Upgrade CPU or GPU first?

Interested Observer

I'm going to be upgrading my PC in stages over the next while just as I don't have the money to do it all at once.

My current CPU is a i7 2600k that I bought back in 2011 or so. I'm thinking of going to a 3700x and I know that'll need a new mobo and RAM.

My current GPU is an RX480, have had it about 3 years. I haven't settled on the new GPU but I think the minimum in terms of power will be a 5700xt. Might see how these 2080s cards review as well.

But my question is, which upgrade is going to give me the greatest upside? I think no matter which one I go for first it'll be bottlenecked. I'm inclined to go for the CPU in the short term and the GPU later in the year or early next year. Thoughts on which will improve games the most?

Simi

Processor definitely. Utterly pointless throwing a 5700XT in with a 2600k. The 480 will limit you to 1080p gaming until you can upgrade it.
There won't be any major developments in the processor market in the next little while, but there are plenty of rumours of more powerful AMD cards to come and of course the 2080S. So it's better to wait around for that one if you have to.
If you want to save some money a 3600 will perform the same as a 3700X in gaming. The 2 extra cores might be useful in the future, but right now unless you're doing something other than gaming that might require them, they're pretty much sitting idle.

TerrorFirmer

Depends on your monitor and games being played. If you're at 1080P/1440P 60hz, in most games the 2600K will do and beyond with no real problems, so an 5700XT would allow you to run everything at ultra with as much AA piled on as you'd like.

Broadly speaking though I'd probably go CPU first as that's got to be upgraded at some point anyway.

Samuel T. Cogley

Its a tough one. It does depend somewhat on the resolution etc.

My thoughts are - you might want to wait a short while on the CPU upgrade. There are a few bugs to be worked out with Ryzen and I noticed, at least on Amazon, the prices are creeping up. In terms of what I reccomend for gaming the 3600 paired with a B450 looks pretty sweet, just make sure you can update the BIOS without a previous generation chip.

In terms of GPU again you probably want to wait. We don't know what the 2080S is going to look like and the current 5700 series have the blower coolers which aren't great. The partner cards, and presumably the 2080S will hit in August. There is the the rumour that there might be a 5800 and maybe even a 5900 series Navi hitting later again.

Interested Observer

Thanks all, some good advice there. I think I've settled on the CPU/Mobo/RAM first. I'll wait a month or so to see how things settle and decide what actual parts I'm going to go with.

Samuel T. Cogley

OMG hold off 3rd gen Ryzen with a B450 if you want to go with MSI, it's a real mess.

Samuel T. Cogley

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

OMG hold off 3rd gen Ryzen with a B450 if you want to go with MSI, it's a real mess.

This does not bode well for me. Hopefully it's sorted by Saturday.

Samuel T. Cogley

[Deleted User] wrote: »

This does not bode well for me. Hopefully it's sorted by Saturday.

Aye

Only thing I can suggest is leave it to try and post for a while. Mine eventually gets going.

Once my board doesn't get bricked.