Question first time upgrading my pc in quite a few years - have some questions about hardware and how to best upgrade

[SophieTheMeh]

hi, so i havent particularly followed the hardware trends and whats come out in the few years, i stopped following a lot of that stuff very closely around the time i bought my gpu. my system has worked very well for me but it is starting to show its age, and i was hoping for advice in finding the best upgrade path to take.

right now i have

2080 super
ryzen 5 5600
16gb ddr4 3200
msi b450 tomahawk

i enjoy good graphics with my games, never cared for high refesh rate stuff but id like for my games to run at 4k 60fps. the 2080 super has been a trooper through it all for a long time now but it is becoming too much to rely on max performance dlss + low settings with these newer games and i know it's becoming time to give the guy a break (and resell it for someone else to use.) obviously gpu would be my first thing to upgrade, idk if the non-xt version would be a better value or not but i was looking at that radeon 9070xt card. ive also heard that ddr5 ram is a thing now that people recommend having 32gb of, and there are am5 cpus, and i was wondering how much those would effect my performance. i think my cpu still works fine especially when the higher resolutions rely on gpu so heavy, it's the newest part in my system, but if there are performance gains from the new ram and archetecture i would be open to future proofing. the more graphically demanding games id like to play would be things like forza horizon 5, black ops 6, oblivion remaster, cyberpunk, red dead redemption 2, and id like the wiggle room to be able to comfortably stream the games over discord or while watching youtube (some games i need to make sure all other tabs are closed to not stutter)

right now my budget is about 1000$cad max, but obviously if i can get performance im happy with for less thatd be preferred. i know that means it's likely all dumped to gpu for now, the 2080 super is still the single largest purchase ive ever made, but if not now i could probably get a bit more come this winter for the rest if necessary

 

[Lutfij]

right now i have;
2080 super
ryzen 5 5600
16gb ddr4 3200
msi b450 tomahawk
Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

right now my budget is about 1000$cad max
So you're located in Canada, what is your preferred site for purchase?

 

[SophieTheMeh]

right now i have;
2080 super
ryzen 5 5600
16gb ddr4 3200
msi b450 tomahawk
Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

right now my budget is about 1000$cad max
So you're located in Canada, what is your preferred site for purchase?

alright heres the most information i can provide

CPU: ryzen 5 5600
CPU cooler: the included cooler
Motherboard: msi b450 tomahawk
Ram: 16gb ddr4 3200
SSD/HDD: wd black sn750 1tb + 2tb hdd
GPU: msi gaming x trio 2080 super
PSU: 850w seasonic gold power supply bought in 2019
Chassis: phantek p300
OS: windows 11
Monitor: dell 3221qs, dell p1230, lg 27gp83b-b, lg 24gn650-b, wacom cintiq 16

preferred site is anything i can purchase from for the best price, best buy, amazon, and canada computers are the most common i use

 

[punkncat]

IMO you are at a spot where either you could do a meaningful upgrade to platform but still be on the 2080 OR you could do a graphics card and power supply update that would be meaningful for a less than year from now update to platform.

I don't think it is worthwhile at this point to consider moving up the AM4 skew, it would be more well spend going AM5 and at least 32GB of RAM. Even if you choose graphics card the AM4 is going to be the weak link. Don't think you can pull off both in a truly meaningful way on that budget.

 

[SophieTheMeh]

IMO you are at a spot where either you could do a meaningful upgrade to platform but still be on the 2080 OR you could do a graphics card and power supply update that would be meaningful for a less than year from now update to platform.

I don't think it is worthwhile at this point to consider moving up the AM4 skew, it would be more well spend going AM5 and at least 32GB of RAM. Even if you choose graphics card the AM4 is going to be the weak link. Don't think you can pull off both in a truly meaningful way on that budget.

would i need to replace my power supply? i was kinda hoping to be able to use the one i got i bought it with the intention of it lasting a long time. ik gpus started going up in watts a bit after the 2000 series but i didnt think itd be that bad. right now i am very gpu bottlenecked with my games so that should probably come first, i would like to be able to take advantage of sales if those happen but i figure the gpu will still cost about 800, from what ive seen of the am5 stuff that upgrade would be about 500 (assuming i only go for like. a 7600 but idk what would be the best option there.) which i might be able to pull off after selling my 2080 super

 

[dark_globe]

you should still be able to sell your current gpu for at least 320 CAD (maybe even a bit more)
if we add that to the budget we can talk better upgrades .

your psu will be fine - although you could have listed a specific model of your psu
it´s still save to assume that
basically any 850w gold rated seasonic unit will do for such a build .
(it should also have at least another 4-5 years of service within it)

here is a suggestion (assuming you add circa 300 CAD after selling your 2080 super to the budget)

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D 3 GHz 8-Core Processor ($391.00 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($74.98 @ Memory Express)
Video Card: Asus PRIME GeForce RTX 5070 12 GB Video Card ($769.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $1285.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-29 22:44 EDT-0400


now 12gb of VRAM might be a bit tight for such a high resolution ,
but with reasonable settings you will be fine .
alternatively you can just upgrade your memory , your cpu cooler and a graphics card -
you can than OC your 5600 to its limits (within reason of course) and invest into a better
video card with 16gb of VRAM , processor is not such a big deal and it is less of a bottleneck in
such high resolution .

 

[nitrium]

I would just upgrade the GPU. I'd avoid the hassle of a CPU replacement and adding more useless DDR4 RAM you can't use in the future, if gaming/graphics is the core priority. Just Grab an RTX 5070 (the Ti version if you want to splurge), or an RX 9070XT if you don't mind going for an AMD GPU and you are done and dusted. I'm doubtful a Ryzen 5600 will be too slow for those GPUs in 99% of current games. In a year or two you could do a full platform upgrade to AM5 and keep that GPU. My Ryzen 3700X CPU is more than fast enough to never throttle my RTX 5070 on Ultra settings in every game I have thrown at it.

 

[Flayed]

A new video card with 16GB of vram for gaming at 4k. A 9070xt or 5070 ti or wait for the 5070 super.