Should I build a desktop now or wait for next gen?

[IronFalcon]

Budget (including currency): 1500 EUR

Country: Portugal

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Programming, run some VM's, university projects, lol, pubg, fortnite

Other details: 

Currently, I have a hp laptop with an i5 7300hq, 8 GB of ram, 220 GB ssd and a gtx 1050, it's really showing its limits. Thinking about buying a desktop with a ryzen 7 5800x and a rtx 3070 for work and gaming at 1440p +-120fps (still don't have a final build).

Been waiting for about a year and half for gpu prices to drop. Should I buy it next month or wait for next gen?

 

[Tsar_Maple]

Been in a similar pickle about whether to upgrade right now. Sitting on a 2700X and a 3070 and decided to wait for the next gen of Ryzen to come out before pulling the trigger. 

 

What you listed for your potential upgrades is solid and will chew through 1440p gaming and any other tasks you through at it (though I would recommend at least 16GB of RAM if you're VMing and programming). My combo does so on a 1440p ultrawide just fine. 

 

At the end of day, a 5800X and 3070 will do well for a good few years. The main issue is your upgrade path with a 5800X ends there as AM4's time is over. Ryzen 7000 will be on AM5, so if future upgrading is important for you, keep that in mind. 

[IronFalcon]

1 hour ago, Tsar_Maple said:

Been in a similar pickle about whether to upgrade right now. Sitting on a 2700X and a 3070 and decided to wait for the next gen of Ryzen to come out before pulling the trigger. 

 

What you listed for your potential upgrades is solid and will chew through 1440p gaming and any other tasks you through at it (though I would recommend at least 16GB of RAM if you're VMing and programming). My combo does so on a 1440p ultrawide just fine. 

 

At the end of day, a 5800X and 3070 will do well for a good few years. The main issue is your upgrade path with a 5800X ends there as AM4's time is over. Ryzen 7000 will be on AM5, so if future upgrading is important for you, keep that in mind. 

 

The fact that AM4 is dead is the reason for my hesitation. AM5, DRR5 and PCIe 5.0 would be nice, but currently I don't think I'll need them.

If I knew that my laptop could last me another year or two, I'll probably wait. But it's being a bit of a pain lately.

Also, this will be my first build, so it won't be the best thing ever. If it can get me 5 or 6 years of good use, I think it's good enough.

Then maybe buy something better and thinking a bit more on an aesthetic setup. For now, I just want something that works and can finish my university and firsts years of work.

 

Btw, I'll probably go for 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of m.2 PCIe 4.0.

[Tsar_Maple]

22 minutes ago, IronFalcon said:

 

The fact that AM4 is dead is the reason for my hesitation. AM5, DRR5 and PCIe 5.0 would be nice, but currently I don't think I'll need them.

If I knew that my laptop could last me another year or two, I'll probably wait. But it's being a bit of a pain lately.

Also, this will be my first build, so it won't be the best thing ever. If it can get me 5 or 6 years of good use, I think it's good enough.

Then maybe buy something better and thinking a bit more on an aesthetic setup. For now, I just want something that works and can finish my university and firsts years of work.

 

Btw, I'll probably go for 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of m.2 PCIe 4.0.

 

The optimist in me says that a 5800X and a 3070 will definitely hold up that long. My 2700X just had its 5th birthday and it's running strong on Zen+, so I'd like to think a Zen3 CPU could stick it out that long.

 

GPUs are obviously easier to replace as needed if something that blows a 3070 out of the water comes along (maybe not so easy on your wallet, but you know ), so go with your gut there.

 

And nice, that RAM and SSD upgrade will be a great addition.

[cmndr]

If you're having trouble with your laptop, do you know if it's a lack of RAM? That might be easy enough to fix.

[Semper]

If your current system is insufficient for your needs, replace it.

If it's not, don't.

If it's some other limiting factor (I.E. running single channel 4GB RAM), improve it.

That's ultimately what it boils down to. If you wait "just a little bit longer" because the "next generation is coming" you will, quite literally, be running your 7300hq for the rest of your life. What's releasing with next generation is in some regards, already outdated. The platform that will replace it, and the platform that will replace the platform that will replace it (I.E. two generations ahead) are already in the works, very likely further down the line are at some stage of development as well.

Yes, AM4 is EOL, however I would not expect to see revolutionary gains with the first generation on AM5 (does it have an official designation yet?). You're also going to see an early adopter premium that will come with it. my 5800x is plenty capable, and I see no reason to believe that it's going to be earmarked as insufficient any time soon.

[IronFalcon]

Yeah, thx guys.

Will probably buy now, I'm tired of waiting.

GPU prices are coming down. Also 5800x is currently at a good price.