Project CARS - Hardware recommendation on PC

[mister dog]

Why not get the Alienware Alpha, much better value and comes with HDD, RAM, OS and faster CPU and also might have Xbox 360 Wireless Controller: Link

Might be able to play pCARS at 1080p 60FPS with one.

I'm a bit confused, some say it won't play PCARS well and others like yourself say it will. It's really an attractive piece of kit and when they did the comparison with the next gen consoles with demanding games like Far Cry 4 it equaled the results of the PS4 and even surpassed it sometimes. So if one would get an i3 or i5 version (i5 is better because of the cores right?), would you really have to downgrade PCARS that much?

If i could play it on high settings (not max) that would be good enough for me.

 

[NLxAROSA]

If all you do is hotlapping or TT, it will suffice. Add some AI cars or multiplayer in the mix and watch the FPS drop rapidly. And as said before, the i3 just won't cut it. Which means you'll want at least the i5, which brings the price to a level you are better off with a custom build and dedicated GPU. 👍

 

[mister dog]

If all you do is hotlapping or TT, it will suffice. Add some AI cars or multiplayer in the mix and watch the FPS drop rapidly. And as said before, the i3 just won't cut it. Which means you'll want at least the i5, which brings the price to a level you are better off with a custom build and dedicated GPU. 👍

All because of the GPU right? PCARS would be that much more demanding than games like Far cry 4 because of all those moving AI cars on screen?

Let's hope this Alpha sets a nice precedent and better/ more suitable steam boxes get released this year.

 

[NLxAROSA]

FPSes are generally GPU bound, not CPU bound (except maybe BF4). From personal experience, having played pCARS on an i3 + low end GPU (my old PC), I can say that 1080p is going to be a problem at a decent frame rate (30 or up) if you have several cars on screen. The PS4 (and the Xbox One too) definitely has the advantage here with all its CPU cores and a decent GPU.

Again, you'd want to go with the i5 at least, but the price increase opens up a lot of other possibilities, like custom built or even pre-built. A pre-built would save you the hassle of building yourself, but you would be able to upgrade it later. But the Alpha is also non-upgradeable as far as GPU is concerned. It's basically a laptop in a desktop housing.

I'm also not sure about the EU price for the Alpha, couldn't find it. Wouldn't be surprised if it's the dollar amount in euros.

 

[mister dog]

FPSes are generally GPU bound, not CPU bound (except maybe BF4). From personal experience, having played pCARS on an i3 + low end GPU (my old PC), I can say that 1080p is going to be a problem at a decent frame rate (30 or up) if you have several cars on screen. The PS4 (and the Xbox One too) definitely has the advantage here with all its CPU cores and a decent GPU.

Again, you'd want to go with the i5 at least, but the price increase opens up a lot of other possibilities, like custom built or even pre-built. A pre-built would save you the hassle of building yourself, but you would be able to upgrade it later. But the Alpha is also non-upgradeable as far as GPU is concerned. It's basically a laptop in a desktop housing.

I'm also not sure about the EU price for the Alpha, couldn't find it. Wouldn't be surprised if it's the dollar amount in euros.

Yeah more or less, it was only available in the UK (amazon) and we pay more again comparatively speaking.
But i guess you could order it from the states as there's no PAL/NTSC hassle with PC's right?
I really want to go for a pre built pc as i don't want to cause an explosion in my living room trying to put one together myself. What kind of pre built gaming pc's would you recommend under 800€ i'm curious? I've checked some Ankermann and Vibox pc's out but i wouldn't have a clue how good they would be for running the recent games like you could on a next gen console. Is there any brand or setup you would recommend in particular?

 

[Saidur_Ali]

It comes with a dual core i3 (pCARS requires a quad core) and a crappy mobile GPU, so no, it won't do that. Unless you spend more bucks on the i5 version, but it will still have the crappy, non-upgradeable GPU, so you're better off with a custom/own buiild. As already pointed out multiple times on this very same page...

Check the rest of this topic, there are several good recommendations at various price levels.

pCARS can run on that Intel Dual Core although it would have been better if clock speed was higher, it is more on the minimum spec wise though so not sure if it will run into problems regarding big car grids but is something that can be upgraded later on and probably cheaper to do. The mobile GPU is actually very good and it is very well priced the Alpha and comes in a great form factor.

Hi,

I just choose these parts on Newegg website for a small pc. I would like to use day by day tasks and play pcars with good quality. I intend to connect my 40 inch Led TV on it and play with 1080p . What do you think of my configuration? Is it a good deal? The total price is $773.00

View attachment 297988

Would recommend you get a Z97 motherboard.

I'm a bit confused, some say it won't play PCARS well and others like yourself say it will. It's really an attractive piece of kit and when they did the comparison with the next gen consoles with demanding games like Far Cry 4 it equaled the results of the PS4 and even surpassed it sometimes. So if one would get an i3 or i5 version (i5 is better because of the cores right?), would you really have to downgrade PCARS that much?

If i could play it on high settings (not max) that would be good enough for me.

My brother has a laptop with a bit slower CPU and half the GPU power but he can run it at 60FPS at 720p at quite high detail. Haven't run on all the modes though so CPU might be a problem, i5 is recommended as you are less likely to run into a CPU bottleneck although on Alpha it seems to throttle the Quad Core CPUs so you won't get as much performance advantage as one would expect.

This is why I think it is better to wait for Broadwell and hopefully a GPU upgrade, then you should have something that can play most games really well at 1080p and should stand the test of time a lot better and hopefully it will be out this year. I like the form factor personally, might get one myself in the future.

I've seen your latest post regarding budget, what do you think to the following two PC's regarding price, seems quite good to me if they deliver to where you are and has 24 month warranty it seems. Link and Link

 

[Willfred_1]

I'm upgrading from my amd pc that runs at medium to high settings on project cars to something a bit more powerful.
my current build is this but me and friend currently trying to improve to get a bit better value.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/sFBKMp

 

[NLxAROSA]

My brother has a laptop with a bit slower CPU and half the GPU power but he can run it at 60FPS at 720p at quite high detail.

Dropping from 1080p to 720p would definitely help. It was playable with a grid of 16 at 720p with my old rig. But not sure if mister dog would find that acceptable?

What kind of pre built gaming pc's would you recommend under 800€ i'm curious?

Let me look up a few for you tomorrow. 👍 Are you in Spain or Belgium BTW, your profile is a bit ambiguous there.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

I'm upgrading from my amd pc that runs at medium to high settings on project cars to something a bit more powerful.
my current build is this but me and friend currently trying to improve to get a bit better value.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/sFBKMp

How about this: Link

Dropping from 1080p to 720p would definitely help. It was playable with a grid of 16 at 720p with my old rig. But not sure if mister dog would find that acceptable?

Let me look up a few for you tomorrow. 👍 Are you in Spain or Belgium BTW, your profile is a bit ambiguous there.

I've got a laptop I can try pCARS on that has similar clock speed and architecture as the Alienware Alpha and also Maxwell GPU but less than half the performance. Will be interesting to see how it does at 1080p on pCARS. This is why I think it is better to wait at least for the Broadwell CPU upgrade, price will likely remain the same I imagine.

 

[Willfred_1]

How about this: Link

while that works.
We were careful to buy good value parts that would also allow a reasonable amount of improvement.

 

[mister dog]

Dropping from 1080p to 720p would definitely help. It was playable with a grid of 16 at 720p with my old rig. But not sure if mister dog would find that acceptable?

Let me look up a few for you tomorrow. 👍 Are you in Spain or Belgium BTW, your profile is a bit ambiguous there.

I'd like having the full gameplay experience offline, but I don't need all the eye candy on max. Ps I'm a Belgian living in Spain, thanks in advance 👍

 

[Saidur_Ali]

while that works.
We were careful to buy good value parts that would also allow a reasonable amount of improvement.

Make sure to get at least a Z97 motherboard though, don't get a Z87 as it doesn't upgrade to Broadwell. 2TB seems better value too and also good to try and get two sticks of RAM so you have dual channel. If you can wait, good to order a Broadwell CPU instead but not sure how long it will take to come out. I am waiting for it to upgrade from Haswell personally.


@mister dog

First PC I linked to should be good at 1080p 60FPS with most of the eye candy. The second one should be good for nearly all games on max eye candy at 1080p with high frame rates and likely for quite some time.

 

[NLxAROSA]

First PC I linked to should be good at 1080p 60FPS with most of the eye candy. The second one should be good for nearly all games on max eye candy at 1080p with high frame rates and likely for quite some time.

Nice finds, the first one is great value IMO. 👍

This topic should be stickied IMO, as it contains a lot of valuable information and various builds in various price ranges, extremely useful. 👍

 

[gibo155]

Hi Guys,

Been doing some research and based on my budget the below is about the top specs I can afford, I think this will be quite a beefy machine. What’s your thoughts?


CasePCS ALPHA TRION 7622B BLACK CASE

Processor (CPU)Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690K (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache

MotherboardASUS® H97M-E: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs

Memory (RAM)8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready

1st Hard Disk240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR| 510MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

Windows 7 64bit – could have gone windows 8 but just personal preference as I like 7 better.

Didn’t have a clue about pc gaming come a few weeks back, with a little help from a few members, some research and this thread my knowledge has improved a fair bit

 

[mister dog]

Thanks @Saidur_Ali ! Seems this guy does sell the best bang for your buck in pre build pc's.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

Hi Guys,

Been doing some research and based on my budget the below is about the top specs I can afford, I think this will be quite a beefy machine. What’s your thoughts?


CasePCS ALPHA TRION 7622B BLACK CASE

Processor (CPU)Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690K (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache

MotherboardASUS® H97M-E: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs

Memory (RAM)8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready

1st Hard Disk240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR| 510MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

Windows 7 64bit – could have gone windows 8 but just personal preference as I like 7 better.

Didn’t have a clue about pc gaming come a few weeks back, with a little help from a few members, some research and this thread my knowledge has improved a fair bit

What is your budget if you don't mind me asking? You should really go for a Z97 motherboard, the Gigabyte ones are reasonably priced and will allow full overclocking support of your CPU and pay a bit extra if you want the SLI option if in future you want to add another graphics card. Depends also on your power supply if you will have the capacity to do this.

Windows 8.1 supports DX11.2 and also might make transition to Windows 10 a bit easier. I personally use W8.1 with Classic Shell, makes it a bit like W7 with all W8 benefits. W10 will be a free upgrade for both W7 and W8.1 in first year of release and well worth upgrading for DX12.

 

[gibo155]

on a budget for around 900-950

got a few other extras, full spec is below; yea i saw the other motherboard that was an option, but pushed the price up a bit to much for me. And don't think ill be overclocking my system, not at least in the initial outset.

Case PCS ALPHA TRION 7622B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690k (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® H97M-E: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk 240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY
Browser Firefox™
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

 

[Saidur_Ali]

on a budget for around 900-950

got a few other extras, full spec is below; yea i saw the other motherboard that was an option, but pushed the price up a bit to much for me. And don't think ill be overclocking my system, not at least in the initial outset.

Case PCS ALPHA TRION 7622B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690k (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® H97M-E: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk 240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY
Browser Firefox™
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Think it is something like only £12 more for the Z97 so do think it is worth upgrading if spending that much on a computer.

Here is one on eBay that might fit in your budget with a best offer: Link

 

[Ian_83]

Hi,

@mister dog pointed me in the direction of this thread. 👍

I'm also considering replacing my PC, I'm on a limited budget, ideally £600 and that's to include an OS. I have got monitor/mouse/keyboard. If I could play PCars at a reasonable setting I would be happy.

So far I've found this although I'm slightly over budget.

To be honest, I'm not very good with the whole PC scene, so I don't know what works and what doesn't, I'm meerly starting my research and begining to learn. I'm not afraid to build my own system, I've never done one before, but I'm fairly decent at doing things like that.

Any advice on the above would be great.

My build is using an 8-core AMD, which as far as I can tell isn't as strong as the Intel i5, but would it be better in the future considering that the Xbone and PS4 have gone down the AMD route?

Thanks for any advice/input.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

Hi,

@mister dog pointed me in the direction of this thread. 👍

I'm also considering replacing my PC, I'm on a limited budget, ideally £600 and that's to include an OS. I have got monitor/mouse/keyboard. If I could play PCars at a reasonable setting I would be happy.

So far I've found this although I'm slightly over budget.

To be honest, I'm not very good with the whole PC scene, so I don't know what works and what doesn't, I'm meerly starting my research and begining to learn. I'm not afraid to build my own system, I've never done one before, but I'm fairly decent at doing things like that.

Any advice on the above would be great.

My build is using an 8-core AMD, which as far as I can tell isn't as strong as the Intel i5, but would it be better in the future considering that the Xbone and PS4 have gone down the AMD route?

Thanks for any advice/input.

You can get this for not much more (Link) and might be able to get it closer to your budget by getting Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 more cheaply. Windows 10 might be sold at a low price like Win 8 was at launch so you could always use Windows 10 for free up to point of release and who knows Microsoft might also give it away for free for people who tested the OS before release.

 

[Cyber_stig_77]

on a budget for around 900-950

got a few other extras, full spec is below; yea i saw the other motherboard that was an option, but pushed the price up a bit to much for me. And don't think ill be overclocking my system, not at least in the initial outset.

Case PCS ALPHA TRION 7622B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690k (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® H97M-E: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk 240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY
Browser Firefox™
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

If you don't plan to OC then I would look at the 4690 ( non k ) and put the money you save into a better psu (600w min Imo )

 

[Ian_83]

You can get this for not much more (Link) and might be able to get it closer to your budget by getting Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 more cheaply. Windows 10 might be sold at a low price like Win 8 was at launch so you could always use Windows 10 for free up to point of release and who knows Microsoft might also give it away for free for people who tested the OS before release.

Thanks. 👍

If I buy Windows 8.1, I'll be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. Using Windows 10 pre-release version is a great idea too, although it won't guarantee that I'll get a considerable discount. Going for Windows 10 is certainly worth considering, although I guess there is a slight gamble in what the eventual outcome will be and also the potential for instability.

I guess that the whole Intel vs AMD is a rather lengthy debate and sometimes which we choose is simply a personal preference. I was convinced that I wanted an Intel, but now that the console market is relying on AMD's, I was hoping that the AMD would begin to shine.

That's a nice Intel build and with the GTX970 it should handle anything I can currently throw at it. £670 is a bit more than I was hoping for though, so maybe I can shave a little more off the price by shopping around and looking for bundles etc.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Hi Guys,

Been doing some research and based on my budget the below is about the top specs I can afford, I think this will be quite a beefy machine. What’s your thoughts?


CasePCS ALPHA TRION 7622B BLACK CASE

Processor (CPU)Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690K (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache

MotherboardASUS® H97M-E: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs

Memory (RAM)8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready

1st Hard Disk240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR| 510MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

Windows 7 64bit – could have gone windows 8 but just personal preference as I like 7 better.

Didn’t have a clue about pc gaming come a few weeks back, with a little help from a few members, some research and this thread my knowledge has improved a fair bit

This:

Think it is something like only £12 more for the Z97 so do think it is worth upgrading if spending that much on a computer.

Here is one on eBay that might fit in your budget with a best offer: Link

I would also suggest to make sure that your case and motherboard can fit another 970 card. That way you can upgrade to SLI (two NVidia cards) if need be at some point in the future, rather than being forced to sell your old card and replacing it with a new one, which would obviously still be an option. Combined with your i5 I think it would keep you going for several years and be at the high end of gaming without having to sell or remove/replace parts when upgrading.

If you don't plan to OC then I would look at the 4690 ( non k ) and put the money you save into a better psu (600w min Imo )

I haven't checked in the last month or so but last time I checked the K and non-K were only $8 apart, well worth it for the potential to overclock, even if you don't plan on it right away.

 

[JerseyDriverSS]

I have a motherboard i5 combo i'm replacing if anyone wouild be interested. Its a good foundation to get started with. I would let it go at a pretty good price. Paired with my 970 it played Pcars at just about everything maxed with a full grid of cars. When i say full i mean over 30.

Its good for someone on a budget just getting there feet wet in the pc world.

Also if this post isn't allowed i'm sorry. I'll remove it.

 

[Kurei]

Another fresh-to-PC newbie here.

I haven't got a clue what half you guys are talking about, so many terms, parts, etc. But I do know this.

I've tried rfactor on my brothers 2-yr old laptop, which runs it (literally all I know, don't know specs), and its been a revelation of the 'Sim' genre, as far as my console-only experience goes, and after figuring out the Logitech Profiler for my DFGT/the game, it's opened the flood-gates to what possibilities lie beyond the consoles.

So now I'm very curious, curious to rfactor2/R3E/GSC mostly, and awaiting P.CARS release to see what becomes of it. As someone who would like to play those first 3 prior to P.CARS (letting bugs/issues get sorted), would it be worth it to build a PC to handle those first 3 games (& any supporting mods/content) flawlessly, then upgrade for P.CARS later (say a year down the road), or should I just build to 'P.CARS-spec' first and play RF2/R3E/GSC until I'm happy to play P.CARS once 'sorted' ?

I'm estimating a budget of $1k total, including needing a wireless mouse & keyboard, wanting a wheel upgrade (G27 or better), and then the cost of the games/content packs themselves. I'd use my "32 HDTV with an HDMI hook-up most likely (how I run the laptop to play rfactor with all my console-stuff) for a monitor, so actual 'machine' budget would probably be $800 max, but if I could get 'very good' for lower than that, more money towards a wheel .

tl;dr
-tried rfactor on a 2yr old laptop, love it
-want to go full-steam with rfactor 2 & others
-machine budget of around $800 max
-don't want to have to continuously upgrade parts
-would like console-simplicity with PC freedom

Suggestions ? 💡

I'd keep typing my life-story but my eyes are bugging me & its been a long day

 

[JerseyDriverSS]

Another fresh-to-PC newbie here.

I haven't got a clue what half you guys are talking about, so many terms, parts, etc. But I do know this.

I've tried rfactor on my brothers 2-yr old laptop, which runs it (literally all I know, don't know specs), and its been a revelation of the 'Sim' genre, as far as my console-only experience goes, and after figuring out the Logitech Profiler for my DFGT/the game, it's opened the flood-gates to what possibilities lie beyond the consoles.

So now I'm very curious, curious to rfactor2/R3E/GSC mostly, and awaiting P.CARS release to see what becomes of it. As someone who would like to play those first 3 prior to P.CARS (letting bugs/issues get sorted), would it be worth it to build a PC to handle those first 3 games (& any supporting mods/content) flawlessly, then upgrade for P.CARS later (say a year down the road), or should I just build to 'P.CARS-spec' first and play RF2/R3E/GSC until I'm happy to play P.CARS once 'sorted' ?

I'm estimating a budget of $1k total, including needing a wireless mouse & keyboard, wanting a wheel upgrade (G27 or better), and then the cost of the games/content packs themselves. I'd use my "32 HDTV with an HDMI hook-up most likely (how I run the laptop to play rfactor with all my console-stuff) for a monitor, so actual 'machine' budget would probably be $800 max, but if I could get 'very good' for lower than that, more money towards a wheel .

tl;dr
-tried rfactor on a 2yr old laptop, love it
-want to go full-steam with rfactor 2 & others
-machine budget of around $800 max
-don't want to have to continuously upgrade parts
-would like console-simplicity with PC freedom

Suggestions ? 💡

I'd keep typing my life-story but my eyes are bugging me & its been a long day

If you build a pc that can run rf2 at max setting there will be no need to upgrade for pcars. RF2 may not be the prettiest, but it sure is a resource hog.

 

[JerseyDriverSS]

If you build a pc that can run rf2 at max setting there will be no need to upgrade for pcars. RF2 may not be the prettiest, but it sure is a resource hog. An 800 dollar build is definitely possible. Don't be afraid of ebay. You can get really good deals on used or refurbished parts that work just as good as new. And spend the money the first time and do it right. My 500 dollar budget build turned into a almost 1500 dollar beast once I got the bug. And still not satisfied.

Sorry for the double post. Phone is acting up and I meant to edit the first one.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Another fresh-to-PC newbie here.

I haven't got a clue what half you guys are talking about, so many terms, parts, etc. But I do know this.

I've tried rfactor on my brothers 2-yr old laptop, which runs it (literally all I know, don't know specs), and its been a revelation of the 'Sim' genre, as far as my console-only experience goes, and after figuring out the Logitech Profiler for my DFGT/the game, it's opened the flood-gates to what possibilities lie beyond the consoles.

So now I'm very curious, curious to rfactor2/R3E/GSC mostly, and awaiting P.CARS release to see what becomes of it. As someone who would like to play those first 3 prior to P.CARS (letting bugs/issues get sorted), would it be worth it to build a PC to handle those first 3 games (& any supporting mods/content) flawlessly, then upgrade for P.CARS later (say a year down the road), or should I just build to 'P.CARS-spec' first and play RF2/R3E/GSC until I'm happy to play P.CARS once 'sorted' ?

I'm estimating a budget of $1k total, including needing a wireless mouse & keyboard, wanting a wheel upgrade (G27 or better), and then the cost of the games/content packs themselves. I'd use my "32 HDTV with an HDMI hook-up most likely (how I run the laptop to play rfactor with all my console-stuff) for a monitor, so actual 'machine' budget would probably be $800 max, but if I could get 'very good' for lower than that, more money towards a wheel .

tl;dr
-tried rfactor on a 2yr old laptop, love it
-want to go full-steam with rfactor 2 & others
-machine budget of around $800 max
-don't want to have to continuously upgrade parts
-would like console-simplicity with PC freedom

Suggestions ? 💡

I'd keep typing my life-story but my eyes are bugging me & its been a long day

At $800 max IMO you're right around the area where spending an extra $100 or $200 will get you a machine that will blow the doors off any game for the next couple of years. When you throw in the obligatory case, i5 CPU, 8gb of memory, motherboard, HDD, power supply and OS it tends to add up to at least $600-800 and then it's a question of GPU. For $200 you can get a GTX960 with a benchmark (indicates overall performance) of just under 6000 which should play PCars on mostly high and ultra settings and should make you very happy. For an additional $129 you can get a GTX970 with a benchmark of 8600 which will play PCars on ultra and cook your dinner at the same time without breaking a sweat and likely be good for a few years, especially if you can add another 970 if need be in the future and run them in SLI.

IMO you pick the videocard that you need to play the game and build the system around it because it's usually the bottleneck in modern gaming. The CPU and other components will have no trouble keeping up to the game, the GPU is always the limiting factor. The 960 is exceptional bang for the buck and nothing comes close it price in that performance range.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

 

[mister dog]

Another question, how fast do prices drop for these components? Like say an i5 or a 960 graphics card? I'm planning on waiting this year as i want to enjoy what i have here still (many unfinished games on last gen), so i wonder if that will save me some dough at the end of the run.

 

[Cyber_stig_77]

Another question, how fast do prices drop for these components? Like say an i5 or a 960 graphics card? I'm planning on waiting this year as i want to enjoy what i have here still (many unfinished games on last gen), so i wonder if that will save me some dough at the end of the run.

I think prices have risen a bit in the last 2 months so don't expect things to always get cheaper.
In mid November I payed,$AUS
i5 4690k - then $269 now $309
GTX 970 G1 - then $315 now $349