Need Advice

[overwhelmedgeek]

I apologize for the long post ahead of time but I figure TMI is the better option. I live in the US and am looking to build a new gaming PC which will be its main function. However, there could be a scenario where my wife ends up using it as well which means it would also be used for zoom meetings, audio recording & transcription, and a few other things related to teaching as she’s a professor. I will be upgrading from an Nvidia 1060 6GB and Ryzen 5 3600 and I could really use some advice/help with my GPU and possibly CPU as I am not great with tech stuff. 

 

I have been trying to decide between an AMD 6800xt or better or an Nvidia card. Everything I’m seeing is that if I want this to last a while I need to be seriously considering vram over anything else which AMD seems to offer far more at a better price point. However, everyone seems to be screaming that a 4080 is the way to go. It’s also the only Nvidia card that starts competing with AMD on vram. Plus I continually read where people using x80 or xx80 card are still using theirs 7+ years later which seems to be a decent longevity. I really don’t want to spend $1,200 on a card but I will if that’s what I need to do and it’ll possibly last me that long. But I would greatly appreciate any help/advice and reasoning as I honestly can’t tell what my best option is. I also thing ray tracing looks cool but I’d rather prioritize performance and have it last longer than look a little cooler with reflections. 
 

if it helps I currently have my pc hooked up to a 65” 4K 60Hz tv. That might change to where I can switch to a nicer monitor at a later date or find a switch that would allow me to switch a monitor between different pc’s so that I could hijack my wife’s desk/monitor periodically but idk about that. I’m also all over the place with games from Diablo and WoW to Destiny, Elden Ring and Spider-Man. 

[baraaboi]

I mean, if you really want maxiumum bang for the buck you could go 7700x and 6800 XT (16 gb is more than enough for gaming and video editing) and they work well together (not much bottleneck). You'll get satisfactory raytracing performance, but obviously nVIDIA cards are better for RTX, so maybe 3060 12G or 3080 10G?

[overwhelmedgeek]

36 minutes ago, baraaboi said:

I mean, if you really want maxiumum bang for the buck you could go 7700x and 6800 XT (16 gb is more than enough for gaming and video editing) and they work well together (not much bottleneck). You'll get satisfactory raytracing performance, but obviously nVIDIA cards are better for RTX, so maybe 3060 12G or 3080 10G?

Thanks. I’d initially looked at the 6800 XT but then I kept saying well why not the 6900 XT and so on until the 7900 XTX because it’s still

less than a 4080.  And when I compare benchmarks Nvidia counterparts always seem to outperform. But if a 6800 XT is more than enough then that’ll probably be what I go with since I can get it so much cheaper. 
 

I know nobody knows what tech will be released in the next couple years for sure but is there a scenario with the CPU & Motherboard where I spend a little more than the 7700x and it might be an easy GPU upgrade/swap in a couple years if necessary? I had been eyeballing a 13700K as people had acted like it might work that way but I honestly don’t understand all of it so idk if it actually would. 

[brob]

Any reasonable gaming machine will have no trouble supporting the described work usage.

 

Realistically both Intel and AMD offer very similar performance at any given price point. With some exceptions gaming performance tends to be within 10%.

 

Establish a rough budget before contemplating different models. Otherwise there will be needs creep. 

[overwhelmedgeek]

2 hours ago, brob said:

Any reasonable gaming machine will have no trouble supporting the described work usage.

 

Realistically both Intel and AMD offer very similar performance at any given price point. With some exceptions gaming performance tends to be within 10%.

 

Establish a rough budget before contemplating different models. Otherwise there will be needs creep. 

Thanks. I think the $1200 for a 4080 is the max I would be willing to spend. I just don’t know that I want to spend that as idk if it’s realistically necessary. Especially when I’m only able to game a few hours a week. Unless it truly is necessary and I just don’t understand why or it would get me a few extra years out of the card. But since the new pc isn’t a necessity a budget isn’t really an issue as I could just save a little longer. 

[brob]

20 minutes ago, overwhelmedgeek said:

Thanks. I think the $1200 for a 4080 is the max I would be willing to spend. I just don’t know that I want to spend that as idk if it’s realistically necessary. Especially when I’m only able to game a few hours a week. Unless it truly is necessary and I just don’t understand why or it would get me a few extra years out of the card. But since the new pc isn’t a necessity a budget isn’t really an issue as I could just save a little longer. 

 

New releases generally offer more immersive experiences that are much more demanding of the hardware. As a result higher performance GPU tend to have longer useful lifetimes. 

 

A 7900 XT is probably the floor for reasonably good gameplay on your TV. 

[Why_Me]

1 hour ago, overwhelmedgeek said:

Thanks. I think the $1200 for a 4080 is the max I would be willing to spend. I just don’t know that I want to spend that as idk if it’s realistically necessary. Especially when I’m only able to game a few hours a week. Unless it truly is necessary and I just don’t understand why or it would get me a few extra years out of the card. But since the new pc isn’t a necessity a budget isn’t really an issue as I could just save a little longer. 

I'd go this route. 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($190.16 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: *Deepcool AK400 66.47 CFM CPU Cooler  ($34.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: *G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($56.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: *Asus DUAL GeForce RTX 4070 12 GB Video Card  ($599.99 @ ASUS) 
Power Supply: *Corsair RM750e (2023) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 
Monitor: *ASRock PG27FF1A 27.0" 1920 x 1080 165 Hz Monitor  ($142.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1125.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-08-09 02:01 EDT-0400

 

[overwhelmedgeek]

On 8/8/2023 at 10:33 PM, brob said:

 

New releases generally offer more immersive experiences that are much more demanding of the hardware. As a result higher performance GPU tend to have longer useful lifetimes. 

 

A 7900 XT is probably the floor for reasonably good gameplay on your TV. 

Thanks. Sounds like I need to bite the bullet and go with a 4080