Enrique and other PC wizzards. Spec me a machine please.

[Devils Advocate]

In a nutshell I've been invited to take part in an online racing championship by the lads
I've decided that I'll do it seeing as there won't be much real life action during the the next few grit ridden,frozen stuck at home months

So the thing is I need to buy a PC and the wheel etc for the events. I've been warned off the Comet/currys route as most of the Graphics cards are integrated I'm told (that floored me)..........and what I need is a good dedicated card with MB to suit. Now one of the guys has offered to build me one and has written down a spec for a good quick all rounder.

It means nothing to me in reality since I haven't dabbled with desk tops for 6 or 7 years. So what spec. would you reccomend for a budget of under 1k (to inc. monitor)..ie processor, MB, etc and I'll see if the spec resembles what I've been told.if it does I'll be happy in buying the stuff.

Many thanks chaps

I will post other lads spec after I get your ideas for comparison.

ps needs to be set up for Wednesday

[Conehead]

Before you part with your hard earned cash I would make sure that your internet connection is, fast enough / band-width is sufficient / throughput etc is high enough, for online gaming. I am not a "gamer" but I am sure somebody else can give you the minimum requirements.

[Devils Advocate]

Thanks for that, I'm glad you brought it up. I've just done a speed test with the recently acquired SKY service we're now using and it appears to be rapid, so that's one worry out of the way which I'd never even thought of.

Seems we're lucky as it says we are within 1/2 mile of an exchange ............only thing I can think of is it's a mast and an out building which was installed a couple of years back in the corner of the farmers fields behind us.

Again thanks for that, happy bunny now!

[mhic]

I wouldn't mind some advice on an upgrade either, this old thing of mine sounded like an old steam engine. I took out the heat sink and gave it and the fan a good clean, sounds like an electric carving knife and a very loud wall clock now.

Mhic.

[AndyT]

Does it have to be a pc, wouldn´t it be better (read considerably cheaper!) to use an Xbox360 or PS?

[pigs-might-fly]

My son-in-law is an avionics technician & a computer wiz. and for his gaming machine he installed not only water cooling, but a refrigeration device to cool the cooling water!

[Devils Advocate]

Andy, one of the lads has been using the x/box but has swapped to a PC. I've been gleaning my info from BC and as you know they have funny ideas on what to buy.......they'd have you spend 10k on one. They keep on banging on about me needing the I7 quad core but I just don't think it's worth it.

They've got a 7 challenge set up on Rfactor which looks just awsome and I'd just like to take part cost effectively whilst motors are sorned for the winter.....I'll check why this bloke ditched xbox for PC though. I have a feeling that the upcoming Rfactor2 needs a bit more ooommph and that's the reasoning behind it.

Pigs, Yep there is some mean stuff out there if you know what you're doing..............suppose it's like most hobbies etc., the sky's the limit.

Cheers

[peteroldracer]

This thread only goes to prove that no matter how well one understands English, not everything written in it is comprehensible!

[Enrique]

Hi peteroldrace,
I speak the language but I'm confused too..........

DA, Forget that your mates seem to have a budget of a third world state...........
From the site.................Rfactor............

* Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 processor
* Windows XP
* 2048 MB RAM
* Geforce 7900 GT or Radeon X1900 GT
* 256 MB video RAM
* DirectX 9.0c
* 2.0 GB of hard drive space for installation
* Internet connection required for one-time activation

So that's a modest setup................there are better spec gamer systems for £500 + monitor

Maybe I'm still confused what you're really looking at...........



Hi .Griff.............please sort this guy out..........

[Devils Advocate]

Thanks Enrique.

Heres what happened. I said I'd take part but having used laptops for the last 7 years I needed a new Desktop to do the game justice ..So I searched Comet, Currys and all the usual suspects and found huge spec machines for circa 500quid..........result

So, I said I was going to buy one of these and was told noooooooo ...........they all have inegrated graphics cards and MBs that you won't be able to upgrade I was warned

So, back to the drawing board and accepting advice. The specs you read for Rfactor are as you say minimal............but that is for standard low rate running. If you want to run it full frame and with all the add ons plus your own car etc it needs a bit or rather a lot more. With the latest one due out shortly that will need more still.

A chap has now specced me an i5 based machine which he'll build for 850 inc monitor. I don't think that's bad but posted on here to get a second opinion as I knew there are some switched on blokes.

As you say the blokes I've been asking automatically start talking about computer bits made from unobtanium and the likes.........I just want the best spec machine I can get for under a grand and I'm happy .......nowt flashy or high end

[Enrique]

Hi DA,
Out of interest post me(PM) the spec of your i5 system, should get a solid system for 850 green ones.

[Devils Advocate]

Will do that now I've been specced 3 options all within 70 quid of each other.

I'll just go and copy and paste one.

[Devils Advocate]

Spec. posted Enrique. Love to hear you thoughts. I think there's a few bits in there which are overkill............but I know nothing

[.Griff.]

Hi .Griff.............please sort this guy out..........

Only just noticed this thread.. Sorry

DA if you want to send me a copy of the quote(s)/system(s) I'll be more than happy to take a look and add my opinion.

[Devils Advocate]

Hi Griff, many thanks for that........here's one option as sent to Enrique, the other 2 are also i5 specced and similar price..........this is build yourself of course.

My chap is now speccing a non i3/5/7 spec system using dual core 3.2 mhz which I think should still do the trick...........I'll post that up too when it arrives and would love to hear your thoughts as I want to order this week. Hoping to save a couple of hundred quid as the steering wheel set up is about 300.....getting expensive to have a couple of virtual races

Here goes..and thanks again

PS Never heard of this graphics card, was expecting NVIDIA OR ATI but this was specced, I'm assured it's good but as I say I'm green.


1
LN23301
500W Coolermaster Silent Pro Whisper Quiet Modular PSU £53.49 £62.85
1
LN24636
Coolermaster Elite 335 Black Mini Tower Case with Rear 120mm Fan w/o PSU £24.97 £29.34
1
LN26873
500 GB Seagate ST3500418AS Barracuda 7200.12, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 9.5 ms, NCQ Was £25.49
Now £25.35 Was £29.95
Now £29.79
1
LN27736
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair Dominator DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, DHX, 1.65v Was £66.98
Now £66.12 Was £78.70
Now £77.69
1
LN29161
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit, Single, - OEM £64.07 £75.28
1
LN29304
Pioneer DVR-S18LBK 22x DVD±R, 12x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, RAM x12, SATA, Black, Retail Labelflash £14.89 £17.50
1
LN28818
23" DGM L-2362WD Black Wide Full HD 1080P, VGA/DVI 1920x1080, 1000:1, 300cd/m², 5 ms, Speakers Was £91.89
Now £94.89 Was £107.97
Now £111.50
1
LN30011
Genius KB C210 Multimedia Keyboard & Optical Mouse, Black, PS/2 £7.79 £9.15
1
LN31448
Asus P7H57D-V EVO, Intel H57, 1156, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 1333/1600/2133, SATA 6Gb/s, ATX, VGA £107.57 £126.39
1
LN34549
Intel i5 760, S1156, Lynnfield Quad Core, 2.8 GHz, 8MB Cache, Core Ratio 21x, 95W, Retail £124.76 £146.59
1
LN35071
768MB Asus GTX 460 TOP, 3680MHz GDDR5, GPU 700MHz, Shader Clock 1400MHz, 336 Cores, 2xDL DVI/mHDMI £105.46 £123.92

Net Total £689.36
Carriage £18.70
VAT £123.91
Scansure £22.03
Total £854.00

[.Griff.]

PS Never heard of this graphics card, was expecting NVIDIA OR ATI but this was specced, I'm assured it's good but as I say I'm green.

It's an Nvidia card - http://www.nvidia.com/object/product-ge ... 60-us.html - Asus is just one of many makes using the reference chip.

It's certainly a very capable system and the i5 760 and GTX 460 are perfect "bang for buck" components. My only passing comment would be that it's a slightly odd mix of higher end and lower end components and if it was my PC I'd make a few subtle changes.

For example I'd probably spend a little more on the PSU, case, mouse/KB and hard drive and recoup some of that cost with another motherboard. Not that it's a bad motherboard, not by any means, but it's towards the more expensive (enthusiast) end of the spectrum using the H57 chipset. For your needs and budget the H55 chipset and the P55 chipset will be more than capable and cheaper.

I'd also rethink the choice of monitor. DGM is a low budget brand and makes monitors for various "own brands" such as Overclockers.co.uk's "value" range. For a little more money you could get an excellent Samsung or LG monitor of the same size/resolution.

Any way those are my thoughts and I'm sure Enrique may have his own opinion to add as well.

If you need any further help and/or advice feel free to ask

[Devils Advocate]

Griff, super level headed summary, many thanks.

Well that's cleared that up re. the Nvidia, thank you. That seems waaay expensive now. I've seen 516 cards for far less I thought may do the trick.

As for the P57 again it's rocket science to me. Would the P55 work with the i5 or is there a processor that comes close to i5 performance in the old school range?.that's if I even need it.

No disrespect to the lads helping me at present but I do think they go over the top at times..............the system above is "mediocre but a good starter" they say, easy when it's someone elses money

As I say I'd purely like it to be able to run this Rfactor at full speed, link to a logitech G27 and the rest would be simply emails and Andalucia.com and similar...........once the winters over I'll probably be back on my lappy in the garage and the Desktop will gather dust as the others have done.

Would you mind if I show you the "lesser" spec model when my mate fires it across to me for you to have a look at that too please.

Starting to think I should have just dived in as I normally do and bought a Comet special

Many thanks Griff, huge help honestly, clearer now with some straight talking

[.Griff.]

I've seen 516 cards for far less I thought may do the trick.

Not sure what you mean there DA?

Would you mind if I show you the "lesser" spec model when my mate fires it across to me for you to have a look at that too please.

Sure.. No probs at all.

[Devils Advocate]

Morning Griff, sorry for not replying yesterday.

I actally meant 516mb graphics card...........which should in fact have been 512mb now I've checked. As I say I've seen this decent spec of card for a lot less than the one specced. Will have the other list for the build of the cheaper machine hopefully later today, will post it when I arrive home, then I'll have to order something.

Many thanks.

[Enrique]

Hi DA,
The spec you sent me is slightly different to the one you posted on here, having the ATI 1GB graphics card.........1GB XFX HD 5770, whatever card you decide on don't skip on the memory.
On Monitors I like Philips, along with the other leading brands that .Griff mentioned.
You need to have some "future" proofing as you'll get hooked and don't want to be upgrading next year