Need Recommendations For Upgrading My PC

riv301 · January 23, 2023

I have this current setup :
Processor : Ryzen 5 1400
Mobo : Asrock Ab350 Pro 4
RAM : 16 Gigs Geil 2400 MHz (8x2)
GPU : 1050 TI OC
WD M.2 SSD 256 GB

I have saved some money to upgrade some aspects of my setup .

Query 1:
Currently I was thinking about Going for a 5600x as in the Mobo's Bios Update thread it shows After Upgrading the BIOS I can use Vermeer Bridge CPU on the MOBO, Will it be a feasible upgrade, As I have use the 1400 for the last 5 years, And if I upgrade it to 5600X will it be able to run smoothly for another 4-5 years without dropping a bit startup performances Like my 1400 doing after going to win11 and last year's photoshop?

Query 2:
I have 16 Gigs 2400 MHz Ram. Now Should I Add another 16 gigs 2400 (8x2) or should I go for 16 gigs 3200 MHz Ram and sell the old ones and save money for next 16 gigs?

Query 3: I have 1.5 TB HDD and 256 SSD M.2 with my rig now. Should I Go for a 512 GB SSD to store my Games and VSTs for My DAW or Should I Go For a 2 TB Seagate HDD For Putting More Games and Movies Contents?

I play Occasionally But mostly plays games like Story Mode Games Based on another media Like Ac, Witcher, Spiderman, Batman, With some GTA style of FIFA Games.
And I make Contents so I use Premier Pro, Filmora to edit my videos, Photoshop for Thumbnail editing and Mostly REAPER and Ableton for making music.
(I will upgrade my gpu maybe next year or in 2025,Don't have the budget for going for a 30 series or 40 series Right now)

So If any of you are kind enough to read through my dilemma, Which Upgrades should I make in my PC or not upgrading?
Also will appreciate if anyone has different upgrade ideas for me. TIA

Shmael1053 · January 23, 2023

If your motherboard supports 5000-series CPUs, that would be a smart upgrade. The AMD platform has matured quite a bit since first-gen Ryzen, so you'd get a pretty big performance bump. Whether you'll get another 4-5 years out of your system really boils down to your other components IMO - an 8-10 year old PC has a not insignificant chance of component failure, so there's a chance your motherboard or something else might fail before you reach that milestone. In terms of performance, though, you're probably good. I have a 5800X in my system right now and I don't see myself replacing it any time soon.

When I first read the second question, I was going to say you should go with the faster memory instead of adding more. Ryzen famously benefits from faster memory, so you'd get the most out of your new CPU that way. However, I was going to say "also almost nobody actually needs 32 GB RAM unless they're doing creative work or engineering simulations", and then you said you make videos and use Photoshop. You would legitimately benefit from more memory. If there's a way for you to get faster memory and upgrade to 32 GB, that would be ideal, but if it's one or the other I'm inclined to say go up to 32 GB.

Do you have an extra M.2 slot on your motherboard? I would honestly recommend keeping the 256 GB SSD as your boot drive and only adding another NVMe drive if you have another open slot. Some of that is personal preference - I like to keep as little on my boot drive as possible - but also migrating from one NVMe drive to another can be a pain if you don't have another slot. The performance bump from loading games off of NVMe as opposed to a SATA HDD is pretty huge, especially if you're playing a lot of big open-world games, but it's not life-changing like switching your boot drive from a hard disk to an SSD. You could split the difference and get a SATA SSD to store your games on?

In terms of different upgrade ideas, I highly recommend you upgrade your GPU sooner than 2025. I was running an overclocked 1050 Ti just like you until a year ago, and the performance leap from that to a 30-series card is astronomical. I went from roughly 60 FPS at 1080p medium settings in most games to 144 FPS at 1440p, anywhere from high to ultra settings depending on the game. Keep in mind that GPU prices have fallen a long way from where they were a year ago; I've seen used 30-series cards listed on Craigslist for just under $300. If you have a limited budget for upgrades, I would legitimately recommend skipping everything else listed above and just getting a new graphics card - your current CPU is definitely not going to be bottlenecking a 1050 Ti, and a modern graphics card would almost definitely speed up your video production work as well.

If you're worried your CPU would be a bottleneck, run the SteamVR Performance Test - you're definitely not going to pass with a 1050 Ti, but it'll tell you whether or not your CPU is a bottleneck in your system. My money's on no.
And if you're skeptical about how much of a performance bump it would really be, just look at the difference in PassMark scores between a 1050 Ti and even low- to mid-tier 30-series cards. A 3050 would double your GPU performance; a 3060 Ti would more than triple it. That's the smartest upgrade IMO.

riv301 · January 23, 2023

8 hours ago, Shmael1053 said:

If your motherboard supports 5000-series CPUs, that would be a smart upgrade. The AMD platform has matured quite a bit since first-gen Ryzen, so you'd get a pretty big performance bump. Whether you'll get another 4-5 years out of your system really boils down to your other components IMO - an 8-10 year old PC has a not insignificant chance of component failure, so there's a chance your motherboard or something else might fail before you reach that milestone. In terms of performance, though, you're probably good. I have a 5800X in my system right now and I don't see myself replacing it any time soon.

When I first read the second question, I was going to say you should go with the faster memory instead of adding more. Ryzen famously benefits from faster memory, so you'd get the most out of your new CPU that way. However, I was going to say "also almost nobody actually needs 32 GB RAM unless they're doing creative work or engineering simulations", and then you said you make videos and use Photoshop. You would legitimately benefit from more memory. If there's a way for you to get faster memory and upgrade to 32 GB, that would be ideal, but if it's one or the other I'm inclined to say go up to 32 GB.

Do you have an extra M.2 slot on your motherboard? I would honestly recommend keeping the 256 GB SSD as your boot drive and only adding another NVMe drive if you have another open slot. Some of that is personal preference - I like to keep as little on my boot drive as possible - but also migrating from one NVMe drive to another can be a pain if you don't have another slot. The performance bump from loading games off of NVMe as opposed to a SATA HDD is pretty huge, especially if you're playing a lot of big open-world games, but it's not life-changing like switching your boot drive from a hard disk to an SSD. You could split the difference and get a SATA SSD to store your games on?

In terms of different upgrade ideas, I highly recommend you upgrade your GPU sooner than 2025. I was running an overclocked 1050 Ti just like you until a year ago, and the performance leap from that to a 30-series card is astronomical. I went from roughly 60 FPS at 1080p medium settings in most games to 144 FPS at 1440p, anywhere from high to ultra settings depending on the game. Keep in mind that GPU prices have fallen a long way from where they were a year ago; I've seen used 30-series cards listed on Craigslist for just under $300. If you have a limited budget for upgrades, I would legitimately recommend skipping everything else listed above and just getting a new graphics card - your current CPU is definitely not going to be bottlenecking a 1050 Ti, and a modern graphics card would almost definitely speed up your video production work as well.

If you're worried your CPU would be a bottleneck, run the SteamVR Performance Test - you're definitely not going to pass with a 1050 Ti, but it'll tell you whether or not your CPU is a bottleneck in your system. My money's on no.
And if you're skeptical about how much of a performance bump it would really be, just look at the difference in PassMark scores between a 1050 Ti and even low- to mid-tier 30-series cards. A 3050 would double your GPU performance; a 3060 Ti would more than triple it. That's the smartest upgrade IMO.

My this year's upgrade budget is around 300-320 Dollars, And the country I live in there is no service like Craigslist, Apart from 3-4 authorized dealers most of the local sellers sometimes sells mining card to people, And the after market here is mostly social site's forums and Facebook marketplace, Where they are selling their 3050 for around 330-350 Dollars where the brand new price in my country for the OC edition is 330 dollars and non OC is around 320 Dollars, When 40series gets available ( The budget ones),3050 will drop another 40-50 dollar in my country, So If I wait till this year's end or next year's January I suppose, Upgrading to a 3050 or 3060 card(brand new, I would like the warranty :3) still be a feasible idea for 3-4 years? Or it will be wise to get a 4050 or higher card by then?