Upgrading my first build

kanedaa4 · December 2, 2021

Budget (including currency): Around $840 (might be more, but not too far)

Country: Philippines

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Mostly a mix of old and new games, a bit of editing in Photoshop and Premiere Pro, and streaming.

Existing parts list/Upgrading from:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2400G 4-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: *Stock cooler*
Motherboard: Gigabyte A320M-S2H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (2 ram slots, 1 NVMe slot)
Memory: *not known brand* 2666mhz 16GB (8x2) RAM
Storage: Gigabyte 120gb SATA SSD (OS Drive), *forgot the brand but its branded* 500gb HDD
Video Card: Radeon Vega 11 Graphics (iGPU from the CPU)
Case: Inplay Micro-ATX Case
Power Supply: cheap, not famous brand
Case Fan: built-in plus cheap (same brand as case)
Monitor: Lenovo G25-10 24.5" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor
Upgrade Route (Note: All these parts are limited to what I can buy in my area and my budget):

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (Around $300)
CPU Cooler: CPU Stock Cooler (or does it need to be good with this build?)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 Gaming X ATX AM4 Motherboard (first choice) //or// Gigabyte B550 (I think full ATX) //or// B450 Micro-ATX (Most expensive is around $160)
Memory: Not choosy on speeds, 16gb ($70)
Storage: Crucial (P1/P2/P5) 1 TB M.2-?mhz NVME Solid State Drive (Around $140), my 500gb HDD
Video Card: Gigabyte GTX 1650 OC 4 GB (2 years used - $100)
Case: (Buying depends whether I switch to a full-atx motherboard)
Power Supply: Bronze-Certified 700watt Power Supply (forgot the brand) ($70)

Case Fan: built-in plus cheap same brand (or does it need to be good with this build?)
Monitor: Using the same monitor
Total: $840

Buying on PC Shops near me

Note: My existing PC (First PC, Budget Build) cannot handle heavy games such as APEX Legends. Valorant has max 130 fps and average 90 fps on ALL LOW Settings (even resolution). I am upgrading most parts of my existing pc but keeping some of them, and I want to have a smooth experience mostly in gaming, but also in editing photos and videos. I plan to make my build future-proof for about 3-6 years. My theme in my first PC is a sleeper PC (no RGB), and I want to keep it that way. Some peripherals are needed, but I can handle those at another time so it is outside the list and budget. The Gigabyte x570 looks good to me but I'm not sure whether I should spend the extra $40-60 so that it is future-proof. I don't really care about the memory speeds, as long as it is 16gb and around my budget of $70, but I want to buy a new set of RAM because I plan to sell my old PC as a whole. The video card is used for 2 years and is being sold by my friend because he is upgrading to a 30 series. I wanted to get a new GPU, but the prices are just too high, so I think I'll wait for at least until summer for prices to go down before I buy a good, new one and stay with the 1650. This is also another reason why I am considering the Gigabyte x570 motherboard (for it's future-proofness, if its even a word) and buying a new, bronze certified 700 watt power supply than using my old one. Whether I buy a new case or use the old one depends if I am switching to a full-atx motherboard, which will definitely affect my budget. As for the case fans, I think that I don't really need a new and branded one. Let me know what you think about my upgrade route and what you alternatively suggest about it.

Filingo · December 2, 2021

You're not really upgrading you're buying a new computer

Jonathan Lee · December 2, 2021

12 hours ago, kanedaa4 said:

I plan to make my build future-proof for about 3-6 years

That just means get the top end of everything which will be way over budget wouldn't recommend trying unless you have around $4000 USD (GPU prices are pretty crazy right now).

12 hours ago, kanedaa4 said:

I want to have a smooth experience mostly in gaming, but also in editing photos and videos.

Would recommend going with at least 8 cores for a smooth experience. Most games don't really use all 8 cores, but have the 2 spare cores will give you some head room for background tasks and windows weirdness. It would also reduce frame stutters and improve frame pacing. You could look at the 12600K (6p core + 4e core) or 10700f (good value 8 core) if available in Philippines.

12 hours ago, kanedaa4 said:

The Gigabyte x570 looks good to me but I'm not sure whether I should spend the extra $40-60 so that it is future-proof.

Yea for that price difference I would go for it, but a B550 would be plenty for the 5600x. Also note that AM4 is at end of life so there won't be many more CPU release on it. I think there is one more, but the rest will be going to AM5