New Build! - Parts list, space planning, etc... Opinions?

[athomas625]

Hey guys! I am just getting into sim racing and have ordered a bunch of parts (list below of what I've ordered and what I still have left to order).

Would love your all's input and maybe get some suggestions and guidance on what I have left to order!

I've also included some space planning drawings as I'm putting the sim in my home office. I live in a condo and we don't want to give up our guest bedroom as we have visitors often. Anyways, I drew them up to try to decide if I would have enough space for 35-inch triple monitor setup.

I have also listed my PC specs... Can anyone tell me if my PC is capable of running three 35-inch monitors? Or if I should just stick with 32-inch?


HAVE ORDERED:

PC - Alienware - Aurora R9 Gaming Desktop - Intel Core i7-9700 - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER - 1TB HDD + 512GB SSD

Wheel Base - Fanatec DD2

Formula One Wheel - Fanatec Clubsport Formula V2

Paddles - Fanatec Podium Advanced Paddle Module

Fanatec Podium Hub

Shifter - Fanatec Clubsport SQ V1.5

Pedals - HPP JBV (Can't wait for these!)

Buttkicker Gamer 2

Edit: I decided to upgrade and go with the Cube Controls Formula CSX 2 wheel instead of the Fanatec. Pumped!


NEED TO ORDER:

Monitors -- This one is my biggest question mark still.. I have no idea what my PC is capable of running as I'm new to this and PC gaming in general. I've done some research and I assume I want something curved, with G-Sync? I'm not sure what resolution and refresh rate and all that I need though based on my PC specs.

Edit: I went with 3 of the 34 inch Alienware AW3420DW monitors... Thousand bucks a pop but I think it'll be worth it. They look incredible.

Cockpit -- Waiting to order P1-X. Have my finger on the trigger as soon as they come back in stock. Not sure if I need any accessories though. Probably pedal sliders to adjust pedals (I'll be letting my friends try it out from time to time) and a keyboard tray? Not sure what else I'll need.

Edit: Ordered P1-X in black yesterday!

Regular Steering Wheel -- I plan to do many types of driving (mostly in iRacing but some rally too) and would like to have something more universal than the Formula One wheel.

Seat -- No idea what to get here but I'm in the US so I have to keep that in mind for shipping. Any ideas?

Edit: I ordered the Corbeau FX1 Pro in microsuede black yesterday. Pretty good reviews on it. We'll see.

Monitor mount - I assume anything will work for this as long as it gets the job done. I'll probably just order the one from Sim Lab since I'll be ordering my cockpit from there.

Edit: I got the free-standing triple monitor mount from Sim Lab.


Excited to be apart of this community and to get started racing! Not the best time to get into sim racing as everything is out of stock and taking forever to ship, but either way, I'll get this thing built sooner or later.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

 

[athomas625]

I understand going all in on a hobby: I went from an ancient PC and a G27 on my desk to Bodnar 53/HE sprints/P1-X/HE Handbrake/Asher wheel + a I9@5Ghz and a 2080Ti!

You can not use monitors of different type in a triple setup -- they have to be identical. Been down this road -- after I bought my 34" I researched triples, then like you, found that 3 x 3440 x 1440 is not possible. Then I looked at using 2 smaller side monitors, only to find out that it will not work. Then i looked into doing SLI -- adding another 2080Ti -- then I found out the cost and complexity of SLI is not worth the modest performance increase.

I am waiting for the next gen of video cards to be released -- then we will see if there will be a single video card that can drive 3x larger monitors well.

BTW, my IRL track ride. I am putting AP racing brake on this weekend!

Cheers,
Dom

Very nice! How do you like that HE Handbrake, by the way? I haven't ordered a handbrake yet but I might order that one today. I was going to just go with the Fanatec one mostly because I figured it doesn't matter much since it's just a handbrake. But I've been told that it's worth it to get the HE one instead.

By the way, I received one of the AW3420DW monitors yesterday and got it all setup. Played DiRT Rally 2.0 (with a controller still while I impatiently wait for all my parts to show up) and I'm very pleased with it. My first time playing on a 21:9 ultrawide and I was impressed by how much you can see even with just a one monitor setup. The other 2 will arrive today. I will likely send those back and just keep this one monitor setup and also buy a set of VR goggles.

And very nice! Where do you typically drive it at? I'd like to own a track car like that one day. I live in Nashville which is about an hour from the Corvette track in bowling green (I think it's called NCM Motorsports Park). Tempted to take the Audi there, but if I do I'd probably just do a few laps as I don't really want it to become a track car. That would be quite a pricey entry level track car!

 

[athomas625]

I understand going all in on a hobby: I went from an ancient PC and a G27 on my desk to Bodnar 53/HE sprints/P1-X/HE Handbrake/Asher wheel + a I9@5Ghz and a 2080Ti!

You can not use monitors of different type in a triple setup -- they have to be identical. Been down this road -- after I bought my 34" I researched triples, then like you, found that 3 x 3440 x 1440 is not possible. Then I looked at using 2 smaller side monitors, only to find out that it will not work. Then i looked into doing SLI -- adding another 2080Ti -- then I found out the cost and complexity of SLI is not worth the modest performance increase.

I am waiting for the next gen of video cards to be released -- then we will see if there will be a single video card that can drive 3x larger monitors well.

BTW, my IRL track ride. I am putting AP racing brake on this weekend!

Cheers,
Dom

Here's mine!

 

[djm68]

Here's mine!

Love the R10, glad I do not have to pay for consumables on the track for that thing! One of my favorite thing about my Porsche is it is easy on tires and brake!

Cheers,
Dom

 

[jamescarruthers]

Love the R10, glad I do not have to pay for consumables on the track for that thing! One of my favorite thing about my Porsche is it is easy on tires and brake!

A different experience to me... my Cayman S can chomp tyres on track!

 

[djm68]

A different experience to me... my Cayman S can chomp tyres on track!

Dial in more negative front camber, work on driving technique.

What tires are you using? I've noticed a lot of drivers come to the track with OEM or similar street tires -- street tries tend to suffer under track conditions. I run Nitto NT01s or one of the various TW200 tires and get excellent wear out of them.

Dom

 

[2020 Supraman]

Wow this is awesome to see someone in a similar position as mine. Check out my new post to help me build my new rig too... not quite as nice as this one, but I think it will be a solid setup!

The Youtuber, Will from Boosted Media runs 35" triples with one 1080 ti video card (although he's upgraded to 2080ti after the videos I linked below). His channel is really good for someone new to racing, because if you look at his videos a couple years ago he had a really cheap setup, and now he's decked out and you can see how he built it.

In this next video, read the comments. He says he only has to dial back the graphics a little bit with these 3 monitors... and they're all 1440p.

 

[5teveC457]

In one of Will's videos he mentioned that if he were to do it again he would go with 32" 1440p monitors instead of his 35" ones, as he doesn't feel the extra width is beneficial. I can't recall which video I saw him say that though.

 

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Seen the prices of these cables ?

 

[djm68]

Very nice! How do you like that HE Handbrake, by the way? I haven't ordered a handbrake yet but I might order that one today. I was going to just go with the Fanatec one mostly because I figured it doesn't matter much since it's just a handbrake. But I've been told that it's worth it to get the HE one instead.

And very nice! Where do you typically drive it at? I'd like to own a track car like that one day. I live in Nashville which is about an hour from the Corvette track in bowling green (I think it's called NCM Motorsports Park). Tempted to take the Audi there, but if I do I'd probably just do a few laps as I don't really want it to become a track car. That would be quite a pricey entry level track car!

HE gear is awesome, I really like the handbrake, though honestly I do not use is that much. IMO, it is the best handbrake for sim racing. (I don't drive DR2 very often, mostly AC and iRacing these days)

If you get the bug for a great sequential shifter: http://aiologs.net/ I have the seq shifter and I love it, and it is a bargain at $165.

Tracks? I compete in a variety of events (time trials on circuits and hillclimb) all over the west coast of the US, mostly trackdays lately due to time constraints. The last few years have been busy!

I hear your on the R10 -- I'd not use that as a track car, honestly, but would be fun to do a light duty track day so you can stretch her legs in a controlled environment.

Dom

 

[Emery]

In this next video, read the comments. He says he only has to dial back the graphics a little bit with these 3 monitors... and they're all 1440p.

Remember, though, he's not using Multiview for this video because this particular game doesn't support Multiview; it's being treated as one large screen rather having 3 separate views. In other words, images in the side monitors are stretched. Multiview adds overhead.

 

[djm68]

Wow this is awesome to see someone in a similar position as mine. Check out my new post to help me build my new rig too... not quite as nice as this one, but I think it will be a solid setup!

The Youtuber, Will from Boosted Media runs 35" triples with one 1080 ti video card (although he's upgraded to 2080ti after the videos I linked below). His channel is really good for someone new to racing, because if you look at his videos a couple years ago he had a really cheap setup, and now he's decked out and you can see how he built it.

In this next video, read the comments. He says he only has to dial back the graphics a little bit with these 3 monitors... and they're all 1440p.

Will's channel is great, watched a lot of his content to before doing my own build. I've seen these videos previously...personally, I am not drawing any conclusion from the comments section. One comments mentions something like 140 - 190 FPS in iRacing, and another comment he mentions getting back up to 90 FPS...but does not mention the title. Since this time, he has build an entirely new, high end rig: 2080ti and 9900k with a big overclock.

If the older PC and the 1080ti were giving such great frame rates, why the upgrade?

Someone noted that if you are happy with 60 fps, the 3x 1440s might be workable. I am under the impression 60hz is not sufficient for smooth visuals -- perhaps this is incorrect?

Dom

 

[5-Card-Major]

Will's channel is great, watched a lot of his content to before doing my own build. I've seen these videos previously...personally, I am not drawing any conclusion from the comments section. One comments mentions something like 140 - 190 FPS in iRacing, and another comment he mentions getting back up to 90 FPS...but does not mention the title. Since this time, he has build an entirely new, high end rig: 2080ti and 9900k with a big overclock.

If the older PC and the 1080ti were giving such great frame rates, why the upgrade?

Someone noted that if you are happy with 60 fps, the 3x 1440s might be workable. I am under the impression 60hz is not sufficient for smooth visuals -- perhaps this is incorrect?

Dom

"Someone noted that if you are happy with 60 fps, the 3x 1440s might be workable. I am under the impression 60hz is not sufficient for smooth visuals..."

I would agree with that.

 

[5-Card-Major]

Seen the prices of these cables ?

I can imagine what their cost will be initially....

 

[2020 Supraman]

"Someone noted that if you are happy with 60 fps, the 3x 1440s might be workable. I am under the impression 60hz is not sufficient for smooth visuals..."

I would agree with that.

Interesting. What if they were 27" 3 x 1440ps instead of 32"? Would 2080 super be able to run 90 fps with that...?

 

[5-Card-Major]

Interesting. What if they were 27" 3 x 1440ps instead of 32"? Would 2080 super be able to run 90 fps with that...?

Here's a post from 'CrazyDoc' in another thread on this topic...

" Posted before asking for advice regarding size/res on monitors for a triple screen setup. Ended up buying 3 x 32in 1440p monitors (AOPEN 32HC1QUR). Set them up using NVidia Surround. Unfortunately not getting a smooth performance/fps with 7680x1440:

ACC: Low (92-114fps), Mid (55-70fps), High (39-47fps) and Epic (23-36fps)
PC2: Low (79-93fps), Med (60-80fps), High (35-46fps)
iRacing: Good settings around 150fps but dropping to under 100 when racing against others.

Borrowed 3 x 1080p and run exactly same sims/configs:

ACC: Low (100-134ps), Mid (90-100fps), High 65-70fps) and Epic (49-50fps)
PC2: Low (110-120fps), Med (60-100fps?), High (70-90fps?) I must have mixed up some settings here.
iRacing: Good settings around 180fps but dropping to under 120 when racing against others. "

Hope the above helps...

 

[djm68]

Interesting. What if they were 27" 3 x 1440ps instead of 32"? Would 2080 super be able to run 90 fps with that...?

Pixel count is what matters not the physical dimensions of the monitor. 3440 x 1440 x 3 in a 27", 32", 35", or 55" size is exactly the same WRT pixel count.

 

[athomas625]

Update on this:

I've been playing iRacing (just on a controller since I still don't have all my parts in). On medium-high settings I was getting around 85 fps. I personally care much more about performance and having the least input lag possible than I do about graphics. So I've lowered them to LOW settings (Medium for Car Detail though), and I'm getting around 115 fps on 34 inch triple screens. Nothing is overclocked and this is also just driving on tracks alone. I assume that 115 fps will go down a bit racing with others. But all in all, I am happy with everything and this will work for now until Nvidia comes out with the 30 series and I decide to upgrade down the road!

 

[2020 Supraman]

Nice… how are you liking the Alienware PC?

 

[athomas625]

Nice… how are you liking the Alienware PC?

It's my first PC (I've always been a mac guy for work. I've never been into gaming or anything until getting into sim racing), so I have nothing else to compare it to. But I think it does the trick!

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Wow this is awesome to see someone in a similar position as mine. Check out my new post to help me build my new rig too... not quite as nice as this one, but I think it will be a solid setup!

The Youtuber, Will from Boosted Media runs 35" triples with one 1080 ti video card (although he's upgraded to 2080ti after the videos I linked below). His channel is really good for someone new to racing, because if you look at his videos a couple years ago he had a really cheap setup, and now he's decked out and you can see how he built it.

In this next video, read the comments. He says he only has to dial back the graphics a little bit with these 3 monitors... and they're all 1440p.

In a way related to this