build Build vs Upgrade

Niall_Patrick10 · December 23, 2021

So I’m new to this.

Currently I’m running:

i5-8600k (stock cooler)

msi z370 a pro (which I think might be broken, I’ll get back to that)

16GB of generic ram (clocking in at 2000 MHz range can’t remember the exact number)

(MSI) Radeon rx 5500 xt

So I’m stuck on whether or not I should start again and just keep my graphics card or just spend all of my budget (£500) on a new graphics card.

as I stated above I’ve been having some problems with my motherboard where the optimised ram slots aren’t working I’ve tried all of the troubleshooting steps and the only thing I can put it down to is the board, so that’s where my dilemma lies, I’m not sure if I should buy new RAM and a graphics card for a potentially busted board, or start again and possibly go down the Ryzen route, as I’m finding it hard to find a board to replace my current one.

Chris Pratt · December 23, 2021

That's a tough one honestly. The 5500XT isn't a great GPU, and you're almost certainly not facing a CPU bottleneck with it. As a result, upgrading to a better CPU/RAM is probably not going to have much of an impact on your gaming experience, unless you're playing very CPU heavy games.

However, a better graphics card could actually create a CPU bottleneck, particularly with RAM that slow. It's also a really piss poor time to buy a new graphics card right now if you don't have to. Assuming you can find something decent, it's going to cost you much more than it's worth.

In short, I don't really see a good upgrade path that isn't going to either be mostly useless or be limited by the rest of your hardware. I'd probably just try to find a new board and upgrade to speedier RAM.

The graphics card would be the next thing, but again, you're pretty much guaranteed to be ripped off.