Gaming/VR rig recommendations

[Order66]

Its been a large number of years since I self-built a PC, but I want to get heavily back into PC gaming (particularly for racing sims - iRacing, Assetto Corsa and Project Cars 2). So if any of you knowledgeable PC-gaming folks could help out that would be much appreciated...

I already have a Thrustmaster T300 GTE steering wheel that I use for the PS4 and it seems I could use with the PC.

What I'm looking for:
Something pre-built, don't have the time/inclination to self-build.
Somewhat future proof - a few years at least before I have to consider "will my PC run this?"

What I'd like to achieve:
Be able to play any of the current crop of games at max settings.
Be VR capable (so I can run Project Cars 2 in max VR settings).
Have impressive/immersive visuals for any other non-VR games.

So I'm looking for recommendations for:
What PC to buy that will work out of the box?
What monitor(s) and setup is recommended - i.e. 2/3 monitors? What resolution should they support?
What VR headset/setup is currently best (or is imminent and worth waiting for)?

I don't have a budget limit as-such, however I don't want to spend money unnecessarily. If the PC/monitors could come in around the £2.5K mark or less that would be good, happy to go higher if there is real value in the extra cash, happy to go lower if that is overkill.

[Order66]

Type R Tom said:

Do you really need 2+ monitors if using VR? Kind of does the same thing!

My son will be using it also - not entirely sure if he'll get on with VR, so needs to do either/or

[Order66]

So, thinking about the monitors, I wonder if a very wide single screen would be simpler - how would this be:
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/34-asus-pg348q-nvi...

With this rig:
https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/configurator/simulator-...

[Order66]

Ok, so I've read what you've said, done some research and heading in the direction of self-building. I've not built a PC for 10yrs+ but have done in the past, not afraid of installing drives/memory or the OS - my unfamiliarity is with the currently nature of CPU/GPUs and their cooling requirements. Self building lets me get some savings on cost, and perhaps get something a bit more targeted for my needs.

I don't intend to overclock anything - no knowledge here and reckon the components will be fine for current gaming as they stand. Happy to be corrected here.

So I've used Scan's system as a base, and looking at:
Corsair Carbide 400Q case - £84.45 Amazon
Asus ROG Strix Z270H Mobo - £121.99 Scan
Intel Core i7 7700K - £289.77 Amazon
Corsair H100 CPU cooler - £69.98 Scan
2x8Gb Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000MHz memory - £163.86 Amazon
EVGA 1080 Ti SC2 GPU - £728.99 Amazon
650W Corsair RMx PSU - £89.99 Scan
1Tb Crucial MX300 M.2 SSD - £261.59

Is there anything else I am missing/need? (I have Win 10 Pro licenses from work, so not an issue). Any comments/improvements to be had?

I've basically stuck to the Asus motherboard as I don't know enough about the differences to select something else.

PC = £1810.62 total. Monitor £984.97. Oculus £399.

[Order66]

chris285 said:

Agreed on this, especially on SSD side look at say a 256/512GB for the OS and a game or 2 and then get a mech drive secondary for storage etc

Yeah stock CPU you can not buy the K series and get the 7700, and just get a decent air cooler i'd say as while i love my h100i it has a finite lifespan due to the closed system design

I'd say a 7-800w gold rated PSU is a bit better imo

Ok, yes I was intending on a 850w gold PSU, mistyped and included the lower one above. On the SSD side - I will use the machine for other purposes and dislike a low capacity system drive. I also have huge NAS capability here so no need for a 2nd storage drive (unless there is a gaming specific reason for it) - so prefer the larger single SSD.

While I say I won't overclock - that's initially - I would like to acquire the knowledge to do all this, so something capable for a bit of extra money is fine.

Is there a better alternative to the h100i cooler? What kind of lifespan are we talking about?

As for the case fans - the case comes with 2 fans pre-installed, I presume this is sufficient.

[Order66]

So, All the kit has been delivered, in the end I took a lot of recommendations from here and also changed a few parts due to availability. The build was relatively simple really - If anything easier than what I used to do 10/15yrs ago (the last PC I built had a pentium 4), and definitely aided by the avalanched of YouTube vids available on the subject. Hardest bit was fitting the small connectors for the case switches (because I'm getting old and eyesight doesn't like small/dark).

In the end I built:
Corsair 400Q case - nice and stealthy black box, and the "quiet" model
ASUS Prime Z270-K Motherboard
Intel i7700K processor
EVGA 1080ti SC2 GPU
2x8Gb Corsair Vengeance 3000MHz memory
EVGA 750w Gold PSU
Corsair H100i V2 AIO Cooler (factory refurb - looks like new)
Cruicial MX300 525Gb M.2 SSD
Corsair Gaming KATAR 8000dpi mouse
Aukey mechanical keyboard
Windows 10 Pro
Asus ROG PG348Q G-sync 34" curved ultrawide monitor
Oculus w/Touch

Its running rock-solid with low temps everywhere. Lightning fast at everything. The Asus motherboard software seems to be somewhat automatically overclocking to 4.5GHz in "standard" mode with very low fan usage.

Did have an initial scare when I installed the "Corsair Link" monitoring software, it reported the motherboard temperature at 118C but with some investigation reading it looks like this is just a data point that is not actually reported by the motherboard. The 118C is always 118C and the ASUS software for the motherboard reports normal/low temps (20s), so looks like an error/default value or a datapoint that isn't provided.

First impressions - the monitor is just awesome. I'll be using this rig for work as well and I should have gone for a monitor like this years ago - such a pleasure to use.

I've got a Samsung Gear VR so no stranger to VR but I was completely blown away by the "First Contact" app of the Oculus. The immersion is very convincing and the touch controllers and the way they work are simply genius - I thought they were just going to mimick a gamepad, but the way they can simulate making a fist, picking things up etc is just outstanding and absolutely make the immersion real. At one point I dropped a "tool" and tried to catch it with my foot - my brain was so far into the other reality.

Next stop was Project Cars 2 in VR - superbly realistic and the immersion is superb. Only played with keyboard and was all over the place and got motion sick pretty quickly (first time ever for me - I never get motion sick, high seas/aeroplanes/racecars on the Samsung VR were no problem) - but think it is to do with rushing the setup and using the keyboard so no smoothness in the driving (was bouncing off all the barriers). Will take my time today to get the steering wheel and playseat involved and put in time setting up Oculus (although not much seems adjustible).

VR is absolutely the future of gaming - I appreciate this is first gen stuff and has issues with focus/resolution/barn door effects etc but even then the effect is superb and somewhat has to be experienced to be believed.

I put my mother in the Oculus last night and started up the first contact app without telling her what I was doing - for a brief moment she was in complete disbelief and almost said something like "where am I, how did I get here" before her brain caught up and realised she hadn't physically moved. Afterwards she was trying to explain the experience to my wife and was babbling nonsense and admitted its not a sensation that you can really explain, you have to experience it.

[Order66]

MintyScot said:

I would definitely manually overclock the 7700k though to get the best from it. I'm not sure if the 4.5ghz "turbo boost" is on all cores or just the 1.

Yes, have a feeling its just a single core. I do intend to get into the whole overclocking thing very soon, although it isn't required - everything is running absolutely flawlessly.

I have set up the steering wheel and playseat, and set up the oculus better and no motion sickness in Project Cars 2. The game does need a lot of fettling in settings to get the HUD etc usable and to even begin to get the cars handling/driving realistically, but it is getting there.

The other huge bonus is that my own car is in Project Cars 2,and I don't mean just a car of the same spec, my ACTUAL car is in there - the dark red Caterham 620R that was used for this game is in my garage. I know it is my car because mine was the one used for all the official photography, and the dash layout on the car is unique to my car - no other in the world was built in that colour with that dash layout, so it is my car......very very cool.

[Order66]

Chuck328 said:

I guess you didn't have any of these problems?

I solved mine by 'downgrading' to 2400Mhz

Just enabled the XMP profile in the BIOS and it sorted it all out for me. I could also select the DRAM speed manually if needed, but again in the BIOS. I would presume it is motherboard dependent rather than anything to do with the processor.

[Order66]

bmad said:

Make sure for project cars 2 you get the Jack Spade force feedback profiles for the wheel. The stock ones are rubbish. Jacks completely transform the feel. Also with your setup you can boost the oculus pixel density on most games to 1.5. You will need to lower some graphical settings a touch but the increase in pixel density far outweighs the minor eye candy reduction. Either use oculus debug tool or the other tool that resides in the windows tray to change density. Sorry I can't remember it's name. Might actually be oculus tray tool!

Great info - will give all that a try today. Thanks!