Please help me out

[Jazzyy.]

Hi atm I have a gtx 1660 non super or ti and I have a ryzen 5 2600 with 1x16 gb of ram.im thinking to upgrade the beast and I want to know which one I should upgrade first let me know

[An0maly_76]

Two problems here -- incomplete specs of current system, and no mention of budget.

 

That said, I would honestly say it's sort of a well-matched system. Upgrading only one will surely bottleneck the other at this point, hindering performance and defeating the purpose. That said, the 1660 is a decent card for the money and still has some staying power in today's market. The same can be said for the 2600. It depends on what your future plans are. Also relevant here... What are the other specs? PSU wattage? Case design / ventilation?

 

As most processors are doing a "Cowabunga" wave-ride price-wise, and GPUs are only starting to reach a reasonably sane level of pricing, I don't see a lot of bang-for-the-buck without a new build, in which case most would say save your money for a more in-depth build later. My reasons, detailed below.

 

Processor upgrades really come down to what the motherboard does and does not support. You do not mention which board you have, but assuming the board and 2600 were together when new, I would further presume in a best-case scenario a B450 chipset. Worst case scenario you might have an older A320 board with limited (if any) support for higher speed RAM, ultimately necessitating more components for maximum bang for the buck.

 

Most A320 boards I've heard of or seen only support RAM with clock speeds you can't really get anymore. And I honestly wouldn't run over a 65W TDP processor on even a B450 board. Can it be done? Probably, but I wouldn't, especially not on an A320. Not to mention my MSI B450M Bazooka had a coronary when I tried to install a 1650 Super. It shut down, requiring an RMA that took nearly 40 days.

 

Most processors of even a slight performance increase are going to be at least $200-$300, and there aren't many that give more than about 10-15% increase -- hardly worth the hassle and expense. You really would have to go for the gusto and step up to a 5000-series, and for that you will most certainly need a new board, and I would recommend at least a B550 with a good amount of VRM cooling. X570 is overkill, but I wouldn't trust a 5000-series Ryzen to any less than a B550. I used the Asus Tuf B550-PLUS in my 5900X build, though with my case I really should have used the Tuf B550-PRO, it has a 3.2 header the PLUS does not.

 

And with a 5000-series, you will likely need cooling upgrades. Not necessarily liquid (My 5900X is air-cooled), but a stock AMD Wraith cooler just isn't going to cut it with most 5000-series. Maybe the 5600X, but the 5600X is hardly worth it over the 2600 IMO. Also worth mentioning is that even some newer boards still require a BIOS update for Ryzen 5000 series support. Mine was one of the lucky few that did not, though I think this is becoming less common as newer boards are being shipped.

 

Ultimately, I think you'd spend a nice chunk of cash for very little performance increase -- money that might be better used for a new build later. IMO, it would be like a drag racer replacing their tried-and-true 426 Wedge that runs a 10.5-second quarter-mile for a 440 that runs a 9.25-second quarter mile after setting them back $20,000, plus the hassle of changing the engine in the first place. It's just not worth it IMO. Your current setup is still plenty capable for now, and the money spent on upgrades now could go a lot further if saved and added to a slightly larger budget later.

 

To illustrate, I got the following for approximately $2600 (including Asurion protection plans) about 90 days ago, with approximate pricing before said protection plans:

 

Ryzen 9-5900X - $621 (purchased Sept 2021)

 

Corsair 4000X Case - $130

Corsair RM850x PSU - $137

Asus TUF B550-PLUS - $170

Asus KO-RTX3060ti-8GB-OC - $850

WD Blue SN570 - $98

WD Black 6TB HDD - $170

Crucial Ballistix 2x16 DDR4-3200 - $118

Corsair LL120 (x3) - $95

Corsair iCUE Commander Core XT - $50

Scythe Mugen 5 Black Edition - $60

 

Today's prices for these components have dropped a bit, and of note is the collective price of nearly $950 for a 5000-series, suitable board, and RAM. Yes, a 5900X or even a 5800X will be faster than the 2600, but will be somewhat bottlenecked by the 1660. You can't really justify $950 for the upgrade even before that little detail, and a suitable GPU will run at least another $500-$750. For $950, you would have a barn-burner processor crippled by a 1660 GPU and possibly cooling issues, or for $500-$600, you would have a nice GPU that the 2600 would struggle to keep up with.

 

If you could potentially have a $2200 budget in the near future, I think your money would be better spent on a new build. You might not even need that much. But I don't see upgrading being worth it for you with any less than a 5800X / 5900X and an RTX2080ti / RTX3060ti / RTX3070, because these days you could spend about the same money on lesser hardware without nearly the performance increase.

 

Just my $0.02 -- YMMV.

Edited May 22, 2022 by An0maly_76
Revised, more info