Best upgrade for my current PC? Memory performance boost? RYZEN

[syypher]

Good Afternoon,

Looking at recommendations for a "Christmas gift to myself" upgrade for my PC

I have noticed in some games my 16GB is maxing out and at the time I just got the cheapest deal on RAM I could find. I have also read a lot out there about the Ryzen CPUs getting significant performance increases with better RAM. I'm thinking of making the following upgrades:
https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-32gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232907
https://www.newegg.com/msi-mpg-b550-gaming-edge-wifi/p/N82E16813144324

Would love your advice!


CURRENT BUILD:

**CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor]
**CPU Cooler** | [Noctua NH-D15S 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler]
**Motherboard** | [Asus PRIME B450M-A/CSM Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard]
**Memory** | [Corsair Vengeance 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 Memory 3000mhz CL16]
**Storage** | [Samsung 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive]
**Storage** | [Samsung 860 Evo 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive]
**Video Card** | [NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Video Card]
**Operating System** | [Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit]
**Case Fan** | [Noctua P14s redux-1500 PWM 78.69 CFM 140 mm Fan]
**Case Fan** | [Noctua P14s redux-1500 PWM 78.69 CFM 140 mm Fan]

 

[trents]

16gb of RAM is the current recommended amount for gaming without bottle-necking. You might see a small gain in FPS going to the higher speed RAM. With those fast drives any bottle-necking due to page filing with regard to amount of RAM would be somewhat mitigated. It might be a smart purchase to move up to the mpg-b550 motherboard for future CPU upgrades but it would have no impact on game performance until then. What games do you play and at what resolution? Your two planned upgrade purchases have the most value for future proofing rather than current performance improvement IMO, at least at 1080p.

 

[EarthDog]

I'm shocked that you're going past 16GB... what else are you running that such a thing happens? I assume you have a lot of browser tabs or other applications open at the same time?

 

[syypher]

16gb of RAM is the current recommended amount for gaming without bottle-necking. You might see a small gain in FPS going to the higher speed RAM. With those fast drives any bottle-necking due to page filing with regard to amount of RAM would be somewhat mitigated. It might be a smart purchase to move up to the mpg-b550 motherboard for future CPU upgrades but it would have no impact on game performance until then. What games do you play and at what resolution? Your two planned upgrade purchases have the most value for future proofing rather than current performance improvement IMO, at least at 1080p.

Apex Legends, WoW, Valorant. I have a 240hz refresh rate monitor and I would love for my games to be at 240FPS stable or higher so I can utilize it to its fullest potential, but it occasionally dips down to 150-200. It was perfect when I had a 143hz monitor lol, but now that I have this higher one I want to max it out as best as I can. (I don't care about maxing our FPS in WoW since its not important in an MMO, but I do care about getting the highest FPS in Apex and Valorant)

I'm shocked that you're going past 16GB... what else are you running that such a thing happens? I assume you have a lot of browser tabs or other applications open at the same time?

I have the game, discord, and a browser open and that's all. But I do have a lot of tabs open in Chrome. That eats away that much memory? I'll try closing it out next time.

 

[EarthDog]

That eats away that much memory?

That's a question? Take a look at task manager when you have several tabs open.

If you want to max out that monitor, you'll likely need a better video card and a better CPU (5000 series AMD) to do so at 1080p as the CPU will also hold you back at the lower resolution.

 

[syypher]

That's a question? Take a look at task manager when you have several tabs open.

If you want to max out that monitor, you'll likely need a better video card and a better CPU (5000 series AMD) to do so at 1080p as the CPU will also hold you back at the lower resolution.

Aaaah, interesting.. I thought a Ryzen 5 3600 and 2070 super could handle 240 on the regular. RIP me.

 

[EarthDog]

Aaaah, interesting.. I thought a Ryzen 5 3600 and 2070 super could handle 240 on the regular. RIP me.

In some titles, sure! Valorant may be able to get there with some settings changes. Apex Legends likely not.

You can look up performance reviews of games and see how many FPS are expected. But if you're trying to push 240 FPS at 1080p across many titles, you'll want the fastest CPU out (Currently Ryzen 5000 or overclocked Intel 10000 series) in order to push the FPS couple with a better GPU.

 

[Woomack]

Since we have the middle of Dec then the best would be if you wait till the next month when probably will appear Ryzen 5600 CPUs (not X so cheaper). I already saw BIOS updates with "new CPU support" for my ASUS motherboards so I assume that new chips will be soon on the market.

I wouldn't buy a B450 motherboard for a new PC. If you buy everything new then get at least B550. It will save you some possible issues and give you longer manufacturer support.
Don't expect manufacturers to invest much more money in the old chipset. If not pushing from the users' side then there wouldn't be any significant BIOS update for over a year. B450 wasn't even designed for Ryzen 3000, not to mention Ryzen 4000/5000.

I don't recommend lower Corsair RAM. Better grab something from G.Skill, Crucial, HyperX, or Team Group. For Ryzen 3000/5000, recommended is DDR4-3600. It gives up to ~5% higher FPS in games compared to ~DDR4-3000 and doesn't cost so much more.
16GB is just fine. Check how much are using your games. A typical scenario is 2-8GB for the game +2.5GB clean OS + 1-3GB web browser so usually no more than ~10GB. If you are using Photoshop or something for video editing then you may need more RAM. I need more than 16GB only when I run 2 games at the same time +some other stuff in the background.

I wouldn't buy RTX2070 nowadays. I have no idea what prices you have but most stores which I checked recently have about the same prices for RTX2070 and RTX3060Ti. The second one is significantly faster in everything. If it's not available right now then wait about a month.

 

[PtSp86]

Why amd? New gen 10 i5 10400f beats that Ryzen in any level 20% price cut.