Gaming PC

[24lemons]

I’ve been considering making the move from console to PC gaming. I play mostly racing sims so I’d like to be able to run titles like Assetto Corsa Competizione Or Project Cars at their full potential.

I have no experience whatsoever with speccing PC’s and to be honest part of the reason why I have avoided it for so long is the fear that I will be entering an arms race for ever necessary upgrades.

Can someone give me an honest indication of what I’d need to spend to get into sim racing with enough in hand to cope with future titles without having to buy upgrades every 5 minutes

[Drive Blind]

the common starting point when spec'ing a game PC is what monitor set up are you aiming for and at what resolution ?

Single monitor gaming at 1080p is a lot cheaper than 4K and multi monitor setups.

Once you decide that you can spec the GPU and then build the rest of the system round it.

[LukeBrown66]

I would say on a budget you could so the lot, PC, monitor, peripherals and a cheapish but decent second wheel for a grand.

My machine cost me 500 notes 2 years ago and runs most games fine, I dont run a big flash monitor and only run a G25 on a stand.

[24lemons]

Monitor wise I’m undecided. I like the idea of VR so in that instance, I would just use a basic monitor or even the 1080p tv my Xbox is plugged into. If VR isn’t a factor then I suppose a half decent monitor is worth investing in.

I already have a steering wheel that is compatible so I won’t be changing that.

[24lemons]

If we go with a 4K monitor and enough grunt to run Assetto Corsa Competizione on it’s highest settings, what would we be looking at?

[jurbie]

I was in a similar place to you earlier this year with zero knowledge of where and how to start building a PC however this thread was pretty much a goldmine.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

As per the OP in that thread I ended up getting all the parts and building the PC one Sunday afternoon. AC Competizione runs beautifully on it

I don't know if it would run 4K but 1080p works fine.

[FourWheelDrift]

24lemons said:

If we go with a 4K monitor and enough grunt to run Assetto Corsa Competizione on it’s highest settings, what would we be looking at?

Ultra settings, 4k ACC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22nN7bZzuHM

Their PC is:

AMD Ryzen 7 2700X + Corsair Hydro Series H115i Pro
MSI X470 Gaming Pro
G.SKILL Trident Z 2x8GB 3200MHz DDR4
Samsung 970 Evo NVMe M.2 500GB
WD Black 4TB WD4004FZWX
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti SC2 GAMING 11GB
Corsair RMx 750W
Windows 10 Home 64bit

Replace Ryzen 7 2700x with the cheaper and newer Ryzen 5 3600
Replace 1080Ti with an RTX 2080 Super.


Rough build cost £1,300 - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/3GVVK4 can be a little cheaper but not much, cheapest not always good and a new build using a B550 board is better for future upgrades than a B450. Also if you wait a little while (September) you might get some good deals.

[vonuber]

I got this over christmas:



Runs anything I can throw at it at 1440 on Ultra settings at a ridiculous framerate:



(gif is unfortunately compressed and at 25fps, but you get the idea)

[Darkslider]

vonuber said:

(gif is unfortunately compressed and at 25fps, but you get the idea)

My computer is too crap to run the thumbnail gif without stuttering so no, I don't get the idea

[conkerman]

24lemons said:

If we go with a 4K monitor and enough grunt to run Assetto Corsa Competizione on it’s highest settings, what would we be looking at?

Why not go VR instead? ACC was cracking in VR when I played it last (Ages ago).

RTX207 wil be plenty for VR and 1440P with lots of shiny.

Edited by conkerman on Sunday 28th June 21:33

[24lemons]

conkerman said:

Why not go VR instead? ACC was cracking in VR when I played it last (Ages ago).

RTX207 wil be plenty for VR and 1440P with lots of shiny.

Edited by conkerman on Sunday 28th June 21:33

I assumed it would need a beast of a PC. I’d love to go VR if it was in any way affordable

[Rod200SX]

I've just upgraded my graphics card but I ran assetto corsa and dozens of other VR games on a GTX1060 6GB, with an i5-8700 cpu and initially 8GB Ram, upgraded to 16gb after a while though.

Ran VR absolutely fine. The likes of assetto corsa isn't a massively demanding game which helps a lot. I've got a 2060 RTX Super now but was more a boredom upgrade. The 1060 ran surprisingly good, most modern games running at high/ultra graphics in 1080 (1080 worked for me) would still be at usually at least 60-100fps depending on the game.

I'd say if you're sticking to racing stuff just now and you're budget conscious, you don't need a monster and can spend more of your budget on sim gear

[conkerman]

My HTPC is also my VR rig and is a Ryzen 5 2600 and an RTX20270 with 16GB RAM.

I have an Oculus Rift and it is such good fun. It really doesn't take a total beast of a PC to have fun in VR.

And you also get to play Robo recall, Beat Saber and Superhot VR.

[24lemons]

This is fast becoming the slippery slope I thought it might be! It’s very daunting knowing where I should put my money and I’m grateful for the suggestions.

Now don’t shoot me for asking but as someone more familiar with consoles, a lot has been written about the power of the next gen machines. I’m aware that consoles will always be the poor relation but I think my budget is nearer the console end of the spectrum.

Is it possible to spend console money on a pc and still have a system that will allow me to run racing sims and even potentially vr?

[conkerman]

For budget gaming you could go.

Ryzen 3 3300X or Ryzen 5 2600. About £120

Cheap B450 Mobo. (to allow Overclocking) from £60
or
A320 Mobo (no overclocking) £45

16GB DDR4 3200MHz £60

GPU - Min I'd go for is a 1660. 1660Ti preferable. (1660 is £200).

M.2 SSD - £65

Case - IONZ KZ15 £20 (Cheap as chips, and I built a system in it and didn't get my hands shredded.

Power Supply - Whatever you can find - Assume £50

This adds up to around £600. You then need a VR rig/Steering wheel.

[MattyB_]

conkerman said:

For budget gaming you could go.

Power Supply - Whatever you can find - Assume £50

.

Please don't skimp on buying crappy PSU's - it's not much more for a branded, Gold-rated PSU and they're an important component.

I understand there's an element of budget creep, but going to £80 puts you in a much better category.

[conkerman]

I am of the same school of thought with PSU's, but it is possibly the worst time to buy a PSU, I have ever seen.

For about £50 you can get the EVGA 500W (80+ White) PSU. Which is a decent PSU.

EVGA, Seasonic and Corsair are good options. Avoid Licky Happy Star 800W PSUs for £25.

For the sort of system we are talking about here, Over PSU-ing it is just a waste of cash.

[BrettMRC]

Ebuyer tend to have some good deals.

It's also worth checking Currys clearance as well.

[FourWheelDrift]

conkerman said:

For the sort of system we are talking about here, Over PSU-ing it is just a waste of cash.

He was talking about running Assetto Corsa Competizione at full detail and 4k, you can't do that with the sort of system needed and then skimp on PSU.

[conkerman]

But further down it changed to being able to run VR, once the costs to run at 4k became apparent. The scope seemed to change somewhat to being sort of cost competitive with a console.

Its sort of moot anyway, its possibly the worst time to build a PC.