I'd personally save money and eventually upgrade to a 5800X3D and 32GB of RAM. That way you've maxed out the platform.
That and/or make a more affordable RAM upgrade if you can manage to find the exact same 2x8 GB kit as you have now. That's what I did on my 8700K, GTX 1080 rig recently. I was fortunate enough to find the same 2x8GB Corsair vengeance LPX 3200 DDR4 kit with exact same timings. It has made a difference in games like The Last of Us Part I that uses a ton of RAM. I would also recommend using a free tool like O&O to turn off telemetry in W10 or 11 (works for both). It can be turned off or back on with one click, and can free up 1GB of RAM.
I also recommend using the free tool InteligentStandbyListCleaner, which can be set to start with Windows (which is the way I use it). What it does is continuously free up RAM when need be, and it works in the background using very little RAM. It's not only a very low resource tool, it keeps your RAM on the ready without any software compatibility conflicts.
If you're only having problems in a few games that use a ton of RAM, it could be the CPU is waiting for the RAM as it fills up then refreshes, hard to say as it depends on what games you play. If you CAN find the same 2x8GB RAM kit and do the disabling telemetry trick though, it would be the cheapest way to find out if you need a better CPU.
In The Last of Us Part I, the extra 16GB of RAM for me mostly just made things run smoother because my CPU usage and temps went from being sky high to reasonable. The strange thing though, is while it allocated 2GB more RAM with the higher RAM capacity, it actually used 2GB less. Our gaming PCs are at the mercy of games that were made for these newest gen consoles now I think.
That said, there's only so much a 5500 CPU can do, this is just the cheapest way to see if it's the sole culprit, which it very well may be. You're going to have a bottleneck in ANY system that has a more powerful GPU, and a relatively weak CPU, regardless how much RAM you have.
using "close to 16GB" and needing 16GB are two different things
maybe but in what games? Is this a gut feeling or are you seeing it visually (not using a FPS counter)?
The real question is your GPU, how long do you plan to use it? It's relatively new so if you plan to keep it for 2-3 years or more I would avoid the 58003DX.
Techspot found the difference between the R 5500 & 5600 to be around 7% with the RX6600XT and 14% with the RX6950, so with the RX6700XT we are talking around a 10% difference tops in most games. Not worth the CPU upgrade.
Get a whole new DDR5 platform build when you need a new GPU
The link you posted not even showing a 5800X3D (ACTUAL spelling, unlike yours) being tested makes your claim no more than speculation. I also don't see why you're insisting Dragam1377 is way off base with his suggestions. Have you not noticed most here are in agreement that the 5800X3D is the best upgrade path? All you're achieving with your insults toward him is further proving he's not in fact obtuse as you claim, but one of the sharpest tools in the shed instead.
Maybe learn to read the room and take consensus of what most are saying, instead of copping out with the "block" ("Ignore" is more accurate) option, because it's only serving to make you look like the odd man out here.
As far as your speculating the 5800X3D would only result in a 10% gain over the 5500, here's proof that it is at least 12% faster than even the 5600.
Now while UserBenchhmark may not be a "pro" review site, the users submitting the benches are many not few, and are not paid to submit them, so totally unbiased.
If you factor in 5500 vs 5600 comparison, I think the reality would be closer to at least 20% that the 5800X3D would eclipse the 5500 by.
