Budget for Gaming PC for racing sims
Discussion
What's the max you want to spend before it gets painful?
What games do you want to play? If it's one of the multi platfform games (P.Cars, AC etc.) what are you expecting to get out of it that a console won't give you?
What wheel/seat set up?
Screens? single, triple, VR?
There are several sim racing threads on here already.
What games do you want to play? If it's one of the multi platfform games (P.Cars, AC etc.) what are you expecting to get out of it that a console won't give you?
What wheel/seat set up?
Screens? single, triple, VR?
There are several sim racing threads on here already.
My Choice would be.
CPU
Ryzen 5. 2600 (£120) or 3600 (£150)
Motherboard
If you don't care about overclocking, then an A320 board (£50)
If you want to dip your toe into Overclocking then A B450 board will be required. These start at about 60 quid.
Memory,
16GB of DDR4 3200 will do fine. (£65 quid)
For storage, MVme is the way to go. 500 or 1GB depending on budget. Add a spinning HDD if required.
Videocard. - Depends on your budget and what resolution you want to game in. For 1080p. 1660Ti and RX5700 are good options and should run VR with no issues.
Case -= Whatever you like. I like Fractal Design cases. They are nicely laid out for building. Other manufacturers are available.
DO NOT SKIMP ON A POWER SUPPLY! Seasonic and EVGA are decent and 550ish watts should be plenty.
PSUs are in pretty short supply at the moment.
CPU
Ryzen 5. 2600 (£120) or 3600 (£150)
Motherboard
If you don't care about overclocking, then an A320 board (£50)
If you want to dip your toe into Overclocking then A B450 board will be required. These start at about 60 quid.
Memory,
16GB of DDR4 3200 will do fine. (£65 quid)
For storage, MVme is the way to go. 500 or 1GB depending on budget. Add a spinning HDD if required.
Videocard. - Depends on your budget and what resolution you want to game in. For 1080p. 1660Ti and RX5700 are good options and should run VR with no issues.
Case -= Whatever you like. I like Fractal Design cases. They are nicely laid out for building. Other manufacturers are available.
DO NOT SKIMP ON A POWER SUPPLY! Seasonic and EVGA are decent and 550ish watts should be plenty.
PSUs are in pretty short supply at the moment.
conkerman said:
My Choice would be.
CPU
Ryzen 5. 2600 (£120) or 3600 (£150)
Motherboard
If you don't care about overclocking, then an A320 board (£50)
If you want to dip your toe into Overclocking then A B450 board will be required. These start at about 60 quid.
Memory,
16GB of DDR4 3200 will do fine. (£65 quid)
For storage, MVme is the way to go. 500 or 1GB depending on budget. Add a spinning HDD if required.
Videocard. - Depends on your budget and what resolution you want to game in. For 1080p. 1660Ti and RX5700 are good options and should run VR with no issues.
Case -= Whatever you like. I like Fractal Design cases. They are nicely laid out for building. Other manufacturers are available.
DO NOT SKIMP ON A POWER SUPPLY! Seasonic and EVGA are decent and 550ish watts should be plenty.
PSUs are in pretty short supply at the moment.
I actually have pretty much that setup, Ryzen 3600, 16gb, I have a GTX 1080 I pulled from my old PC, 550W corsair PSU. I play assetto corsa (so cheap to buy and plenty of online racing still going on). It works flawlessly and of course can play other games if needed. CPU
Ryzen 5. 2600 (£120) or 3600 (£150)
Motherboard
If you don't care about overclocking, then an A320 board (£50)
If you want to dip your toe into Overclocking then A B450 board will be required. These start at about 60 quid.
Memory,
16GB of DDR4 3200 will do fine. (£65 quid)
For storage, MVme is the way to go. 500 or 1GB depending on budget. Add a spinning HDD if required.
Videocard. - Depends on your budget and what resolution you want to game in. For 1080p. 1660Ti and RX5700 are good options and should run VR with no issues.
Case -= Whatever you like. I like Fractal Design cases. They are nicely laid out for building. Other manufacturers are available.
DO NOT SKIMP ON A POWER SUPPLY! Seasonic and EVGA are decent and 550ish watts should be plenty.
PSUs are in pretty short supply at the moment.
Bullett said:
What's the max you want to spend before it gets painful?
What games do you want to play? If it's one of the multi platfform games (P.Cars, AC etc.) what are you expecting to get out of it that a console won't give you?
What wheel/seat set up?
Screens? single, triple, VR?
There are several sim racing threads on here already.
I've got a playseat with a Fanatech. What games do you want to play? If it's one of the multi platfform games (P.Cars, AC etc.) what are you expecting to get out of it that a console won't give you?
What wheel/seat set up?
Screens? single, triple, VR?
There are several sim racing threads on here already.
Been mostly playing GT Sport and Project Cars 2, I thought the Fanatech would be a big step up, but it's actually been the reverse, it doesn't seem to work too well with either, I do need to spend more time with all the fiddly settings, but I have read its much better with PC games.
I don't know which games I'd go for, be up for most of them but only really racing sims, not into FPS etc.
Budget wise, was hoping to spend c£1k, but having been reading a bit since I started this thread, seems a future proof one would be more like £2k. Which does sound like a lot of cash.
I was at a track day last night and a young lad bought a 172 Clio fully track prep'd with roll gage and a very good spec for £2.1k.
Tempted to buy one of those and stick to the PS4
handbraketurn said:
I've got a playseat with a Fanatech.
Been mostly playing GT Sport and Project Cars 2, I thought the Fanatech would be a big step up, but it's actually been the reverse, it doesn't seem to work too well with either, I do need to spend more time with all the fiddly settings, but I have read its much better with PC games.
I don't know which games I'd go for, be up for most of them but only really racing sims, not into FPS etc.
Budget wise, was hoping to spend c£1k, but having been reading a bit since I started this thread, seems a future proof one would be more like £2k. Which does sound like a lot of cash.
I was at a track day last night and a young lad bought a 172 Clio fully track prep'd with roll gage and a very good spec for £2.1k.
Tempted to buy one of those and stick to the PS4
£2k? Your not thinking big (small) enough - Corsair one a100Been mostly playing GT Sport and Project Cars 2, I thought the Fanatech would be a big step up, but it's actually been the reverse, it doesn't seem to work too well with either, I do need to spend more time with all the fiddly settings, but I have read its much better with PC games.
I don't know which games I'd go for, be up for most of them but only really racing sims, not into FPS etc.
Budget wise, was hoping to spend c£1k, but having been reading a bit since I started this thread, seems a future proof one would be more like £2k. Which does sound like a lot of cash.
I was at a track day last night and a young lad bought a 172 Clio fully track prep'd with roll gage and a very good spec for £2.1k.
Tempted to buy one of those and stick to the PS4
A grand will play racing games better than on a console.
Dont get caught up with the willy waving of PC spec.
Budget creep is easy and not neccessary. There will always be a better component, that you dont need but you feel you do because other people have them.
With the right mindset, you can quite happily race on a PC for a grand.
Dont get caught up with the willy waving of PC spec.
Budget creep is easy and not neccessary. There will always be a better component, that you dont need but you feel you do because other people have them.
With the right mindset, you can quite happily race on a PC for a grand.
I'd be happy to spec a set up for you, but my suggestion would be to wait until September. Next set of graphics cards are due out and either new performance or second hand prices will drop.
But basic PC for ~£600 would be something like a Ryzen 1600AF / 3600, B450, 8/16G 3600 RAM, RTX 2060, and a decent PSU. Linky for what I normally send friends
Does your £1k include monitors etc or is it solely the PC?
I run 3 screens and/or a vive pro off a 6700k/1080ti with everything cranked to max. You really don't need to spend a lot.
But basic PC for ~£600 would be something like a Ryzen 1600AF / 3600, B450, 8/16G 3600 RAM, RTX 2060, and a decent PSU. Linky for what I normally send friends
Does your £1k include monitors etc or is it solely the PC?
I run 3 screens and/or a vive pro off a 6700k/1080ti with everything cranked to max. You really don't need to spend a lot.
Edited by Lazadude on Wednesday 17th June 18:01
I've just done this exact thing and had my first racing on it last weekend.
I chose a Novatech barebones system (£700) and stuck a decent Radeon 5700 XT in it (£450). I was able to use my trusty old (2012!) SSD and HDD so saved a bit there, and already had the other bits from an old PC.
I went a bit over the top on the CPU (Ryzen 7) as far as sim-racing goes but I also use my PC for video editing and occasional 3D work so worked that into my man-maths.
I was going to wait for prices to come back down and the next gen to be announced until I remembered from back when I used to do a lot of PC upgrading, there's always a pending announcement and you can end up chasing the horizon forever.
I did my first races with it last weekend and it was glorious. I used to race all the time a few years back and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it.
Edit to add: I was starting to get carried away and was getting up to £1800 before I had a word with myself, so the advice above about being wary of spec creep is good.
I chose a Novatech barebones system (£700) and stuck a decent Radeon 5700 XT in it (£450). I was able to use my trusty old (2012!) SSD and HDD so saved a bit there, and already had the other bits from an old PC.
I went a bit over the top on the CPU (Ryzen 7) as far as sim-racing goes but I also use my PC for video editing and occasional 3D work so worked that into my man-maths.
I was going to wait for prices to come back down and the next gen to be announced until I remembered from back when I used to do a lot of PC upgrading, there's always a pending announcement and you can end up chasing the horizon forever.
I did my first races with it last weekend and it was glorious. I used to race all the time a few years back and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it.
Edit to add: I was starting to get carried away and was getting up to £1800 before I had a word with myself, so the advice above about being wary of spec creep is good.
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