New computer build advice desired

[Dirtytape]

Good day all!

Currently I have a MSI GT75VR Pro-202 gaming laptop.
CPU - Intel 7820HK
GPU - GTX 1080
SSD - 512GB NVMe 2.0 SSD (OS)
HDD - 2TB HDD (storage)

I have 2 monitors connected this laptop:
Asus 1080p monitor as secondary and ACER XB270HU as primary connected via display port.

History:
I got this laptop because I had a job where I was travelling a lot. This is no longer the case and I would absolutely love to build another gaming computer.
I have been out of the loop for a while now and not entirely sure which route to take.

Games:
I mostly play Battlefield 5 and WoW.

Resolution:
I play at 1440p due to primary monitor.

Budget:
Minimum of $1500 upwards of $2500
I am open to prebuilt stuff like NZXT BLD stuff etc...
I do enjoy building my own computers and I've done it before so I am open to options.

Notes:
I'd prefer to go Intel because I am not a fan of AMD and their buggy drivers I've had issues with in the past.
I will go AMD if they are actually good now and within my budget/price range.
This build will be about 3 to 4 months from now so please consider this when suggesting builds or places to purchase a prebuilt system.

Also, would it even be worth the money to build a new system right now?

Thank you for any information provided

 

[sinisterDei]

$1500 to $2500 is a pretty generous budget. You could spend that much, or much less, and likely spank your laptop in terms of performance.

First off, the CPU of choice to buy right now is AMD. Intel has the *slimmest* of margins where their 8-core product (the 9900K) holds a tiny performance edge over AMD's 8-core product in gaming, but in *all other* categories and core counts the Ryzen 3000 series is the winner. If you consider price into the equation, then AMD has essentially no competition at all levels, 8-cores included.

With that said, there is one caveat to the AMD CPU purchase *right now* which is that the B550 chipset motherboards aren't out yet. They are supposed to come out in a month or so, and will likely be cheaper than their X570 brothers and do not require a chipset fan, which is something I'd be hugely in favor of. If it was me, I would wait until B550 and then buy. You want the B550 or X570 chipset for forward compatibility with the Zen3 based CPUs that are supposedly launching in late 2020, which gives you an upgrade path. If you are unlikely to upgrade this system piecemeal and instead simply replace the whole computer every couple of years, then the B450 is the chipset of choice because it is plenty enough to run Ryzen 3000 at a significant discount.

Without further introduction, here is my list, and I will talk about each part and justifications and alternatives: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/MLxHjp

First up, the CPU - I chose the 3700X. If you are *strictly* gaming, then as of today the Ryzen 5 3600 provides essentially the same gaming performance as the 3700X at around $100 less, but your generous budget had me pick the 3700X. You also have the 3900X if you want to spend a bit more and move to 12 cores. Your laptop has 4 cores, so no matter what you get here you'll walk away smiling. The heatsink/fan that comes with the CPUs is also completely adequate unless you plan on OCing, which you don't need to do.

Next, motherboard. I picked an inexpensive X570 board. I'm not a big believer in buying fancy expensive motherboards, and I'm not honestly a fan of the X570 boards as a general rule. This one is literally here as a placeholder for what I would actually buy, which would be a B550 board that comes out next month. And again, the B450 boards are perfectly fine if you don't give two shits about forward compatibility with the next gen Ryzen CPUs.

RAM - 32 GB, 2x16GB configuration, preferably DDR4 3600. 3600 is the most optimized speed to run Ryzen memory at because it allows the fabric clock on the CPUs to run at 1800 (half the RAM speed) which is its most optimal non-overclocked point. 32 GB because, well, it's enough for everything for now and for tomorrow.

Storage- bigger is better than faster. There is essentially zero performance benefits to NVME on client workloads right now, while there is all kinds of benefits to bigger drives. Honestly with your budget I'd consider something even bigger, like a 2TB SSD, so that you don't have to think about it for a few years. Lot of wiggle room on this part, and you can get NVME options if you really want it. Maybe it'll matter with newer generation games / game engines, but so far nothing has cared.

GPU. Your biggest single expense. You said 1440p, presumably at 144hz or so. I picked a 2080 Super because you have budget for it. In reality, at that resolution you could easily grab a RX 5700 XT if you wanted to spend lots less money, or a 2070 Super if you wanted to spend a middle-ground amount. The 5700XT and 2070Super trade blows in terms of performance, but the Nvidia option is better for video encoding (streaming) and has the raytracing tech, if that tickles your fancy. You pay for it though.

The case is a placeholder; cases are subjective for the most part. Get something pretty to you.

Power supply. Your system will use under 500W under load, so get something 650W+ with a good efficiency rating and you'll be fine. I like to buy power supplies when they go on sale, rather than when they are sold at MSRP.

Windows is on here, not sure if you need a copy.

 

[Dirtytape]

$1500 to $2500 is a pretty generous budget. You could spend that much, or much less, and likely spank your laptop in terms of performance.

First off, the CPU of choice to buy right now is AMD. Intel has the *slimmest* of margins where their 8-core product (the 9900K) holds a tiny performance edge over AMD's 8-core product in gaming, but in *all other* categories and core counts the Ryzen 3000 series is the winner. If you consider price into the equation, then AMD has essentially no competition at all levels, 8-cores included.

With that said, there is one caveat to the AMD CPU purchase *right now* which is that the B550 chipset motherboards aren't out yet. They are supposed to come out in a month or so, and will likely be cheaper than their X570 brothers and do not require a chipset fan, which is something I'd be hugely in favor of. If it was me, I would wait until B550 and then buy. You want the B550 or X570 chipset for forward compatibility with the Zen3 based CPUs that are supposedly launching in late 2020, which gives you an upgrade path. If you are unlikely to upgrade this system piecemeal and instead simply replace the whole computer every couple of years, then the B450 is the chipset of choice because it is plenty enough to run Ryzen 3000 at a significant discount.

Without further introduction, here is my list, and I will talk about each part and justifications and alternatives: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/MLxHjp

First up, the CPU - I chose the 3700X. If you are *strictly* gaming, then as of today the Ryzen 5 3600 provides essentially the same gaming performance as the 3700X at around $100 less, but your generous budget had me pick the 3700X. You also have the 3900X if you want to spend a bit more and move to 12 cores. Your laptop has 4 cores, so no matter what you get here you'll walk away smiling. The heatsink/fan that comes with the CPUs is also completely adequate unless you plan on OCing, which you don't need to do.

Next, motherboard. I picked an inexpensive X570 board. I'm not a big believer in buying fancy expensive motherboards, and I'm not honestly a fan of the X570 boards as a general rule. This one is literally here as a placeholder for what I would actually buy, which would be a B550 board that comes out next month. And again, the B450 boards are perfectly fine if you don't give two shits about forward compatibility with the next gen Ryzen CPUs.

RAM - 32 GB, 2x16GB configuration, preferably DDR4 3600. 3600 is the most optimized speed to run Ryzen memory at because it allows the fabric clock on the CPUs to run at 1800 (half the RAM speed) which is its most optimal non-overclocked point. 32 GB because, well, it's enough for everything for now and for tomorrow.

Storage- bigger is better than faster. There is essentially zero performance benefits to NVME on client workloads right now, while there is all kinds of benefits to bigger drives. Honestly with your budget I'd consider something even bigger, like a 2TB SSD, so that you don't have to think about it for a few years. Lot of wiggle room on this part, and you can get NVME options if you really want it. Maybe it'll matter with newer generation games / game engines, but so far nothing has cared.

GPU. Your biggest single expense. You said 1440p, presumably at 144hz or so. I picked a 2080 Super because you have budget for it. In reality, at that resolution you could easily grab a RX 5700 XT if you wanted to spend lots less money, or a 2070 Super if you wanted to spend a middle-ground amount. The 5700XT and 2070Super trade blows in terms of performance, but the Nvidia option is better for video encoding (streaming) and has the raytracing tech, if that tickles your fancy. You pay for it though.

The case is a placeholder; cases are subjective for the most part. Get something pretty to you.

Power supply. Your system will use under 500W under load, so get something 650W+ with a good efficiency rating and you'll be fine. I like to buy power supplies when they go on sale, rather than when they are sold at MSRP.

Windows is on here, not sure if you need a copy.

Thank you for such an amazing reply. The last time I built an AMD system was back during the FX CPU line. I built a computer for a friend. I think it was the FX 6300.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/gwynKjZqgzk4WCkF7

Before this, I built an Intel computer.
3370k
GTX 970
Rampage IV Extreme mobo

Loved this computer. It overclocked and never had issues with it.
In fact, my cousin bought it off me and still plays Destiny 2 on it.
It's really cool seeing your old system still up and running like it was brand new.

 

[Ready4Dis]

Yeah, I can confirm what he says about AMD, unless you competitive game at low resolutions, AMD is about the same in gaming and wins in just about everything else. Most early adoption woes have been fixed. Anything else you do with your computer besides those 2 games? I imagine if that is about it you could probably spend less and still be happy. Things are always around the corner, new a CPUs and GPUs drop this fall/winter. The x570 (or b550 due mid june) will support AMDs next CPU so if it comes out and is awesome, you can simply update your bios, buy a new CPU and sell your old one. Honestly if you don't do anything but game a 3600, 3600x, 3700x, none of them will let you down. Since you u have the budget I would stay above the 3300x just because it is *only* 4/8 and may fall behind sooner than the others. If you are hell bent on Intel, you could look at a 10600k, supposedly similar to the 9700k, so good gaming chip, but will get beat in mutli threaded apps from similarly or lower priced AMD chips and generate more heat and burn more power while doing so.

Edit:. Benchmarks should be coming out shortly for the Intel 10 series so may be worth waiting a week to at least see if they are worth taking seriously.

 

[Dirtytape]

All great advice. Thank you.

It is going to be a few months to save the money for a new build. Probably looking at July or August time frame. I really want something that is going to be a night and day experience compared to this gaming laptop.
Don't get me wrong though. This laptop has been absolutely amazing.
Playing BFV at 1440p is a bit of a struggle though. I have to drop most of the settings to medium with a few at high and I think that's due to the 4 core CPU. On most maps FPS fluctuates between 60 to 85. Nothing too much to gripe about but I'd rather be playing games at max settings if possible.
CPU is OC'd to 4.1Ghz and GPU is OC'd as well.
The cooling on this laptop is quite awesome and I don't come anywhere near thermal limits with OC'ing.

 

[sinisterDei]

I don't think you will have any difficulty beating your old system. The 2080 Super, should you go with that, is somewhere between 70 and 100% faster than a 1080, and the Ryzens are faster clock-for-clock than the current-gen Intel chips. The 9th gen Intel chips only compete on clockspeed, since the 9900k boosts to 5GHz to compete with a 3800x that barely/rarely makes it to 4.5 GHz. Your chip is nowhere near 5 GHz and only 4 cores, so the Ryzens will mop the floor with it.

 

[Ready4Dis]

All great advice. Thank you.

It is going to be a few months to save the money for a new build. Probably looking at July or August time frame. I really want something that is going to be a night and day experience compared to this gaming laptop.
Don't get me wrong though. This laptop has been absolutely amazing.
Playing BFV at 1440p is a bit of a struggle though. I have to drop most of the settings to medium with a few at high and I think that's due to the 4 core CPU. On most maps FPS fluctuates between 60 to 85. Nothing too much to gripe about but I'd rather be playing games at max settings if possible.
CPU is OC'd to 4.1Ghz and GPU is OC'd as well.
The cooling on this laptop is quite awesome and I don't come anywhere near thermal limits with OC'ing.

Yeah, Intel 10 series will be out and benchmarked and we should.at least have a bit more info on zen3, rdna2 and ampere... So you may have some great options when you're about ready to pull the trigger. We can't tell the future, but my money is on AMD closing the gap in performance for gaming and pulling further ahead in multi threaded apps. Ampere will probably still outrun rdna2, and AMD as you noticed sometimes struggles with new releases, it that Nvidia is immune as they've had their share as well, just AMD tends to have a bit more unresolved items for longer. With consoles using AMD hardware it's likely games will be well optimised for rdna2 eventually, but not upon release for sure. That new unreal 5 tech demo on PS5 did look pretty awesome though, so I'll keep my fingers crossed, lol.

 

[Dirtytape]

My only concern with going the AMD route is their drivers are usually buggy as heck compared to Intel or Nvidia. I've avoided them for years due to that and the fact that they never truly competed with Nvidia and Intel. They always seemed one step behind.

 

[sinisterDei]

They always seemed one step behind.

Assuming we're talking GPU here. I think their drivers, generally speaking, are one step behind. On the other hand, they still sell millions of GPUs and I would argue they probably wouldn't continue to do that if their customers weren't generally happy with the product overall. I've got three AMD GPUs in my house - wife's PC, arcade, and laptop - and they have all been rock solid aside from needing the occasional reboot to get FreeSync working again. Obviously my experience isn't indicative of everyone that has ever used an AMD GPU, but it's the only evidence I've got to offer!

As a longtime Nvidia user, if I was buying a new GPU today, I would buy an AMD card if it was significantly cheaper for the same performance, as I do fall into the category of folks who doesn't care about RT nor video encoding. I've bought Nvidia GPUs the last few generations purely for performance reasons - when I got my 1080 Ti Nvidia had no competitor above the 1060 and I was trying to drive a 4K panel. Today I would likely still buy Nvidia, for most of the same reasons. But if my target was 1440p, I would seriously have to consider AMD since the extra oomph of a 2080/2080Ti would not be necessary and you pay through the nose for those larger cards.

 

[Dirtytape]

Assuming we're talking GPU here. I think their drivers, generally speaking, are one step behind. On the other hand, they still sell millions of GPUs and I would argue they probably wouldn't continue to do that if their customers weren't generally happy with the product overall. I've got three AMD GPUs in my house - wife's PC, arcade, and laptop - and they have all been rock solid aside from needing the occasional reboot to get FreeSync working again. Obviously my experience isn't indicative of everyone that has ever used an AMD GPU, but it's the only evidence I've got to offer!

As a longtime Nvidia user, if I was buying a new GPU today, I would buy an AMD card if it was significantly cheaper for the same performance, as I do fall into the category of folks who doesn't care about RT nor video encoding. I've bought Nvidia GPUs the last few generations purely for performance reasons - when I got my 1080 Ti Nvidia had no competitor above the 1060 and I was trying to drive a 4K panel. Today I would likely still buy Nvidia, for most of the same reasons. But if my target was 1440p, I would seriously have to consider AMD since the extra oomph of a 2080/2080Ti would not be necessary and you pay through the nose for those larger cards.

The GPU in my current laptop is just a GTX 1080. I believe it's a desktop variant because the desktop GTX 1080 drivers from Nvidia work for it. In fact, I have desktop drivers installed for the current version.
What GPU would be a major upgrade compared to it that isn't a 2080ti? Is the 2060 or 2070 worth looking at?

 

[sinisterDei]

What GPU would be a major upgrade compared to it that isn't a 2080ti?

The regular 1080 is more-or-less matched by the original RTX 2060 in performance, albeit with only 6 GB of RAM which isn't as nice. So everything over that is varying degrees of upgrade. A 2070 is a decent jump, 2070 Super even more so. 2080 Super you're talking big framerate jumps.

You should take a look at Anandtech's Bench utility. It doesn't tell the "whole story" since it's just bars on a graph, but it lets you pick two GPUs and show the two of them on a benchmark graph versus each other. https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/2527?vs=2536