Upgrade Advice!

Zatask · September 28, 2023

Budget (including currency): $2,000,000 COP // ~$1000 USD

Country: Colombia

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Modern Titles, Nintendo Switch Emulation, Music Production, Light image and Video editing

Other details:

Motherboard: MSI B-460m Pro
RAM: 16gb 3200MHz
CPU: Intel Core-i5 10400f
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1650 4GB
PSU: Corsair Cv550w
Monitors: 2 @ 60hz each 1080p

I'd like some thoughts on how to better upgrade my build. It manages to run Baldur's Gate 3 fairly well but it tends to crash after long sessions even with many settings turned tow Medium or Low. My guess is that there's a CPU bottleneck. I'm not savvy with CPUs or Motherboards but I believe if I were to upgrade my CPU I'd need to upgrade my motherboard as well and that makes me wonder if I'd need to upgrade my power supply too in that case or if I were to upgrade my GPU instead. Point being, I have no clue what the best path is. I'm not a stickler for frames nor a competitive gamer so 60fps at 1080 is more than enough for me at the moment. Thanks for any help!

Queen Chrysalis · September 28, 2023

4 hours ago, Zatask said:

Budget (including currency): $2,000,000 COP // ~$1000 USD

Country: Colombia

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Modern Titles, Nintendo Switch Emulation, Music Production, Light image and Video editing

Other details:

Motherboard: MSI B-460m Pro

RAM: 16gb 3200MHz

CPU: Intel Core-i5 10400f

GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1650 4GB

PSU: Corsair Cv550w

Monitors: 2 @ 60hz each 1080p

I'd like some thoughts on how to better upgrade my build. It manages to run Baldur's Gate 3 fairly well but it tends to crash after long sessions even with many settings turned tow Medium or Low. My guess is that there's a CPU bottleneck. I'm not savvy with CPUs or Motherboards but I believe if I were to upgrade my CPU I'd need to upgrade my motherboard as well and that makes me wonder if I'd need to upgrade my power supply too in that case or if I were to upgrade my GPU instead. Point being, I have no clue what the best path is. I'm not a stickler for frames nor a competitive gamer so 60fps at 1080 is more than enough for me at the moment. Thanks for any help!

I would not blame crashes on a CPU bottleneck, especially not with a 10400f. I would be inclined to believe you either don't have enough RAM (doubtful) or there is an issue with the installation of the game or your windows installation. Monitor resources while you are playing and see what seems to be getting maxed out. If all else fails you could reinstall the game or windows and go from there, but I seriously doubt you're having any CPU issues, especially paired with a 1650. If anything you could goi with a much faster GPU and more RAM, but my first guess is that this is a software issue.

Zatask · September 28, 2023

11 hours ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

I would not blame crashes on a CPU bottleneck, especially not with a 10400f. I would be inclined to believe you either don't have enough RAM (doubtful) or there is an issue with the installation of the game or your windows installation. Monitor resources while you are playing and see what seems to be getting maxed out. If all else fails you could reinstall the game or windows and go from there, but I seriously doubt you're having any CPU issues, especially paired with a 1650. If anything you could goi with a much faster GPU and more RAM, but my first guess is that this is a software issue.

Hey! Thanks for your reply. I've tried monitoring my resources while playing and it shows 15.9GB/16GB are in use (That may be because I keep a browser window open to play music on yt). With regards to the Windows installation, I'm still on Windows 10 but my system can be upgraded to Windows 11 but I've been putting it off for ages, would you recommend I upgrade the OS or just try a fresh install of 10?

Queen Chrysalis · September 28, 2023

1 hour ago, Zatask said:

Hey! Thanks for your reply. I've tried monitoring my resources while playing and it shows 15.9GB/16GB are in use (That may be because I keep a browser window open to play music on yt). With regards to the Windows installation, I'm still on Windows 10 but my system can be upgraded to Windows 11 but I've been putting it off for ages, would you recommend I upgrade the OS or just try a fresh install of 10?

10 and 11 work about the same, so it's not a big deal. I know that I had issues when overwatch 2 had a memory leak issue and would frequently get crashes until I upgraded to 32GB of memory. After the game got fixed I never really needed the 32GB anymore, but it resolved the issue. Windows is supposed to be able to deal with this, but sometimes it can cause problems. BG3 might just be more memory intensive, and upgrading your memory kit might be the best move if you don't want to close everything while you play.

If you have 4 DIMM slots on your motherboard, make sure to get a 2x8 kit identical to what you already have, or just get a new 2x16 kit and sell your 2x8 on eBay. If you are looking for a second 2x8 kit, I'd recommend checking eBay as people are selling them all over the place after upgrading to 32GB, and used RAM is 100% totally fine.

After upgrading your memory, you may do well to reinstall windows (10 or 11, your pick) as these kind of hardware changes can effect how windows operates in minute ways that may seem fine but that can cause irritating instabilities.