Upgrade Desktop or New Gaming Laptop?

Willeric

I have a desktop that I use for gaming that is now a few years old. I'm not sure what specs are required for a good answer to my question, but I'll volunteer that the PC currently has the following:

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4690K CPU @ 3.50GHz  3.50 GHz

AMD Radeon R9 200 Series (I think this is a 270x, if my memory serves me correctly.)

8 GB RAM

I am also looking for a laptop to begin music recording.

I was wondering which approach might be better: (1) upgrade the computer components to current graphics card and other specs and buy an inexpensive laptop for recording, if possible OR (2) replace the desktop with a new gaming laptop that can also be used for recording?

I welcome all input!

TS_EmileC

Hello @Willeric Just so I understand you. Are you thinking about upgrading your current gaming desktop to sell for a recording laptop? And the other option are you wanting to upgrade the system to be used for both gaming and recording music? Correct me if I'm misunderstood.

Willeric

Sorry for being unclear. I'm trying to figure out the best and most cost effective way to have a good gaming PC and a good laptop for recording music. My current gaming PC is a desktop, and I need a laptop for recording because it needs to be portable.

So, I was considering two options (but I'm open to others). First, I could upgrade the components in my desktop PC to be my gaming PC. (I'm assuming the current components (listed above) are not up to playing current games at high settings, which I'd like to be able to do. I don't have any idea how much it would cost to upgrade the graphics card and any other components to play current games well.) That means I would also need to purchase a laptop for music recording. Because it doesn't need to also be a gaming laptop, I am assuming that I could find something reasonably priced to do the job. But, I'm not sure how much I would need to spend on such a laptop.

Or, I could not upgrade the desktop and instead buy one laptop that would be my gaming PC as well as my recording laptop. Maybe something like a Razer or the like. I'm not sure what I would do with the desktop in that case.

To sum up:

Option 1: Upgrade desktop + new recording laptop

Option 2: Do no upgrade desktop + new gaming and recording laptop

As I mentioned above, if there's a better solution that I'm overlooking, I'd love to hear it! Thanks very much.

TS_EmileC

Thank you for the clarity @Willeric. First we cover the basics. What game titles do you play? Do you have a budget in mind? If you already have a good/descent video card, I would continue to push that as far as it can go due to today's current market value before looking to upgrade. As for the laptop, what software do you use for music recording?

Willeric

Thanks for your questions. I currently play World of Warcraft, Cyberpunk, and the Baldur's Gate preview. I would like to play New World when it releases.

I will use Presonus Studio One to record music. I will use a Presonus interface. I will record acoustic instruments (guitar and piano), voice, and perhaps electric guitar, as well.

I posted my desktop's current specs above. I'm not sure if that still qualifies as "good/decent" or not. World of Warcraft runs fine, but I think that is known for running on just about anything. It's more the newer games that I'm concerned about.

I'm trying to lock in a budget for the laptop, and that is in many ways the heart of the question. I need portability to record music. I'm not sure whether to buy the bare minimum to do the recording job. Or, whether it might make sense from a budget perspective to increase the laptop budget to effectively replace the desktop as well.

Perhaps an example would make sense. This is all purely hypothetical, of course, but it will let you know what I'm wrestling with.

Let's say I can buy a laptop for recording for $1000. Perhaps that laptop would do the recording job just fine. It would not be a great gaming machine, however, and I would still use the desktop for gaming. But, to upgrade the PC to more modern specs, I would need to spend $900 (e.g., new graphics card, maybe more RAM). That's $1900 to have a good laptop for recording and a good PC for gaming.

But, if I spend $1900 on a new laptop instead, I could have a laptop that would be a good performer in both recording and gaming.

Ian

Well, this is just slightly more than $1900 but if you wanted to go the laptop route, this has a great processor in a i7-10750H and a 3070 video card, so it would have no problems for recording or gaming. I'd give this a look:

https://www.microcenter.com/product/633376/razer-blade-15-base-edition-rz09-0369be22-r3u1-156-gaming-laptop-computer-black

Willeric

Thank you for that recommendation. Can you please put that cost in perspective against what it would take to upgrade my desktop for current gaming performance?

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/32229#Comment_32229

Do you happen to have the brand / model of motherboard you have currently available?

Willeric

I believe it is: ASUS Tek Computer Inc., Z97-AR, version Rev 1.xx. That's all gibberish to me, but I hope it makes some sense to you.

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/32250#Comment_32250

Alright, thanks. So we'd be looking at basically re-doing the PC to use a graphics card. The processor you have now would bottleneck pretty badly with most new video cards. Would your budget be the same for this as the laptop?

Willeric

Well, the cost comparison would need to be something competitive with a new gaming laptop to cover BOTH the desktop upgrade and a laptop for recording. Assuming I could find a laptop for recording for $1,000, that would leave about $1,000 for the desktop upgrade.

Or, perhaps the economics favor a new gaming laptop?

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/32262#Comment_32262

The best comparison I would have for this is to compare the prices of a i7 processor, a 3070 and a new motherboard (to pick what's in the laptop) That would leave out Windows, RAM, SSDs etc.

10700k & motherboard bundle - https://www.microcenter.com/product/5004333/intel-core-i7-10700k,-asus-z490a-prime,-cpu-motherboard-bundle $499

3070s range start at about $650 at this time depending on model.

So we're already over the $1000 without adding RAM (needs to be DDR4), Windows, etc. So for what you are looking for you may want to just go with that laptop I linked above or similar.

Willeric

Thank you very much! That's the insight I was looking for. I have one last question, if you don't mind.

As I mentioned, I think the graphics card in my desktop is an AMD Radeon R9 270x, if I remember correctly. I'm not sure how this is able to play modern games. I'm playing Cyberpunk, for example, and I suppose it's "ok". But, I was wondering how much of an improvement in my gameplay experience I might expect with a more modern card or the modern gaming laptop.

Thank you again!

TS_JosephF

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/32356#Comment_32356

The Radeon r9 270x does not really compare to any modern GPU. Getting any 30 series GPU would be a significant upgrade. To get a better idea of exactly how much better it would be, you can compare the benchmarks here. And this is comparing it to just a 3060 Ti.