How much should i be spending on an iracing computer?

Its decent, it almost the same gaming capabilities as a i3-2100, but once iracing goes 3 cores, it will be much better. There are other amd cpu's, the FX series is garbage, well for now (until windows 8 comes out and can utilize more potential of the bulldozer).

The APU's are good if your on a really right budget (3870k is pretty nice). The cheapest intel quad core is around 180$ But since he has 900$ to blow, get a i5-2500k, 8gb ram and a nice asus motherboard to bring it all together.
 
superbike81
You are doing exactly what I said to be careful not to do, confusing input lag with response time. Plasmas have just as much input lag as any other display.

Here is a good explanation of what I am talking about and how it differs from response time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_lag

Here is a thread listing input lag on some plasma televisions:

http://72.9.159.100/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1166196
Click to expand...

All I know is that I have had 3 plasmas that I never noticed any at all, and I have had 5 LCDs, and I was only able to play games on one of them.

From the link it looked like most of them were very good. Only a few were over 50, and 50ms is more then fine. No one is going to notice half a tenth of a second delay time. Now once you get upwards of 50ms I might start to worry. I honestly don't know one gamer who has a plasma that has ever mentioned a delay problem, but I have owned 4 LCD TVs out of my 5 that had one, and have several friends who had delay problems with LCDs. Most of my LCDs though were cheap TVs and I'm sure that played a problem with them. It seems to me from personal experience that Plasma is the way to go, if delay is a worry for you. Out of everyone I personally know that games on them, no one has had a problem.
 
I have a 55inch samsung plasma tv, I don't notice any delay, if you think it effects shooting games, it doesn't. Don't worry about how fast your input times is, as long as its under 50ms it is all good.

I have pc mode on my tv, so if I wanted I can get the same ms has a small monitor :D
 
I'm not going to get into an argument over this, it's off topic in this thread, the hard evidence is out there on the internet, input lag is there, and it has an effect. You might not think it's there, but it's there, and 50ms (even 20-30ms) is noticeable once you try a display with almost zero input lag. I went from a Panasonic AE7000 projector which has been measured at just under 50ms, and then started using some Dell U2312HM monitors which have been tested at 0.6ms average (the lowest of any LCD panel out there) and my first few days were terrible because I was so used to compensating for the 50ms delay that my braking points were off, turn in points were off, everything was off because my brain trained itself to not notice the input lag by compensating.

I'm not saying to sell your televisions, I'm saying that input lag is there, it's just your brain is compensating for it the best it can.
 
zedfonsie
Its decent, it almost the same gaming capabilities as a i3-2100
Click to expand...

Comparing a poor chip against another poor chip doesn't justify it.

Given the price and performance wise, i5 is the best.

I mean I would like to point out, if your budget can't get some of the basics for iracing such as graphics card + CPU and your finding it difficult to purchase it money wise, iracing probably isn't the game for you given that tracks are ~$15, Cars are ~$10 with subscription of $49 per year (with discount) or $99 (without discount). (I paid $49 sub + $120ish for Skip barber series and a few cars I wanted to try out within 2 moths, just for example)

You probably won't get the "most" enjoyment out of the game with super low settings or getting lag spikes here and there, and you might cry foul once iracing upgrades its graphics (the iracing dev said they have plans to do so soon) and going 3 cores and your system ends up unable to run it....why put yourself in such a position?

If you can afford it, iracing is awesome, get it. If you cannot afford it and trying to "scrape" through tech specifications wise, don't get it at all. i3/AMD etc just isn't sufficient and future proof enough. Updates are coming soon.

There was a post done here where some iracing/tech guy went through what is suggested. Its pretty much i5 + 6xxxx ATI series or something similar. If your going in below that, good luck to you and get ready to fork out an upgrade in a couple of years (or even months if the update happens).
 
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I had a question for those who have built a computer. Where do you get Windows for a decent price? I'm using a new laptop (i7 with GT 540M) that I just got for now. I'm thinking next year that I'd like to build a desktop for iRacing. I've seen some good packages available that would save 2-300 compared to a pre-built. However when I looked around I saw that Windows 7 Home Premium sells for 200+$. That will wipe out any savings that I'd get from building it myself. Do some people just have extra copies of Windows lying around, or am I missing something obvious?
 
I run a nvidia geforce 6150se gpu with a amd phenom ii 220 2.8ghz cpu getting 28fps in a small window, Yet I am still enjoying the game, you don't need anything more then 60fps in my opinion.


Isn't the next iracing update going to 3 cores? If the next MAJOR update is like getting gt5 graphics in the future is in 3 years, your cpu is already outdated by then.

Fastm3, get an oem windows 7 copy off of newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986
 
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Hi, i was wondering the same thing and i decided to do some research after reading the posts in this thread. Im pretty much sold on iracing and want to leave GT5 and its poor excuse as a simulator behind. Its been a fun game dont get me wrong, but for realism eh. Anyway this is what i came up with, all packages include Windows 7, keyboard, mouse, etc. But no monitor or extended warranty selected.

PC.jpg


AscendTech came in as the cheapest with Newegg and 3btech not far behind, all systems are pretty comparable
 
I'm not a PC guru but have been looking at upgrading myself recently, from what I understand if you want to run 3 monitors eventually you'll need a better graphics card (HD7850) and power supply. I think the i5 2500k is one of the more popular choices too.
Most of the ones you show look like they'll be alright, I'd say the weakest is Newegg.

See you on track :)
 
Thanks for the info noshog, when im ready to get iracing ill have to look you up. Im not a computer genius by any means, but ive built pc's before and from my understanding these setups should be able to handle iracing on near max properties. Thats what im hoping anyway when you go by their recommended setup. A 3 monitor setup would be ideal, but that would mean turning my tiny living room into an arcade lol. Im going to be using my 46" plasma TV so it should be just fine.
 
I'd go with the AscendTech one. You definitely need one of the really powerful graphics cards to run 3 screens and obviously a souped up PSU.
 
:confused:I keep reading that you need these high dollar cards for triple screens. Well either I got the most badass sapparie 6850 1gb card ever made or I am graphically blind. Im running triples with most all details on high locked at 93 fps and dont have any issues. I do have the card overclocked to 900 and 1100 on stock voltage running on i5 with 6 gigs ram. I will see a slight stutter with 8 cars in a tight corner,but would get that with single screen. Do have some shadows turned down, but not off. Never used the fps killer shadows.
 
iracing doesn't need a monster card, but there are some tracks and some situations that will choke down ANY card. Spa and Suzuka are pretty tough, and depending on your detail level your card won't be able to maintain your locked 93fps even with only you on the track.
 
I have only run a handfull of tracks so far, but the lowest its dropped in a race was 87 for a second then went right back up. Havent raced spa or suzuka yet, but I use oky in the mx5 in the pits for testing. If you look to the right just sitting there you get a 35 fps hit. I havent seen any in race situations that make a bigger hit then that. So if I can keep fps up there I haven't had problems elsewhere. I even canceled my order for the 6950. Dont see a need for it at this time, but if I have issues Ill be upgrading because trip screens is awesome.
 
Just wait till you try Suzuka or Spa. If i run unlimited FPS I can achieve well over 200fps in some areas and choke all the way down to 58 in other areas.
 
Really at spa on single screen with same card the lowest I seen was 114, had mine locked at 123 with single screen. On another note I can't play pcars on triple at all. Takes 3 seconds for my imputs to register.
 


I want my setup to be able to look like this, im not gonna use 3 screens i just want the graphics to look that good and be that smooth and consistent.
 
what kind of pc specs do i need to get graphics like the video above??

im in europe so the $$ will be in euro' s so i kinda have a budget of 600-700 euro' s
can anyone recommend me a pc with that budget?? and if it will get me graphics like the vid above?

Thanks people!!
 
Single screen right?

If you are doing single screen, even a mid-range card like a Nvidia GTX 560 or an AMD Radeon 6850 would do great and get you smooth gameplay just like that with most settings at high.
 
well i plan on buying 1 screen 1st just 23 inch.. then after a few weeks ill buy 2 more, but what do you think about this one?

715 euro' s with windows 7 home premium..

Processor: FX-6100 (6x 3300 MHz)
Motherboard: M5A97 (AMD 970)
RAM memory: 4 GB DDR3-1600 Mhz uitbreidbaar tot 16 GB
Video card: ATI Radeon HD6670 1 GB GDDR3
Voeding: 430 Watt
Hard disk: 1000 GB 7200/rpm 4,2 ms
DVD/RW: LG
Open Office
case: Aerocool Vs-3
 
If you are going to run 3 screens, you want to try to get a 2GB video card.

You will be able to run 3 screens with that setup, but on lower settings due to iRacing being such a processor intensive game. So you'll have to run with no shadow volumes (no big deal anyways) and possibly a bit lower detail on some options.
 
superbike81
If you are going to run 3 screens, you want to try to get a 2GB video card.

You will be able to run 3 screens with that setup, but on lower settings due to iRacing being such a processor intensive game. So you'll have to run with no shadow volumes (no big deal anyways) and possibly a bit lower detail on some options.
Click to expand...

what would you change in there ?? what processor would you get instead & what video card?..

is the rest good??? can i run it on all high with shadow & high details if i change processor & video card?
the reason i picked the 1gb video card is because i'm going to use 1 screen first and after a couple weeks/months i probably will buy 2 - 23'' monitors..

what about this one??

Processor: Core™ i5-3570K (4x 3400 MHz
Motherboard: P8H61/USB3 -=Rev.3.0=- (Intel® H61 Express)
RAM: 8 GB RAM DDR3-1600Mhz
Harddisk: 1000 GB 64 mb cache / 7200 RPM
DVD/RW: 1 x
Voeding: 650 Watt energie zuinig, maximale prestatie
Videocard: AMD Radeon HD6850
Geluidskaart: Realtek Sound 7.1
case: T9 Value green edition
Inclusief alle aansluitingen zoals Lan en USB.
Lan: 10/100/1000 Mbps
Open Office
Proffesionele Assemblage
 
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original.jpg
original.jpg


Just ordered the first part of my build, Thermaltake Commander case and Thermaltake 500w psu for $85 shipped. Gonna take this a week at a time until i assemble all the components. I plan on using the AMD FX4100 cpu because it seems like a good bang for the buck chip that should have no problem with iracing on high settings.
 
13-157-281-Z01
20-313-080-TS


Just got a great deal on a MOBO/Memory combo. The ASRock 990FX Extreme3 came with free memory, 8gb Team Xtreem Dark Series 1600! Only paid $130 for the mobo, the memory was a throw in. Woohoo, just saved $40.
 
Gonna purchase my cpu this weekend, ive decided to go with the amd phenom ii x4 965. Mainly because i was looking at the FX series chips, but the phenom is a tad better for the same price. I found a place where i can get it for $85 woohoo, getting closer to completion and i wont ever have to deal with THIS anymore

iracing.jpg


If you cant tell by the crappy image thats charlotte motor speedway and thats the setting i have to run on.
 

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