Upgrades!

[MRCW]

Hello, if you were going to upgrade this system without ripping it to bare bones, what would you choose to do?

Budget (including currency): £1000

Country: UK

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Tycoon-style games, such as Big Ambitions & simulators such as Parcel Simulator.

[jaslion]

I mean other than more fast storage your current system should be heaps good for the games you play.

 

Notice anything you find lacking yourseld when using it?

[Dedayog]

7 minutes ago, MRCW said:

Hello, if you were going to upgrade this system without ripping it to bare bones, what would you choose to do?

Budget (including currency): £1000

Country: UK

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Tycoon-style games, such as Big Ambitions & simulators such as Parcel Simulator.

I'd replace that GPU, add more SSD.

[MRCW]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

I mean other than more fast storage your current system should be heaps good for the games you play.

 

Notice anything you find lacking yourseld when using it?

I have a second monitor and like to watch videos/movies while playing. I've found it seems to struggle to get past medium on some of these games while I watch things. Sometimes leading to the game crashing

[MRCW]

5 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

I'd replace that GPU, add more SSD.

I was thinking about the GPU too I bought the PC during the GPU apocalypse so had to get what I could. What would you recommend?

[Dedayog]

12 minutes ago, MRCW said:

I was thinking about the GPU too I bought the PC during the GPU apocalypse so had to get what I could. What would you recommend?

At least a 9060XT 16GB or 5060Ti 16GB.   Then a 1TB or 2TB SDD, depending on price.  But get the cheapest you can since you have a great boot drive.

 

Then maybe a couple intake fans, because as I read it you only have 1 fan in the back?

[MRCW]

2 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

At least a 9060XT 16GB or 5060Ti 16GB.   Then a 1TB or 2TB SDD, depending on price.  But get the cheapest you can since you have a great boot drive.

 

Then maybe a couple intake fans, because as I read it you only have 1 fan in the back?

I have two fans at the front and one at the back. I could maybe get one more in the front, but my case only has space for one at the back.

[Dedayog]

3 minutes ago, MRCW said:

I have two fans at the front and one at the back. I could maybe get one more in the front, but my case only has space for one at the back.

That's fine then, good fan setup. Leave it alone for now.

[Why_Me]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£174.99 @ AWD-IT) 
Video Card: *Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB Video Card  (£379.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £554.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2026-04-26 16:50 BST+0100

[MRCW]

11 minutes ago, Why_Me said:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£174.99 @ AWD-IT) 
Video Card: *Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB Video Card  (£379.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £554.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2026-04-26 16:50 BST+0100

What is the difference between a 16GB and an 12/8GB ive seen them too, I'm assuming they can handle less things at once?

[Why_Me]

9 minutes ago, MRCW said:

What is the difference between a 16GB and an 12/8GB ive seen them too, I'm assuming they can handle less things at once?

VRAM

[Somerandomtechyboi]

2 hours ago, MRCW said:

I was thinking about the GPU too I bought the PC during the GPU apocalypse so had to get what I could. What would you recommend?

How about hooking up the igpu onto the second monitor and see if that helps cause if the issue only happens when you are doing both simoultaneously then it should help

 

Tbh im more surprised the cpu isnt becoming an issue given the simulator games and really you do need to platform upgrade for a better cpu due to garbage x3d pricing and the 5600/5700x not being particularly big upgrades (5600g ~ 3600), but if you do end up needing a gpu upgrade anyhow theres plenty of budget to do so, hell you could stick a 5070ti in there and still have 200£ to spare but that just seems like straight overkill unless you are trying to do 4k max settings or smth given the rather underpowered cpu

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Video Card: Acer Nitro OC Radeon RX 9070 16 GB Video Card  (£539.99 @ Currys PC World) 
Video Card: Gainward Python III OC GeForce RTX 5070 12 GB Video Card  (£518.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 
Total: £1058.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2026-04-26 17:58 BST+0100

 

Some new options around 500£ but do keep in mind the 9070 is abit faster than the 5070 in raster and has some extra vram, also the 9060xt 16gb mentioned above at 380£ for a cheaper option though ngl for best bang for buck i would look for a used 7900gre which should be around 400£ and a good chunk faster than the 9060xt 16gb (equiv rx 7700xt/6800)

 

 

Cpu wise if you are starting to run into performance issues with it theres like 3 paths you can go down

 

1. You can just tune your cpu, far as i can tell reading online these chips can do 4.5-4.8 allcore at ~1.35v and its as simple as going into the bios -> f7 advanced menu -> ai tweaker submenu -> cpu core ratio set to 45-48 and vddcr cpu voltage set to manual and 1.35v, it should see even more performance gain with fclk and ram tuning but i wont bother getting into that unless you want to give it a shot since it isnt as piss easy as cpu core oc though i will just leave a screenie below for what that may look like

Spoiler

Not this far for a daily though, expect more like 4600ddr4 / 2300fclk at 1.3v vsoc given that board will likely wall at 4600ddr4 +- 200mhz from that so its a 1 hour tune instead of a multi day tune like this one (2 days)

 

2. Resell the 5600g buy a used 5600 and run it at 4.7-4.8ghz, same steps as above minus the more in depth ram tuning if you cant be bothered due to less performance impact on a chip with double the cache, youll probably end up paying 20-40£ total when you consider resale value of the 5600g

 

3. Resell the 5600g + board then jump to lga1700 with a 14600k

Spoiler

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-14600KF 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor  (£222.94 @ CCL Computers) 
Motherboard: MSI B760 GAMING PLUS WIFI DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  (£124.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £347.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2026-04-26 18:33 BST+0100

assume ~100£ resale value of current chip and mobo, actually decent upgrade over a 5600/5700x so ngl if you are gonna go through the effort of reselling hardware and upgrading anyways you might aswell jump over to 1700, do keep in mind the somewhat reduced performance on ddr4 compared to ddr5 which can be fixed by a simple ram tune if you actually want the extra performance that is, it will still decimate a poor 5700x even on xmp ddr4 so i doubt youll need to do it out of neccesity like you would on the poor 5600g

 

*end of yapping*

[MRCW]

1 hour ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

How about hooking up the igpu onto the second monitor and see if that helps cause if the issue only happens when you are doing both simoultaneously then it should help

 

Tbh im more surprised the cpu isnt becoming an issue given the simulator games and really you do need to platform upgrade for a better cpu due to garbage x3d pricing and the 5600/5700x not being particularly big upgrades (5600g ~ 3600), but if you do end up needing a gpu upgrade anyhow theres plenty of budget to do so, hell you could stick a 5070ti in there and still have 200£ to spare but that just seems like straight overkill unless you are trying to do 4k max settings or smth given the rather underpowered cpu

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Video Card: Acer Nitro OC Radeon RX 9070 16 GB Video Card  (£539.99 @ Currys PC World) 
Video Card: Gainward Python III OC GeForce RTX 5070 12 GB Video Card  (£518.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 
Total: £1058.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2026-04-26 17:58 BST+0100

 

Some new options around 500£ but do keep in mind the 9070 is abit faster than the 5070 in raster and has some extra vram, also the 9060xt 16gb mentioned above at 380£ for a cheaper option though ngl for best bang for buck i would look for a used 7900gre which should be around 400£ and a good chunk faster than the 9060xt 16gb (equiv rx 7700xt/6800)

 

 

Cpu wise if you are starting to run into performance issues with it theres like 3 paths you can go down

 

1. You can just tune your cpu, far as i can tell reading online these chips can do 4.5-4.8 allcore at ~1.35v and its as simple as going into the bios -> f7 advanced menu -> ai tweaker submenu -> cpu core ratio set to 45-48 and vddcr cpu voltage set to manual and 1.35v, it should see even more performance gain with fclk and ram tuning but i wont bother getting into that unless you want to give it a shot since it isnt as piss easy as cpu core oc though i will just leave a screenie below for what that may look like

  Reveal hidden contents

Not this far for a daily though, expect more like 4600ddr4 / 2300fclk at 1.3v vsoc given that board will likely wall at 4600ddr4 +- 200mhz from that so its a 1 hour tune instead of a multi day tune like this one (2 days)

 

2. Resell the 5600g buy a used 5600 and run it at 4.7-4.8ghz, same steps as above minus the more in depth ram tuning if you cant be bothered due to less performance impact on a chip with double the cache, youll probably end up paying 20-40£ total when you consider resale value of the 5600g

 

3. Resell the 5600g + board then jump to lga1700 with a 14600k

  Reveal hidden contents

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-14600KF 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor  (£222.94 @ CCL Computers) 
Motherboard: MSI B760 GAMING PLUS WIFI DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  (£124.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £347.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2026-04-26 18:33 BST+0100

assume ~100£ resale value of current chip and mobo, actually decent upgrade over a 5600/5700x so ngl if you are gonna go through the effort of reselling hardware and upgrading anyways you might aswell jump over to 1700, do keep in mind the somewhat reduced performance on ddr4 compared to ddr5 which can be fixed by a simple ram tune if you actually want the extra performance that is, it will still decimate a poor 5700x even on xmp ddr4 so i doubt youll need to do it out of neccesity like you would on the poor 5600g

 

*end of yapping*

Thank you for the recommendations, wise one. I will try OC the CPU and see if it helps before pulling the trigger on a new GPU, the simulator games I play aren't really intense in terms of graphics, like Microsoft Flight Sim or something but is nice to have higher graphics settings most of the time the games auto-set to the lowest settings.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

20 hours ago, MRCW said:

Thank you for the recommendations, wise one. I will try OC the CPU and see if it helps before pulling the trigger on a new GPU, the simulator games I play aren't really intense in terms of graphics, like Microsoft Flight Sim or something but is nice to have higher graphics settings most of the time the games auto-set to the lowest settings.

Ocing the cpu will help the cpu rather than the gpu part so theyre unrelated but that does bring up a point i forgot to mention which is ocing the gpu

 

Luckily gpu oc is as piss easy if not even easier than cpu core oc where all you have to do is move some sliders around in msi afterburner with a benchmark running in the background, plenty of online tutorials on how to do it and should take like 5-10mins tops

 

Regarding cpu core oc basically you set vddcr cpu voltage to 1.35v then mess with the cpu core ratio, id start with 48 first and if it doesnt post you can then try smth like 46 and if that posts simply run a stresstest like prime95 smallest ffts and if it doesnt crash within 5 minutes you are pretty much done with ocing the cpu core

 

The last step would be ram ocing if you really want that extra cpu performance and better .1% + 1% lows though youd have to check what version number your rams are before even attempting to oc so you arent blindly ocing and wasting a ton of time on a bad overclock

[Dedayog]

20 hours ago, MRCW said:

Thank you for the recommendations, wise one. I will try OC the CPU and see if it helps before pulling the trigger on a new GPU, the simulator games I play aren't really intense in terms of graphics, like Microsoft Flight Sim or something but is nice to have higher graphics settings most of the time the games auto-set to the lowest settings.

You'll see a marked improvement with a new GPU, that 3050 isn't doing you any favors.  It's the budget card of Nvidia for that generation.

 

You won't see a big improvement in an OC (or Undervolt) with that CPU.  Or any CPU for that matter.  They aren't far from max performance as is, you'll get a few frames out of it but nothing to write home about or forestall upgrades.

 

Compare the 5600G to the 5600X for example, you'll get 25-30% improved frames, so that's something to think about as well.  Or even a 5700Xfor games that run with 8 cores support.

 

I see it in this order:

 

1.  CPU swap - sell current, get a 5600X or 5700X.

2.  SSD - stop loading games and textures off of HDD.

3.  GPU - as above, 9060XT 16GB or 5060Ti 16Gb minimum.  9070 or 5070 if you have budget.

 

Going Intel, the 12600KF or 12700K will get you a little more performance, it's a whole motherboard change as well. Not just a drop in.  Depends how much work you want to do.

 

Somewhere to start when comparing.  As always, peruse more.

 

 

[dark_globe]

On 4/26/2026 at 6:03 PM, MRCW said:

What is the difference between a 16GB and an 12/8GB ive seen them too, I'm assuming they can handle less things at once?

the biggest difference is that you won´t have to lower the texture quality and other things
in some new games in order to get the VRAM usage under 8gb .
8gb is barely enough for full-hd gaming these days in some new titles -
if you want to have a bit of a buffer you need a video card with at least 12gb of VRAM .
(ideally 16gb - that is why 16gb models of rtx 5060Ti and 9060xt are much more recommended than the 8gb ones -
they will also hold their value much better in case you would want to sell them in the future)

[MRCW]

4 hours ago, dark_globe said:

the biggest difference is that you won´t have to lower the texture quality and other things
in some new games in order to get the VRAM usage under 8gb .
8gb is barely enough for full-hd gaming these days in some new titles -
if you want to have a bit of a buffer you need a video card with at least 12gb of VRAM .
(ideally 16gb - that is why 16gb models of rtx 5060Ti and 9060xt are much more recommended than the 8gb ones -
they will also hold their value much better in case you would want to sell them in the future)

I thought it was something along these lines thank you for clearing it up.

[MRCW]

4 hours ago, Dedayog said:

You'll see a marked improvement with a new GPU, that 3050 isn't doing you any favors.  It's the budget card of Nvidia for that generation.

 

You won't see a big improvement in an OC (or Undervolt) with that CPU.  Or any CPU for that matter.  They aren't far from max performance as is, you'll get a few frames out of it but nothing to write home about or forestall upgrades.

 

Compare the 5600G to the 5600X for example, you'll get 25-30% improved frames, so that's something to think about as well.  Or even a 5700Xfor games that run with 8 cores support.

 

I see it in this order:

 

1.  CPU swap - sell current, get a 5600X or 5700X.

2.  SSD - stop loading games and textures off of HDD.

3.  GPU - as above, 9060XT 16GB or 5060Ti 16Gb minimum.  9070 or 5070 if you have budget.

 

Going Intel, the 12600KF or 12700K will get you a little more performance, it's a whole motherboard change as well. Not just a drop in.  Depends how much work you want to do.

 

Somewhere to start when comparing.  As always, peruse more.

 

 

Thank you for getting back to me, I decided to go with a 5060Ti. I'm not a 100% comfortable with overclocking stuff, don't want to break my PC as its out of warranty now. So CPU will be next on the list I think.  If I went with one of those you recommended could I still use the same cooler or do you think it would need a beefier one?

[Dedayog]

22 minutes ago, MRCW said:

Thank you for getting back to me, I decided to go with a 5060Ti. I'm not a 100% comfortable with overclocking stuff, don't want to break my PC as its out of warranty now. So CPU will be next on the list I think.  If I went with one of those you recommended could I still use the same cooler or do you think it would need a beefier one?

You CAN use it, but I'd prefer a 2 fan cooler like the following...

 

ThermalRight Peerless Assassin 120 SE

ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE

DARKROCK DR-CPU-DT6-BK

Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE

 

 

[MRCW]

3 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

You CAN use it, but I'd prefer a 2 fan cooler like the following...

 

ThermalRight Peerless Assassin 120 SE

ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE

DARKROCK DR-CPU-DT6-BK

Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE

 

 

Thank you for getting back to me. I'll have a look and maybe a measure and see if a 2 fan one would fit. If it will I will probably upgrade to one I suppose more cooling can't hurt. 

[Dedayog]

Just now, MRCW said:

Thank you for getting back to me. I'll have a look and maybe a measure and see if a 2 fan one would fit. If it will I will probably upgrade to one I suppose more cooling can't hurt. 

Like others said in your Thermal Paste thread (no, I am not calling it Cream), your current cooler is enough.  I just prefer beefier if you go 5700X, personally.

[MRCW]

12 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Like others said in your Thermal Paste thread (no, I am not calling it Cream), your current cooler is enough.  I just prefer beefier if you go 5700X, personally.

That's fair enough, if it fits I most likely will get a 2 fan I suppose can help future proof my PC abit.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

10 hours ago, Dedayog said:

Going Intel, the 12600KF or 12700K will get you a little more performance, it's a whole motherboard change as well. Not just a drop in.  Depends how much work you want to do.

 

Well yeah no shit intel isnt worth it if you buy a cpu of the same gen, the degradation issues have been fixed long ago and intel still takes rmas if you somehow manage to degrade your cpu anyway (which shouldnt happen on a modern bios version or if you just manually cap vcore to like 1.4v 1.45v so it doesnt try sending 1.7v into a single core) so there is no reason aside from budget constraints (which the 12700k doesnt fall into cause its priced like or higher than a 14600k) anyone should go 12th gen

 

10 hours ago, Dedayog said:

Compare the 5600G to the 5600X for example, you'll get 25-30% improved frames, so that's something to think about as well.  Or even a 5700Xfor games that run with 8 cores support.

Spoiler

 

cores were matched to 4.4ghz for tests although 5032 is probably running more like 4.38ghz

I had to dig abit for this as i did do some very crude testing awhile back but yeah there is actually a good bit to gain from mem oc alone even for avg fps which usually doesnt gain much from mem oc

 

Though ngl even with core + mem oc itll probably only match a 5600 and at that point i think op should just upgrade to a 13600k/14600k and call it a day if they want more cpu performance than a simple 4.5 4.8 allcore oc will offer