Need Advice on replacing gaming laptop with PC

hrk997s

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This forum has been a real eye opener on prices of used cards. I have an Asus S17 with rtx 2080S that was purchased in 2021. The laptop has been great and handles anything thrown at it at 1080p. I like connecting it to the tv and playing at 4k where its performance is able to crack 50 fps in certain games like horizon zero dawn with optimal settings while it handles most games at 60fps at 1440p. I was mind blown by how much the 3080 was ahead and now am absolutely convinced nvdia is always holding something back since the 4090 performance is out of this world. Naturally, I'm skeptical about paying the high price for an rtx 4080 or amd 7900xtx when I know the prices will be halved within a year, which i Learned only while going through this forums used gpu prices. I could comfortably build a good gaming pc with a used rtx 3090 within 1.5L. But, i am wondering i should wait for another generation before building a pc. My requirement is 4k so only rtx 3080, 3090 and rtx 4080 are my considerations. And with rtx 3090 being available around 60k, i dont think the rtx 4080 makes any sense. I don't care for high framerates at 4k. However, next year the 4090 might see huge price drops and that's an extraordinary buy. The main conundrum now is that my laptop gets me a good deal whereas it might not be there next year. I am getting offers between 75k and 1.25L.

What do you peeps think i should do? Wait or go for a build now.
 
Wait or go for a build now
This dilemma is existential. There's always a next generation of superior hardware & games/softwares that demand such. I bet this will be exactly how you'd feel then as well.

In general, there's some sort of festive season where you'd find the best prices. Product launches are usually around this time as well, so that there'd be fewer significant price drops. In India, I think it's around Diwali.

Best approach, I think, would be to hold on to the existing hardware as long as you could manage to. It's always a balancing act between how you'd feel waiting and later after spending. If you think you need it so bad now, by all means go for the best your money can buy.
 
Why do you want to sell your laptop and lose mobility? I have a gaming desktop and office laptop but if I go to my native, I cannot carry my desktop and I cannot use office laptop for personal stuff. If your need is to play i living room, why not buy a console? Games on console are so much better (quality) in last year or two. As you are not much into showing off high framerate, look into buying a console.
 
However, next year the 4090 might see huge price drops and that's an extraordinary buy.
This is highly unlikely. The reason for huge discounts on 30 series cards currently are two-fold:
  • The launch of 40 series cards
  • The glut of used cards from closed mining operations
The second one is more important. 40 series cards are not going to flood the market the way 30 series cards did. So there is not going to be such huge discounts.
i am wondering i should wait for another generation before building a pc
You build the PC when you have need and budget for it. If you wait for the "next something", you'll perpetually be waiting. Nvidia 5000 series, Intel 14th gen, AMDs 2nd generation of Zen 4 chips, Intel's next generation of GPUs, DDR6 RAM, PCIe 6.0, etc. etc. Every 6 months something new will be happening in the computing market. How long will you wait? And more importantly, what do you hope to achieve by waiting? Performance jumps between generations aren't big enough any more to make waiting worthwhile.
 
Why do you want to sell your laptop and lose mobility? I have a gaming desktop and office laptop but if I go to my native, I cannot carry my desktop and I cannot use office laptop for personal stuff. If your need is to play i living room, why not buy a console? Games on console are so much better (quality) in last year or two. As you are not much into showing off high framerate, look into buying a..
I used to have consoles until ps4 and my laptop is already on par with a ps5 mostly. Console versions of games do not look as good as PC models , and I'm very much more into pc gaming than consoles. Consoles were never considered.

How easy is it to transport a cpu? Can i pack it in a suit case while traveling?

I understand that gaming at 4k requires a lot of power, and am happy to play between 60-80 frames if not more. So, I'm not at all considering 2k gaming setups, it has to be an 80 or 90 series card at a price point that makes sense to me. My laptop pretty much handles everything at 1080p and is a great product, but i played ac odyssey at 40 fps 4k with some tweaked settings from my laptop to the tv and was completely mindblown by the quality, hence the insistence.

I have seen benchmarks of 3080 and 3090ti at 4k and they're pretty good. When i said i don't care for higher framerates, what i mean is there isn't much difference between 120 and 150 frames. As long as the gpu can handle games for 3-4 years at 4k, I'm happy to get it. I've run some of my 1080p games at 220-250 fps and it's just overkill. Maybe competitive sports needs it, but I'm happy with 120 fps for most games.

Also, in the future can i just swap out the graphics card and cpu if the other parts hold up?
Performance jumps between generations aren't big enough any more to make waiting worthwhile.
This is the only reason I'm considering waiting! The performance jumps between generations is massive! There has been a 100% increase in rtx 4090, against the 3090.

You have a point though, rtx 40 series might not flood the market and discounted buys will be rarer.
 
I used to have consoles until ps4 and my laptop is already on par with a ps5 mostly. Console versions of games do not look as good as PC models , and I'm very much more into pc gaming than consoles. Consoles were never considered.

How easy is it to transport a cpu? Can i pack it in a suit case while traveling?
You still need to transport keyboard, mouse and display. Cards like 3090 or 4080 are big and you need a full size tower, which you cannot keep in a strolley. It is a headache TBH. Keep the laptop or buy a non-gaming laptop atleast for your normal use. Why not wait for laptops with 4080 GPU to fall to lower price instead?
I understand that gaming at 4k requires a lot of power, and am happy to play between 60-80 frames if not more. So, I'm not at all considering 2k gaming setups, it has to be an 80 or 90 series card at a price point that makes sense to me. My laptop pretty much handles everything at 1080p and is a great product, but i played ac odyssey at 40 fps 4k with some tweaked settings from my laptop to the tv and was completely mindblown by the quality, hence the insistence.

I have seen benchmarks of 3080 and 3090ti at 4k and they're pretty good. When i said i don't care for higher framerates, what i mean is there isn't much difference between 120 and 150 frames. As long as the gpu can handle games for 3-4 years at 4k, I'm happy to get it. I've run some of my 1080p games at 220-250 fps and it's just overkill. Maybe competitive sports needs it, but I'm happy with 120 fps for most games.
4090 is the best card to have high fps 4K gaming right now and it will easily last 3-4k years. 4080 is good but the gap to 4090 is massive and if you have budget for 4090, do not even think of anything else. As Nvidia does refresh every two years, the next gen could still be focused on 4K gaming. I do not see much reason for the world to push towards 8K gaming within two years.
 
You still need to transport keyboard, mouse and display. Cards like 3090 or 4080 are big and you need a full size tower, which you cannot keep in a strolley. It is a headache TBH. Keep the laptop or buy a non-gaming laptop atleast for your normal use. Why not wait for laptops with 4080 GPU to fall to lower price instead?

4090 is the best card to have high fps 4K gaming right now and it will easily last 3-4k years. 4080 is good but the gap to 4090 is massive and if you have budget for 4090, do not even think of anything else. As Nvidia does refresh every two years, the next gen could still be focused on 4K gaming. I do not see much reason for the world to push towards 8K gaming within two years.
Laptops with 4080 and 4090 were my initial options, but they're more expensive than better performing last gen pc cards. I have other devices to manage professional tasks.
 
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