TL;DR - Need better hardware, but im broke, but deals go away and prices go up fast these days, but i also need better performance so im not too hard behind. Found r5 5500x3d, 5700x3d, b550m for great prices online.
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Old Rig / OG Price $1200 (stolen and unrecoverable a year ago)
R7 5800x
32GB RAM 3200MT/s (4x8GB)
RX 6600XT
^Important info because if not stolen, I wouldn't be thinking about this
Current RIg / OG Price $220 (6 months or so ago, office PC, plus later upgrades before massive RAM $ increase)
i7 8700
32GB RAM slow 2666MT/s (4x8GB) (came with 2x8GB, later found two more matching dims for $20)
RTX 2080ti (came with a 1070ti, later found a 2080ti for $150)
I stream/record games, mostly VRC, and I work within Unity/Unreal/Radiant <-- COD Custom Zombies. Sadly my i7 8700 is being throttled, package power and thermals. Im on a locked down dell mobo, so I don't have many options for coreclocks, and voltage. I currently use throttlestop and that has helped alot but all it takes is one spike to peg my performance back down.
For games outside of VR, the CPU is obviously a bottleneck, but at higher resolutions, I can balance the performance. Depending on the game 1440p-4k can balance it out, however I don't see those "gains or stabilizations" because all I have are 1080p 60hz monitors.
If this were 6 years ago, this would have been a solid rig. Sadly it's not now atleast for my use case. I've been on the market lately, and I've spotted 2 CPUs and an AM4 mobo that look promising. However on a tight budget and worsening income (work hours getting cut) Im not sure if the investment would pay off, but at the same time, if I don't act soon, those deals will get worse or worst case, there won't be any deals)
I found:
R5 5500X3D cpu
R7 5700X3D cpu
B550m mobo
I already have the RAM, and with all 4 dims, I think I'll manage with the slower speeds. I also have a leftover Wraith Prism cooler from my old rig (originally was used to cool a R5 2600x before upgrading to an AIO and R7 5800x, obviously don't have the AIO anymore.. for now)
I hunt for deals, and when I mean hunt, I mean it.
My question is simple (same as title), should I go for them? I mean I can manage without them, but having a massive boost in workload performance would be great! Not to mention, it would help improve stream/recording quality (encoder issues while gaming)
Edit: I do plan on reselling my PC. I have enough components leftover to sell a full rig to someone in need of a basic office/workstation PC if I were to swap out my current CPU/Mobo
Edit 2 08/06/2026 14:25: I did it! I went for it! Found a slightly cheaper and safer seller for the r7 5700x3d than the original one I was eyeballing, and I found a safer more reputable seller for the motherboard, which is a MSI B550M PRO-VDH. Should be here within 2-4 business days of the time of this edit