I’ve been contemplating whether to upgrade my now 5-year-old RX 6700XT, but the current PC hardware prices won’t let me do so. Poor economic conditions, tariffs, and the AI-driven memory shortage have skyrocketed PC prices to the point that they’re out of reach for most people.

However, upgrading my GPU and other components doesn’t exactly dial down to the fact that prices for hardware have increased. There are other factors that are holding me back from upgrading my system altogether, and I just don’t think the current state of the PC market is worth investing in.

Hardware upgrades aren’t as dramatic anymore

Upgrades now feel like a step rather than a leap

Hardware upgrades used to mean something. Just a few years ago, they were transformative, offering a generational upgrade. Unfortunately, advancements these days are barely noticeable, and unless you’re generations behind, getting newer hardware just doesn’t seem worth it.

Intel’s co-founder, Moore, proposed a theory based on these upgrades, called Moore’s Law, which essentially states that the number of transistors in processors doubles every couple of years. However, Moore’s Law is now proclaimed dead since we’ve reached physical limits to shrinking transistors due to the dyes, thermodynamic inefficiencies, cost, etc.

GPUs have barely gotten any better

We’re moving to a paradigm in which raw performance no longer matters for newer hardware; instead, AI features, including upscaling and frame generation, are becoming the key drivers. Take the RTX 50-Series launch, for instance: Nvidia’s latest GPU lineup was disappointing and barely provided any raw performance increase over the previous generation.

Going from the RTX 2080 to the 3080, rasterization performance increased by a whopping 60–80%. Unfortunately, the performance uplift has been decreasing with newer releases, and the latest RTX 5090 provides only a 25–35% increase in raster performance over the RTX 4090.

The real performance gain comes from frame generation, and fake frames will never count as real performance, while an upscaled image can also never look as good as native resolution.

On the other hand, AMD dropped the RDNA 4 GPUs, and it is certainly a step in the right direction for Team Red, thanks to their solid performance for a good price. Unfortunately, the focus was strictly on entry to mid-level consumers, and it doesn’t suit my needs.

CPU upgrades are also more nuanced

I’d argue that upgradability seems less viable for CPUs than for any other component. A high-end GPU from 5 to 6 years ago, like my RX 6700XT, is already showing signs of struggle with the latest AAA games, but the same cannot be said for a high-end CPU released in the same timeframe.

For instance, the i7-12700k, which is from the same year, is still going strong and would work pretty well pairing with newer GPUs like the RX 9070 XT.

With regard to improvements, the jumps being made are now becoming less apparent to most users. AMD’s Ryzen 9800X3D is, on average, 8-11% better than the Ryzen 7800X3D in most gaming scenarios, which boils down to just an average FPS increase of up to 5%.

Video games are poorly optimized

High-end GPUs like the RTX 5080 are struggling with newer releases

I am discontent with the current state of the video game industry, and rightfully so, since publishers are pushing out multi-hundred-million-dollar AAA titles unfinished and unoptimized, to the point that even the high-end RTX 5080 was brought to its knees while running Borderlands 4, barely averaging 30 FPS at 4K, maxed-out settings, and without frame generation (via Jansn Benchmarks on YouTube).

It’s not a matter of having good hardware to run these modern games; the problem is on the developers’ end, because the experience is rarely any different. Now, you can’t really brute force your way into making a game playable with decent hardware, as I have stated even earlier in this passage, quoting the RTX 5090 struggling to run Borderlands 4.

I do run modern games at a lower preset because my hardware can’t handle the highest visual settings, but I don’t see the need to upgrade if even buying better hardware can’t solve the inherent problem wrong with video games these days.

Frankly, I don’t need an upgrade right now

My “outdated” rig still runs fine

Regardless of the factors that make upgradability not seem worth it right now, hardware prices are still holding me back from doing so. A new GPU and CPU will drain around a grand from my wallet, and that’s for mid-end options. In fact, the system I’m currently using is adequate for me. My PC features an RX 6700 XT, 32GB DDR5 RAM, and a Ryzen 5 7600X. I can comfortably play modern AAA games at mid-to-high-end settings at 1440p, and, to be honest, I don’t want more right now.

Also, AMD has announced the FSR 4.1 upgrade for my GPU after years of waiting, meaning I can now upscale video games to achieve near-native image quality and high FPS. This small upgrade will go a long way for me, and I can now easily wait another year before I decide to upgrade my system until the RDNA 5 and RTX 60-Series GPUs arrive.

Feels like I’m waiting for a generational upgrade that isn’t going to happen

The latest hardware generation for both CPUs and GPUs seems inadequate to me, so I’d rather just wait it out. It’s not even like I need an upgrade right now; my system works incredibly, as mentioned earlier. Personally, I don’t recommend an upgrade unless you expect the newer hardware to double your performance. Or, if you’re not satisfied with your system and there’s no right time to buy new hardware in the first place, you either need an upgrade or you don’t. If you’re in a similar situation to mine, I recommend waiting for the next generation of CPUs and GPUs, and the RAM shortage is also expected to settle by then. Who knows, maybe the newer upgrades will finally look enticing enough for me to give in, but until then, I’m good.

Brand

XFX

Cooling Method

Fan

GPU Speed

2622MHz (oc)

Interface

PCI-Express x16

If you are looking for high-performance gaming without paying over the odds, the XFX Speedster AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is the perfect card for you. It features a whopping 12GB of GDDR6 RAM to rival some top NVIDIA cards on the market, enough to cope with most modern games without the need for shelling out on premium prices. At 12.72 inches long and with its triple fan design, the XFX Speedster AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is guaranteed to run cool no matter what you throw at it. Even when overclocked to speeds up to 2622 MHz, temperatures remain low, while performance increases. With such an affordable retail price, you really can’t go wrong. AMD proves with the XFX Speedster AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT that you can still enjoy Ray Tracing and other next-gen features on a budget.