PC build for sim racing. Looking for feedback.

[paskowitz]

Pretty confident with this as a final setup. Price is exactly where I need it to be. I figure I'll just upgrade to Broadwell a little after it comes out and then do my upgrading then and just skip the mid cycle refresh now.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($30.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Team Elite 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP900 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($124.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($309.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $975.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-30 22:38 EDT-0400)

Guess my real questions are
- About how far will this take me in pCARS gfx settings wise at 1920x1080 at 60fps
- Will this max out AC, iRacing and rF2
- How far into the future will this build last me until I have to start upgrading parts to hit 1920x1080@60fps@high-max gfx settings in sim titles

 

[Carlos]

I'm not sure if you'll get what you want on Project Cars, but I'm pretty confident you get what you want with the racing sims. I have pCars and iRacing and pCars doesn't run very well on three screens. On 1 screen with medium settings its okay. Not sure what FPS I'm doing but I'm sure you'll do better than me, because that videocard you want is better than mine.

iRacing is a CPU based sim, so all you need is some good memory and CPU. That i5 is probably enough for your wishes. I run iRacing maxed out on three screens, around 120 fps all the time.

My setup, so you can compare:
CPU: Intel i7 3770k (4.2 ghz quad)
CPU Cooler: stock
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth Z77 Thermo cooled
Memory: 2x4 and 2x8gb, both Corsair Vengeance LP
Storage: Corsair Force GT 120gb and Samsung 840 Pro 120gb (the Corsair is better)
Video card: Asus GeForce GTX 650 Ti (This card is only 1gb, probably what limits my Project Cars gameplay)
Power: Antec HGC-520

What I can not tell from your post is how you want to play, 1 or 3 screens? I highly recommend 3 screens for iRacing.

Greetings and good luck 👍

 

[Sharky.]

- About how far will this take me in pCARS gfx settings wise at 1920x1080 at 60fps

High with some settings on ultra, pCARS is notoriously power-hungry at max settings.

- Will this max out AC, iRacing and rF2

AC and rF2 I would be very surprised if it couldn't, should have zero issues with iRacing as it's a fairly old title now.

- How far into the future will this build last me until I have to start upgrading parts to hit 1920x1080@60fps@high-max gfx settings in sim titles

Should be fine for a good while, with the exception of pCARS new sims don't have particularly demanding requirements and I don't see that trend changing in the immediate future.

 

[mika012397]

This is a verry good pc i wouldn't change anything. I'm personally running an msi gtx 770 with 8 gigs of ram and a amd fx6300 6 core cpu and it pretty much maxes out every game i have, and since you'll have an i5 you should see even better performence since my cpu is kinda limiting my pc. btw i'm running assetto with everything on the highest settings when i'm driving alone and i get around 60-70 fps when i do AI races i have to turn the settings down a bit to keep it at 60fps but that's just my cpu like i said.

 

[TB]

Will this max out AC

Absolutely. This is my setup and Black Flag runs on it very well. 👍

 

[Punknoodle]

You might want to go with 2x 4gb sticks to make use of dual channel ram?

 

[TB]

Dual channel doesn't add THAT much performance boost. Personally, I think I'd leave it at a single 8Gb and in the future add a second one if needed. But that may be just me.

 

[Punknoodle]

Seen as a 770 might not, would a 780 max out Project Cars keeping everything the same?

 

[mika012397]

Dual channel doesn't add THAT much performance boost. Personally, I think I'd leave it at a single 8Gb and in the future add a second one if needed. But that may be just me.

Dual channel gives no performance boost at all it makes absolutely no difference and i'm running one stick of 8 gigs corsair value ram.

Seen as a 770 might not, would a 780 max out Project Cars keeping everything the same?

Tbh that 770 will probably max out Project Cars but the 780 is still a good choice it will save you from having to upgrade about a year or maybe two years longer. I'd say if you have the extra money go for the 780 getting a better component of the bat on a new build will always be better for getting more life out of the pc and it'll be able to run new games on ultra-high for the next one to two year so.