First Sim to be purchased

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Gavala1978, Mar 21, 2016.

  1. Gavala1978

    Gavala1978 New Member

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    Hi I'm after some help with regards to buying a system.

    Im looking at getting the Fanatec V2 ServoHub and Steering Wheel kit also with V3 pedals.

    Now the thing is where I'm getting confused is with the PC side of things. I would like 3 screens, but confused with regards to what power is needed to run all three and also the game with out any flickering etc etc.

    I want to play project cars and i racing!

    Basically what shall i go for? Do i need anything to connect the hardware up to the pc or does it all come complete.

    Or if you guys can recommend anythings else?

    What about rear projection whats that like? Any makes to look at?
     
  2. Pastor_Chris

    Pastor_Chris Well-Known Member

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    For project cars you would need a top of the line Gpu like a r9 380 or r9 390, if you prefer nvidea you would want a gtx 960 or 980. Make sure your gpu has 4 or more gigs of vram onboard. You also need a decent power supply. On the cpu side of things you could get a fx8350 for a decent price but you will need a aftermarket cooler on it. For ram you need roughly 16 gigs but 8 will do
     
  3. nate

    nate Well-Known Member

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    As @Pastor_Chris mentioned, you are going to need a good gpu to be able to power triple screens if you want to crank the graphics settings up and maintain good frame rates.

    Personally, I wouldnt go below an R9 390 from AMD, or a gtx 970 from Nvidia. A 380/960 simply wont be powerful enough to push Pcars/AC/or rF2 at good fps if you turn the graphics up. The R9 390 is probably the best value per dollar spent depending on where you live.

    Do you already have monitors you will be using? And if so, are they high refresh rate monitors?

    2nd this. Although the above cards all have 4 or more.

    Also 2nd this. Dont go crazy and get a super high wattage psu thinking you need it because you are buying a high end gpu. You simply will not need more than 600-750. If going AMD for a gpu, go around 700-750, or Nvidia, you can go down to 600. What matters more than wattage is efficiency. You can read some reviews from places like Jonny Guru to get an idea of what is a solid investment and what isnt as ideal.

    Honestly, I would completely avoid AMD for the cpu. They are nowhere near as powerful in single thread performance as Intel processors are. And this absolutely shows in games since games dont use 8 cores, but they do rely on single thread performance.

    And if someone is spending $1k+ on a steering wheel, there is no reason to skimp out on a cpu... since most sims are highly cpu dependent from all of the physics calculations that go on. 8GB is enough RAM, but it is cheap enough where 16GB would be fine too, although I wouldnt expect to use 16GB of RAM at all unless you do other tasks like video editing, audio engineering, or like to have 50 chrome tabs open while you play a game.

    Each monitor will connect to your gpu. Some of those connections may be Display Port, HDMI, or DVI. So if you have 3 monitors, you will need 3 cables and connect them all to the same gpu. Cable type does not matter unless you have a high refresh rate monitor.

    Cheers
     
  4. Peter Koch

    Peter Koch Well-Known Member Beta tester

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    Ask over there maybe?
     
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  5. pixeljetstream

    pixeljetstream Well-Known Member Beta tester

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    One can daisy chain display port a bit. Got 2 monitors on one connection to graphics board. 3 on one is less likely to work, was my original attempt but effective bandwidth is not high enough.
     
  6. Gavala1978

    Gavala1978 New Member

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    Thanks for your help. I have found a PC that I will more and likely buy as its at the higher end spec wise!

    As for screen no I have not got these yet. I have placed my order with Fanatec today so while I'm waiting for that to arrive I will look into the screens etc. Then I will need a seat.

    Blimey the misses is going to love me....
     
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  7. higsy

    higsy Well-Known Member

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    You better buy her lots of nice things with your plans;). I have fanatec with triple 27's
    In nvidia surround. I also have it in 3d stereostropic, plus a lot of peripherals.
    Pentium 7 with lots of ram but my gpu's are taxed. Have 2 gtx 770's in sli. Raceroom (which doesn't utilize sli) runs pretty good at just about 60 FPS but with settings turned down.
    Project cars is the hardest on graphics and I'm lucky to get 35 fps in pit road and maybe 50 on track depending on the circuit.
    To answer your question if u want all the bells and whistles (maybe not now but in the future) get really good gpu's. Settings are as low as they go !!!
    I'm not even sure if 2 980ti's would run project cars at ultra.
     
  8. Fanapryde

    Fanapryde Well-Known Member

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    I have one GTX 980 TI running Project cars, most of the settings on high, some even on ultra.
    Works without issues for my triple 27" 144 BENQ's
     
  9. higsy

    higsy Well-Known Member

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    that would work better for my budget. I have 3 monitors identical to yours , do you have 3d activated ? I find its costs some fps as well , if you haven't tried it I'd recommend it makes the game a bit more immersion. Lots of people have good results with it.
     
  10. Fanapryde

    Fanapryde Well-Known Member

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    Nope, no idea what it does tbh...