Hello everyone!
I’m looking to upgrade my system inside of a smallish budget, not looking for anything crazy. Just a realistic upgrade to what I currently have. It’d be great to try and reach playing on a 4k monitor at 40-60fps. I’ve spent a lot of time looking around online and I can not find consistent advice. I’ve tried part pickers & even tried reading back on old threads. I know that WoW leans more towards the cpu, but that’s about the only thing everyone seems to agree on. I have about $300-$450 to spend on each a CPU, and a GPU. I’m not looking to upgrade my motherboard, my ram, or my drive.
Current hardware,
CPU : AMD Ryzen 5 5600G (AM4 Socket)
GPU : Radeon RX 5500
Ram : 32Gigs @ 2133
WoW at native 4k will require more than 8GB of VRAM in my testing, which is going to greatly limit your GPU options. For new, current generation cards, the 16GB 9060 XT would be a very good upgrade if you can find one within budget (I do see some available for $450 on PCPartPicker). You may find older cards available for cheaper, but keep in mind you’ll want 10-12GB of VRAM minimum.
CPU there’s really no substitute for x3d, so really just pick whichever Ryzen 5000 x3d you can find in stock. But, if you can’t find one, the play might be to just sit on the 5600g, and save up more to get an AM5 upgrade and a 7800x3d/9800x3d down the road.
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You are 100% correct. The words 4K and budget do not belong in the same sentence with current prices
Im sorry I missed the 4K part so I’m removing my comment from above. Your current graphics card is not even close to being able to handle 4K. 4K gaming is really RTX 5080 territory and that graphics card alone is over 1K. You need to get rid of the 4k monitor and stick with 1080p with your current rig in my opinion OP
4k gaming is the most expensive route you can take when it comes to PC Building. Even 1440p is pretty expensive with current pricing on PC parts.
Op needs to stick to 1080p with their current budget. 1440p is possible but is nowhere near as cheap as 1080p
If WoW is the only game they care about, you can probably pull off 4k medium on the 9060 XT 16GB.
Back in SL, you could pull off 4k high in WoW on a 3080, but in TWW/Midnight, only 10 GB of VRAM would be a problem for 4k high.
As luck would have it, AMD is supposedly re-issuing the 5800X3D for its 10th anniversary during Q2 this year (so basically within the next month at this point), for an estimated US$310. Fits into the budget given while also being as far as the OP can go given the other restrictions about keeping the board and RAM.
I use the term “luck” loosely, though, given it’s mostly a knee-jerk reaction to the whole RAM thing trying to keep them relevant in consumer space while more recent hardware sales are tanking (last I heard motherboard sales were down over 40%). But I suppose for some people it is at least a bit fortunate.
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5800x3D re-release is confirmed for June 25th
So to stay within or near budget and stay on AM4 id say
5800x3D
9070 XT 16GB
However if you play other games than World of Warcraft you will not be getting anywhere near 4K without a RTX 5080 or better. Just World of Warcraft? Use my suggestion above
Well, there’s ordinary unrealistic dreaming, and then there’s whatever this is that you’re doing ‘cause this is some next level fantasy
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Upgrade your monitor to a nice 1440p or 1080p display. I don’t know what kind of 4k display you have, and if its an OLED or something really nice, maybe its not worth it.. but if its just the resolution of a generic monitor you have, upgrading to a nice high-refresh rate IPS, Mini LED, or budget OLED would land you a huge performance boost.
Think about QHD 1440p gaming. Its a noticeable step up in quality from 1080p without breaking the bank . An AMD 9060 XT 16GB is in your price range. While a 5800x3d and 9060xt isnt going to do 4k at high quality 60fps on new games it will do them at QHD quite nicely.
Decent QHD monitors are also much cheaper compared to 4k monitors.
If you already have a 4k monitor you can keep using that a your non-gaming monitor and pickup a QHD monitor for gaming.