How much should i be spending on an iracing computer?

[ErikAndre71]

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.

I just noticed that the guy on the video should actually get better graphics if he turned off more shadows. If he can't run 2 pass they just look ugly. I also see his P (on the FPS thingy) is working overtime.

But graphics like that on a single screen isn't very costly. I actually have better on 3 screen and I can't even use my entire computer as iRacing isn't up to date. Using 2GB of Ram when you have 16GB feels a bit last decade And when I had to turn it down to 1280MB to get less pictures faults I use less than a tenth of it.. But I guess I spent to much money

 

[Kevin01SH]

Don't go cheap on psu

I didnt, i bought a thermaltake 500w psu. A little more than ill need for my setup, i dont plan on running crossfire, just using my TV as a monitor. My pc build exceeds the recommended requirements and will actually be able to run BF3 quite decently. Im just lacking 3 more things, the vid card, hdd and windows 7. Im building this entire system without any spare parts, going all the way from a motherboard to the mouse pad. Originally i only wanted to spend 500, but ill probably be right at 600 which isnt bad really. I actually havent raced at all the past week or so, the playability on my laptop is just horrendous.

 

[Kevin01SH]

So here is what i put together

PSU - Thermaltake 500W
MOBO - Asrock 990FX Extreme 3
CPU - AMD Phenom II x4 965 (3.4ghz)
RAM - Team Xtreem 1600 2x4GB (8GB)
GPU - Nvidia GTX 550 Ti (1GB DDR5)
HDD - WD Blue 250GB 7200RPM

Running a system benchmark test i achieved a score of 1629, my laptop got a score of 596. What does that mean exactly?



I can see EVERYTHING! Did a quick practice session at Limerock and i was able to run max everything and never drop below 75fps. I was running 25fps on low/off settings before. Im seeing shadows i never knew existed, I can read signs i never knew were there lol. And the best part i was able to run a 59.7 with ease, its a lot easier when you can see where you're going.

 

[magic_town]

How much did that cost roughly?

 

[ErikAndre71]

I can see EVERYTHING! Did a quick practice session at Limerock and i was able to run max everything and never drop below 75fps. I was running 25fps on low/off settings before. Im seeing shadows i never knew existed, I can read signs i never knew were there lol. And the best part i was able to run a 59.7 with ease, its a lot easier when you can see where you're going.

Limerock is a rather easy track to render for you computer. Try SPA and Twin Ring Motegi (day time). Spa around corner 1 (GP track) and going through corner 1 at Motegi (the double apex corner) and onto the back straight.

If your good to go on those two tracks you are good to go on anything. But Limerock is a 200FPS track for me. (if I didn't limit my FPS to 63)

 

[Kevin01SH]

How much did that cost roughly?

$585, not including shipping.

 

[magic_town]

What's everyone's thoughts on buying a used pc off eBay? One has come up for sale with pretty much the same parts as one I was going to buy. I also have a friend who works with computers, so he could help me if there are any issues. Is it a bad idea?

 

[Kevin01SH]

What's everyone's thoughts on buying a used pc off eBay? One has come up for sale with pretty much the same parts as one I was going to buy. I also have a friend who works with computers, so he could help me if there are any issues. Is it a bad idea?

Its just a risk, you dont know how well the computer will hold up and if theres a major problem then you're pretty much stuck. But thats worse case scenario, post up the link and show us what you're talking about.

 

[bevo]

What's everyone's thoughts on buying a used pc off eBay? One has come up for sale with pretty much the same parts as one I was going to buy. I also have a friend who works with computers, so he could help me if there are any issues. Is it a bad idea?

You would be better off buying a used one from an overclocking forum or dedicated PC forum. I bought both of my gtx 570s from the marketplace from one and got great deals on them. The majority of people on there will have taken good care of the stuff and will be much more helpful getting you setup then on here.

 

[magic_town]

Thanks for the help. It doesn't look like it will sell in the auction, so I think I'll make an offer and hopefully go there and check it out first, it's only around 40 min away. What would be some quick things to look for?

 

[bevo]

Thanks for the help. It doesn't look like it will sell in the auction, so I think I'll make an offer and hopefully go there and check it out first, it's only around 40 min away. What would be some quick things to look for?

The only way I could think of would be to try it out. Ask them to have it hooked up so that you can see it running and try a game out on it.

 

[magic_town]

Checked it out, all good so I got it

 

[Kevin01SH]

Checked it out, all good so I got it

What are the specs?

 

[magic_town]

What are the specs?

Intel Core i5 2500k
Sapphire HD7850 OC edition
1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200
GA-Z77-D3H Motherboard
8 GB G Skill DDR3 1600
GS-600 Power Supply
Samsung DVD Drive
Windows 7 64bit

Seems like a decent set up from the research I've done

 

[Kevin01SH]

Intel Core i5 2500k
Sapphire HD7850 OC edition
1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200
GA-Z77-D3H Motherboard
8 GB G Skill DDR3 1600
GS-600 Power Supply
Samsung DVD Drive
Windows 7 64bit

Seems like a decent set up from the research I've done

Sweet setup, how much did you get it for? You should have 0 problems playing iRacing with that.

 

[magic_town]

Sweet setup, how much did you get it for? You should have 0 problems playing iRacing with that.

$750, only a few months old. I researched the parts list and it came to around $1100. My budget to build one was around 600-700, but this one came up so I thought I could spare the extra $100 for a much better system. Also had the KB&M with it.
Having some problems updating the cars and tracks, but I'll try sort it out later - downloading pCARS at the moment

 

[Kevin01SH]

$750, only a few months old. I researched the parts list and it came to around $1100. My budget to build one was around 600-700, but this one came up so I thought I could spare the extra $100 for a much better system. Also had the KB&M with it.
Having some problems updating the cars and tracks, but I'll try sort it out later - downloading pCARS at the moment

$750 is a great deal for that system, you're right you could spend $1k easy for that. Its overkill for iRacing, but it will run higher end games with no problem as well. Hope it holds up for you.

 

[magic_town]

Thanks, figured it will be good for other games and last a few years before upgrading. I'll see how it goes, might just stick to pc when the next consoles come out