CPU Upgrade

[spunjbawb]

I have been noticing a lot of frame drops and stuttering in the video games I have been playing lately (esports titles at low settings), and I think I'm ready for a CPU upgrade. Not really looking to upgrade my GPU at this point, because I think it's good enough for what I need. My budget is 300 dollars USD, but it can be a little bit flexible.

 

My pc currently has the following specs:

Intel i5 8600

ASUS Prime b360m-a motherboard (LGA1151 socket)

16 gb (2x8gb) gskill ripjaws 3200mhz ddr4 ram

EVGA KO Ultra RTX 2060 6gb vram

 

The most convenient option would be to buy a cpu that fits in the same socket and is supported by the chipset I already have, but that isn't very cost or performance effective. I was originally considering an i7 8700k.

I am considering switching to AMD, to the AM4 platform, since it gives me many good options that are a lot cheaper than like an i9 9900k. However, since AM5 is a thing, I don't know if it is worth upgrading to a more futureproof platform at the cost having to buy ddr5 ram and more expensive cpus. Obviously, I would have to buy a new motherboard if I wanted to switch to either AM4 or AM5 or any newer intel socket/chipset.

 

If I were to switch to AM4, I was thinking of getting a Ryzen 5 5600x for around $150 USD and a compatible b550 motherboard for $100 - $150 USD.

 

Any advice on which path I should take?