# Which should i upgrade first and What should i upgrade it to ?



## GeForce (Dec 14, 2019)

Hi All ,

Its been long time i havent upgraded my pc.
Rite now , I have the following setup,
1.FX-8320
2.R9 280x
3.Monitor - 1080p

I plan to upgrade the system , so that i could use it for another 5 yrs or so , i will be only gaming in 1080p.

I can upgrade only in step by step manner , like either the CPU , mobo , RAM or GPU first

So which one should I be upgrading ?
i have these in mind at the moment
1.CPU - ryzen 5 3600 / 3500 - any other better alternatives for future proofing
2.GPU - RTX 2060 (380$) , RX 5700 (460$). - any other better alternatives for future proofing (pls dont recommend 2080Ti  , i dont have that much money)

Thanks Everyone ! Cheers


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## Toothless (Dec 14, 2019)

Go for the cpu upgrade first.


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## dorsetknob (Dec 14, 2019)

CPU + Motherboard+ram as a upgrade pcakage


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## thebluebumblebee (Dec 15, 2019)

There is no such thing as future proofing, so may I suggest a budget approach?  For 1080P:
Ryzen 2600 can be had at Newegg for $115 (but the 3600 at $190 is a good deal as well)
B450 motherboard (B450 Tomahawk [Max] used as an example) $115
16 GB DDR4-3200 $60
GTX 1660 Supper $230

Total: $520


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## johnspack (Dec 15, 2019)

As a dude who runs old stuff...  I'd say the cpu and mobo first.


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## Khonjel (Dec 15, 2019)

CPU + mobo + RAM first. Then wait until Nvidia/AMD releases 2020 cards.


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## robot zombie (Dec 15, 2019)

3600 is a solid choice. And should be for quite a while, unless CPU needs change drastically. You can even do high FPS if you want. Future-proofing aside that is one of the best buys for perf/value right now and a damned respectable chip. Definitely go for that first. Between that and the DDR4, you're looking much more ready for modern games and tasks than that FX/DDR3 maybe ever was  RAM is priced pretty well and compatibility is pretty good with Ryzen 3000. There hasn't been a better time to buy into a platform for a while. AM4 might be on it's way out, though honestly, I don't see most people needing to upgrade from a 3600 anytime soon.

Or, you could even save some cash getting a 2600. Those are also more than enough right now. Just really solid all-around performance, very easy to cool and power-efficient. And good multi-taskers to boot! I ran one myself until recently... mostly got a 3900x to geek-out on. I wanted for nothing with th 2600 but something new to play with. Set up many a system with 2600x's and thus far have only heard praises from the recipients. We're all like you, gaming at 1080p. I also used it for batch photo processing/editing and audio production, which it was just great for. I could stack tracks and instruments pulling tons of samples and doing all of this real-time parallelized audio processing seamlessly, maxing quality on every effect, simulator, and virtual instrument right up to the point when I maxed out my 16gb of ram. Getting an Intel chip that can do that costs a good bit more. We're talking about a CPU that right now, will even handle some decent workstation tasks on the side. Don't let the price fool you! They're gobs more powerful and flexible than your FX. They're inexpensive, but not cheap. It's still a serious midrange CPU that will handle 1080p/60 gaming very well and also offer, I think, a superior desktop experience. Hard to explain... everything is smooth in ways that are unique to Ryzen. It's a unique architecture with unique advantages, that the whole lines share from top to bottom. Point is, if all you truly ever want to do with this rig is play games and have a really nice experience just using the machine, the 2600 is $120 very well-spent.

And later on when they're cheaper, you can easily swap-in a Ryzen 3000 chip for another serious upgrade. I'm running a 3900x in a board that was around when Ryzen was brand new. But really, you may never find a need to. Depends on what kind of gaming you do. There may come a time when some games >60FPS need more than the 2000 series has to give in clocks and IPC. In that event, a quick swap to a 3000-series chip in that same board comes to the rescue. Otherwise I don't see an absolute need. It's nice that you can, though. You're not totally locked-in if you go that way.

Like, for the price, you can go right to the 3600 and never worry, but in my opinion and experience, it's not an absolute need if your goal is to do this on a tight budget. My mindset has always been "Spend the money now, not later." so I'd lean towards the newer CPU, but in this case I can't legitimately say that's the only way to go.

The 280x should carry you until you can save for a new GPU. 2060 isn't a bad choice. I have one. It runs everything at high or ultra 1080/60 with breathing room. Bordering on overkill. I could up refresh rate or go to 1440p and lose nothing. Or with some compromises even run some games at 4k. If you wanna game at 1080p that'll do it for a while! No doubt lol. Nothing but good things to say about it. I enjoy dabbling in the RTX stuff, too. Though honestly if you're not, you might be overpaying buying one for 1080p gaming. When I bought mine it was the best option. Not so much now.

By the time you save enough there's a good chance there will be better options. 5700 is even better, but again... we're kind of in a middle pocket with GPU's right now. Whatever you buy at this point is about to be trumped in value, if not performance as well.

That said, thebluebumblebee also made a great reccomendation for something that's actually great for 1080p gaming, right now. It's still a major, major upgrade for you. Honestly not a bad way to go, either. 1660 super is a killer 1080p card and you're not paying the RTX markup. They can also run cooler and more efficiently, if you care about stuff like that.


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## Hyderz (Dec 15, 2019)

ryzen 5 3600, msi b450 tomahawk, 16gb DDR4 3200/3600
Radeon 5700 or 2060S


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## Calmmo (Dec 15, 2019)

If gaming is the goal it's hard to say for certain when you put it like that (futureproofing) as things will change a lot with new consoles coming out.
As for current PC standards it looks like a zen2 8core+5700xt is the rough equivalent for those consoles (ballpark - who knows the exact power constraints and clocks, the gpu sounds like a newer design than the 5700 cards also so it might even be better).

Right now few rare hungry games aside - where 8 cores only slightly boost fps or at least affect minimums - 6c/12t is the ideal CPU, and depending on resolution the gpu could be a budget 1660 (there's like 4-5 variants im not even sure which one's the "best" atm) or a higher cost 2060s/5700/xt/2070s (1080p to 1440p). Broadly speaking i think futureproofing a system on a tight budget might be hard, so I think you just buy whats best for your budget right now, otherwise you'll end up putting off building something every year as new things that change where the goalpost sits come out all the time.


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## Hyderz (Dec 15, 2019)

Calmmo said:


> If gaming is the goal it's hard to say for certain when you put it like that (futureproofing) as things will change a lot with new consoles coming out.
> As for current PC standards it looks like a zen2 8core+5700xt is the rough equivalent for those consoles (ballpark - who knows the exact power constraints and clocks, the gpu sounds like a newer design than the 5700 cards also so it might even be better).
> 
> Right now few rare hungry games aside - where 8 cores only slightly boost fps or at least affect minimums - 6c/12t is the ideal CPU, and depending on resolution the gpu could be a budget 1660 (there's like 4-5 variants im not even sure which one's the "best" atm) or a higher cost 2060s/5700/xt/2070s (1080p to 1440p). Broadly speaking i think futureproofing a system on a tight budget might be hard, so I think you just buy whats best for your budget right now, otherwise you'll end up putting off building something every year as new things that change where the goalpost sits come out all the time.



i think amd platform is the way to go for him start off with a ryzen 5 3600, maybe ditch the b450 motherboard and opt for a x570 chipset instead. That way he can upgrade to next ryzen cpu and x570 has goodies like pci-e 4.0 and all that other stuff.


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## Lorec (Dec 15, 2019)

I will be the only one to say: Upgrade Your GPU first. 
Your FX can hold it together for quite a bit still. 
As solid as ryzen 3000 is You might as well wait a bit more, nothing is pressuring You to switch.
Get Yourself a radeon rx 580 8gb or a 1660 ti and You are pretty much set. 
I use radeon 7970 (pretty much the same as 280x) on off when testing and its solid AF.  3gb of vram hurts though.


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## Khonjel (Dec 15, 2019)

Lorec said:


> I will be the only one to say: Upgrade Your GPU first.
> Your FX can hold it together for quite a bit still.
> As solid as ryzen 3000 is You might as well wait a bit more, nothing is pressuring You to switch.
> Get Yourself a radeon rx 580 8gb or a 1660 ti and You are pretty much set.
> I use radeon 7970 (pretty much the same as 280x) on off when testing and its solid AF.  3gb of vram hurts though.


As someone who mained an i5 2400 till this year, your recommendation to keep the CPU is physically hurting me. Almost every post-2016 game was bottlenecking the RX 470 I had.


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## Komshija (Dec 15, 2019)

CPU + motherboard + RAM first, after that GPU.
In my country they offer huge discounts on Ryzen 5 2600 and Ryzen 7 2700, so check them out because it could be the same thing in your country.
Considering the cooler, I recommend Be Quiet Shadow Rock Slim or Cryorig H5 Universal.
As for motherboard I recommend Asrock B450 Gaming K4, Asus B450 Steel Legend, MSI B450 Gaming Plus/Max.
I also suggest 16 GB (2x8GB) RAM, either 3000 MHz or 3200 MHz from G.Skill, ADATA, Team.


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## Lorec (Dec 15, 2019)

Khonjel said:


> As someone who mained an i5 2400 till this year, your recommendation to keep the CPU is physically hurting me. Almost every post-2016 game was bottlenecking the RX 470 I had.


no no no, gringo.
You are comparing a 4c4t to a 8c.
Pretty much a 2 years difference between those two


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## cucker tarlson (Dec 15, 2019)

both cpu and gpu,cpu first,it's trash.gpu is still somwhat good f or entry level gaming,but it's 6 yeras old and amd's support for new games is hit-miss even for new cards.

is 3500x available where you live ?
what about the prices for 1660 super and 5500xt 8gb ?


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## GeForce (Dec 15, 2019)

Thanks all for the valuable response. I was able to see different opinions from different mind sets .Most of them wanting me to upgrade the CPU package , few wanting me to upgrade the GPU. I know its a close call. Either way , I will be upgrading them in the near future. Need few other clarifications as well.

1.Even though the 1660 Ti is a nice card for 1080p (330$) , while the RTX 2060 is around (385$). The prices are crazy in my country u know !!!

2.If I just upgrade my GPU alone to say like rx 580 or smething , wouldnt be like , i will be in a need to upgrade the GPU again in the coming year or so , or it would be fine ?

3.And the 4th gen zen CPUs might be coming , so should i buy the mobo keeping in mind that , or this gen will serve me decent for 5 years ?

Thanks again.


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## cucker tarlson (Dec 15, 2019)

GeForce said:


> Thanks all for the valuable response. I was able to see different opinions from different mind sets .Most of them wanting me to upgrade the CPU package , few wanting me to upgrade the GPU. I know its a close call. Either way , I will be upgrading them in the near future. Need few other clarifications as well.
> 
> 1.Even though the 1660 Ti is a nice card for 1080p (330$) , while the RTX 2060 is around (385$). The prices are crazy in my country u know !!!
> 
> ...


analyze TPUs review for any new card and see that rx580 isn't able to do 1080p/60 in a lot of them even now.

Anno 1800 - 38 fps
Odyssey - 37 fps
Borderlands - 46 fps
Control - 36 fps
Hitman 2 - 40 fps


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## Kissamies (Dec 15, 2019)

cucker tarlson said:


> analyze TPUs review for any new card and see that rx580 isn't able to do 1080p/60 in a lot of them even now.


Well, if he has that 2013ish rig now, I suppose that playing new games with not the maximum settings with RX 580 is fine... I mean for stable 60fps.


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## cucker tarlson (Dec 15, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Well, if he has that 2013ish rig now, I suppose that playing new games with not the maximum settings with RX 580 is fine... I mean for stable 60fps.


Anno 1800 - 38 fps
Odyssey - 37 fps
Borderlands - 46 fps
Control - 36 fps
Hitman 2 - 40 fps

I doubt you'll hit stable 60 on low, you'd need more than 60% increase.
580/1060 were perfect for 1080/60 when they came out and in 2017,but now - far from it.


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## Kissamies (Dec 15, 2019)

cucker tarlson said:


> Anno 1800 - 38 fps
> Odyssey - 37 fps
> Borderlands - 46 fps
> Control - 36 fps
> ...


I have a feeling that the old FX-8320 is more bottlenecking than a RX 580.


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## cucker tarlson (Dec 15, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> I have a feeling that the old FX-8320 is more bottlenecking than a RX 580.


that too.
like most ppl ay,get a new cpu first.
either a 9400f or 3500x,depending what is cheaper where he lives.
it's not like 580 is worlds apart from 290x either. it's a few percent slower than rx570,so 15-20% overall ? not worth the upgrade.Go for 50% at least with such an old card.

a 1660 super or sapphire Vega 56 if he can get his hands on one.


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## biffzinker (Dec 15, 2019)

Lorec said:


> You are comparing a 4c4t to a 8c.


The FX with it's CMT is analogous to a Intel 4c/8t.


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## Hyderz (Dec 15, 2019)

could you list the full specs of your pc?
e.g motherboard ram hdd, psu 
we dont want to recommend you say a RTX 2060 and then bam your psu cant handle it.


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## dgianstefani (Dec 15, 2019)

2600/1600 now with a x470/570 mobo. 3700x or 4700x when you can afford it. 8 core cpus are the future, so I wouldn't bother going for a current gen 6 core. Invest in some decent ram 16gb. 3600/16 or 3200/14. Also make sure you get a mobo with good VRM. Check out the tier lists that are about. 

Definitely wait for Nvidia 7nm re the GPU.

Also if you don't currently have an ssd, grab a 500gb minimum nvme drive. Intel 665p or Samsung 970 evo plus both solid choices.


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## thebluebumblebee (Dec 15, 2019)

GeForce said:


> 1.Even though the 1660 Ti is a nice card for 1080p (330$) , while the RTX 2060 is around (385$). The prices are crazy in my country u know !!!
> 
> 2.If I just upgrade my GPU alone to say like rx 580 or smething , wouldnt be like , i will be in a need to upgrade the GPU again in the coming year or so , or it would be fine ?


Before Ryzen came out in early 2017, the undisputed king of gaming CPU's was the i7-7700K, and no one was talking about needing more than the 4c/8t that it offered.  Ryzen changed all of that.  What I'm trying to point out is that planning a system for 5 years is impossible.

About the 470/480/570/580 question, They and the GTX 1060 and even the older GTX 980 perform about the same!  That's why I suggested the GTX 1660 Supper, as it's performance splits that of the GTX 1070 and 1070 Ti. I just question if the GTX 2060 Super is worth $150+ more, for 1080P gaming.


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## GeForce (Dec 15, 2019)

Hyderz said:


> could you list the full specs of your pc?
> e.g motherboard ram hdd, psu
> we dont want to recommend you say a RTX 2060 and then bam your psu cant handle it.



As i mentioned before ,  i have Fx-8320 paired with asus m4a97 mobo(i believe this is the one ) and asus r9 280x 
My PSU is seasonic 620U (will be newer GPU will be able to power using this ? )
And Samsung 22'' 1080p (Not the fancy 144hz ones , i believe this is 75hz )
And i have cooler master 212 evo as well.
And 8 gigs of DDR3 RAM



thebluebumblebee said:


> Before Ryzen came out in early 2017, the undisputed king of gaming CPU's was the i7-7700K, and no one was talking about needing more than the 4c/8t that it offered.  Ryzen changed all of that.  What I'm trying to point out is that planning a system for 5 years is impossible.
> 
> About the 470/480/570/580 question, They and the GTX 1060 and even the older GTX 980 perform about the same!  That's why I suggested the GTX 1660 Supper, as it's performance splits that of the GTX 1070 and 1070 Ti. I just question if the GTX 2060 Super is worth $150+ more, for 1080P gaming.



The price difference between 1660 Ti and  2060 is 50$ , as the 1660Ti is on higher side in my country. So i thought , it would be wise to upgrade it with 2060 (Initially i was preferring Rx 5700 , but the price difference between 2060 and 5700 is 85$ approximately)



Calmmo said:


> If gaming is the goal it's hard to say for certain when you put it like that (futureproofing) as things will change a lot with new consoles coming out.
> As for current PC standards it looks like a zen2 8core+5700xt is the rough equivalent for those consoles (ballpark - who knows the exact power constraints and clocks, the gpu sounds like a newer design than the 5700 cards also so it might even be better).
> 
> Right now few rare hungry games aside - where 8 cores only slightly boost fps or at least affect minimums - 6c/12t is the ideal CPU, and depending on resolution the gpu could be a budget 1660 (there's like 4-5 variants im not even sure which one's the "best" atm) or a higher cost 2060s/5700/xt/2070s (1080p to 1440p). Broadly speaking i think futureproofing a system on a tight budget might be hard, so I think you just buy whats best for your budget right now, otherwise you'll end up putting off building something every year as new things that change where the goalpost sits come out all the time.



Yep ,  Gaming is my goal .. But i do little photo editing as well using photoshop and Lightroom (the Fx-8320 handles it decently). The FPS difference between 6 cores and 8 cores seems to not much of a difference , but not sure how the future might be . So had confusions as well whether 3600 is a solid choice


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## biffzinker (Dec 15, 2019)

You can fill out your system specs at the link below. Would save you the trouble in the future from having to list your system specs again.


			https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/account/specs


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## GeForce (Dec 15, 2019)

robot zombie said:


> Though honestly if you're not, you might be overpaying buying one for 1080p gaming. When I bought mine it was the best option. Not so much now.



This point , is what i m thinking about a lot .. I may not be using it efficiently at the moment , but i might be useful as the months progress rite ? And selling stuff in my country doesnt work as easily in other places as well !


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## biffzinker (Dec 15, 2019)

GeForce said:


> Yep ,  Gaming is my goal .. But i do little photo editing as well using photoshop and Lightroom (the Fx-8320 handles it decently). The FPS difference between 6 cores and 8 cores seems to not much of a difference , but not sure how the future might be . So had confusions as well whether 3600 is a solid choice


Here's where the Ryzen 5 3600 sits in Pudget System's Photoshop CPU roundup benchmark.








						Photoshop CPU Roundup: AMD Ryzen 3rd Gen, AMD Threadripper 2, Intel 9th Gen, Intel X-series
					

AMD's new Ryzen 3rd generation processors have arrived and shaken up the dynamic between Intel and AMD in many workloads. But how well do they handle heavy Photoshop workloads compared to the AMD Threadripper, Intel 9th Gen, and Intel X-series CPUs?




					www.pugetsystems.com
				




Lightroom








						Lightroom Classic CPU Roundup: AMD Ryzen 3rd Gen, AMD Threadripper 2, Intel 9th Gen, Intel X-series
					

Lightroom Classic has changed dramatically over the last few years, with improved multithreading support and the recent addition of GPU acceleration. But exactly how much of a difference is there between the latest processors from both Intel and AMD? Does the higher core count on the new Ryzen...




					www.pugetsystems.com


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## Kissamies (Dec 15, 2019)

Your S12II is fine, though it's a pretty old platform, but still a good quality one. At least it's not those cheap Chinese Ping-Pong fireworks PSUs.


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## Zach_01 (Dec 15, 2019)

GeForce said:


> As i mentioned before ,  i have Fx-8320 paired with asus m4a97 mobo(i believe this is the one ) and asus r9 280x
> My PSU is seasonic 620U (will be newer GPU will be able to power using this ? )
> And Samsung 22'' 1080p (Not the fancy 144hz ones , i believe this is 75hz )
> And i have cooler master 212 evo as well.
> ...


Can you state a rough bugdet for the upgrade?
Also my opinion, as the many, is to upgrade the CPU/MB/RAM first. Look at my specs....
Previous I had

FX8370 with 990FX/SB950 chipset board
8GB of DDR3 1866
RX580 8GB
SSD 512GB (Samsung 850Pro)
24" 1920x1200 monitor (=2.3MPixel)

A lot of games stutter (framedrops) at times and the avg framerate wasnt great either but good enough for me.
Got the 3600 with X570 and 16GB DDR4. I chose X570 and not X470/B450 because I wanted to be closer (for better compatibility) with the next ZEN3(4000series), to have options to upgrade down the road.
I intent to keep this 6core/12T CPU at least 2~3years and then (2021~22) decide if I want to upgrade it to a 4000 12core/24T or even greater depending the prices at the time, and if I need to.

GPU wise
The RX580 8GB (or any equivalent GPU) is still great for ~1080p gaming. At least 95% of games playing maxed out and a few at high/ultra mix settings. But I dont care about steady 60FPS. Im ok with 40 or even 30. The most important to me is that games now are not stutter! I'm playing FarCry5 (2018) maxed out with 70+FPS avg and ~50FPS 1% lows. The game is flawless experience...

So IMHO upgrade to a 3600 +B450 board if your budget is limited or X570 (~200$) if not. Performance is the same. Get 16GB DDR4 3200~3600 (preferably 3600) and keep your GPU and your PSU for another 6months or even a year (with some compromises on game settings) and then upgrade it. If you intent to keep your 1080p monitor a ~250USD GPU (whatever is on market then) will be enough for 1080p for a 4~5years run. If you intent to switch to a 1440p then a 5700XT(or an equivalent after 0.5~1year) is a sweetspot for the next few years.

As for the editing/rendering capability of the 3600... while its not like other bigger "guns" its still x2.5~x3 faster than FX8370 (OC 4.5GHz) depending the work load. Its night and day...
The single core performance is also literally x2.


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## potato580+ (Dec 15, 2019)

cpu ryzen 1600/2600+ mb b350/450
optional i5 9400f+h310
monitor not necessary
gpu rx480/580 4/8gb/gtx1060 6gb/1650 super
thats alr enough for curent fullhd mid/high preset gameplay, aprox 40-60fps or so

might consider abit extra cost for an used 1070ti/vega56 to make sure your gameplay smooth


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## GeForce (Dec 15, 2019)

Zach_01 said:


> Can you state a rough bugdet for the upgrade?
> Also my opinion, as the many, is to upgrade the CPU/MB/RAM first. Look at my specs....
> Previous I had
> 
> ...



My Budget for GPU is around 400$ , for CPU around 200 $,  I havent even looked at the mobo prices at the moment , but i hope i dont need too pricey ones for this ! (Prices in my country are crazy and stupid )
RX 580 - 215$
1660Ti - 315$
RTX 2060 - 380$
RX 5700 / RTX Super- 450$
RX 5700 XT - 550$

May after Six months or so , I will upgrade the CPU , if i go with GPU first ( CPU prices are decent when compared to GPU in my country)

I played the FarCry2018 with my , R9 280x it was very decent .. Even though , there were some drops at times .. But i enjoyed thoroughly with my setup .. But the new ones , Metro Exodus .. those are struggling .. the AC series look poor too , dont know whether the CPU is bottlenecking tat one too !!



potato580+ said:


> cpu ryzen 1600/2600+ mb b350/450
> optional i5 9400f+h310
> monitor not necessary
> gpu rx480/580 4/8gb/gtx1060 6gb/1650 super
> ...



1.The Ryzen 2600 is similarly priced around 3600 in my place , probably 30$ diff

2.Considering 40 - 60 fps , wouldnt the upcoming games , might struggle ? I need atleast 50 fps for atleast 2 , 3 years .. tats fine with me  

3.1070Ti and Vega56 , those are quite difficult to find in stock , or they might be overpriced. , 

So i m sticking with the below options : (1080p - 3 yrs minimum  , please bare with me )

RX 580 - 215$
1660Ti - 315$
RTX 2060 - 380$
RX 5700 / RTX Super- 450$
RX 5700 XT - 550$


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## Zach_01 (Dec 15, 2019)

I believe the CPU is the most bottleneck in your setup. The FX series just cant keep up a steady data rate to any mid/high end GPU. If you upgrade the GPU first you will still have massive framedrops sometimes.
The RX580 is a +50% performer than R9 280X. And I had RX580 with FX8370 (better than 8320) and still had stutter and drops with AAA games.
If you upgrade the CPU/MB/RAM +SSD for boot/OS/Games your r9 280X will gain a little in avg FPS but massively in the low/lowest.

Its your call...


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## potato580+ (Dec 15, 2019)

GeForce said:


> My Budget for GPU is around 400$ , for CPU around 200 $,  I havent even looked at the mobo prices at the moment , but i hope i dont need too pricey ones for this ! (Prices in my country are crazy and stupid )
> RX 580 - 215$
> 1660Ti - 315$
> RTX 2060 - 380$
> ...


as for me if it is 1 to 3rd option i will go for rtx2060, new card, premium raytrac, better temp, good price, as for 5700/xt/super ive never own the card, so cant tell the value of those, i stringly recomend 2060 yes


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## Hyderz (Dec 16, 2019)

Which country you located?

man the 2700x is going for $159 usd in Amazon atm could upgrade to that with 8c/16threads


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## biffzinker (Dec 16, 2019)

Hyderz said:


> an the 2700x is going for $159 usd in Amazon atm could upgrade to that with 8c/16threads


The Ryzen 5 3600 outperforms a 2700X in Photoshop, and Lightroom though.


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## Hyderz (Dec 16, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> The Ryzen 5 3600 outperforms a 2700X in Photoshop, and Lightroom though.
> View attachment 139503
> 
> View attachment 139504



yes but its cheaper


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## RealNeil (Dec 16, 2019)

Maybe you should consider a Radeon RX590 card?

*Newegg has the Gigabyte model for $180.00 US* right now.
I realize that you can't get these prices and deals where you are, but this card is worth a look.

Also, in the future, you can add a second one of these for Crossfire performance.


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## biffzinker (Dec 16, 2019)

Hyderz said:


> yes but its cheaper


I OP did mention:


GeForce said:


> 1.The Ryzen 2600 is similarly priced around 3600 in my place , probably 30$ diff


I wonder what the 2700X would cost?


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## RealNeil (Dec 16, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I wonder what the 2700X would cost?


When I bought my Ryzen setup, I had the R7-3700X in my cart with an ASUS ROG Crossfire VIII Hero (wifi).
I almost bought it, but then I saw that the R7-3800X was only 30 bucks more. That's what I bought.


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## Melvis (Dec 16, 2019)

Basically you havent got much choice with your current system for upgrades to it besides a GPU upgrade so since your looking at something thats going tolaast you a long time then the AM4 platform is the way to go. Get a good B450 or if you can afford a good 470 /570 Mobo, get a ryzen 5 3600 CPU and some good speed DDR4 Memory, 3200/3600MHz and later on if you feel the need you can just upgrade the CPU. This is your best bet of a long lasting platform with an upgrade path. Then also get a better GPU later as well when you get the funds. 

Best of luck!


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## Vayra86 (Dec 16, 2019)

thebluebumblebee said:


> There is no such thing as future proofing, so may I suggest a budget approach?  For 1080P:
> Ryzen 2600 can be had at Newegg for $115 (but the 3600 at $190 is a good deal as well)
> B450 motherboard (B450 Tomahawk [Max] used as an example) $115
> 16 GB DDR4-3200 $60
> ...



This is basically what I'm building today for a friend. Great budget option and will destroy most if not all games at 1080p.

I'd advise against going lower than the 1660S though, you will find it to be more expensive in the long run because you'll want more grunt sooner, while the price/perf of 1660S is fantastic and its a well balanced card that'll last. If you have to save on this setup, drop to Ryzen 2600 and shave another 20 off the board with an Asus Prime A


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## Kissamies (Dec 16, 2019)

RealNeil said:


> Maybe you should consider a Radeon RX590 card?
> 
> *Newegg has the Gigabyte model for $180.00 US* right now.
> I realize that you can't get these prices and deals where you are, but this card is worth a look.
> ...


Crossfire is already dead as I noticed with 2x R9 290 cards.


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## RealNeil (Dec 17, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Crossfire is already dead as I noticed with 2x R9 290 cards.


I use a pair of Vega-64 cards in Crossfire. When it's not enabled in a game, my Vega-64 single provides plenty of grunt. When Crossfire is supported, I get a healthy boost from two of them.
I also have two GTX-1080FE cards in SLI, and two GTX-1070Ti cards in SLI.


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## Kissamies (Dec 17, 2019)

Exactly, _when supported_. I noticed that the second R9 290 spent most of its time idling since newer games simply didn't support multi-GPU.


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## kapone32 (Dec 17, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Exactly, _when supported_. I noticed that the second R9 290 spent most of its time idling since newer games simply didn't support multi-GPU.



And that is bad because?
 With crossfire you always buy the 2nd card for less than the first. I also have 2 Vega 64s in crossfire and am quite pleased with it. Even though a lot of new AAA gamers don't support it there are plenty of games that have crossfire support.


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## Zach_01 (Dec 17, 2019)

AMD stated clearly that will not support crossfire in the future, and I’m convinced that nVidia will do the same. Multi GPU setups are dead pretty much.
GPU vendors and game developers don’t care about supporting it...

And it’s not cost effective for the user if you consider the cost/price of the 2 GPUs and of a monster PSU that is needed.

PS
I couldn’t care less for the power consumption itself...


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## Kissamies (Dec 17, 2019)

kapone32 said:


> And that is bad because?
> With crossfire you always buy the 2nd card for less than the first. I also have 2 Vega 64s in crossfire and am quite pleased with it. Even though a lot of new AAA gamers don't support it there are plenty of games that have crossfire support.


Having the second card idling is just senseless. Yeah, older games do have better support, but I don't play the same games over and over again which benefit from CF.

AMD didn't drop CF support from Navi without a reason.


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## kapone32 (Dec 17, 2019)

Zach_01 said:


> AMD stated clearly that will not support crossfire in the future, and I’m convinced that nVidia will do the same. Multi GPU setups are dead pretty much.
> GPU vendors and game developers don’t care about supporting it...
> 
> And it’s not cost effective for the user if you consider the cost/price of the 2 GPUs and of a monster PSU that is needed.
> ...



Well since Crossfire support is still in the marketing for every board that has more than 1 PCI_E 16 lane I would not say it is officially dead. We know that the NAVI cards do not support crossfire but the argument should not be about crossfire or SLI but DX12 Multi GPU support. I could actually see something like that when we move to 4K+ 120HZ monitors as today even the 2080TI cannot get 60 FPS in every single game at 4K Ultra but 2 Vega 64s are faster than a 2080TI in games that support it at 4K like TWWH3. As far as power draw goes I always buy more GPU then I need initially.



Chloe Price said:


> Having the second card idling is just senseless. Yeah, older games do have better support, but I don't play the same games over and over again which benefit from CF.
> 
> AMD didn't drop CF support from Navi without a reason.



In my over 800 game Steam library over 150 games support crossfire and I have yet to play them all. Shadow of War is a game that comes to mind.


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## Kissamies (Dec 17, 2019)

I get your point, but having an one faster card is still the better choice.


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## kapone32 (Dec 17, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> I get your point, but having an one faster card is still the better choice.



I am not disagreeing with you Multi GPU is not for everyone. You should have a use case to justify getting a crossfire array.


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## RealNeil (Dec 17, 2019)

Zach_01 said:


> AMD stated clearly that will not support crossfire in the future, and I’m convinced that nVidia will do the same.



NVIDIA'S best GPUS still have SLI support baked in to them. All they've done is make sure that we have to pay through the nose for the privilege. 

It's still a good idea for us that already own multiple cards that are capable.



Chloe Price said:


> I get your point, but having an one faster card is still the better choice.


No, TWO faster cards for the win! Lol!


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## Zach_01 (Dec 17, 2019)

RealNeil said:


> NVIDIA'S best GPUS still have SLI support baked in to them. All they've done is make sure that we have to pay through the nose for the privilege.
> 
> It's still a good idea for us that already own multiple cards that are capable.
> 
> ...


If someone has 2 cards already is different and irrelevant to the discussion in this thread when the OP asks for optimal upgrades to a new/upgraded system.
Why are we forgeting the purpose of the thread? SLI/Crossfire is not an optimal GPU setup (nor needed) today for someone seeking to 1080/1440p gaming. But we forgot that too.

Can this thread move on and we stay focused on what the OP asked?


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## RealNeil (Dec 17, 2019)

What I recommended was a single Radeon RX590 GPU. (with the possibility of going to Crossfire later on)
So you're right, let's not forget.


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## Vayra86 (Dec 18, 2019)

kapone32 said:


> Well since Crossfire support is still in the marketing for every board that has more than 1 PCI_E 16 lane I would not say it is officially dead. We know that the NAVI cards do not support crossfire but the argument should not be about crossfire or SLI but DX12 Multi GPU support. I could actually see something like that when we move to 4K+ 120HZ monitors as today even the 2080TI cannot get 60 FPS in every single game at 4K Ultra but 2 Vega 64s are faster than a 2080TI in games that support it at 4K like TWWH3. As far as power draw goes I always buy more GPU then I need initially.
> 
> 
> 
> In my over 800 game Steam library over 150 games support crossfire and I have yet to play them all. Shadow of War is a game that comes to mind.



You may not want to believe it, but I'll chime in too and confirm for you Crossfire and SLI are dead or dying. Investing in a dual card setup in 2019 is a fool's errand. This isn't news either, Nvidia started chopping down that tree when it removed the SLI fingers from midrange cards since Pascal and AMD follows suit.

Some people like fool's errands though, who are we to stop them... but call it what it is. The fact you can play older games on your dual card setup is how useful exactly? If the cards are somewhat recent you'd have the exact same performance with the single card setup regardless.

Even if you buy the second card at say 50% of the initial cost, you'd get it second hand. Still better off selling the first and investing that 50% on top of your resale into a newer single card, which will always provide full perf, has support for newer features, uses less power (=less heat) _and_ has ongoing support and warranty.

The emotional part of dual GPU is clear. Its cool to have two cards in there. But useful? Nah



kapone32 said:


> In my over 800 game Steam library over 150 games support crossfire and I have yet to play them all. Shadow of War is a game that comes to mind.



There you go, so that's less than a quarter of your library, and then there is the scaling cost too. Average that out across your whole library and the net FPS gain across all games for the second card is probably somewhere around 10-15%.  There is no way that is cost effective, ever.

@GeForce Basically the best path right now is (lower midrange) 1660 S > (mid) 5700 or 2060 > (high) 5700 XT > 2070 S. Let budget be the guide here. Going beyond is bad perf/$


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## kapone32 (Dec 18, 2019)

Vayra86 said:


> You may not want to believe it, but I'll chime in too and confirm for you Crossfire and SLI are dead or dying. Investing in a dual card setup in 2019 is a fool's errand. This isn't news either, Nvidia started chopping down that tree when it removed the SLI fingers from midrange cards since Pascal and AMD follows suit.
> 
> Some people like fool's errands though, who are we to stop them... but call it what it is. The fact you can play older games on your dual card setup is how useful exactly? If the cards are somewhat recent you'd have the exact same performance with the single card setup regardless.
> 
> ...



I am not saying that Crossfire is applicable to every scenario. The reason I got into SLI and then crossfire is the Total War franchise and yes you would see up to 100% scaling using dual cards in games like Rome 2, Shogun 2, Atilla and Warhammer 1&2. Total War is by far the franchise I play most. All told I must have at least 1500 hrs in each game. Another place where crossfire shone for me though was when I got into VR with my 7950 crossfire array and had no issues running Subnautica, Project Cars, Serious Sam VR or any of the 10-15 Space Sims I have in VR. I know those games are older titles but Doom and Strange Brigade also have crossfire support. If it wasn't for the MIning craze GPUs would not be over priced and maintaining inflated prices for as long as they have. it would be easy to recommend crossfire using the scenario of a $200 mid range card and getting a used or new same GPU for $100. That used to net you better overall performance that getting more RAM, storage or changing your CPU or anything else you could upgrade in your PC.


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## Vayra86 (Dec 18, 2019)

kapone32 said:


> I am not saying that Crossfire is applicable to every scenario. The reason I got into SLI and then crossfire is the Total War franchise and yes you would see up to 100% scaling using dual cards in games like Rome 2, Shogun 2, Atilla and Warhammer 1&2. Total War is by far the franchise I play most. All told I must have at least 1500 hrs in each game. Another place where crossfire shone for me though was when I got into VR with my 7950 crossfire array and had no issues running Subnautica, Project Cars, Serious Sam VR or any of the 10-15 Space Sims I have in VR. I know those games are older titles but Doom and Strange Brigade also have crossfire support. If it wasn't for the MIning craze GPUs would not be over priced and maintaining inflated prices for as long as they have. it would be easy to recommend crossfire using the scenario of a $200 mid range card and getting a used or new same GPU for $100. That used to net you better overall performance that getting more RAM, storage or changing your CPU or anything else you could upgrade in your PC.



I get you, and it really did provide advantages back in 2012-2016 but beyond that? Questionable. We have similar single GPU grunt, I can tell you that I have zero problems in Total War with just the one card. 60 FPS or up. Also depends on your resolution of course, at higher res there is definitely a niche for it still, simply because there is no other way to get more grunt in there at some point.


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## Zach_01 (Dec 18, 2019)

Last time I use crossfire was  2008/9 playing Crysis/Crysis warhead with 2x HD4870s. At the time was definately necessary, but now not so much...


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## kapone32 (Dec 18, 2019)

Vayra86 said:


> I get you, and it really did provide advantages back in 2012-2016 but beyond that? Questionable. We have similar single GPU grunt, I can tell you that I have zero problems in Total War with just the one card. 60 FPS or up. Also depends on your resolution of course, at higher res there is definitely a niche for it still, simply because there is no other way to get more grunt in there at some point.



Exactly I play Warhammer 2 @ 4K and usually get between 70 and 120 FPS.


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## oxrufiioxo (Dec 18, 2019)

The only time sli makes sense is when you already have the fastest card and need more performance in every other scenario having a single faster card is a substantial better investment. 

I ran sli 680s/970s/1080s when the Titan Xp released I sold the 1080s and bought one couldn't be more happy ditching SLI. The last crossfire setup I ran was 7970s and frame pacing was terrible. 

DX 12 MGPU sounded pretty awesome but  with how it's been supported I wouldn't hold my breath so unless the nextnextgen consoles come out with some MCM type GPU I wouldn't hold my breath.


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## moproblems99 (Dec 18, 2019)

You will immediately regret buying 2 cards and only being able to use one most of the time.  Single GPU that maxes your gpu budget is the way to go from here on out.


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