PC UPGRADE

[TechNoob97]

 

Hey guys,

 

I'm looking to upgrade my pc so I can play cities skylines 2 on high graphic settings. My current setup is:
MSI B450-A pro max motherboard 

Ryzen 5 3600X

GTX 1650

16gb RAM (3600mhz)

 

what is my biggest bottleneck and should be upgraded first?

 

TIA

[Hinjima]

11 minutes ago, TechNoob97 said:

 

Hey guys,

 

I'm looking to upgrade my pc so I can play cities skylines 2 on high graphic settings. My current setup is:
MSI B450-A pro max motherboard 

Ryzen 5 3600X

GTX 1650

16gb RAM (3600mhz)

 

what is my biggest bottleneck and should be upgraded first?

 

TIA

 

Your GPU is the biggest bottleneck in this system for Cities Skylines 2.

32GB of RAM is recommend and almost necessary for a good gaming experience in the game.

Cities Skylines 2 also love a fast high core count CPU.

 

GPU first, possible PSU as the White label Smart is quite poor if not dangerous.

32GB RAM.

CPU upgrade to a 5800x or a 5700x for example.

In that order.

[TechNoob97]

what GPU should I upgrade to?

 

[Hinjima]

2 minutes ago, TechNoob97 said:

what GPU should I upgrade to?

 

Thats quite a broad question.  lets try to narrow it down a little.

What budget do you have? Do you plan on upgrading the 500w PSU?

[TechNoob97]

12 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

Thats quite a broad question.  lets try to narrow it down a little.

What budget do you have? Do you plan on upgrading the 500w PSU?

I want to keep it under 1000CAD in total for the upgrade. if I can fit in a PSU, I'll do it

[Hinjima]

5 minutes ago, TechNoob97 said:

I want to keep it under 1000CAD in total for the upgrade. if I can fit in a PSU, I'll do it

Maybe something like this?

This is a significant upgrade in GPU and a decent uplift in CPU performance with reliable PSU.

Add another 2 sticks of 3600Mhz RAM for 32GB and there you go.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/n6ZMJn

 

The 9060 XT 16GB GPU is MILES ahead of your 1650, its not even close.

This is done with an intel 10400f so around the Ryzen 5700.

 

[Why_Me]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($209.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Video Card: PowerColor Reaper Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB Video Card  ($499.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Power Supply: *ASRock Challenger CL-750G 750 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($89.96 @ Vuugo) 
Total: $799.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-12-21 23:13 EST-0500

 

[Cramig88]

i hate to be the bearer of bad news but... its an outdated and inefficient system.

for example you have a 500w psu.  well, with these new cpu's, they use a fraction of the power.  at least for performance, generally, thats kinda up in the air.
overall, its a b450, i have a x570.  i have a 5950, u have... old.  

i spent 500 at best buy for a dell ect1250, upgraded the cpu, threw a quadro 4000rtx into it, an old 980 pro 1tb, upgraded psu, crazy!  22k on R24 - my 5950 gets 25ish without overclocking, and that uses ~1500w (dont ask lol)

[dark_globe]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($179.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory  ($234.99 @ Corsair) 
Video Card: PowerColor Reaper Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB Video Card  ($499.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Power Supply: ASRock Steel Legend SL-850G 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($101.89 @ Vuugo) 
Total: $1016.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-12-22 01:19 EST-0500


if 1000-ish price tag is too much you can save money by upgrading your CPU later on ,
graphics card replacement will give you the best immediate performance boost ,
while replacing your cpu later on will give you more stable 0,1% and 1% lows especially in multiplayer titles .
you can also upgrade the stock cooler down the road .

another way how to save money is to stay at 2x8gb of memory for now ,
or try to find another 2x8gb kit with the same specs as the one that you currently have (preferably the exact same model)
(but in my opinion it would be better to sell the existing 2x8gb on a second hand market and buy a new 2x16gb kit)

[Cramig88]

but the overhaul ad price would still produce modest returns for the price tag.... eh?

[dark_globe]

1 hour ago, Cramig88 said:

but the overhaul ad price would still produce modest returns for the price tag.... eh?

no it will not produce "modest" returns ,
replacing the GPU alone even if everything else stays the same will bring massive performance gains in gaming ...

as an example:
even old i7  4770K set to 4.2GHz on all cores came to new life
after i replaced the very same gtx 1650 with 1660 super in my secondary system 
(suddenly many games are much more playable on higher details at 1080p)

and ryzen 3600x is much better compared to 4770K and will benefit greatly if paired with 9060xt .
(5600x/5700x is then an upgrade more focused on consistent/smoother framerates since it can produce more stable 1% lows in multiplayer games)

[Cramig88]

59 minutes ago, dark_globe said:

no it will not produce "modest" returns ,
replacing the GPU alone even if everything else stays the same will bring massive performance gains in gaming ...

as an example:
even old i7  4770K set to 4.2GHz on all cores came to new life
after i replaced the very same gtx 1650 with 1660 super in my secondary system 
(suddenly many games are much more playable on higher details at 1080p)

and ryzen 3600x is much better compared to 4770K and will benefit greatly if paired with 9060xt .
(5600x/5700x is then an upgrade more focused on consistent/smoother framerates since it can produce more stable 1% lows in multiplayer games)

sure, throw a 4xxx or 5xxx rtx at it, your still cpu limited

only my 5950x/4090 is worth it in the end

[dark_globe]

2 hours ago, Cramig88 said:

sure, throw a 4xxx or 5xxx rtx at it, your still cpu limited

only my 5950x/4090 is worth it in the end

following your own logic you should have sold your 5950x and upgrade to 9800X3D
since that´s the only way you can be really sure that you will get every last possible frame you can get with your 4090 and
that you won´t experience any potential FPS loss  


on a more serious note :
9060xt or 5060Ti 16gb is a perfectly sensible gpu upgrade for his system .