Need bit of advise on PC gaming

apex11 · May 16, 2017

OK so looking at making the jump to PC gaming mainly for racing games
PCars
raceroom
AC
AMS
and the older stuff like GTR Race7 GT legends etc etc.

So heres the specs of system i will be running on.
ASUS M5A97 PRO ATX
AMD FX6100 3.3GHZ
1TB HARD DRIVE
2GB EVGA NIVIDIA GEFORCE GTX650 PCI-E

Now i have an xbox one also so are those specs above acceptable to play the games listed?

Also i have a TX wheel FFB, can i simply connect it to the PC when i want to use it or do i have to have another wheel for the PC if i use it on the xbox aswell?

cheers.

PicoBp · May 16, 2017

gasoline12 said:
OK so looking at making the jump to PC gaming mainly for racing games
PCars
raceroom
AC
AMS
and the older stuff like GTR Race7 GT legends etc etc.

So heres the specs of system i will be running on.
ASUS M5A97 PRO ATX
AMD FX6100 3.3GHZ
1TB HARD DRIVE
2GB EVGA NIVIDIA GEFORCE GTX650 PCI-E

Now i have an xbox one also so are those specs above acceptable to play the games listed?

Also i have a TX wheel FFB, can i simply connect it to the PC when i want to use it or do i have to have another wheel for the PC if i use it on the xbox aswell?

cheers.

I could only suggest AMS and the older stuff (GTR, Race07, GT Legends) with confidence. That config is a little outdated and wasn't particularly strong even in its glory days. RaceRoom might also work (being based on an older engine, but for AC and PCars it probably won't be sufficient.

Ben Cobbé · May 16, 2017

Should work great with AMS. And honestly it's the only game you need.
You should be able to play at a stable 60 fps on a 1920x1080 monitor without issues.

Yes just plug in your wheel, install the drivers and you should be all set.

Looks like the only thing you still need is a premium membership. I reccommend the year subscription.

apex11 · May 16, 2017

Thanks I was thinking mainly GTR GtTlegends and AMS at first as have the xbox one still for PCars and AC till i could upgrade graphics card.
So even though the TX Wheel drivers are installed on my laptop (needed for when i got it for xbox one) i can still install them on the desk top PC?

One more thing if i got a better card say 970 GTX that would make PCars and AC playable on it?

PicoBp · May 16, 2017

gasoline12 said:
One more thing if i got a better card say 970 GTX that would make PCars and AC playable on it?

Both your CPU and GPU would need some attention, and we have no info on your RAM, but the 970 is a good choice for stepping up. A 1060 6GB can also be a good option, as well as an AMD 480/580.

Or you can keep the resource hungry games for your console as you wrote, and enjoy AMS and the rest on the PC.

apex11 · May 16, 2017

OK RAM 12GB DDR3 (3X4GB) 4 SLOTS MAX 32GB.

IT COMES WITH 19INCH MONITOR keyboard and mouse windows 7 and 10 plus other bits and bobs for £300.
So its cheap not expecting miracles but will also use as a desktop comp for work hopefully.

Will the TX wheel just install even though it is installed onto my laptop for the xbox one?

Ben Cobbé · May 16, 2017

gasoline12 said:
Thanks I was thinking mainly GTR GtTlegends and AMS at first as have the xb
So even though the TX Wheel drivers are installed on my laptop (needed for when i got it for xbox one) i can still install them on the desk top PC?

No problem at all for the drivers. They can be installed on as many pc as you want.

Maybe you are talking about the firmware update.

I woudn't reccommend the gtx 970 since it's getting a bit slow for the latest and greatest (vr, tripple screen, 21:9 and 4K setups).
Unless you only want to play games on a 1920x1080 monitor at max graphic settings the gtx970 is a bad choice because of it's limited Vram(3.5GB).

PicoBp · May 16, 2017

gasoline12 said:
OK RAM 12GB DDR3 (3X4GB) 4 SLOTS MAX 32GB.

You would be better with 2x4GB than 3x4GB, as in your current configuration you force it to be in single channel mode. By switching to 2x4GB (populating the 1st and 3rd slot) you could utilize dual channel memory mode with better access and transfer rates.

apex11 · May 17, 2017

OK I didn't have that off my friend, may as will spend a bit more to get more.

So how about this?

Specification Snapshot:
Intel® Core™ i3-6100
ASUS® H110M-R
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2133MHz
4GB GEFORCE GTX 1050 Ti
NVIDIA® GeForce™ Experience - Learn More
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s
Genuine Windows 10 Home

To add my mate had downloaded GTR 2 and R Factor 2 from steam to show them to me and they looked OK on it but I politely told him i'd changed my mind. Having looked on steam at all the other driving games not available on console I do want to go this route of pretty robust PC to game on but within a budget that won't have my wife leaving me!

JamesU · May 20, 2017

What is your budget?

It's usually more cost-effective to build a PC rather than buying a pre-built one. We could possibly get a parts list for you if we knew how much you had to play with.

PaulH · May 21, 2017

Intel® Core™ i3-6100 - good budget CPU, dual core though
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2133MHz - 8GB plenty, can always add more
4GB GEFORCE GTX 1050 Ti - good budget GPU, games mostly at medium settings

CPU Benchmark - http://www.techspot.com/review/1087-best-value-desktop-cpu/page4.html
GPU Benchmark - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-ti,review-33685-5.html

m_mirk · May 21, 2017

Hello Paul,

the Pentium G4560 could be a cheap alternative to i3 6100. Its more or less half price for same performance.

CPU Benchmark in german language:
https://www.computerbase.de/thema/prozessor/rangliste/

You could better use the money for GTX1060 or RX580. This is a combo for 600€ from computerbase:

Intel Pentium G4560
MSI B250M Pro-VDH
G.Skill Value 4 Kit 16GB, DDR4-2400
KFA² GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
be quiet! Pure Power 10 400W
https://geizhals.de/1558362
A SSD is also worth the money!

Greetings

Nick Gregory · May 21, 2017

I would recommend you spend the extra on getting a quad-core CPU. You will have better performance with that.

I would also ignore what @Ben Cobbé said about the GTX 970 being limited by the VRAM. I had one of those, and I never experienced any issues with it at 1080p. Although, I did have a hefty overclock on mine.

apex11 · May 22, 2017

JamesU said:
What is your budget?

It's usually more cost-effective to build a PC rather than buying a pre-built one. We could possibly get a parts list for you if we knew how much you had to play with.

Guys thank you so much for the replies, I've been down this road a year ago and i went onto a few forums to ask about PC set ups and pretty much just got people ripping into me for not having much knowledge about PC gaming etc or people saying unless i have 3k to spend then "go play ps4"
So anyway thank you so much for helping, i have found 'game debate' which is invaluable and a great resource and i am learning every day.
I have about £1000 to spend, I am doing this instead of track days and having a second car as a 'toy', basically track days will always be more expensive (fuel, tyres, wear and tear, repairs and cost of the track day etc) than whatever i do with PC gaming (pretty much), so i'd far rather sim race with all its variety than do track days or real racing as with 2 young kids its easier to race at night!!
So £1000 to spend, i have TX full FFB wheel already, have nice sound system and have big TV that i can connect to PC, basically i just have an xbox one at the mo which is fine but i want to do Raceroom and RFactor and the older classics like GTR 2, but i will want to have PCars and AC as well.

Andy_J · May 22, 2017

@gasoline12
I build custom PC's for a hobby and for friends but lately I get mine from Scan Computers. They are very good at building gaming PC's to your specs.
Have a look at this one the Scan 3XS 1060 Gaming PC. £1000 quid.
https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/configurator/custom-gaming-pc-uk-3xsgamer16i

apex11 · May 22, 2017

Found this one local to me.

Core i3-4130 3.4GHz,
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB,
8 GB RAM

CPU isn't great but rest seems it will play games pretty well for a starter. This is £400.

Andy_J · May 22, 2017

gasoline12 said:
Found this one local to me.

Core i3-4130 3.4GHz,
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB,
8 GB RAM

CPU isn't great but rest seems it will play games pretty well for a starter. This is £400.

You get what you pay for.

RasmusP · May 22, 2017

Hi,
not in the mood for in depth, long text so I will just give you my opinion in short

CPU: CPUs lasts very long. I have an overclocked i7 2600k from 2010! And it runs EVERYTHING still fine. Newest CPUs for the same price (paid 245€) are only about 20% faster!
So my opinion if you want to play a few years with your PC: buy one of the new AMD 1700 or an Intel I5 with a "k" behind it so you can overclock it in a few years when you know more. And don't need to buy a new one in a year or two. GPUs are easy to swap. Just take it out and fit in the new one. CPUs are only working with their own Mainboard+Ram type so you often need to replace them too!

GPU: well that's completely different! Got a 560 ti in 2011, a 760 replacement due to warranty in 2013 and then bought a 970 in early 2015 (I wanted the power instantly so just bought it). Same with my current GTX 1070 (June '16). But the 1070 I want to last a little longer... That weren't my best choices!
The 1070 has about 70% more power than 970, that has 100% more power than 760 and so on...
So CPUs: 7 years -> 20-30% more power, GPUs:7 years -> 400% more power!

I would buy one of the cheap 1060 or an AMD 480. You don't want to spend much money and GPUs don't last long anyway... Either you buy:
xx60' every 2 years
xx70' every 3 years
xx80' every 4 years
to always have around the same game settings (medium, high, ultra). AMDs are different on the numbers!

Ram, Mainboard etc. have not a big impact so just choose what gets recommended to you

That where my two cents, wish you luck and success with your PC build

JamesU · May 22, 2017

Ignore the people who are moaning you don't have £3k to spend on a machine, thats mental. For £1k you can build a pretty decent rig that'll run games nicely.

For instance, my PC:

i5 4690k 3.50GHz
Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Mobo
16GB RAM
1TB HDD
XFX AMD Radeon R9 390

That runs AC in VR and GTA5 on the highest (except a few) settings at 60fps. Rainbow Six Siege on Ultra at 60fps...

I built my PC over time but even then i don't think it's had more than £1k sunk in to it.

Building a PC once you have all the parts isn't as hard as you may think, everything just slots in. The most difficult part will be getting the power/lights etc working but even they come easily enough with a manual with the motherboard.

I'd suggest having a browse on https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/ - everyone there has a good bit of knowledge, even people building PC's in your price range.

Drop me a PM if you need any help with anything at all, i'm more than happy to give you advice. I'm by no means a wizard and people here can offer better advice, I'm here if you need!

Edit:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/Fk4hLD

That's my PC currently... Half the price of what you have to play with and i'm good at 75fps VR on Assetto... (Only have the DK2, it's the CV1 that runs at 90) most settings are medium, i think.

RasmusP · May 22, 2017

JamesU said:
Ignore the people who are moaning you don't have £3k to spend on a machine, thats mental. For £1k you can build a pretty decent rig that'll run games nicely.

For instance, my PC:

i5 4690k 3.50GHz
Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Mobo
16GB RAM
1TB HDD
XFX AMD Radeon R9 390

That runs AC in VR and GTA5 on the highest (except a few) settings at 60fps. Rainbow Six Siege on Ultra at 60fps...