Upgrade advise kindly requested - PC ready for PCars2? Upgrade Path to Rift? (1 Viewer)

[Nakor]

Dear RSR-family,

Before I'm going to spend some money I'd like to hear some other opinions or ideas.
Specs of my actual PC/Rig first:
My PC: HP Z400 workstation, Intel Xeon W3520 @ 2.67GHz (like i7 920), Nvidia gtx 760, 10gb Ram, SSD, ultra old 22" monitor with 1680x1050
My Rig: Logitech Driving Force GT, Playseat

First and urgent question is: Can my PC run Project Cars 2?
I know my cpu is a bit below the minimum specs, do you think this will be an issue all the time or just in some rare edge cases?

The second question is more about how to plan the longer term upgrade path with the goal to drive with a oculus rift or similar sometimes. But there is also the question if it's better to first upgrade perhaps my brake pedals or something else before thinking about spending some money for the Rift.
So my idea is to try Pcars2 with my actual PC, so I can upgrade it later if it really doesn't work. Next step would be to buy the fanatec csl pedals with loadcell. And when I have some money left for holiday or so i can buy the Rift with a nvidia 1080.
I use this PC only for racing games, that's why I don't wanna spend too much in things I never really need. So let's see what you think

 

[Invincible]

Difficult question...
It will run most likely but especially under rainy conditions, you won't have too much fun with it.
And your upgrade path depends on how much you're willing to spend...

Before going for a rift, I would rather upgrade the rest of the system before that (of course) and also upgrade your wheel and pedal. Imo, the rift can wait. Also, there are some new VR headsets incoming which feature a bit higher resolution than the rift (2880x1440 vs 2160x1200).

 

[Nakor]

That are good point. So better first upgrade cpu if possible, because this could be the only real problem for pcars2. Or perhaps upgrade cpu, motherboard and ram.
And about the rift, in case of small budget its mostly better to await the second generation of these products. Thats perhaps right. So better first upgrade wheel and pedals, where pedals are more important. Fanatec can‘t be wrong, can it?

 

[Stitch]

My opinion is to upgrade the hardware first. Having a PC that is capable of running the game well, preferably maxed is the top priority, without this I wouldn't even consider VR since it's even more difficult to run at higher settings than 4K. A good wheel and setup is entirely your choice - personally, I'm happy with a G29, but if you have the budget and are looking for a more hard-core setup, then definitely go with that. A VR in my opinion should be your last choice. It's not a necessity - it's definitely a game-changer, especially for sim racing, but having the hardware to run the game well and a setup your comfortable with is absolutely first and foremost.

On the subjective of VR, currently the Vive and Oculus are the two main ones, they both run at 1080p - between them, there really isn't a big difference. Personally, I prefer the Rift because of the ASW technology they support and it's 200 pounds cheaper. There are a few other options out there for VR with higher resolutions, there's even a 4K one out currently, though you gain that resolution with sacrifices in smoothness, refresh rate etc. The thing to remember here is these VR headsets are the first generation effectively, it's new technology that's going to be rough to begin with. Rumours speculate the next gen will be around 2019-2020, and undoubtedly by then we can expect higher resolutions etc. - but until then, is it worth getting VR? My opinion, absolutely, but ONLY once you have a PC that can run it. I wouldn't recommend anything under a GTX 1070 for VR, I would even advice going straight to a GTX 1080 TI if you can afford it purely because you'll need that power to get the most from the VR. I'll be upgrading in the near future for this very reason.

In terms of choices, personally I say stick with the big ones, Oculus or Vive. There are other options, but if you're anything like me, I'm always sceptical about purchasing a product that I've never heard of and is lerking in quietly in the background behind bigger names - it worries me that they won't be able to keep up. But that's a personal thing. Honestly though, in terms of value, I don't think you can go wrong with Oculus. The price is perfectly responsible, and if you don't plan on using the hand controller,s you can save yourself another 100, but again > get the system up to AT LEAST a GTX 1070 (preferably better) before considering this option.

Hope this helps.

 

[Nighttiger]

Furthermore I would recommend upgrading your whole base internals. You CPU is kinda old and if you upgrade now you have a very solid foundation for the next 5 years (if you pick something above 7500). However the new intel series is around the corner and promisis some very solid speed upgrade including very affordable 6-core gpu. If you don't want to go very high end on your CPU the AMD Ryzen line is a very very good buy aswell. The chipset is cheaper, it supports overclocking for all CPU's out of the box, has more cores, the base coller is very very solid (you can OC the CPU very good on the stock cooler). You can use the money you save on that on a better GPU and pick one that suits your resolution and refresh rate.

 

[Stitch]

Agree with that, except I wouldn't class Ryzen as not 'high-end'. They're competing with Intel in that market offering very similar performance, better in some areas, but at almost half the price. Also I wouldn't ever recommend sticking to a stock cooler, at the very least I would pick up something like a 212 EVO considering how much of an improvement it'll be, and costs about 20 pounds. Don't know anyone who runs stock coolers - they're not bad, they work, but given how cheap these improvements are, there's really no reason not to.

 

[Nighttiger]

Well Ryzen are very good CPU's and in the high spectrum aswell, a bit unnuanced statement of me. Ryzen is the strongest in workstation loads. However, if you are spending that amount of money on a CPU to game you should go 7700K (with aftermarket cooler, because those run very hot), if you pick a lower tier choice you should stick to ryzen. If you pair it with a lower tier GPU there is no difference in CPU's and just pick up the best deal. And Ryzen runs great with their stock coolers, you can look it up, but if you have to money, sure stick a cooler on it.

 

[Born2BSlow]

Why don't you just overclock that Xeon over 4gb and get a new gfx card? I recently bought a Xeon chip to replace my old i7 950 and have a stable 4.2ghz which benches very well against against the recent 7700. For Vr the gfx are king...a quick google search found a result on tomshardware with advice

 

[Stitch]

Why don't you just overclock that Xeon over 4gb and get a new gfx card? I recently bought a Xeon chip to replace my old i7 950 and have a stable 4.2ghz which benches very well against against the recent 7700. For Vr the gfx are king...a quick google search found a result on tomshardware with advice

To be honest, I wouldn't recommend anyone touch overclocking at all unless they know what they're doing. It can give performance boosts, sure, but it's also one of the quickest ways to fry your system if you don't know when to stop, or what you're doing. Beyond that, that's only really a temporary fix - you're going to have to upgrade eventually, and something like a 7600k, which is brilliant for gaming, and actually quite cheap, I mean, you might as well upgrade everything at once so you can just leave it be, rather than constantly fiddling with the system every few months swapping parts out.

 

[Michael]

I second the system upgrade first. A 1080TI if you want to go the VR way in the next one or two years should do it. Later Nvidia/AMD will push something new to the market for sure. I would also recommend to get a bigger screen (32"+ LED-TV should give you better immersion than a 22" monitor).

With regard to VR, Microsoft presented a new VR headset some week ago. It's not available yet, but price tag was around 350€ on release.

 

[Stitch]

I second the system upgrade first. A 1080TI if you want to go the VR way in the next one or two years should do it. Later Nvidia/AMD will push something new to the market for sure. I would also recommend to get a bigger screen (32"+ LED-TV should give you better immersion than a 22" monitor).

With regard to VR, Microsoft presented a new VR headset some week ago. It's not available yet, but price tag was around 350€ on release.

I don't know much about the new Microsoft VR, but one thing I will say is I would never recommend a TV over a monitor for gaming. You do get a larger screen for the money, but you're sacrificing the important aspects, like refresh rate, response time etc. For casual games, like Witcher or Skyrim, you can probably get away with a TV, but for racing, especially sim racing, the input lag and lower frame rates would be instantly noticeable and definitely not worth the larger screen. For gaming, always stick with a monitor.

And yeah, Nvidia is pushing their new Volta series soon (sometime next year I believe), which will be one step up from the 1080s - beyond that we don't know anything about them, so if you can get a good price on a 1080 or TI, I'd say go for those. They're both great choices for future proofing.

 

[Nighttiger]

I don't know much about the new Microsoft VR, but one thing I will say is I would never recommend a TV over a monitor for gaming. You do get a larger screen for the money, but you're sacrificing the important aspects, like refresh rate, response time etc. For casual games, like Witcher or Skyrim, you can probably get away with a TV, but for racing, especially sim racing, the input lag and lower frame rates would be instantly noticeable and definitely not worth the larger screen. For gaming, always stick with a monitor.

And yeah, Nvidia is pushing their new Volta series soon (sometime next year I believe), which will be one step up from the 1080s - beyond that we don't know anything about them, so if you can get a good price on a 1080 or TI, I'd say go for those. They're both great choices for future proofing.

I agree with the screen argument, you shouldn't pick a TV over a monitor in fast paced games like racing games. It really is a downgrade. Furthermore it really depends on how far you are from your screen. If you are within a meter you don't need such a big screen at all. I switched from a 32" tv to a 24" monitor and I barely notice the difference. The picture is even sharper because both are the same resolution so the 24" has a bigger pixeldensity.

 

[Born2BSlow]

You'll get 3x24" monitors for the price of a good tv, next best thing to VR...

 

[SillySausage]

You'll get 3x24" monitors for the price of a good tv, next best thing to VR...

Why can't we have both?

P.S. Please tell me you also have that 'Old El Paso' advertisement in your country or this reference makes no sense.

 

[Nakor]

Many thanks for all the ideas. My setup was very cheap because I haven't know if 'simracing' is a thing for me. But with RSR and those revolution cups my interest got bigger (but I still spend my money first for karting...)
At the moment I upgraded my PC only with a xeon x5680 (6 core 3.33ghz) for less. That scores >8000 in cpu benchmark. I think that's ok for running pc2. I thought about the Ryzen 1600 what would give about 12000 scores, but perhaps I can wait the big update until going to VR.
So I think about a good 24" screen with 144hz and a GTX1070 or so. Then later I can upgrade to a triple screen setup if i find the space and money. Or first upgrade the wheel and pedals.
Is there a big difference between Thrustmaster and Fanatec in the midclass? Because I'd love the Fanatec parts but the delivery and support will be a problem in switzerland. So Thrustmaster is also ok?
And another question: Can I do a triple screen setup with a 24" 144hz in the middle and 'old' 24" on the side?

 

[Stitch]

Honestly, getting three monitors IMO is only benefitial if you need them for general PC work, management, 3D editing, stuff like that. I have 4 monitors, and a VR headset, but they're all used for different things. If the purpose of buying multiple monitors is to get a better sim

Many thanks for all the ideas. My setup was very cheap because I haven't know if 'simracing' is a thing for me. But with RSR and those revolution cups my interest got bigger (but I still spend my money first for karting...)
At the moment I upgraded my PC only with a xeon x5680 (6 core 3.33ghz) for less. That scores >8000 in cpu benchmark. I think that's ok for running pc2. I thought about the Ryzen 1600 what would give about 12000 scores, but perhaps I can wait the big update until going to VR.
So I think about a good 24" screen with 144hz and a GTX1070 or so. Then later I can upgrade to a triple screen setup if i find the space and money. Or first upgrade the wheel and pedals.
Is there a big difference between Thrustmaster and Fanatec in the midclass? Because I'd love the Fanatec parts but the delivery and support will be a problem in switzerland. So Thrustmaster is also ok?
And another question: Can I do a triple screen setup with a 24" 144hz in the middle and 'old' 24" on the side?

In regards to the wheels, can't help you, don't know. CPU you should be fine, a good one is obviously better, and the 1600x of Ryzen is a decent choice, though I personally think a 7600k would be better for the money. With regards to the monitors, so long as you have a GPU that supports multiple monitors, their size, model, refresh rate etc is irrelevant.

For example: I too have a GTX 1070 and I know it supports 4 monitors. I personally run 4, I have a 28" 4K, 60Hz monitor to the left, a 28" 1440p, 144Hz, G-Sync monitor in the middle, a 13" 60Hz Wacom Cintiq digital tablet on the right, and a 40" something something TV on the wall above. You can mix whatever you like, so with a GTX 1070, any monitors/TV or input devices will work, so long as they're plugged directly into the GPU. (So make sure you check your inputs on the back of the computer for HDMI, Display Port, VGA, DVI etc because you may need to get adaptors).