What PC specs would give me a night-day difference in performance and features over my current gaming laptop?

[bingbongbangbung]

My laptop is the 2019 version of Acer Nitro 5, and it's been slowing down and fucking up on me since 2023. I'm considering to upgrade to a custom built desktop sometime in 2025 or even later if my laptop doesn't die by then. I'm also paranoid that the solar flares in mid 2025 might cause a Carrington level event and send us back to the early industrial age, so that's also why I'm waiting.

But I want my money's worth and also due to my demanding uses - gaming, content creation, machine learning, and programming, I need something that's at least higher mid range. I don't necessarily need a workstation with parts like Xeon/Epyc and A-Series RTX/Radeon Pro with 1TB RAM and 24TB storage, but I'd want to aim for at least Core Ultra 7/Ryzen 7 X3D and RTX XX80/RX X800 XT with 128GB RAM and 8TB storage.

So please don't recommend anything as typical Core Ultra 5/Ryzen 5 and RTX XX60/RX X600 XT with 32GB RAM and 4TB storage because I won't be completely blown away. I want the gap to be even bigger when I upgraded from my potato Lenovo IdeaPad laptop with AMD A10 APU, Radeon R5 iGPU, 12GB RAM (4+8), and 128GB SSD to my current laptop with i5 9300H, GTX 1050 3GB, 16GB RAM (2x8), and 500GB SSD.

Higher Mid Range Desktop

High End Desktop

Entry Level Workstation

Mid Range Workstation

[RandomUser1000]

If it is going to be at least a year until you get your next system, then there is no need to get locked in on specific parts right now.

For example RTX 5000 series are probably being released either in the fall or in 2025 and may be a good choice. But we don't really know what will be out yet.

AMD may have also released a new series graphics and maybe even Intel.

There probably are some new CPUs as well.

So just make sure you have some money set aside and look for specific specs when you are getting close to order.

[bingbongbangbung]

Nah right now AMD is still on RDNA3 and Intel is still with their current Arc lineup. The only latest CPUs so far are Core 14th Gen from Intel, Ryzen 8th Gen from AMD, and M3 series from Apple (I don't know much about Qualcomm to comment).

[RandomUser1000]

Yeah but if you are not going to get a new system until sometime in 2025 or possibly even after 2025.
There is a lot of days between now and then.

[bingbongbangbung]

Yeah by then Ryzen 9000 series and Apple M4 or even M5 series would be out by then. And Intel would probably already be in the 2nd gen of Core Ultra CPUs. The RTX 50 series along with RDNA4 would've been out for around a year and Intel would be releasing their last few Arc GPUs before they give up or introduce a new brand.

[exitseven]

get the high end desktop. Find one with the fastest processor and go one step slower. You will get superior performance ad a much lower price. Find a video card lie a Raedon RX 7800. Load it up with RAM and get a solid state hard drive.

[bingbongbangbung]

SSHDs are a scam; the SSD part acts as the RAM/physical cache, while the remainder aka the actual storage part is the HDD. Or did you mean to get a SSD?

[exitseven]

yes an SSD.

[exitseven]

Thanks for the MHO

[bingbongbangbung]

lol i didn't choose you as MHG; the website did

[Jessica405]

Build your own high end desk top machine. I would suggest using a flavour of Linux as an OS, but if you are gaming, I fear you are stuck with Win10, or 11. (12 when it comes out)

You can pick the best components yoou can afford, as long as they are compatible.

[bingbongbangbung]

Linux has made huge improvements in gaming over the past decade, thanks in huge part to Valve with their contributions such as Proton, Wine, and now SteamOS. I can also use DXVK inside and outside of Linux for further compatibility. And for the rare instances where no matter what the games won't work, I can boot up Windows inside a VM.

[Jessica405]

Thank you for MHG!

[mikee555]

Take apart your laptop and clean all the dust off and reapply some fresh thermal paste on the cpu and gpu. It will make your laptop run like new again. If you don't want to mess with it then just build a new desktop already instead of waiting and putting it off. The nice thing about desktops is they are much easier to clean and you can usually take a small electric leaf blower and blow it out in a few minutes and have it clean again. At the bare minimum i recommend a core i5 14600k/Ryzen 7 7800x3d and rtx 4070/rx 7700xt. I would probably get at least 32gb ram and a 1-4tb nvme m.2 drive. I would avoid a hard drive these days they are just slow. The only thing a hard drive may still be good at is storing movies and pictures. Do NOT install programs on a hard drive in 2024 the are just too slow.

[bingbongbangbung]

My laptop isn't overheating or randomly shutting down on me, so I don't need to do that. RTX 4070 and RX 7700 XT are too weak for machine learning for what I'll use it for in the future; I'd need at least RTX 4070 Ti Super or RX 7900 GRE. If I wasn't into AI though, then yeah those GPUs you mentioned are ideal for me. I have an external hard drive, but I don't really care about using it aside from backing stuff up.

[zeitgeist057]

I moved from a Macbook M1 Air to a gaming PC I got off Craigslist for $1200. I'm quite happy.

specs

I don't know all the components offhand but you can read them hopefully in the run report image above. It's got a water cooled cpu, something like 9 fans and I even have another external fan circulating air away from it (it runs hot). But I think it's well worth the investment and I think it should last me 5 years or so.

[bingbongbangbung]

The screenshot is too pixelated

[zeitgeist057]

MSI MEG Z390 Godlike motherboard, intel core i9 9000K CPU, RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, 4TB SSD HD, 32GB (4X8) DDR4 RAM, . Running windows 11 (came with 10).

www.amazon.com/.../B07HMGVR8D

www.amazon.com/.../

www.amazon.com/.../B08SQPPLNN

[bingbongbangbung]

9000K... uh that isn't a real Intel CPU. Unless you meant the 9900K, which is pretty outdated and is beaten by even the M1 Ultra. By SSD HD, do you mean just SSD or SSHD, which are 2 different things? 32GB isn't really a lot of RAM anymore, so consider upgrading to 64GB or maybe even 128GB

[bingbongbangbung]

I'm not exactly spec shaming you, just telling you that there's better options in 2024 (and even back in 2023). You should've opted for at least i9 12900K, and sadly Intel motherboards aren't as future proof as AMD. Otherwise your specs are pretty damn high end and will last you a long time.

[zeitgeist057]

yeah I was reading off the pixelated image, so if it's 9900 that makes sense. I understand it's not the most expensive top of the line available in 2024 as it was built in 2022. But it works flawlessly for me and I just wanted something that would play the games I want, which it does with snappy load times. it's a SSD not SSHD, I just use HD to mean ROM. I don't have issues with the RAM at the moment, but yeah maybe in a year or more I might upgrade.
The i9 wasn't my top pick, but of the options I looked at as I was shopping, this PC was the best bang for the buck. I'm not a power user, so not worried.

[bingbongbangbung]

Ah ok, but you still could've opted for the i9 12900K back then or even Ryzen 9 7900X depending on when in 2022.

[zeitgeist057]

I understand they have better specs, but I guess you don't understand how I shop. I only looked at used PCs and if there was one that had those specs, I decided the price vs. value wasn't there. I don't shop with the mindset of "what's the top of the line best, no matter the cost". I get a mix of value and price point.
Example: if there is something (car, PC, whatever) that offers 100% performance and costs $5,000, and something else that offers 90% performance and costs $2,000, I'm going with the $2K option.

[bingbongbangbung]

Ah ok and GPUs were over inflated due to the silicon crisis and the mining craze at the time too

[llorando]

If your looking for night and day difference over your current gaming laptop, then your best bet is building your own desktop. What is you budget limit? If you have the money and want the best of the best, then get 7950x3D pair it with a RTX 4090, if your on a budget then a 7800X3D with either a RC 7800xt or RTX 4070. FYI core ultra is only available for laptop's right now, and in my opinion isn't worth the price, it isn't quite as fast as Raptor lake at the high end (power limit), tho it is faster then raptor lake at lower end (power limit), but still not quite as fast as Zen 4 based Phoenix.

[bingbongbangbung]

My budget limit would probably be 3000 dollars in the current hyperinflation world, but before the pandemic I wouldn't go beyond 2000 dollars. If I'm on a budget I'd probably go for the Ryzen 7 5700X and RX 6700 XT or Core i7 12700K and RTX 3080.

[llorando]

If you on a budget, I'd wait a little bit, AMD just announced the 5700X3D that will be launching soon at $249, and will smoke both the 5700x and12700k in gaming. Or if your on a budget and don't want to wait, go with a 7600 now then then upgrade down the road to a 7800x3D. I personally went with a 5600g (wanted a 5600, but due to prices and shortages at the time, got the 5600g) paired with a 6600XT and couldn't be happier with my purchase. Will eventually upgrade to the new 5700x3D.

[bingbongbangbung]

I'm still living with my parents, I don't have a job besides setting up my startup (which I have no income for yet), and you clearly didn't read the question properly to suggest such garbage specs.