mister dog
(Banned)
- 8,396
- Spain
- misterdog
- misterdog7
That's not what i want to hear
Project CARS - Hardware recommendation on PC
- Thread starter rocafella1978
- 524 comments
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- 6,939
- United Kingdom
Processor prices usually stay the same but you will get a more power efficient part and better performing CPU in a few months time. Also graphics wise I wouldn't be surprised to see better than GTX 980 performance for less than GTX 960 price in a years time.
mister dog
(Banned)
- 8,396
- Spain
- misterdog
- misterdog7
Well i'm not really interested in buying better parts in a years time for the same price, but the necessary ones that are available now for a cheaper price. So let's say maybe one would spend 500-600 next year on an pc that has i5 and 960 were he has to spend 700-800 at this moment?
- 6,939
- United Kingdom
The older parts don't really go down much so it is better to get the latest technology as it will take less energy to run. It either gets discounted a bit and then discontinued and replaced by newer range or they just keep it at a slightly lower price to get rid of stock slowly until it's time to discontinue.
Much better to get newer stuff for usually not much more and likely will keep a bit better value if you ever want to sell it. I think it is better to keep same budget of around 700 euro now and you might get something with a bit more performance than say a GTX 980 at that price. That way you will have a PC that will last a long time and you will get to experience most of the positives of PC gaming and it will also be really power efficient.
- 28,470
- Windsor, Ontario, Canada
- Johnnypenso
If you are putting it together yourself, or getting someone to do it for you but buying parts, your best bet is to simply watch the sales, as sometime a seller will have decent price drops for short periods of time. NewEgg had the i54690K on for $225 in November for example and now they are at $280+, but I think that was only for one day. A few days later there were several selling it for around $235.
PCPartPicker does all the work for you and has a page just for price drops that is worth keeping an eye on:
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/parts/pricedrop/
Also, if you pull up any of their category listings, you can sort by $/unit (if available), price or any of the headings at the top.
mister dog
(Banned)
- 8,396
- Spain
- misterdog
- misterdog7
Cheers Johnny, but the goal here is to pay a bit more and eventually buy a pre build one, so i wondered if those drop in price after some months too.
Anyhow, this is future music for me still, will wait and stare the cat out of the tree like we say in Belgium. Near the end of this year i suppose there will be more known about the wheel situation (last hope rests on PS4), both consoles will have dropped in price, new steam boxes might be released, i'll have more money saved and i will have finished the games i got now.
Anyhow, this is future music for me still, will wait and stare the cat out of the tree like we say in Belgium. Near the end of this year i suppose there will be more known about the wheel situation (last hope rests on PS4), both consoles will have dropped in price, new steam boxes might be released, i'll have more money saved and i will have finished the games i got now.
- 2,741
- Michigan
- mcluvin93hatch
Would anyone be willing to piece together a few different build-examples for this noob ?. I don't know jack-🤬 about PC'S 
Like say one for that ideal $800 machine-budget, and another one strictly for P.CARS/rfactor2/etc around that same price or slightly more, looking for nothing more than 'high' settings from it. (Why have ultra when you're happy with high).
I'm considering turning my 'gaming' into a 'hobby' with more sim-racing, because the last time I played something other than racing was a Mass Effect re-visit this past Spring I think.
Like say one for that ideal $800 machine-budget, and another one strictly for P.CARS/rfactor2/etc around that same price or slightly more, looking for nothing more than 'high' settings from it. (Why have ultra when you're happy with high).
I'm considering turning my 'gaming' into a 'hobby' with more sim-racing, because the last time I played something other than racing was a Mass Effect re-visit this past Spring I think.
- 28,470
- Windsor, Ontario, Canada
- Johnnypenso
What are your priorities? Do you want to be able to race with 50 AI and weather on and still maintain good frame rates or would you accept lower frame rates when the machine is really taxed? What resolution and refresh rate is your monitor? Triple screens? Are you stuck at $800 or is $1000 an option because I think I mentioned earlier, the difference of a couple of hundred bucks at that price level is huge because it gets you into a much better videocard that makes most framerate issues disappear with maxed out settings. Will you try and build it yourself or pay someone to do it? Would you buy something off the shelf?Would anyone be willing to piece together a few different build-examples for this noob ?. I don't know jack-🤬 about PC'S
Like say one for that ideal $800 machine-budget, and another one strictly for P.CARS/rfactor2/etc around that same price or slightly more, looking for nothing more than 'high' settings from it. (Why have ultra when you're happy with high).
I'm considering turning my 'gaming' into a 'hobby' with more sim-racing, because the last time I played something other than racing was a Mass Effect re-visit this past Spring I think.
- 2,741
- Michigan
- mcluvin93hatch
I'd have to say playing rfactor2, with a side of usual internet time-killing, would be my priorities for a PC in my living room
(It sounds like if I build for rf2, P.CARS won't be a huge issue unless aiming for 'ultra' everything)
Weather isn't super important to me, I may just turn it off/low for the first while as I've honestly had no interest in all the recent 'weather' videos on Youtube, haha. That said, I would like a good amount of A.I. cars to race, the 32-offline/16-online 'console standard' would honestly be plenty as I may only get a few hours (if that) a day to play, I like the simple hop-on/strap-in/race/repeat schedule one can create for oneself, leaving the 'bigger' races for the weekend.
My 'Monitor' would be my 32" Insignia HDTV, 1366 x 768 resolution, 60Hz/720p single screen (plenty for my needs)
I'd say I'm stuck at $800, because I'd like to leave some space for a wheel upgrade around the same time, however I'm also stuck as I'm waiting to find out what my tax-refund will be this year. IF its more than I expect, then $1K might open up, but that's still an un-known at this time.
I am not interested in AC at this time, I am however interested in R3E & GSC as well, I'll also use it for Steam as I have a few old Valve games on there (HL3 when ?
), plus Steam is just awesome, but the laptop holds it back imo.I've asked my Uncle, same one who helped build my Civic, who also refurbs' laptops, if he'd be willing to help me build one, and he's said yes, but he's also quite busy, so I would hope to have his help, but otherwise it'd be my first build. I have a few Steam friends who are willing to help possibly, but still an unknown at this time too.
More than likely I'll look to find the parts on Amazon/etc from 'the suggestion list', and go hunting from there. I would consider one of those pre-built Steam 'Alpha' machines, but the 'not upgradable' bit kinda worries me, if I make the jump, it'd be nothing but PC from then-on for me as I don't see the benefit of buying a $400 console for 1 game needing a $300 wheel, when I can spend double, play well-over double the games and still enjoy a nice wheel without teething issues (thinking G25/27, not decided thought
)Don't mean to de-rail the thread, but I thought I'd ask people who know their part-numbers from their system specs, unlike this guy
- 2,741
- Michigan
- mcluvin93hatch
Some purpose-refining with a friend, and we've come up with the following parts list for a PC for me, that should be able to handle any/all sim-racing (P.CARS/AC/rF2/R3E/GSC/etc) and last a few console generations, hopefully.
Processor - i5 4690
Memory - 16 GB ADATA XPG V1.0
GPU - GT8 970 MSI 4GD5T OC
PS - 750w
MotherBoard - MSI Z97S SLI KRAIT
1 TB HD
128MB SSD
Then just a case, disk-drive, and some other things. However the average total for this build exceeds $1K, and still awaiting tax-returns, I don't know if I can swing-that yet. I would like to if this machine would last for a few generations, but before doing anything I thought I'd get some feedback on this from members here.
Processor - i5 4690
Memory - 16 GB ADATA XPG V1.0
GPU - GT8 970 MSI 4GD5T OC
PS - 750w
MotherBoard - MSI Z97S SLI KRAIT
1 TB HD
128MB SSD
Then just a case, disk-drive, and some other things. However the average total for this build exceeds $1K, and still awaiting tax-returns, I don't know if I can swing-that yet. I would like to if this machine would last for a few generations, but before doing anything I thought I'd get some feedback on this from members here.
- 2,323
- Michigan
- FuriousDemon
It should last you until pCARS 2 comes along, if you just want 1080p at 60fps. Now, if you want oculus rift, then you will need more GPU.
- 2,741
- Michigan
- mcluvin93hatch
I'll just be after 1080p/60fps, using my HDTV as a 'monitor' via HDMI. As long as I have good solid FPS I'll visually enjoy any sim-racing endeavor, graphical 'awe' isn't everything for me
(I'm slightly worried about P.CARS recent weather/visuals push actually, leaves me like "where's the sim?")
How about AC/rFactor2 ?, should I have little-to-no issues running that at worthwhile settings ?. I've heard/read if I build for rF2 I should be good for P.CARS, as rF2 is 'resource heavy', and that AC is 'state of the art' (as my friend put it), asking for the best available. Is that about 'right' ?
@Johnnypenso - Let me know your thoughts when you get a chance, would ya' ?
- 883
- Bridgeton, NJ
- JerseyDriverSS
- jerseyboyss
I'll just be after 1080p/60fps, using my HDTV as a 'monitor' via HDMI. As long as I have good solid FPS I'll visually enjoy any sim-racing endeavor, graphical 'awe' isn't everything for me
(I'm slightly worried about P.CARS recent weather/visuals push actually, leaves me like "where's the sim?")
How about AC/rFactor2 ?, should I have little-to-no issues running that at worthwhile settings ?. I've heard/read if I build for rF2 I should be good for P.CARS, as rF2 is 'resource heavy', and that AC is 'state of the art' (as my friend put it), asking for the best available. Is that about 'right' ?
@Johnnypenso - Let me know your thoughts when you get a chance, would ya' ?
That system you posted a few posts up will play rf2 at full boar. Pcars, AC, and even R3E won't be totally maxed out, but it will look great. My sytem is below and i can't max pcars r3e or ac. Almost, but reflection quality gets bumped back a bit and you really can't tell the difference. That is with full grids, running solo is a different story and everything can be full blast. And don't worry about the weather/visual push. It's all sim.
- 28,470
- Windsor, Ontario, Canada
- Johnnypenso
i5 4690 vs i5 4690K is only an extra $15 or so. Even if you don't intend to overclock it's good to have the option + it should help the resale. You never know if you might use it later on or not. I don't think the 16gb is necessary for current games so I'd probably just go with 8gb for now and upgrade later as necessary. I'd take that money saved and get a bigger SSD. If you get into games with modding there is a massive amount of content, almost all of it free, and it's hard to resist
. My AC file alone is 47gb and that's after only two months
. Add Windoze to that and you're using up a good chunk of yours right there and you never want them to be completely full. I'd take the money saved from the memory and get at least a 240gb SSD. Keep in mind as well, you can play games just as well from the HDD, all games are designed to work on HDD's perfectly fine, you just won't get the fast load times. I'm going to store only my best games on the SSD, and the rest on the HDD. Don't want to throw a monkey wrench into the gears, but an issue has recently surfaced regarding the "4gb" memory of the GTX970 series cards. Turns out it's not actually 4gb, it's 3.5gb of fast memory and 0.5gb of slow memory. Here's an explanation of the issue with a fairly positive slant. Here's a NeoGaf post on it. Message boards are full of rage against NVidia over this and rightfully so, they misrepresented the card specs and then blamed it on the reviewers basically. It appears that the 970 is essentially a 980 that they deliberately nerfed. For me though at this point it still boils down to bang for the buck and I just can't see any other cards giving the same bang for the buck as the GTX970 but it's something you might want to research before making your final decision. I will be going in to see my PC guy next week and talk it over with him. If I find out anything earth shattering I'll let you know. -
- 2,741
- Michigan
- mcluvin93hatch
i5 4690 vs i5 4690K is only an extra $15 or so. Even if you don't intend to overclock it's good to have the option + it should help the resale. You never know if you might use it later on or not. I don't think the 16gb is necessary for current games so I'd probably just go with 8gb for now and upgrade later as necessary. I'd take that money saved and get a bigger SSD. If you get into games with modding there is a massive amount of content, almost all of it free, and it's hard to resist
Don't want to throw a monkey wrench into the gears, but an issue has recently surfaced regarding the "4gb" memory of the GTX970 series cards. Turns out it's not actually 4gb, it's 3.5gb of fast memory and 0.5gb of slow memory. Here's an explanation of the issue with a fairly positive slant. Here's a NeoGaf post on it. Message boards are full of rage against NVidia over this and rightfully so, they misrepresented the card specs and then blamed it on the reviewers basically. It appears that the 970 is essentially a 980 that they deliberately nerfed. For me though at this point it still boils down to bang for the buck and I just can't see any other cards giving the same bang for the buck as the GTX970 but it's something you might want to research before making your final decision. I will be going in to see my PC guy next week and talk it over with him. If I find out anything earth shattering I'll let you know. -
Alright, thanks for the tips!, I'll get back with my friend & look to switch a few things around for a better-rounded machine (more SSD sounds promising). I only really plan to play rFactor2/P.CARS/AC/R3E/GSC with this, probably some mods in rF2/AC, and then w/e I want on Steam, so everything is still 'drawing-board' at this stage, but the future looks promising.
Once I save a list on Amazon or something, that's when things get serious
*Edit: On the issue of the GTX970, I read/skimmed those links, which is actually interesting to see how GPU's actually 'work', but I don't quite understand how it can affect me with my TV's max of 1080p/60fps. Is there something I'm missing or is it just a 'hey they jip'd us' ?
Last edited:
- 1,174
- 80710A06
- katpeeler
I also need some advice on what to expect from my new equipment that will be up and running by the end of the weekend. I will have it plugged into my 55' LED TV with the ability of 120FPS via HDMI. Will I be able to keep up with PCars??...I think I surrpass the "recomended specs" but will I have seen videos of "ULTRA" and dont know if I will be able to reach that....Im new to the PC world so any advice will be great
EVGA GeForce GTX 960
Corsair Hydro H55
I7-4770K
G Skill Ripjaws X Series 8G
ASUS LGA 1150 Motherboard
2x 1TB Hard Drive
EVGA GeForce GTX 960
Corsair Hydro H55
I7-4770K
G Skill Ripjaws X Series 8G
ASUS LGA 1150 Motherboard
2x 1TB Hard Drive
- 219
- Wisconsin USA
- sstoness
Thought I'd jump in and show what I'd like to build for PCars...
i7 4790k unlocked, s1150, 4.0/4.4 GHz Quad Core, HT, 8M Cache, HD 4600 Graphics
GTX970 STRIX 4GB - DC2, OC, PCI Express
ASUS Z97-A - ATX, s1150, 4-DDR3, SLI/CrossFireX, USB3.0, SATA Express, RAID. 8 Ch Audio
Windows 7 Pro w/ SP1, (64-bit)
Corsair Carbide 500R Gaming Chassis
Corsair CS750M Power Supply
Crucial MX100 256GB SSD - 2.5" 7mm SATAIII 6GB/s
Noctua CPU Cooler NH-D15 multi-socket, 140mm fan
(2x) Crucial Ballistix Sport XT PC3-14900 8GB DDR3 1866MHZ Single Module
Opinions on how this will handle PCars?
Thanks
i7 4790k unlocked, s1150, 4.0/4.4 GHz Quad Core, HT, 8M Cache, HD 4600 Graphics
GTX970 STRIX 4GB - DC2, OC, PCI Express
ASUS Z97-A - ATX, s1150, 4-DDR3, SLI/CrossFireX, USB3.0, SATA Express, RAID. 8 Ch Audio
Windows 7 Pro w/ SP1, (64-bit)
Corsair Carbide 500R Gaming Chassis
Corsair CS750M Power Supply
Crucial MX100 256GB SSD - 2.5" 7mm SATAIII 6GB/s
Noctua CPU Cooler NH-D15 multi-socket, 140mm fan
(2x) Crucial Ballistix Sport XT PC3-14900 8GB DDR3 1866MHZ Single Module
Opinions on how this will handle PCars?
Thanks
- 28,470
- Windsor, Ontario, Canada
- Johnnypenso
- 883
- Bridgeton, NJ
- JerseyDriverSS
- jerseyboyss
- 340
- Maine/usa
- ron24
thats close to what i just built
PC Tower :Corsair Carbide Series Black 500R Mid Tower
DVD Rom :
Motherboard : ASUS MAXIMUS VII HERO Z97 ATX
Processor : Intel Core i7-4790K 4.40 GHz
CPU Cooler : Corsair h75 Hydro Series Liquid cooler
Desktop Memory : Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 2133
Graphics Card : EVGA GeForce GTX970 SuperClocked 4gb
Hard Drive: : WD Blue 1 TB
hard drive : Intel 180GB 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive
Power Supply : EVGA SuperNOVA 850G2 750W ATX12V
- 340
- Maine/usa
- ron24
i heard the same and that only efected 4k a very little from what i was reading. most claimed to have little to no problems running the 970 in 4k.i5 4690 vs i5 4690K is only an extra $15 or so. Even if you don't intend to overclock it's good to have the option + it should help the resale. You never know if you might use it later on or not. I don't think the 16gb is necessary for current games so I'd probably just go with 8gb for now and upgrade later as necessary. I'd take that money saved and get a bigger SSD. If you get into games with modding there is a massive amount of content, almost all of it free, and it's hard to resist
Don't want to throw a monkey wrench into the gears, but an issue has recently surfaced regarding the "4gb" memory of the GTX970 series cards. Turns out it's not actually 4gb, it's 3.5gb of fast memory and 0.5gb of slow memory. Here's an explanation of the issue with a fairly positive slant. Here's a NeoGaf post on it. Message boards are full of rage against NVidia over this and rightfully so, they misrepresented the card specs and then blamed it on the reviewers basically. It appears that the 970 is essentially a 980 that they deliberately nerfed. For me though at this point it still boils down to bang for the buck and I just can't see any other cards giving the same bang for the buck as the GTX970 but it's something you might want to research before making your final decision. I will be going in to see my PC guy next week and talk it over with him. If I find out anything earth shattering I'll let you know. -
mister dog
(Banned)
- 8,396
- Spain
- misterdog
- misterdog7
Well the pc has been bought, all i need now is an operating system as i only have a trial version of Windows 7 64bit at the moment. If you look for operating systems there is a huge price difference between ebay and the retail versions. You can buy a product key on ebay for 20-30 bucks whilst the retail versions are close to a 100 or more.
What would you guys recommend, and should i buy windows 7 or 8.1 as 7 is only gonna last for 5 years more?
Thanks in advance!
What would you guys recommend, and should i buy windows 7 or 8.1 as 7 is only gonna last for 5 years more?
Thanks in advance!
- 6,939
- United Kingdom
The 8.1 keys seem to be MSDN on eBay so wouldn't recommend getting them as probably not legal and might expire. The Windows 7 key with COA seem more legit (Link). Both version of Windows will get free upgrade to Windows 10 but maybe it is just best to use the free Windows 10 Technical Preview. They might give free upgrade to retail version too or the price has a chance of being quite low like Windows 8 was when it released.
mister dog
(Banned)
- 8,396
- Spain
- misterdog
- misterdog7
Thanks Ali, once again you come to the rescue 👍, this windows OEM version is apparently locked to your motherboard so if that one fails you lose the license too no? About windows 10 i'm not sure, as everyone can upgrade for free yes, but what will be the price after the year long trial period ends, and many folk are probably going to feel forced to purchase it? So it's a bit of a scam from what i understand so far.
- 6,939
- United Kingdom
You can usually ring up Microsoft and activate over phone even if different hardware, for example if your motherboard breaks and replaced with a new one. It is free for life after upgrade, you got only first year to upgrade for free before they start charging for it so no scam. Best time to buy a Windows OS for price is usually when it is released, they do the best offers then.
- 883
- Bridgeton, NJ
- JerseyDriverSS
- jerseyboyss
