what should i upgrade gpu or cpu?

luthco

so my build right now is a rx 5500xt with a ryzen 5 3600 cpu and i wanna upgrade the gpu but don't know if the cpu would bottle neck the gpu and wanna know if i should upgrade my cpu before i upgrade my graphics card

magarity

Well there's no such thing as the perfect CPU and GPU combination, so don't worry about bottleneck much. I assume you want to do one at a time because you have budget for one or the other but not both. You pretty much just have to put up with an overlap period where one part is new and the other is not. About how much do you want to spend?

ronwoodson

Upgrading can be a slippery slope. With the massive innovations with each generation of cpus and gpus, the motherboard you choose will determine how far you can go with your upgrades.

luthco

I’m mainly willing to spend 300-400 dollars 

ronwoodson

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/45254#Comment_45254

I hear you. Check with your Custom Builds (Build Your Own) specialist for expert advice on how to get it done.

luthco

ok well where can i find that and would you like my build list as well?

magarity

A new CPU would probably want a new motherboard and all that, so since the 3600 is still decent, I'd suggest a new GPU in that price range. A 3060 from nVidia or a 6600XT from AMD. Actually Microcenter has a 6700XT on special for 399 right now: PowerColor AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT Fighter Dual-Fan 12GB GDDR6 PCIe 4.0 Graphics Card - Micro Center (no idea how long that price lasts) A 6700XT is a big jump from a 5500XT

luthco

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/45274#Comment_45274

ty for the suggestion! im most likely going to be getting the gpu now seeing that there really isn't a bottle neck

magarity

Yeah you have to try hard to have enough imbalance to really be concerned about bottlenecking. Like if you went and got one of the new 4090Ti then you could complain the 3600 bottlenecked it. But with a 3600 and a 6700XT you can play 10 different games and get 10 different levels of balance between CPU and GPU, some each way.

Aodhan_Gorman

A 3600 is still quite a capable mid-range CPU even with the two new generations of chips that have come since. That being said if you are chasing super high refresh rates in eSports titles or planning on playing a very multithreaded demanding game you may notice a bottleneck sooner than someone just looking for more graphics performance. A list of games and programs you plan on using your new GPU for would be a great place to start to find out where you will see a bottleneck by also looking into benchmarks from similar setups too!