Consider upgrading with Ryzen 5700G or 5500 and a used GPU to stay within budget.
Consider upgrading with Ryzen 5700G or 5500 and a used GPU to stay within budget.
Hi all,
I'm looking for some advice for upgrading my current setup which is starting to show its age. Not looking for the latest and greatest, just a CPU that allows me to upgrade to W11 and a boost in performance when playing D2R (up to 3 instances).
Approximate Purchase Date:
January 2026
Budget Range:
300-350 EUR for CPU, RAM and possibly a GPU (most likely second hand)
System Usage from Most to Least Important:
Home office, browsing, playing D2R
Are you buying a monitor:
No
Parts to Upgrade:
- CPU:
Ryzen 5 2400G
- RAM:
Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8 GB 2933 C16 (CMK16GX4M2Z2933C16)
Parts to Re-Use:
- Mobo:
Asus Prime B450 Plus
- PSU: Evga 500 BR 100-BR-0500-K1
- CPU cooler:
be quiet! BK009 Pure Rock
(re-use or not???)
- Case:
be quiet! pure base 600 Window
- SSD:
WD Blue 3D NAND 500 GB M.2-2280 WDS500G2B0B
- HDD:
Seagate Barracuda 2 TB 7200 RPM ST2000DM006
- Optical drive:
Asus DRW-24B1ST
Do you need to buy OS:
No
Location:
Belgium, near Brussels
Parts Preferences:
with my current CPU cooler, low profile ram is necessary so I have mostly been looking at Corsair Vengeance LPX
Overclocking:
No
Multiple GPUs:
No
Your Monitor Resolution:
1920x1080
Additional Comments:
For the CPU, I was originally looking at the 5600G or 5700G and managed to get a
5700G
on sale over Black Friday weekend for 143 EUR. Can still return until end of January. Wondering whether to stick with that or return and get a cheaper CPU like the
5500
(77 EUR) combined with a second hand GPU.
For the RAM, I picked up 2 identical sets of
Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8 GB 3200 C16 (CMK16GX4M2B3200C16)
for 60 EUR each, which can also be returned until end of January. I then found a set of
Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x16 GB 3200 C16 (CMK32GX4M2Z3200C16)
second hand for 105 EUR, which I intend to use instead. Any thoughts on whether combining the 2x16 GB with a set of 2x8 GB is a good idea?
As for GPUs, I have been looking at what's available second hand near me and have found the following:
- GTX 1060 6GB: 40 - 100 EUR
- RX 580 8GB: 65 EUR
- GTX 1070 8GB: 100 - 130 EUR
- GTX 1660 6GB: 80 EUR
- RTX 2060 6GB: 100 - 170 EUR
- RX 5600 XT 6GB: 95 - 120 EUR
- RX 6600 8GB: 130 - 180 EUR
- RTX 3060 12GB: 165 - 250 EUR
- RX 6650 XT 8GB: 140 EUR
-----------------------------------------
- RX 6700 10GB: 240 EUR
- RX 7600 8GB: 190- 215 EUR
- RTX 4060 8GB: 195 - 250 EUR
- RTX 3060 Ti 8GB: 200 - 250 EUR
Clearly the last four are outside my budget but could possibly be had with some negotiation. As you can see, quite a range and what I am most interested in is what would be a good match for the rest of my setup, recognizing it is not the newest, still has PCI 3.0, not a huge PSU etc... Also what would be good value for money looking at those prices?
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading:
The original justification for upgrading the CPU is to get one that supports an upgrade from W10 to W11. In addition, I have just moved from playing D2 LOD to D2R and my current setup, while fine for everything else I do, struggles to run D2R at anything above the lowest settings. Ideally I would like to be able to run 3 instances of D2R with one at medium settings, hence the increase in RAM and thinking of dedicated GPU.
Sorry for the long post and appreciate your thoughts!
The 5700G offers solid performance for general tasks, though its built-in GPU isn't particularly powerful for gaming. A dedicated GPU, even a mid-range one, will significantly surpass the integrated GPU in most scenarios. If you opt for a dedicated GPU, models like the 5700X or 5800X present a more robust and budget-friendly CPU alternative.
The 5700G offers top-notch integrated graphics for AM4, but it still falls short when compared to most GPUs from the past ten years. If you're aiming for improved gaming performance, opting for a used video card is likely the better choice. It's recommended to focus on Radeon 6000 series and Nvidia 30 series or newer models to ensure optimal driver compatibility and game support at a more affordable price.
Avoid combining 16GB and 8GB memory modules as they may perform inconsistently. The two kits you mentioned have distinct timing specifications, so mixing them is not advisable.
If you're planning to purchase a video card while keeping your CPU cooler in mind, steer clear of the 105W models—don't choose the 5800X. Consider the 5600/5600X/5600XT options, selecting the one that fits your budget based on clock speed differences: 5600X if it's within 4.5% of the 5600, and 5600XT if it's within 6.8% of the 5600. The 5700X remains a strong option that fits many budgets.
I understand that having a dedicated GPU expands CPU possibilities, but both the 5700X and 5800X are pricier than the 5700G I received, leaving limited budget space for the GPU. The best option would be a 5700X paired with a GTX 1060, which seems a bit unbalanced.
I completely get these suggestions, but combining a Radeon 6000 series or Nvidea 30 series with anything over 5500 is outside my budget. Would you like to consider these options instead:
- Ryzen 5 5500 (76 EUR) + RX 6600
- Ryzen 5 5600 (117 EUR) + RTX 2060
- Ryzen 7 5700X (151 EUR) + GTX 1060?
I wasn’t planning to mix my current 2x8 2933 with the 2x16 3200. If anything, I’d suggest pairing the 2x16 with one of the newer 2x8 models. The timing details seem consistent, though I’m not sure if the Z series 2x16 is really necessary compared to the B series 2x8 options.
Although the XMP/EXPO primary timings remain consistent, the base memory IC varies:
CMK16GX4M2B3200C16:
SPD Speed 2133MHz
SPD Latency 15-15-15-36
CMK32GX4M2Z3200C16:
SPD Speed 2666MHz
SPD Latency 18-18-18-43
It's difficult to pinpoint the exact differences between these kits since I couldn't locate detailed data on the 2x 8GB model. An Asus QVL suggests it uses the same memory IC as the 2x 16GB, indicating both have different manufacturing processes and capacities.
If this is the 6/12GB 2060 (instead of the 8GB 2060 Super), then the 5500/RX 6600 would be a better choice. Upgrading to a higher processor would offer long-term benefits, with the 5600 potentially being ~18% faster in gaming, though the GPU improvements are more significant.
I wouldn’t merge the kits, but with the RAM cost I wouldn’t upgrade to 16GB. Also, you’ll see improved results using a separate GPU.
D2R is
primarily CPU-bound
, and the minimum system requirement of only a dual-core CPU suggests it is mostly single-threaded and thus dependent on the best single-core performance.
Going from Zen 2400G to the much higher-clocked Zen 3 5700G is a pretty big jump in single-core performance, about 50% faster (5500 is 400MHz slower boost). And you get two extra cores too, which should be useful for multiple instances (presumably each would benefit from a separate fast core or two), provided you have enough RAM.
Vega 8 in 5700G is essentially the 8CU IGP from the 2
2
00G only overclocked to 2GHz thanks to the TSMC 7FF node instead of old 14LP. This boosts performance to just slightly better than the 11CU Vega 11 in your 2
4
00G and both are in the ballpark of equivalent to a GT1030. So the GPU bump is very minor, only 16%--which means you will be stuck with the same resolution and graphical settings as before but overall it could still be a decent upgrade for only D2R. It is really a 720P GPU though.
The recommended system requirements for D2R at 1080p are a 6-core CPU (which the 5700G and 5500 are), and a GPU roughly
3-4x more powerful than a GT1030.
They specifically suggest a GTX 1060 or RX 5500 XT and 16GB RAM for a single instance at 1080p.
That actually sounds exactly right for D2R at 1080p. Vermeer 5700X is even 8 cores with twice as much L3 cache vs. Cezanne like 5500 or 5700G (32MB vs. 16MB. The 2400G is hobbled with only 4MB so this is 8x as much + should make things much smoother. Even 5700X3D only bumps this 3x more to 96MB, so 8x is a pretty sizeable jump)
RX 5500XT or 6600 are limited to PCIe x8 anyway, so the 2400G's x8 lanes wouldn't affect them--6500XT would be considerably worse off as that's limited to PCIe x4 which is probably not great with only PCIe 3.0 too. 5500, 5700G and 5700X all provide a full x16 for a GTX 1060, RX 5600 or RX 6700 (with the latter two having half their design bandwidth due to lack of PCIe 4.0, but that's plenty for midrange cards)
Thanks for the clarification! I'll keep using my 2x16 and am glad you're happy.
The 6 GB model is a good fit within the budget, especially with the Ryzen 5 5500. Would that be preferable? I didn't add it to my list before because I was worried about the power requirements and the PSU size (500W).
The need for additional RAM mainly comes from needing to operate several D2R instances simultaneously. They suggest allocating 8 GB per instance. Currently, I'm having trouble running three instances with only 16 GB of memory. The RAM stays at full capacity all the time, and I've experienced multiple crashes from my end. After completing all upgrades and ensuring everything runs smoothly, I plan to sell my existing 2x8 for about 50 EUR. This would mean spending a net of 55 EUR on the upgrade from 2x8 to 2x16 at 3200, which is within my budget.