[SOLVED] What would you do? [Advice Needed]

[Kahnwald]

Hello everyone, I hope you all are doing well.

I need some advice upgrading my build while I save money to make a complete new build with DDR5 and whatnot in the future, which I plan to do around 2023/2024. In this meantime I wanna enjoy as much as possible of the games that I already own with medium-high settings and the upcoming ones with low-medium settings without investing too much (if possible).

So here's a listing of my current build (made in 2017):

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor

COOLER: Ryzen 7 Stock Cooler

MOTHERBOARD: ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4 ATX AM4

RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory

STORAGE: Kingston A400 240 GB 2.5"(Linux) | Kingston A2000 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME (W10) | WD Blue 1TB (Storage)

VIDEO CARD: XFX Radeon RX 570 8 GB

PSU: Corsair CX (2017) 650 W 80+ Bronze

MONITOR: AOC 24" 144hz

I've seen the benchmarks and the 3600 put up a good fight with the 3700x but should I expend more and I go with the 3700x for the long run?
What's really difficult for me to pick is the GPU, what option should be good?

Games I've been playing: CSGO, Hunt: Showdown, NieR: Automata, Sekiro, Code Vein, Nioh, DOOM.
Upcoming games I want to play: Cyberpunk 2077, The Medium, Hood: Outlaws & Legends, Outriders, Bloodlines 2, Elden Ring...

The prices where I live are outrageous right now (pandemic + devalued currency) a GTX 1660 Super is like $370 and the 3700x $450 :/

I really appreciate all your advices.

 

[CountMike]

Hello everyone, I hope you all are doing well.

I need some advice upgrading my build while I save money to make a complete new build with DDR5 and whatnot in the future, which I plan to do around 2023/2024. In this meantime I wanna enjoy as much as possible of the games that I already own with medium-high settings and the upcoming ones with low-medium settings without investing too much (if possible).

So here's a listing of my current build (made in 2017):

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor

COOLER: Ryzen 7 Stock Cooler

MOTHERBOARD: ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4 ATX AM4

RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory

STORAGE: Kingston A400 240 GB 2.5"(Linux) | Kingston A2000 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME (W10) | WD Blue 1TB (Storage)

VIDEO CARD: XFX Radeon RX 570 8 GB

PSU: Corsair CX (2017) 650 W 80+ Bronze

MONITOR: AOC 24" 144hz

I've seen the benchmarks and the 3600 put up a good fight with the 3700x but should I expend more and I go with the 3700x for the long run?
What's really difficult for me to pick is the GPU, what option should be good?

Games I've been playing: CSGO, Hunt: Showdown, NieR: Automata, Sekiro, Code Vein, Nioh, DOOM.
Upcoming games I want to play: Cyberpunk 2077, The Medium, Hood: Outlaws & Legends, Outriders, Bloodlines 2, Elden Ring...

The prices where I live are outrageous right now (pandemic + devalued currency) a GTX 1660 Super is like $370 and the 3700x $450 :/

I really appreciate all your advices.

Right now for gaming nothing beats value of 3600 on b450MB so if you want to be happy gaming next couple of years it's only way to go.
1600(x) + b350 MB are not a happy combo because of memory problems and they are now all but extinct.
There is 2 kinds of R5 1600, AE and AF, where AF is newer and different technology and are closer to R5 2600 which in itself is not bad choice, still usable.

 

[King_V]

I'm not really sure there's much of a good upgrade path. The rest of the system really shouldn't be upgraded now, save that money toward your future AM5 machine.

Am I correct in assuming your monitor has a 1920x1080 resolution? Does it have FreeSync?

A more capable video card would definitely help, and can be carried over to your new system in the future. However, the problem is that, by the time 2023 rolls around, even the GPU you can buy then will be much better price/performance than what you might purchase today.

Really, the question to ask is: is your system falling short with what you're doing today?

(also, what country are you in? That'll help with making decisions)

 

[punkncat]

IMO, I would seek a better air cooler, put a small OC on the 1600X, if it will take it. I use that same mobo, and with the newer BIOS updates it has performed (mostly) well for me. I can put a ~3.8 OC on a 1700 with a Hyper 212.

I would then look into upgrading the GPU. As unfortunate as the pricing is, a 1660 would likely shine in that rig. Maybe find a used 1070/80?

 

[Kahnwald]

Right now for gaming nothing beats value of 3600 on b450MB so if you want to be happy gaming next couple of years it's only way to go.
1600(x) + b350 MB are not a happy combo because of memory problems and they are now all but extinct.
There is 2 kinds of R5 1600, AE and AF, where AF is newer and different technology and are closer to R5 2600 which in itself is not bad choice, still usable.

Hey, thanks for the reply.

What about a upgraded 350 bios and the 3600? Not worth it? You are right about the memory problems I still can't run 3200mhz although they're on the QVL list.

EDIT: I think I will stay with the 1600x and aim for a better video card. If the price of the 3600 get's really good after the 5000 series launch and black friday lower prices.

 

[Kahnwald]

I'm not really sure there's much of a good upgrade path. The rest of the system really shouldn't be upgraded now, save that money toward your future AM5 machine.

Am I correct in assuming your monitor has a 1920x1080 resolution? Does it have FreeSync?

A more capable video card would definitely help, and can be carried over to your new system in the future. However, the problem is that, by the time 2023 rolls around, even the GPU you can buy then will be much better price/performance than what you might purchase today.

Really, the question to ask is: is your system falling short with what you're doing today?

(also, what country are you in? That'll help with making decisions)

That's my doubt. I just don't wanna throw the money away if isn't 100% worth it, that's why I wanna wait for the DDR5, AM5 to fully commit. Yes, you are correct and does have Freesync.

A video card only upgrade seems the more logical buy and in the future I could pass it to my wife. Although as you say, by the time everything will be much better price/performance.

About falling short, depends on the game, I can lock 60fps on Hunt Showdown which can drop sometimes to 52fps (low and some medium settings). Sekiro at high settings I've experience stuttering and some battle in Tales of Berseria too (at max settings). If has to many enemies, NieR can have some stuttering too but not much.

Usually I set medium-low settings on my games. It would be nice to have a great graphics experience in Cyberpunk tho.

EDIT: I live in Brazil

 

[Kahnwald]

IMO, I would seek a better air cooler, put a small OC on the 1600X, if it will take it. I use that same mobo, and with the newer BIOS updates it has performed (mostly) well for me. I can put a ~3.8 OC on a 1700 with a Hyper 212.

I would then look into upgrading the GPU. As unfortunate as the pricing is, a 1660 would likely shine in that rig. Maybe find a used 1070/80?

You have a point, what bios upgrade you are running? I should buy a better cooler anyway (It's awful hot here rn) so might aswell OC a little when I buy the cooler.

The used products marketplace prices are a joke, everyone want's to cash out. A GTX 1080 cost R$ 2800 which is $480, with that price I prefer a new product with warranty :/

 

[punkncat]

You have a point, what bios upgrade you are running? I should buy a better cooler anyway (It's awful hot here rn) so might aswell OC a little when I buy the cooler.

The used products marketplace prices are a joke, everyone want's to cash out. A GTX 1080 cost R$ 2800 which is $480, with that price I prefer a new product with warranty :/

IIRC I am on 5.7 on that machine.

 

[Kahnwald]

IIRC I am on 5.7 on that machine.

That fear of the power outage while upgrading bios always hunts me. I'll see if I can get up to 5.8 from 4.3.
I appreciate your help, have a nice weekend!

 

[punkncat]

That fear of the power outage while upgrading bios always hunts me. I'll see if I can get up to 5.8 from 4.3.
I appreciate your help, have a nice weekend!

Make sure to read the notes about the BIOS. I cannot recall what the bridge BIOS was, but there is one you have to do first. Then it suggests, I cannot recall which, that you don't update beyond without a newer CPU. Opinion is that if you aren't having issue with your hardware or RAM that you may not need to do so.
I don't update BIOS on any of my machines without being on the battery backup. Too scary.

 

[King_V]

That's my doubt. I just don't wanna throw the money away if isn't 100% worth it, that's why I wanna wait for the DDR5, AM5 to fully commit. Yes, you are correct and does have Freesync.

A video card only upgrade seems the more logical buy and in the future I could pass it to my wife. Although as you say, by the time everything will be much better price/performance.

About falling short, depends on the game, I can lock 60fps on Hunt Showdown which can drop sometimes to 52fps (low and some medium settings). Sekiro at high settings I've experience stuttering and some battle in Tales of Berseria too (at max settings). If has to many enemies, NieR can have some stuttering too but not much.

Usually I set medium-low settings on my games. It would be nice to have a great graphics experience in Cyberpunk tho.

EDIT: I live in Brazil

I suspect the GPU is holding you back somewhat. Typically, if lowering the detail levels increases speed, then the GPU is what's holding you back. But if it doesn't change at all, then the CPU is likely holding you back.

I thought maybe there's some CPU issue when you say things stutter with too many enemies, but given the 1600X's 6-core/12-thread design, I would doubt that's a problem.

It could be helpful, with the different games that you play, to use some kind of utilization monitoring software that graphs CPU, GPU, RAM, etc., utilization over time. The results will likely be different for each game.

But, if something his hitting 100% (or close to it) utilization very often, that's likely the problem. Or, if a game does NOT take advantage of extra cores/threads properly, then CPU utilization might look low, but an individual core/thread would be maxed out at 100%.

Whatever is getting pegged at or near max, though, is your weakest link FOR THAT GAME.

 

[Kahnwald]

I suspect the GPU is holding you back somewhat. Typically, if lowering the detail levels increases speed, then the GPU is what's holding you back. But if it doesn't change at all, then the CPU is likely holding you back.

I thought maybe there's some CPU issue when you say things stutter with too many enemies, but given the 1600X's 6-core/12-thread design, I would doubt that's a problem.

It could be helpful, with the different games that you play, to use some kind of utilization monitoring software that graphs CPU, GPU, RAM, etc., utilization over time. The results will likely be different for each game.

But, if something his hitting 100% (or close to it) utilization very often, that's likely the problem. Or, if a game does NOT take advantage of extra cores/threads properly, then CPU utilization might look low, but an individual core/thread would be maxed out at 100%.

Whatever is getting pegged at or near max, though, is your weakest link FOR THAT GAME.

I will download a software to make some test but I will likely ending up buying a new video card, no doubt that the Ryzen 1600x will carry me through the next years even so I few like need a little more power on the graphics. I was running a GTX 1050TI but it died on me earlier this year so I bought the cheapest I could find to replace it and that's why I have the RX 570 which isn't not a bad card at all, I just want more performance/better graphs for the next few years.

So, as you wrote I will monitor the utilization of the hardware and keep track of the results. If the CPU shows over usage I will wait until I find a nice price that doesn't take a toll on my budget because I don't need to change the mobo.

Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it. Have a nice weekend!

 

[Kahnwald]

Make sure to read the notes about the BIOS. I cannot recall what the bridge BIOS was, but there is one you have to do first. Then it suggests, I cannot recall which, that you don't update beyond without a newer CPU. Opinion is that if you aren't having issue with your hardware or RAM that you may not need to do so.
I don't update BIOS on any of my machines without being on the battery backup. Too scary.

Little update: everything went smooth, I upgraded it to 5.40 and I could even get my ram @3133mhz (from 3200mhz) I was running @3000mhz before.
Thanks again!