Update your 3600 to support the latest titles released in late 2021.
Update your 3600 to support the latest titles released in late 2021.
Would it make sense to switch now to a 3900x, 5600x or 5800x for upcoming titles like BF 2042, Dying Light 2, Back 4 Blood, etc? Or hold off with my 3600 until later this year when possible discounts might appear and I could upgrade at a lower cost? My current rig: R5 3600 @4.2 B550 Tomahawk 32GB G Skill Trident Z Neo 3200 Sapphire Pulse 5700xt, using a mix of SSD and HDD including a Sabrent Rocket Gen 4 1TB drive. I play games from 1-3 years old at either 1440p or 1080p on my 4K TV at 60Hz. While I know it’s overkill for the low framerate, I’m wondering if more cores or faster cores will be needed for future releases. I mostly use my PC for gaming but also multitask with web tabs and Spotify. My 3600 is holding up well though, though it sometimes stutters under heavy load. I have the budget for an upgrade, but if it doesn’t justify the effort right now and better deals emerge later, I’m fine with waiting. Could a used 3900x be worth it?
Consider postponing purchases until Black Friday deals arrive if the current offers meet your expectations
Sure, just keep it focused. I’m not staying in the same generation unless it’s for a really intensive task like rendering. It might just be a placebo effect, but I’d rather upgrade to a 5000 series if it helps, even though the prices aren’t perfect right now.
That's what I thought too. It seems I haven't had any CPU problems while playing my games so far, but I'm unsure how demanding these new titles will be with today's advanced technology, especially in the console world. I got my 3600 back when it was under $200, which makes me feel fortunate to own it now. Even though I'd love to wait for Black Friday discounts like the rest of the tech market has done, I'm a bit doubtful things will definitely improve or become cheaper.
Consider waiting if you're playing on a 60Hz screen. A CPU upgrade won't help much. With an RX 5700XT, you'll be limited by your GPU. Even with an RX 6800, performance gains are only about 12% at 1080p using the 5600X. For more details, check Hardware Unboxed's comparison of the 3600 and 5600X.
That's exactly what I initially believed. The current pricing makes me question how much of an upgrade is truly necessary. Given the market's recent volatility, I'm feeling a bit anxious about whether things will remain favorable by the end of the year.
Generally wait for the DDR5 updates. If not, consider the leaks from the 12th generation which are about 10% faster than Zen 3. In that case, Zen 3 remains a reasonable option over time, though it’s still relatively slow in terms of upgrades. I’d suggest sticking with AMD’s DDR5 instead.
We only require 60fps and the 3600 offers plenty of capacity for that. Once next-gen consoles dominate, we'll see a demand for more threads, though that's still some time away. The next step up are 8-core CPUs, giving you a decent window. Just upgrade when you spot a problem, not beforehand.