A user wanted to upgrade his gaming PC and bought an RTX 3060 Ti for his system. But after the upgrade, his games are not running any better. Others explain to him that “just” a new graphics card is not enough.
Many gamers upgrade their gaming PCs, as they expect a significant performance boost. A faster graphics card or a better processor then provides more power than old components.
A gamer did just that by purchasing a completely new graphics card. However, after the upgrade, he finds that the games still do not run well. He has overlooked that the processor also has a say in performance.
Gamer buys new graphics card, but the processor is far too weak
What did the user do? A player bought a new RTX 3060 Ti to give his system a performance boost (via reddit.com). But he explained that the games still do not run any better. He also mentions his current specifications:
- Processor: Intel Core i5-4690 @ 3.50GHz
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
- Mainboard: ASRock H81 Pro BTC
- Memory: 16 GB
And this is precisely where the problem lies. Although the graphics card is fast enough, the processor is simply too outdated.
What does bottleneck mean? A bottleneck occurs when the performance of your PC is limited by a component. For example, when some components are significantly faster than others: If you have a brand new graphics card from 2022 in combination with a 7-year-old processor, then your system will be throttled by your old CPU. This is because the graphics card can only process as much data as it is assigned by the processor.
With very old computer systems, it is usually not worthwhile to simply replace individual components. Sooner or later, one component will throttle the rest of your system.
What should the user do now? Upgrade his processor. Because his Intel Core i5-4690 is simply too slow for the RTX 3060 Ti. And he has various options:
- Either he buys a Ryzen 5 5600 or an i5 12400, as these would best match his graphics card.
- Or he opts for future-proofing and buys the Ryzen 5 7600 or i5 13400f, thus getting the next generation.
In any case, he will need a new motherboard and new memory. Because the Core i5-4690 still uses DDR3, and this RAM is no longer compatible with the new processors. In this case, upgrading to DDR5 could even be worthwhile, as he could then skip DDR4.
Even small upgrades can provide more performance
If you want to upgrade your gaming PC, you don’t necessarily need to buy an expensive graphics card or a new processor. In many cases, small upgrades can also be worthwhile to give your PC another boost.
Usually, it is already sufficient if you replace an old hard drive (HDD) with a significantly faster SSD. Because nowadays games like Starfield require an SSD, and you benefit from faster loading times.
Sometimes it helps just to upgrade your memory, for example, from 8 GB to 16 GB. Such upgrades are also much cheaper and simpler than having to replace your processor, motherboard, or graphics card.
If you want to upgrade your gaming PC, then avoid the following “upgrades”. Because these components are often not worth it anymore:
7 upgrades for your gaming PC that you should definitely not buy
