RAM or CPU upgrade

[Marcus L]

As the title suggests.

Current specs..

Ryzen 5500 (CO +200mhz boost 4450mhz)
16GB 2x8GB 3600
Gigabyte Auros Elite AX V2
Sapphire Nitro 6700XT


on one hand in games I am seeing my ram usage coming close to 16GB and 32GB is pretty cheap now, on the other hand I feel my CPU is probably holding back my GPU in some games as well as only having pcie3 lanes, can only do one upgrade this month though choices would likely be Ryzen 5600 (£125) Ryzen 5700x (£165) the 5600x makes no sense to me and is priced in between them at £150 or a decent set of 4000mhz 32GB DDR4, thoghts, suggestions?

I hadn't really considered the 5700x before today until I saw todays amazon price which makes it really compelling, and the general consensus seems to be if given the choice between a 5600 and 5600x go for the former as there is little between them to justify the increase in cost...

 

[3x0]

I'd personally save money and eventually upgrade to a 5800X3D and 32GB of RAM. That way you've maxed out the platform.

 

[phanbuey]

4000 won’t help you, but another set of 3600 will help a bit +1 to the save money and get a 5800x3D

 

[Marcus L]

I have considered the 5800x3d and would love one but it is almost double the cost of the 5700x, would I get that much more benefit from it over a 5600/5700x considering my GPU isn't exactly high end? for that same price I could get the 5700x/RAM and have change leftover..

 

[3x0]

What resolution and refresh rate do you play on?

 

[Vya Domus]

Neither, not worth investing in an AM4 system at this point. Save your money.

 

[Marcus L]

What resolution and refresh rate do you play on?

1080p 165hz

 

[68Olds]

What are the specs of your 2x8gb 3600 kit? If it is a nice CL16 kit, consider adding a matching 2x8gb kit to it. Don't spend money on a DDR4-4000 kit, you will just have to manually set it to 3600 to 3800 to get it working well.

 

[Marcus L]

What are the specs of your 2x8gb 3600 kit? If it is a nice CL16 kit, consider adding a matching 2x8gb kit to it. Don't spend money on a DDR4-4000 kit, you will just have to manually set it to 3600 to 3800 to get it working well.

I use my 3000mhz XMP profile change to 3600, voltage to 1.48 and just change the main timings, at one point I did them all through Ryzen calculator but lost the data/screenshots and CBA going through all the testing again at this point

 

[siluro818]

Get RAM now (and make sure it's the correct kit), and wait for sales in a few months to get a 5800X3D.

 

[68Olds]

I use my 3000mhz XMP profile change to 3600, voltage to 1.48 and just change the main timings, at one point I did them all through Ryzen calculator but lost the data/screenshots and CBA going through all the testing again at this point

I would try to find a matching 2x8gb kit and go that route. You might see your perceived CPU bottleneck go away once you are not using a swap file.

 

[Marcus L]

I would try to find a matching 2x8gb kit and go that route. You might see your perceived CPU bottleneck go away once you are not using a swap file.

My RAM can run close to 16GB in some games for sure but the Ryzen 5500 is barely better than a 3600 due to 1/2 the L3 cache of 5600/5700etc and cezanne cores, so there is definitely a CPU bottleneck

 

[siluro818]

I would try to find a matching 2x8gb kit and go that route. You might see your perceived CPU bottleneck go away once you are not using a swap file.

No, there is a CPU bottleneck for sure at 1080p. But the AM4 situation is such that unless you are Ryzen 1xxx/2xxx user no other upgrade makes sense apart of the 5800X3D (for the purpose of gaming that is).

 

[Bill_Bright]

If me, probably neither.

DDR5 is here to stay. DDR4 is on its way out. This means, most likely, your next computer/motherboard will support DDR5. That means you most likely will NOT be able to transfer a new CPU you buy for this current motherboard to your new motherboard. Same with any new DDR4 RAM you buy today.

"IF" you can find another 16GB of RAM for a "too good to pass up" price, and are willing to sacrifice it when it comes time to upgrade the entire computer, then maybe some more RAM would make sense.

What are you using for drives now? If hard drives, I would look at replacing them with SSDs. Those you could transfer to a new DDR5 based computer.

 

[Marcus L]

If me, probably neither.

DDR5 is here to stay. DDR4 is on its way out. This means, most likely, your next computer/motherboard will support DDR5. That means you most likely will NOT be able to transfer a new CPU you buy for this current motherboard to your new motherboard. Same with any new DDR4 RAM you buy today.

"IF" you can find another 16GB of RAM for a "too good to pass up" price, and are willing to sacrifice it when it comes time to upgrade the entire computer, then maybe some more RAM would make sense.

What are you using for drives now? If hard drives, I would look at replacing them with SSDs. Those you could transfer to a new DDR5 based computer.

Nothing will be wasted or sacrificed, I have another build the Ryzen 5500 will go into also the 16gb RAM IF I buy a 32GB set and when the time comes for me to build a new PC (likely over 1yr away) I will sell or give this one to someone who will make good use of the still very capable parts.

I have a 1TB M2, 500GB SSD, and 2TB storage HDD btw.

a 5600/5700x I thought would have been a good final upgrade for this build without having to drop 300 notes on an x3D though it seems that's the go-to answer when the question was about 5600/5700x and/or RAM or just throw it away and build an uber AM5/Raptorlake DDR5 FTW!!!!!!!11 PC cause footure proof lol

 

[santis]

Hi Marcus, which games do you play? I have the same R5 5500 and is pretty decent but def would upgrade to a 5800X3D or nothing. Like others said, you would be maxing out the AM4 plattform or wait for AM5 to and DDR5 to drop prices.

 

[Dragam1337]

I'd personally save money and eventually upgrade to a 5800X3D and 32GB of RAM. That way you've maxed out the platform.

Yep, 5800x3d is the obvious and cheapest upgrade path for a proper performance upgrade.

1080p 165hz

At that res especially, you would benefit so much from a 5800x3d.

I wouldn't bother with ram though - it aint critical for the system to use the pagefile a bit. Save the money you inteded to spend on ram and put it towards the 5800x3d.

 

[siluro818]

If me, probably neither.

DDR5 is here to stay. DDR4 is on its way out. This means, most likely, your next computer/motherboard will support DDR5. That means you most likely will NOT be able to transfer a new CPU you buy for this current motherboard to your new motherboard. Same with any new DDR4 RAM you buy today.

"IF" you can find another 16GB of RAM for a "too good to pass up" price, and are willing to sacrifice it when it comes time to upgrade the entire computer, then maybe some more RAM would make sense.

What are you using for drives now? If hard drives, I would look at replacing them with SSDs. Those you could transfer to a new DDR5 based computer.

You can get a good 16GB kit for his specs for 40 euro. It's basically no money for what is a key upgrade.
Literally every new AAA title in 2023 - from what I played so far at least, so Hogwarts, TLOU, RE4, Returnal - used over 16GB when ran at max settings (and that's without extra software in background).

 

[Dragam1337]

You can get a good 16GB kit for his specs for 40 euro. It's basically no money for what is a key upgrade.
Literally every new AAA title in 2023 - from what I played so far at least, so Hogwarts, TLOU, RE4, Returnal - used over 16GB when ran at max settings (and that's without extra software in background).

Yes, but the question is : does it actually lower performance if it uses the pagefile ? In most cases it doesn't.

An exception to that is star citizen, but all the others do well with 16gb ram and a nvme ssd.

 

[dirtyferret]

on one hand in games I am seeing my ram usage coming close to 16GB

using "close to 16GB" and needing 16GB are two different things

I feel my CPU is probably holding back my GPU in some games

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

 

[Marcus L]

You can get a good 16GB kit for his specs for 40 euro. It's basically no money for what is a key upgrade.
Literally every new AAA title in 2023 - from what I played so far at least, so Hogwarts, TLOU, RE4, Returnal - used over 16GB when ran at max settings (and that's without extra software in background).

I am not mixing and matching kits and I won't be able to buy the same kit that I have now as it is about 4+ years old and no longer available, 32GB kit would be what I would be buying, either 3600 C16 or 400 C18

Yes, but the question is : does it actually lower performance if it uses the pagefile ? In most cases it doesn't.

An exception to that is star citizen, but all the others do well with 16gb ram and a nvme ssd.

Again the X3d costs more than both a high end kit of 32GB DDR4 as well as a 5700X, if i Had a 3090 or higher tier card then that would be the obvious choice and I could likely afford the X3D as it stands I can't right now so could be a 3+ month wait meanwhile keeping the same CPU and RAM

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

Yup £1500 will do the trick

 

[siluro818]

Yes, but the question is : does it actually lower performance if it uses the pagefile ? In most cases it doesn't.

An exception to that is star citizen, but all the others do well with 16gb ram and a nvme ssd.

Pretty sure Hogwarts and TLOU do not function well at all with high/ultra settings and 16GB RAM.
Some of that might have been patched or optimized in the most recent versions, but it was way different early on when I played both titles.
Tbh I'd rather nothing use that pagefile, ever

 

[Dragam1337]

Pretty sure Hogwarts and TLOU do not function well at all with high/ultra settings and 16GB RAM.
Some of that might have been patched or optimized in the most recent versions, but it was way different early on when I played both titles.
Tbh I'd rather nothing use that pagefile, ever

Hogwarts and TLOU did not play well at launch with ultra settings on systems with only 8gb vram + 16gb ram. But the actual issue was the lack of vram and using higher than medium textures.

12gb vram + 16gb ram is just fine at 1080p, with the exception of star citizen where 32gb is simply a requirement.

I am not mixing and matching kits and I won't be able to buy the same kit that I have now as it is about 4+ years old and no longer available, 32GB kit would be what I would be buying, either 3600 C16 or 400 C18

Again the X3d costs more than both a high end kit of 32GB DDR4 as well as a 5700X, if i Had a 3090 or higher tier card then that would be the obvious choice and I could likely afford the X3D as it stands I can't right now so could be a 3+ month wait meanwhile keeping the same CPU and RAM


Yup £1500 will do the trick

Then wait and save up.

Even with a 6700xt, the 5800x3d will make a significant difference at 1080p.

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

How is the difference between the 5500 and 5600 (which is minor btw in just raw cpu performance) relevant for whether or not he should buy a 5800x3d, which would be a SIGNIFICANT upgrade...

Typical /facepalm reply from you.

 

[3x0]

Get RAM now (and make sure it's the correct kit), and wait for sales in a few months to get a 5800X3D.

I second this suggestion. For reference, I went from a 5600X to a 5800X3D and saw 10-30% better performance with a 6600XT in 1080p.
You have a much better GPU and the 5500 is worse than my 5600X was, so the performance increase with a 5800X3D would be more substantial (depending on which games you play of course)

 

[Dragam1337]

I second this suggestion. For reference, I went from a 5600X to a 5800X3D and saw 10-30% better performance with a 6600XT in 1080p.
You have a much better GPU and the 5500 is worse than my 5600X was, so the performance increase with a 5800X3D would be more substantial (depending on which games you play of course)

Indeed, he would see a substantial improvement.

But i would get the cpu first, then ram later - if needed at all (which it won't be).