What Gaming PC 2020 edition

Hi all,

Having been a Mac person since I was a teenager I know nothing about PCs and haven't really used on in about 25 years. 

Like many here I'm quite bored sitting around at home and fancy trying my hand at gaming. I've got a Logitech G29 I have used with my Ps4 and have a seat, but I need to move it out of our front room since, as Mrs Tennis points out - it's quite embarrassing. That means I'll move it into my 'bike' room where I currently turbo train using Zwift and watch TV on Apple TV sometimes via a 4K TV.

My plan is to get a reasonable spec gaming PC - ideally for £1k ish.

Any suggestions? I want it to be quiet, and ideally be quick and smooth  

Just to add, this is kinda what i'm looking at, at the moment:

Reasonably tasteful case

6 core i5-9600K 3.7 GHZ (Do I actually need an i7?)

16 GB DDR4 RAM 

8GB Nvidia Geforce RTX 2060 Super

512GB SSD (I also have two brand new 3TB 3.5 discs I found the other day, un-usued from a planned RAID array at work, so i'll put them in, too)

550W power supply

onboard sound, usb, ethernet, wireless

This comes out a bit over my intended budget, and ideally i'd be able to pare it down a bit. Any suggestions?

Is this the setup you intend to use for the coming period or are you looking to go the VR route in the future? Because VR needs a heavy duty videocard.

From your specs this might be an option?

https://www.lenovo.c...l/p/99LE9500311

Your choice of videocard makes up for 1/3 of the price of the complete system. You should check what you really need.

Edited by A3, 03 May 2020 - 12:55.

I'm assuming I can always swap it out in the future - but VR isn't an immediate concern but I'm figuring it's a nice to have. The Nvidia Geforce RTX 2060 Super does appear to support it...

The top one of those three is pretty similar to the spec i was looking at (and similar price, sadly).

Edited by TennisUK, 03 May 2020 - 13:10.

I'm assuming I can always swap it out in the future - but VR isn't an immediate concern but I'm figuring it's a nice to have. The Nvidia Geforce RTX 2060 Super does appear to support it...

 

The top one of those three is pretty similar to the spec i was looking at (and similar price, sadly).

Yeah, as I said, the graphics card causes that price increase. The GTX 1660 Super should do nicely as well.

But, if you're handy, you could build a PC yourself and just about stay within your budget.

Edit: just noticed the SSD is out of stoch but there are plenty of other options.

Edited by A3, 03 May 2020 - 15:22.

  The specs of my computer are in the iRacing thread, I can run almost anything and with a better graphics card I could run everything maxed out. The processor is not the bottleneck anymore these days, so you should be fine with the i5.

Well, I've done it. Wife doesn't need to know the full detail, natch.

Reasonably tasteful case

i5 9600K CPU

ASUS Z390 Plus mother board

16GB DDR4 2666mhz RAM

8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 Super (this is the most extravagant part by a long way)

256GB SSD boot drive (plus 6GB via 2x 3.5 SATA drives I have hanging around)

450w PSU

Some liquid cooling stuff as I hate noise

The graphics card is nearly 50% of the total cost!

I was just typing up some bits and bobs before I realised you'd already decided on what to get!

I'd agree. i5 is more than enough. I'm running a roughly equivalent AMD CPU in my new build (Ryzen 5 3600X) and it's absolutely fine, though I'm throttled a little by an outdated GPU as I didn't have the money to upgrade it for the moment. Still running iRacing at 90+ fps at 1080p even with the outdated GPU.

For anyone else looking at building PCs atm:

There's very little performance differences between AMD and Intel CPUs nowadays. Intel probably has a *slight* edge in gaming performance still but it's rarely more than 5 fps. AMD has a *slight* edge in performance in everything else. Really not much in it any more in specs or price. AMD CPUs tend to come with a cooler whereas Intel's don't.

I'll post the specs of my new rig when I get home - I'm running a slightly lower-spec rig as I was on a budget and don't need anything more than 1080p gaming at the moment, if it'll help anyone.

Edited by Frood, 04 May 2020 - 09:35.

My computer arrived a moment ago - unsure I'll have time to unpack before the weekend, but will update once I do

I said **** it and ordered a PC too. I'm gonna need something to pass the time through all the months indoors and it's not like I'm doing holidays this year anyway.

CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 3600

RAM - 2x 8GB DDR4 3000Mhz

GPU - GTX 1660 Super 6GB

480GB SSD

450w power supply

some board

some case

23.8" monitor

a Logitech mouse

wireless PCI-E network board

bluetooth dongle

I wanted specifically a good CPU because I do more than play simracing games, I play a lot of Football Manager too.   Which puts much more strain into the CPU than the graphics card.

Now I could do with something better for a wheel than my old Logitech DFGT, but it'll have to do for now as I've already put far too much money into this... the wheel is fine, the pedals are a bit crap though. What scares me is the USB cable is a bit loose, and sometimes disconnects if you touch it. 

Edited by noikeee, 22 May 2020 - 13:45.

I've got an old Fanatec I'm not doing anything with(and it would also break my heart to give it up) but Portugal would be a nightmare to ship to 

I've got an old Fanatec I'm not doing anything with(and it would also break my heart to give it up) but Portugal would be a nightmare to ship to 

You could get a bit of cash if you sell your unused gear now, there's a sudden huge demand for simracing gear (wonder why) and lack of it everywhere, therefore prices are inflated new and used!

I've got an old Fanatec I'm not doing anything with(and it would also break my heart to give it up) but Portugal would be a nightmare to ship to 

Can I ask what wheel exactly?

I said **** it and ordered a PC too. I'm gonna need something to pass the time through all the months indoors and it's not like I'm doing holidays this year anyway.

 

CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 3600

RAM - 2x 8GB DDR4 3000Mhz

GPU - GTX 1660 Super 6GB

480GB SSD

450w power supply

some board

some case

23.8" monitor

a Logitech mouse

wireless PCI-E network board

bluetooth dongle

 

I wanted specifically a good CPU because I do more than play simracing games, I play a lot of Football Manager too.   Which puts much more strain into the CPU than the graphics card.

 

Now I could do with something better for a wheel than my old Logitech DFGT, but it'll have to do for now as I've already put far too much money into this... the wheel is fine, the pedals are a bit crap though. What scares me is the USB cable is a bit loose, and sometimes disconnects if you touch it. 

That looks like a good setup. I would have chosen a different monitor though. My next upgrade will probably be a new videocard and then either VR or an ultrawide gaming monitor.  I now have a 27" screen but it's a nightmare to race with other cars you can't see.

Edited by A3, 22 May 2020 - 20:23.

That looks like a good setup. I would have chosen a different monitor though. My next upgrade will probably be a new videocard and then either VR or an ultrawide gaming monitor. I now have a 27" screen but it's a nightmare to race with other cars you can't see.

I started out in iRacing on a laptop and a console controller. But without the flair of Jacques Villeneuve. I was okay on ovals. 

Mine's finally here, been giving it a few laps of Assetto Corsa Competizione today and woah, this is a pretty big upgrade. Looks stunning on a wet track at night.

I think my next upgrade will be VR.

Sorry, just bumped into Autosport Forum after more than half a year hibernation, but for a start I will answer the CPU question:

Reasonably tasteful case

6 core i5-9600K 3.7 GHZ (Do I actually need an i7?)

Not. At. All.

I've got these specs:

MB: ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming

CPU: 4 core i5-6600T @ 2.7 GHZ /14 nm / max. TDP = 35W

RAM: 16 GB Corsair DDR4 RAM 1066Hz (yes, the slow ones)

GPU: 8GB AMD Sapphire RX-580 Nitro+ (code name 'Polaris' / 14nm)

Storage: 500 GB SSD Samsung 850 Evo 2.5'' (standard SATA-II 600Mb/s interface) - solely dedicated for my Steam sim games (1TB SSD PCI2.0 would've been preferable for me here, since I install lots of mods, too).

PSU: 650W Corsair VS-650

Sound: Onboard with latest RealTek HD Software - either to older Medion 5.1 speakers or through digital-analog converter to historic old 2 x Rotel amplifiers and 4 x 300 W Dali Suite 3.5 loud speakers in oldfashioned BiWire cable setup 

Screen: 27.8'' ASUS VP278QG

Sim-gear: Logitech G27 (more FFB than G29) / or Keyboard 50% of the sim time. Except for this week concentrating on improving on ACC.

Internet: 370Mbit downstream / 75 Mbit upsteam. Ping : 8ms (in online series, always use wired eth connection - NO WiFi whatsoever).

And I'm running AC, ACC, rF2, AMS2 and PC2 fluent in 1980x1080 with almost full details in every sim.

Quite a cheap sim setup and think it must be one of the cheapest competing in ACC CP sessions - but that'll do fine for me 

Edited by stenovitz, 05 July 2020 - 18:02.