Computer Hardware Questions.

  • Thread starter dcgc5
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United States
South Carolina
Hey guys so I'm looking to build a PC to get into iRacing and obviously need it to run whatever the new racing games are at the time, but also want it to be triple monitor ready. I'm pretty much lost when it comes to PC Hardware. I know a lot about software but I don't know much at all when it comes to building a PC though I'd really like to build one.

Heres what I have so far.
I have an Antec DF-85 Case.http://tpucdn.com/reviews/Antec/DF-85/images/darkfleet.jpg
I have an LG CD/DVD Reader
I have 8GBs of RipJaw Ram.

So basically not including monitors keyboards ect ect. What all do I need to purchase in order to get this ready to go. I'd like to have an i5 or i7 processor. I have no clue how to choose a MOBO but I'd like something decent. I have about 900 bucks I'd like to finish this with. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.
 
This is what I built for myself a handful of months ago. As you already have them, if you subtract the case, RAM and Blu-Ray drive, that gets you down to just over $700, leaving you room for a graphics card, but you'll almost assuredly go over your budget.

My suggestion would be to play around with pcpartpicker.com, plug in what you already have and what you know you want then fill in the rest of the items from there. 👍
 
You probably want to get an AMD graphics card with decent horsepower as they are more optimized for multi monitor, I assume the monitors would be 1080p?
 
Yes I would want them in 1080p is one card sufficient to run triple monitors? Because I don't mind buying 2 as I had already pretty much figured I had to.

Thanks TB for the help! I'll honestly probably buy those exact pieces you've listed! Any other input from anyone else is more than welcome! This community is amazing at helping I've been here one day and already love it!
 
You could probably get away with one GTX 680 (I use one with three 1680x1050 displays), two would definitely be fine, but a GTX 780 would be cheaper (not by a lot, though) and is pretty much the best card out at the moment I think, I have no idea what AMD are doing though. In terms of power supply, I'd say an 850W one would be good if you want two graphics cards, a good 600W one would probably be fine for one card. Personally I have a Corsair AX850 Pro Gold 80+ or whatever it's called because I was originally going to SLI a pair of 580s before I bought a 680.

As for the processor, I don't know, I feel it might be a bad time to buy because of the whole next-gen console thing. They're 8-core APUs so it's unclear how a quad or even hex core processor like the top of the line i5 and i7 will perform in comparison, but I suppose it'll be a while before we have to worry about that... Currently, i5s are generally considered to be adequate for 95% (well, basically a lot) of games but you get the odd few that really need the extra two cores an i7 provides. I have an i5 2500K which is now two generations old but still fine, you should be looking at the new Haswell CPUs because they use a different socket to the old Ivy and Sandy Bridge CPUs, so that socket is going to be phased out in favour of whatever the Haswell chips use. I think it might be LGA1150? The older socket is LGA1155.

In other words, you want an i5 4670K and a Z87 motherboard. The more you pay, the better it is. Generally speaking, anyway. That is if you want top of the line but in a reasonable sense. You could also go for the i7 4770K if you want six cores, but... I don't know, you don't really need that for gaming.
 
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You could probably get away with one GTX 680 (I use one with three 1680x1050 displays), two would definitely be fine, but a GTX 780 would be cheaper (not by a lot, though) and is pretty much the best card out at the moment I think, I have no idea what AMD are doing though. In terms of power supply, I'd say an 850W one would be good if you want two graphics cards, a good 600W one would probably be fine for one card. Personally I have a Corsair AX850 Pro Gold 80+ or whatever it's called because I was originally going to SLI a pair of 580s before I bought a 680.

As for the processor, I don't know, I feel it might be a bad time to buy because of the whole next-gen console thing. They're 8-core APUs so it's unclear how a quad or even hex core processor like the top of the line i5 and i7 will perform in comparison, but I suppose it'll be a while before we have to worry about that... Currently, i5s are generally considered to be adequate for 95% (well, basically a lot) of games but you get the odd few that really need the extra two cores an i7 provides. I have an i5 2500K which is now two generations old but still fine, you should be looking at the new Haswell CPUs because they use a different socket to the old Ivy and Sandy Bridge CPUs, so that socket is going to be phased out in favour of whatever the Haswell chips use. I think it might be LGA1150? The older socket is LGA1155.

In other words, you want an i5 4670K and a Z87 motherboard. The more you pay, the better it is. Generally speaking, anyway. That is if you want top of the line but in a reasonable sense. You could also go for the i7 4770K if you want six cores, but... I don't know, you don't really need that for gaming.

So lets just say this is what I want does it seem like I'm missing anything from a hardware standpoint? I know I need windows still.

MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130692

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116899

Power: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011

Internal Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840

Graphics Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125422

If theres anything else I need please let me know!👍

Edit: That puts me at 836 bucks so I'm still under my 900 goal. I will honestly probably run single screen for the first 6 months to a year but I'd like to not have to upgrade when I switch to trips. I know I probably need some cooling fans somewhere and Windows 8. My goal to have her up and running was 1200 then 1500 total to be playing iracing. So I think I'm on track money wise.
 
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