Is it okay to upgrade my PC with just a new GPU?

Greetings!

First off, I really wanted to express my gratitude for all the incredibly kind and valuable advice I’ve received on this forum over the years while I was putting my computer together. You people truly are wonderful 🙏

It has been about five years now—well, I don't quite remember exactly how long, to be honest—so I was hoping to get some quick insight regarding the following;

My processor is an Intel Core i3 paired with liquid cooling, 8GB of RAM, a Radeon 7700 2GB graphics card, a 60GB SSD, a 1TB traditional hard drive, and if I recall correctly, a Corsair CX500 power supply, though I have absolutely no clue which motherboard I used since I've forgotten; I just know it was an ASUS ATX board, black with red connectors for the RAM and GPU, and it looked quite stylish 🤣

So, what I am certain I will do is purchase a larger SSD, because this current one can barely even handle running macOS anymore. I will probably go with a 120GB model since I mainly just want it for the OS, and I might give this old 60GB one to my parents to put in their Windows 7 machine to give it a little boost.

The second thing I am wondering is whether there is any point in leaving the rest of this configuration alone and perhaps just installing a new RX 460? (Or maybe something else? Like a GeForce RTX 3090? 😁) I wonder if my processor might be too weak for a card like that? Or should I just leave everything as it is, save my money, and then once this setup can no longer run any games I actually want to play, just scrap the whole thing and buy everything brand new?

As for what I play, mostly just League of Legends and Fallout 4. League of Legends runs fine, but Bethesda is a bit of a struggle... it runs without much trouble and rarely stutters, but I would really love for everything to look a bit smoother 🕺

Does any of this make sense, or am I just wasting my time?

Well, I suppose I've rambled on quite a bit... thanks in advance, everyone! 👍

Of course it makes sense. The RX 460 is nearly twice as powerful... just buy it.

Bryan Taylor6 said:Of course it makes sense. The RX 460 is nearly twice as powerful... just buy it.

I was wondering, though, if my processor might end up bottlenecking that GPU, or maybe even something a bit more powerful down the road?

Maybe a little, but it doesn't really matter. If it isn't much more expensive, you might want to consider the GeForce GTX 1050 instead. It's a bit stronger, more capable...

Bryan Palmer47 said:I was wondering, though, if my processor might end up bottlenecking that GPU, or maybe even something a bit more powerful down the road?

If you're running at 1080p, the CPU won't really be a bottleneck unless you drop down to even lower resolutions.

If you're buying, I'd go with the GeForce GTX 1050 or an RX 460, but make sure it's the 4GB version. It might cost a tiny bit more, but I guess that extra VRAM will come in handy.

Yes, the monitor is indeed 1080p.

Anyway, thanks so much for all the helpful advice, I suppose I'll be heading out to grab an RX 460 4GB now. 😁