that’s a little annoying. I forgot to mention in the original post that my PC is actually a prebuilt, so I guess the seller cheaped out on the PSU. Nonetheless I now think I have an upgrade path, CPU, then PSU as I’m guessing it will not last long, then either mobo or GPU. It‘s just that I’m afraid that if I upgrade to a Ryzen 7 5700x (which I’m really now considering as it has the same TDP), I will experience bottlenecks due to my RX 6600.

 

[jeremyj_83]

It‘s just that I’m afraid that if I upgrade to a Ryzen 7 5700x (which I’m really now considering as it has the same TDP), I will experience bottlenecks due to my RX 6600.

You cannot remove bottlenecks from any system. Think of it like this, you might be able to squeeze more performance out of the RX6600 with an R7 5700X than the R5 3600. Or you are able to do more background tasks without hitting CPU limitations. Overall you will have a more capable CPU that allows for a running future more powerful GPUs closer to max performance.

PSU as I’m guessing it will not last long

The CX-M does come with a 5 year warranty. In a budget system it is a fine PSU but overall quality is just average. When you start pushing it harder, then it will be noisy.