Question What components should I upgrade to? I do Graphic Design, Gaming and fairly heavy on apps open.

[LewisMann]

Hi all,
Looking for some advice on upgrades for my pc. I'm wanting to definitely upgrade to 64GB of RAM and ideally a newer CPU. Not massively worried about changing my graphics card as this doesn't seem to be of an issue for myself currently.
I want to stick with AMD Ryzen so ideally need to match the specs so these all tie in together.

Wanting to upgrade my:
- CPU
- RAM
- Motherboard (if necessary to match components)
---------------------------------------------------------
My current specs is the following:

Operating System
Windows 11 Pro 64-bit

CPU

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X - 43 °C
Matisse 7nm Technology

RAM

Corsair Vengeance LPX 32.0GB Dual-Channel DDR4 @ 1799MHz (18-22-22-42)

Motherboard

MSI MPG B550 GAMING PLUS (MS-7C56) (AM4) - 37 °C

Graphics

4095MB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (MSI) - 49 °C

Storage

465GB Samsung SSD 980 PRO 500GB
232GB Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB - 29 °C
931GB Western Digital WDC WD10EZRX-00L4HB0 (SATA )

Not entirely sure on budget, but will be selling my current specs to fund the newer ones and then use some of my money saved up also.

Many thanks!

 

[turtletarget111]

As far as your CPU choice, you have a couple of options. You can go with Ryzen's last generation 7000 series and save a few bucks, or you can get their brand new 9000 series. If you are determined to have the best bang for buck and don't mind getting older hardware, go with the 7000 series. If you intend to keep your system for a long time and are willing to spend a little more, the 9000 series is for you.

If you want Ryzen 7000, you can grab the 7900X with 12 fast cores and lots of cache for intensive workloads. If you want to save a dollar, the 7700X will still net you strong performance, but with the tradeoff four less cores.

It's a similar story for Ryzen 9000, except you will be paying more up front for the new architecture. Pick up the 9700X for a current generation eight core processor, or grab the 9900X for twelve cores. Take note that you can get AMD's last generation 7900X (Twelve cores) for nearly the same price as the 9700X (Eight cores).

As far as memory, 6000 speed at CL30 with a First Word Latency of 10 is pretty much the sweet spot. Buying a kit of 2x32 is generally similar in price when compared against two individual kits of 2x16. Therefore, I would forgo buying two small kits, as you can buy an additional 2x32 down the road for 128 gigabytes if you choose to do so. As far as recommendations, this kit of Corsair Vengeance is great. It hits the recommended targets as far as speed and latency, and is a 2x32 gigabyte kit. Even if you don't care for RGB, this particular kit has tighter timings than the non-RGB variant, so I would stick with it for maximum performance.

The motherboard mostly comes down to what features you are after and the particular size that will fit your current case. I think a good bang for the buck board would be something like the MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK. It's a full size ATX, comes with solid IO for expandability, and includes on-board WiFi 6E and Bluetooth. Double check that you have mounting hardware for the AM5 socket if you intend to reuse your old cooler.