The 4K Freesync isn't going to provide much because the evidence for pushing that says there wil not be an 8800 XT or 8900 XT. Maybe in 4 to 5 years there will be a 9900 XT 4K Freesync graphics card.
I'm going 4K but that will wait until after I buy 5080 or 5090 to push 4K everything. Right now, only 4090 can do it and nothing less than 4090.
Given the future of game engines, I would recommend 4080 over XTX to power future games. You will have to replace the XTX sooner based on the newest game you have at anytime. Watch the price of the 4080 in 2 to 3 months for a good sale.
For VMware, beng productive work, what do the benchmarks show for Intel vs AMD with VM?