Rate my sons computer and recommend upgrades.

[Papabear27]

My son bought this computer a couple years ago after getting into online gaming. How would you rate the components and their performance to todays standards. I know these thing are improving daily and was wondering if you think he should upgrade any of the components. I must admit I’m pretty computer illiterate with the “tech” jargon and how all the components work together, but I am super handy and I’m sure I could actually put one of these together with good directions. Here’s a screenshot of what the guy he bought it from said it consists of. Also his monitor is an Aoc 24” 144hz 1ms (not sure on resolution). Would a 4K monitor be in order? Thanks ahead of time.

ryzen 5 3600
x570 aorus elite Wi-Fi M.B.
16gb trident rgb at 3200mhz
samsung 970 evo 500gb name ssd
gygabite Rex 2070 super triple fan card
corsair 750w supply

 

[Why_Me]

My son bought this computer a couple years ago after getting into online gaming. How would you rate the components and their performance to todays standards. I know these thing are improving daily and was wondering if you think he should upgrade any of the components. I must admit I’m pretty computer illiterate with the “tech” jargon and how all the components work together, but I am super handy and I’m sure I could actually put one of these together with good directions. Here’s a screenshot of what the guy he bought it from said it consists of. Also his monitor is an Aoc 24” 144hz 1ms (not sure on resolution). Would a 4K monitor be in order? Thanks ahead of time.

ryzen 5 3600
x570 aorus elite Wi-Fi M.B.
16gb trident rgb at 3200mhz
samsung 970 evo 500gb name ssd
gygabite Rex 2070 super triple fan card
corsair 750w supply

A cpu upgrade would give him a nice added boost.

https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-5-5600

https://www.amazon.com/AMD-5600-12-Thread-Unlocked-Processor/dp/B09VCHR1VH

or .,,.

https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-7-5700x

https://www.amazon.com/AMD-5700X-16-Thread-Unlocked-Processor/dp/B09VCHQHZ6

 

[Papabear27]

A cpu upgrade would give him a nice added boost.

https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-5-5600

https://www.amazon.com/AMD-5600-12-Thread-Unlocked-Processor/dp/B09VCHR1VH

or .,,.

https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-7-5700x

https://www.amazon.com/AMD-5700X-16-Thread-Unlocked-Processor/dp/B09VCHQHZ6

Thank you for the suggestion. Would these be a plug and play? Would I need anything else like fans or coolers? Again don’t know a ton about this stuff. Also will this set up benefi from a better monitor such as 1440 or 4K or is that a waste?

 

[Why_Me]

Thank you for the suggestion. Would these be a plug and play? Would I need anything else like fans or coolers? Again don’t know a ton about this stuff. Also will this set up benefi from a better monitor such as 1440 or 4K or is that a waste?

Update to the latest bios and you're good to go. Personally I would go with 1080P seeing how a graphics card for 1440 / 4K can get expensive.

I'll use this monitor as an example.

https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-G24F-Monitor-Response-DisplayPort/dp/B0B5VY6ZFC/
GIGABYTE G24F 2- 24" 165Hz/180Hz(OC) 1080P IPS HDR FreeSync Premium Gaming / G-Sync Compatible Gaming Monitor $159.99

G24F 2 Gaming Monitor Key Features | Monitors - GIGABYTE U.S.A.

Features FHD with 8-bit color SS IPS panel with 1ms & OC 170Hz Black Equalizer & Aim Stabilizer GameAssist & OSD Sidekick Auto-Update & PiP/PbP Power Board...

www.gigabyte.com

 

[Foxhood]

Honestly. These are all still pretty decent components for playing at Full-HD (1080p) and maybe Quad-HD (1440p). But not 4K (2160p)

At most you may want to swap out the CPU for some future proofing with something like a Ryzen 5000 series, as those are still compatible with the motherboard and seeing reduced prices due to the latest generation slowly taking its place (Ryzen 7000, Which are NOT compatible!). The king of Gaming CPUs of the 5000 generation is the Ryzen 5800X3D. Though the 5600 is very cheap. Just need a Bios Update (check motherboard manual on how to).

Beyond that. Still good for a generation or two in regards of gaming. Maybe in a few years a new Graphics card and memory, but definitely not needed... Plus graphics cards are like: Stupidly expensive right now.

Props for having confidence. Upgrading/building PCs is indeed not difficult. Just a matter of reading the manuals and if confused: check a how-to video.

 

[Why_Me]

My son bought this computer a couple years ago after getting into online gaming. How would you rate the components and their performance to todays standards. I know these thing are improving daily and was wondering if you think he should upgrade any of the components. I must admit I’m pretty computer illiterate with the “tech” jargon and how all the components work together, but I am super handy and I’m sure I could actually put one of these together with good directions. Here’s a screenshot of what the guy he bought it from said it consists of. Also his monitor is an Aoc 24” 144hz 1ms (not sure on resolution). Would a 4K monitor be in order? Thanks ahead of time.

ryzen 5 3600
x570 aorus elite Wi-Fi M.B.
16gb trident rgb at 3200mhz
samsung 970 evo 500gb name ssd
gygabite Rex 2070 super triple fan card
corsair 750w supply

Just curious but what is your budget and what country are you located?

 

[Papabear27]

Just curious but what is your budget and what country are you located?

No real budget. I just wanted to know if if what he had is a decent build and if there were any upgrades worth while for him. I guess he plays Valorant and Overwatch mainly (no idea how taxing or not those are). We’re in Ma. U.S. I’m pretty sure I could swap out the CPU for him if you think it would make a noticeable a difference in performance. Seems like the 2 you recommended are in the $150-200 range. Thanks for your help btw.

 

[Zoid]

No real budget. I just wanted to know if if what he had is a decent build and if there were any upgrades worth while for him. I guess he plays Valorant and Overwatch mainly (no idea how taxing or not those are). We’re in Ma. U.S. I’m pretty sure I could swap out the CPU for him if you think it would make a noticeable a difference in performance. Seems like the 2 you recommended are in the $150-200 range. Thanks for your help btw.

The suggestions for the CPU upgrade are good ones, and a Ryzen 5600 at around $150 or cheaper right now is a good deal. If you want to buy him a new CPU as a gift just for fun then that's a nice route to go.

Just to be sure though - is he unhappy with the performance he is getting now? His specs are honestly still pretty decent in my book. I have friends who are happily gaming on less. If it were me I would only be looking to upgrade if I could identify a specific game or two where I was getting unacceptable performance.

If your son is playing at 1080p and trying to make full use of the 144 Hz refresh rate, then a new CPU may well be in order. But if he is playing at 1440p and high graphics settings, then it may be the GPU limiting him most of the time in which case a new CPU won't buy much more performance.

Maybe you and your son can sit down with his favorite games and test what performance he is getting. Using a program like MSI Afterburner or another live hardware monitoring program, you can set up on-screen overlays to track hardware utilization and framerate among other things. When framerates are getting low, is the GPU at or near 100% utilization? If so, that's what's holding back performance the most. If the GPU is frequently showing <90% utilization but you are still getting lower framerates, that's more than likely a sign that the CPU is struggling (even if the CPU isn't reading 100% load, many games can't efficiently load all cores).

Once you are armed with evidence showing which component is the "weakest link" in the games he plays, then you could be sure that your upgrade will give you the best marginal improvement.

 

[Papabear27]

The suggestions for the CPU upgrade are good ones, and a Ryzen 5600 at around $150 or cheaper right now is a good deal. If you want to buy him a new CPU as a gift just for fun then that's a nice route to go.

Just to be sure though - is he unhappy with the performance he is getting now? His specs are honestly still pretty decent in my book. I have friends who are happily gaming on less. If it were me I would only be looking to upgrade if I could identify a specific game or two where I was getting unacceptable performance.

If your son is playing at 1080p and trying to make full use of the 144 Hz refresh rate, then a new CPU may well be in order. But if he is playing at 1440p and high graphics settings, then it may be the GPU limiting him most of the time in which case a new CPU won't buy much more performance.

Maybe you and your son can sit down with his favorite games and test what performance he is getting. Using a program like MSI Afterburner or another live hardware monitoring program, you can set up on-screen overlays to track hardware utilization and framerate among other things. When framerates are getting low, is the GPU at or near 100% utilization? If so, that's what's holding back performance the most. If the GPU is frequently showing <90% utilization but you are still getting lower framerates, that's more than likely a sign that the CPU is struggling (even if the CPU isn't reading 100% load, many games can't efficiently load all cores).

Once you are armed with evidence showing which component is the "weakest link" in the games he plays, then you could be sure that your upgrade will give you the best marginal improvement.

Thank you. I passed along your info to him and he said he does have that program on his computer as the guy he bought it from had him install it. But he has never used it. I told him to play whatever game he feels he’s not getting optimal performance or frame rates and let me know the results. I’ll let you know his findings.