Upgrade Path

Ezlar · December 8, 2021

Budget (including currency): 800 ~ 900 USD

Country: Japan

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Apex Legends, Rust, Minecraft, some singleplayer games

Other details :
Current parts list:
CPU: Ryzen Zen 1 1600x 3.6ghz (Stable 3.8ghz OC)
GPU: MSI Radeon 6800xt (Reference Model)
RAM: 16gb DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX 2666mhz (C16)
MB: MSI x370 Gaming Pro Carbon
Case: Fractal Meshify C
Main Display: Crossover 3412 UM Ultrawide 29" 21:9 3440x1440 75hz
PSU: Corsair RM850w

Hi All!
Up until recently I had been having troubles trying to support my monitor resolution on a dual RX480s. Some time ago I made the ill fated judgment that they would be sufficient, but I was grossly mistaken.
Finally, I was able to sell them to put money towards a new card, and I got a 6800xt.
This has greatly helped my performance but has now underlined a lot of other areas of my PC that would benefit from upgrading.

For starters, I've started to reconsider my monitor choice. As much as I love ultrawide , this resolution feels a little hard to sustain. Given that I like to play a lot of FPS games, I was thinking of moving to something like a 1440p 144hz monitor.
I'm unsure if that would end up being just as taxing as my current one though. Is a high refresh rate more demanding of GPU or CPU ?

In either case, the CPU certainly holding back some frames at the moment, so I was trying to weigh up if going for a Ryzen 5600x would be worth the price difference over a 3600x.
At that point I'm hoping to leverage the benefits of SAM but from what I've seen the perfomance boost there isn't that high...
If I do upgrade to a new CPU, what option would be best? I don't really need anything fancy, just enough to support the parts.
Is DDR5 RAM worth going for at this point? Or should I stick with DDR4?

Thanks for reading, and would love any feedback you all have.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Ezlar
Accidentally posted message before it was finished.

Herman Mcpootis · December 8, 2021

you can swap out the 1600X for a 3600 or either get a good B550 board and 5600X or 12600K and Z690 DDR4 board.

buttnakedman · December 8, 2021

My suggestion:

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DY487X

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor ($299.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z690 GAMING X DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($229.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($82.29 @ Amazon)
Total: $702.26

do further research on your own as well

Jonathan Lee · December 8, 2021

I'd lean towards either going for a 12700K or 5900X, whichever is cheaper in your region. It will give you a much nicer overall computer experience than going with a more entry 6 core CPU. I would say if you're going for a nice GPU, go for the nice CPU so you have a nice balanced system for the next few years.

12th Gen

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700K 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor ($414.88 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler ($109.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z690 GAMING X DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($229.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $814.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-12-08 13:14 EST-0500

AMD:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor ($514.00 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler ($109.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $863.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-12-08 13:15 EST-0500

Alder Lake · December 8, 2021

5 hours ago, Ezlar said:

Budget (including currency): 800 ~ 900 USD

Country: Japan

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Apex Legends, Rust, Minecraft, some singleplayer games

Other details :
Current parts list:
CPU: Ryzen Zen 1 1600x 3.6ghz (Stable 3.8ghz OC)
GPU: MSI Radeon 6800xt (Reference Model)
RAM: 16gb DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX 2666mhz (C16)
MB: MSI x370 Gaming Pro Carbon
Case: Fractal Meshify C
Main Display: Crossover 3412 UM Ultrawide 29" 21:9 3440x1440 75hz
PSU: Corsair RM850w

Hi All!
Up until recently I had been having troubles trying to support my monitor resolution on a dual RX480s. Some time ago I made the ill fated judgment that they would be sufficient, but I was grossly mistaken.
Finally, I was able to sell them to put money towards a new card, and I got a 6800xt.
This has greatly helped my performance but has now underlined a lot of other areas of my PC that would benefit from upgrading.

For starters, I've started to reconsider my monitor choice. As much as I love ultrawide , this resolution feels a little hard to sustain. Given that I like to play a lot of FPS games, I was thinking of moving to something like a 1440p 144hz monitor.
I'm unsure if that would end up being just as taxing as my current one though. Is a high refresh rate more demanding of GPU or CPU ?

In either case, the CPU certainly holding back some frames at the moment, so I was trying to weigh up if going for a Ryzen 5600x would be worth the price difference over a 3600x.
At that point I'm hoping to leverage the benefits of SAM but from what I've seen the perfomance boost there isn't that high...
If I do upgrade to a new CPU, what option would be best? I don't really need anything fancy, just enough to support the parts.
Is DDR5 RAM worth going for at this point? Or should I stick with DDR4?

Thanks for reading, and would love any feedback you all have.