PC Build/Upgrade advice

[zedarchitect]

This is for the PC experts in the group. I am currently running a 6 y/o Dell machine that luckily had an upgraded video card when I bought it (for AutoCAD). I have XP and 4 GB of RAM on the machine (I know Windows only reads 3 GB). I'd like to start planning upgrades and/or a new build with the focus of being able to run iRacing and rF2 (and maybe future-proofing a tad). For me, costs are critical at the moment. I am lucky the wife didn't balk at buying rFactor since I just bought a CSR XL package and 32" TV solely for gaming.

So I am asking for recommendations. I will post up the specs of my machine tonight. I'd like to know what, if any, improvements could be made now at minimal cost to maybe run the better titles with this dinosaur. If it seems that a new build is in order, I'd like to compile some info for said build.

Now, I don't want it to be only about my budget, which is very little. I am thinking in order to help the larger community we could put together 3 systems, all capable of running at least rF2 and maybe anticipating the future, whether it be C.A.R.S. or iRacing2. Think of it as:

Option 1 - Bare Bones - this is minimal and on the cheap
Option 2 - Solid Foundation - this would have improved items that would provide a better experience and be upgradable.
Option 3 - All Out - Top of the line everything or very flexible for upgrading

I have seen this sort of thread on AVS (Audio Visual Science) forum under building the right Home Theater PC and it was done very well (so well that to get the very latest builds you have to pay a nominal fee)

I'll help by organizing the info received in the post below. I hope this helps people beyond myself. I will do some research as well. I was looking at a Micro Center circular last night and the video card section made my eyes glass over. I used to be on top of these things, lol

[zedarchitect]

reserved for builds

[spazsterian]

Illl post my thoughts and links tonight when im on the comp and not y phone
.and ill edit this post. Can you build yourself or do you need ready to go out of the box?

[zero7159]

I will post my thoughts by this weekend. I built a budget desktop PC, which is probably "Bare Bones", and a gaming PC, which is probably a "Solid Foundation" last summer. I will list the specs with references to prices at newegg.

[zedarchitect]

Thanks gents. Lawyer, if you have any thoughts on things you would do different since you have ha the machines for a few months, please add them. Looks like we'll get a good start to this.

[zero7159]

Mar 8, 2012 12:23:16 GMT -8 zedarchitect said:

Thanks gents. Lawyer, if you have any thoughts on things you would do different since you have ha the machines for a few months, please add them. Looks like we'll get a good start to this.

Will do zed. My budget desktop PC has an Asus AMD 6870 GPU in it. I plan to set up Eyefinity this weekend. I will include my thoughts about that in my post.

By the way, under no circumstances should our "bare bones" PC not include a graphics card. It would be criminal to recommend that people play any PC game, particularly iRacing or Project CARS, using integrated graphics.

[zedarchitect]

No way. Bare bones means enough to properly run the games. On board GPU is not adequate IMO. I should have used another term since Bare Bones in PC speak means something different. It needs to have a dedicated card...just one that slightly exceeds minimum requirements for the games.

I have seen your thread on the computing site that you posted of your builds, but I don't have the link any longer.

[Kelly G]

I am purchasing what I think is a top of the line system and can post the full specs tonight. The funds for me to purchase it havent become available yet but that should happen in a couple of weeks. I will be able to contribute my feedback and impressions once it is in my hands and running things.

Cheers!

[zero7159]

Zed, here are the specs for my gaming PC:

XPS 630 Case
Asrock P67 Extreme 4 mobo
Intel Core I5 CPU
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler with Dual 120 mm fans
Corsair 850W PSU
Dual Nvidia 560ti GPUs - SLI
BD RW/DVD RW/CD RW Drive
DVD RW/CD RW Drive
Seagate 1 TB 7200 RPM HD
Stock Dual WD 250 GB HD (for back up)
8 GB Corsair 1600 DDR3 SD RAM
Windows 7 64-bit

Here is the link to my description of the build:

www.my630i.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5425

Here are the specs for my budget desktop PC:

Antec One Hundred Case
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Quad Core Processor
Asus MB ASUS M4A88T-V EVO/USB3 Motherboard
8 GB Corsair DDR3 1333 mbz SDRAM
Asus Radeon 6870 1 GB Graphics Card
Samsung DVD Burner
Seagate 1 TB 7200 RPM HD
Seagate 2 TB 5400 RPM HD
Corsair 600 W PSU
Windows 7 64 bit

And here is the link for the build:

forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?p=2805612#post2805612

I will post specs and prices this weekend, since as you correctly predict, I have different recommendations today as to some specs than I built. For example, dual DVD drives make little sense. I also do not use the extra hard drive space that I have.

I can tell you that the GPUs in my systems are still the best way to go if you are looking at value for your dollar. The 6870 and 560ti, IMO, hit the sweet spot in terms of performance for the amount of money you have to spend.

[oldslowfred]

Memory, primarily video card memory.
If you have a choice of two video cards at rough price parity but one clocks faster while the other has more video memory I would recommend selecting the one with more memory.

Also, don't want to go overkill with the power supply but this is likely another area it is better to pick up a bit larger, bit better quality than you think you need.

[spazsterian]

since you got time...your going to see some changes by the time you build. Amd has just released it's new line of card and nividia will follow suit next month so that means the cards that lawyer have mention will be even cheaper...Here's some things to consider...If your building strictly for personal/gaming use this should be a base line regardless what else you put in...

PSU - 80 Watt plus silver or gold certified..lil more spending but your going to clean accurate power. Anything over 1000W is over kill 700-800W range is the sweet spot This should be for any of your builds....Biggest thing check that the psu has the minimum required volt and amperage on the dedicated GPU rail to support one or two cards. This will prevent burn outs or problems down the road

Ram - DDR3 is ridicously cheap...for gaming , 16 gig is the max you would need. I'm needing to upgrade to 32 cause my motherboard can handle it and i do alot of rendering in after effects and sony vegas.

CPU...depends on your flavour...anything 4 core is more then suffient for multitasking, but where you'll notice it is in the clock speed ..stock..not overclock or turbo...straight stock speed. A dual core 3.5hz process is faster then a 4 core 2.8 with turbo boost to 4.0 on a single thread application almost anything is written. If you use alot of programs that supprt multicore..then look that route.

HDD...again this is personal preference per cost. Standard 7200 rpm minimum (even if it just your storage drive) Prices are still somewhat high due to the flodding in thailand....but they starting to drop and you don't want to pay more then 89 buck for a 1 tb platter hd..so wait it out if you can. Other option is doing a hybrid 500g from seagate for your OS ONLY. Don't use it for storage or raid, they are not designed for that , and you get slightly faster speeds then a 10k raptor once it's warmed up and your steady use programs are written to the onboard ssd.

SSD - Again your personal taste on this , but....it's becoming pretty common knowledge to avoid the sandforce controllers on the ssd's as they are fincky and fail alot...I personally will only ever buy a samsung SSD as they simply are the most reliable and long lasting (industry wide conclusion) They write thier own controllers and firmware for thier own product and not supply tons of other companies with thier technology so they can concentrate on a quality product.

Video card - again ..matter of deciding if like oranges or tangerines...both camps offer execellent products. Best is to have a look at your overall programs to see which benefits from which. Given the choice i'd run AMD, but....my current version of adobe master collection 5.5 benefits mostly from cuda cores on the nvidia card so i have to go that route for now...and other reasons. Again there's a new model rollout going on so some of todays sweet spot cards will be even sweeter when that happens.... Key things to look for...ddr 5 ram, minimum 1 gig of it..at least 192 bit and then as many stream proccessors or cuda cores you can afford. Those and bit processing are what make a good video card...great when they have more of them.

Case - big enough to hold dual video cards if you are going to go that route (now your going to need to consider being in the 850 range PSU)..That puts you in the "full size tower " category for good airflow.

So...what i have currently....
Render & gaming only...
Coolmaster HAF 932 case
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160
gigabyte 990f- X-UDA3 motherboard (ty 204F Memebers)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Thuban 3.3GHz, 3.7GHz Turbo Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor (ty wife)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103913
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 X two( 16gig )(ty 204F members)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314
EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1461-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 (ty Lawyer)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130661
I have 8 tb worth of Hard Drives..mostly samsung but they don't make them anymore...Seagate does so i would have to recommend this....
Any of the WD Black Series HD's with 6.0 gb/s and MINIMUM 32 mb cache
I'm currently running all this off a stock Dell XPS 700 watt psu (ty lawyer)
This plays rfactor on everything full ( there is actually some eye candy in this old version)

My internet/server/additional render farm rig that plays rfactor with everything full..

Case - ancient old FULL tower Server case (it's as high as my desk almost) that i got off Craigslist for 20 bucks
Motherboard Dell xps 630i (ty lawyer)
CPU Q6600 Intel quad core 2.4 (ty again lawyer)
4 gig of DDr2 ram ( will be back to 8 when dell or crucial replaces 2 sticks- ty lawyer)
PSU NEXTEN 750 Watt 80 + GOLD (again a 50.00 brand new never opened craigslist find)
GPU - Galaxy 465 GTX (smoking lil card...been flawless)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162052
4 - 80 gig assorted left around sata drives

Internet/back up server/additional render

generic midtower case (got it free somewhere)
PSU Antec 430 W 80+ Silver
MB - Socket 939 MSI with an anthlon dual core 2.2 4300 cpu
ram is 4 gig of ddr400
vGPU 7900 gtx 256 mb xfx pci-e 1.0 ( ithink)

This will play rfactor lag free with lot of candy turned to medium or mix and match off and full settings

Wife's/backup server/part of render farm
Generic free midtower
PSU antec earthwatts 650 80+Silver
MB Asus M4A series (rma'd / replaced after getting zapped when house got hit by lightning)
am3 dual core 3.0ghz proc...
8 gig of OCZ sli ddr2 (rma'd/ replaced after lighting issue)
Onboard ati 4200 GPU
1.5 TB Seagate ecogreen hd

This will play rfactor lag free with almost all the setting on high and bluerays no porblem..and thats from an onboard chip...seriously. So the new hybrid amd cpu/apu processors are something to consider if you doing a base line build to get started as they in the 6500 series gpu's.

Any question ..just holler...I'm always bench or actually building comps for people all the time.

[zero7159]

Mar 8, 2012 15:58:02 GMT -8 oldslowfred said:

Also, don't want to go overkill with the power supply but this is likely another area it is better to pick up a bit larger, bit better quality than you think you need.

And get something that is good quality, even if its a little more expensive. My Corsair PSUs have performed like champs, even though they are not the cheapest. They even come in a cool velvety bag, and you get a sticker for your case.

[Kelly G]

Ok rather than try and format it for the forum, I just did up a quick Google Spreadsheet.

Note all prices are Cdn.

I went with Memory Express building the system for me even though I could do it in my sleep for one main reason: Warranty.

If they build the system then I can get a Product Replacement Warranty so I don't have to dick around with the manufacturers. Any problems I can just go to Memory Express and have it dealt with, thus hopefully avoiding major hassle and down time.

Anyway, the build is here: Mac Daddy Gaming System

I also didn't include the cockpit I am getting as this thread was for the PC build.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

[oldslowfred]

Mar 8, 2012 20:05:17 GMT -8 Kelly G said:

Ok rather than try and format it for the forum, I just did up a quick Google Spreadsheet.

Note all prices are Cdn.

I went with Memory Express building the system for me even though I could do it in my sleep for one main reason: Warranty.

If they build the system then I can get a Product Replacement Warranty so I don't have to dick around with the manufacturers. Any problems I can just go to Memory Express and have it dealt with, thus hopefully avoiding major hassle and down time.

Anyway, the build is here: Mac Daddy Gaming System

I also didn't include the cockpit I am getting as this thread was for the PC build.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

yep, to say that is a nice system would be a bit of an understatement

[Dan W.]

My build, 2 years old, still runs like a champ, and future proof.

Intel I5 655k oc
1TB SATA II 3.0 GB 7200RPM HD + 1TB external
2 GB DDR3 PC3 PC1333 x4 (8 GB)
4 120mm fans + 1 140mm + 1 220mm.
ASETEK 510LC 120mm Water cooler (For Processor)
COOLERMASTER HAF 912 MID Tower
Sony 24x DVDRW
ASUS P7P55D-E PRO P55 Crossfire/SLI DDR3 SATA III USB 3.0 (Mobo) w/expansion card.
XION POWERREAL XON-1100P14HE 1100 WATT POWER SUPPLY
ON BOARD 7.1 SOUND
AEROCOOL TOUCH 200 FAN CONTROL
NVIDIA GTX 460 2GB PCI DIRECX 11 (x4)
Win 7 Pro
Steel series Merc Stealth Gaming Key board
NZXT Avatar 2600 DPI Gaming Mouse

No monitor

Total cost at time of build $854.67