First time pc gamer here

[adam thompson]

hey all so I am making the plunge this year and buying a gaming pc and a sim rig and wheels and pedals.
I’m allowing a budget of around $7000 for a really good pc, monitor, keyboard mouse, Matt, 500 gb ssd drive and 6tb hdd, etc etc a nice looking case too I would like. A mate at work knows his stuff and could build me one or do I go pre built as I wouldn’t know where to start or what to buy for a first gaming pc, I want to play racing games on a rig, role playing games with mods like Bethesda games and the odd shooter on it. Sim rig I’m looking from pagani imports and a thrustmaster wheels and pedals and shifter probably, I been recommended tx xw set any good, just watched a review on YouTube looks really nice, any advice or tips on first pc as it’s a bit daunting and confusing lol and being mainly console (PS4 pro and Xbox one x) will I adjust ok from pad to wheel and setting up pc and using it etc lol.
Also have 55 HD tv I could use for my sim rig would that be ok, or use pc monitor and go a stand for wheels and pedals? Thank you so much for reading replying! Sorry for all the questions, spending a fair bit of money want to get it right and also are those butt kicker things for sim rig worth it? More feeling etc when driving.
Thank you again.

 

[Joey D]

$7,000? That's $5,000 in the US and for that, you could build a serious gaming computer. Mine was under $1,000 and I still don't have any issues playing games on it at a high resolution.

A good place to start is Tom's Hardware. It's a site that puts together various builds every so often at different levels: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-pc-builds,4390.html

When I get ready to build a new computer, that's where I start and then swap components as I see fit. You can also use https://pcpartpicker.com/ which allows you to view other people's builds and swap around components to see what works for you. You can start by going to the Build Guide and seeing what other's have put together. Also, I'd just build it yourself. Putting a PC together is super easy. It basically comes down to, if it doesn't fit, it doesn't go there. There's also plenty of guides on the internet to help you, Tom's Hardware has a few good ones, but I'm sure there are others.

If you do end up going pre-built, you're going to pay more for less of a rig. Plus you'll end up getting a whole bunch of software on there that you don't need or want. Building it yourself allows for a clean install and lets you pick what you want.

Another word of advice, do not skimp on the keyboard and mouse. Go to an electronics store and play around with them first. I find a mechanical keyboard is better for most of my gaming, but I could see where others wouldn't think so. I use all Razer stuff on my gaming rig and it all works really well. Do not go for some random Chinese brand you see on eBay, you won't have a good time.

As for the monitor, a 55-inch TV will be fine for gaming. But if you're going to do anything else it'll be awful. Trying to type up a word doc on a screen that big will probably fry your eyes. If you don't plan on doing much of that, you can pick up a cheap monitor to have ready when you need to do something else. You can typically find decent used ones for under $100.

 

[noshog]

@adam thompson That's quite a budget, even in NZ that would get you the best of the best (and we pay twice as much as every other country)
I paid $2500 for my PC to run triple monitors about 6-7 years ago and only now is it really showing signs of needing a serious upgrade.
As for PC specs I'm a little out of touch with all the latest specs of products, but will just say dont skimp on RAM, GPU or SSD. You should be looking at least 16GB RAM, you prob wont need the top of the line GPU but try and get as close as you can to it, and for me I dont like having multiple hard drives, so I would say go for a 1TB SSD so you should have enough space to just load everything up on one HD.
You can probably save some money on the PC side to upgrade to some Fanatec wheel and pedals, pretty sure the Fanatec stuff is a level up from Thrustmaster, especially when it comes to the pedals. If you buying a full rig, get something that is solid and doesn't wobble, something with the supports either side rather than a center support is usually the way to go here. Also dont get a rig that has the monitor mounts attached to the actual rig, any little movement in the rig itself will be exaggerated in the monitors.

Good luck, and have fun 👍

 

[Rallywagon]

First off, let me welcome you to the master race. Once you go PC... well, you will probably go back... and forth.
As for the build. Getting the accessories, wheel, key, mouse etc out of the way you will be looking at about 4k usd, or 5.5k aus spend on the PC.
I definitely recommend building your own, for two reason, better bang for buck, and you get to learn where and what everything is, and that will help you out later when it's time to upgrade.
Now, to the meat and potatoes. First let's start with the motherboard (mobo) and CPU. You have two choices in that regard, AMD or Intel. At this point, it's more about preference. AMD has really stepped up with their Ryzen chipsets. If you dont wanna fork over the dough for a threadripper, a Ryzen 5 or 7 will do well. On the Intel side are the i5 and i7 chipsets. I wouldn't bother with an i3. The current gen are theb9k series chips. But the 8k series work well too if you wanna keep prices down.
For the mobo. Stick to the big names, ASUS, MSI, etc. Make sure to get a gaming specific mobo probably in the ATX form factor (unless you wanna go as small as possible, which changes lot of the below info), as they tend to have features that will make for a better experience, such as improved bus speeds and easy over clocking options, optimized PCI lanes, etc.
Next up is RAM DDR4 is king at the moment, and standard on all current gen mobos/chipsets. I would suggest 32gb at this point. With ray trace implementation in the horizon, as well as the running of background apps, launchers, etc, 16gb is starting to look small. I highly suggest Corsair or G.Skill running at 2666 at least, 3200 if you wanna spring for it.
A GPU... honestly, here its go big or go home. Get an Nvidia RTX 2070 or 2080, same as with the mobo, go for a big name brand.
For a power supply, you should be good with anything between 500 and 750w, any more is way overkill. Honestly, 750w is overkill, but it leaves some flexability if you wanna get wild with dual cards and huge water coolers and all that jazz. Corsair, EVGA, Thermaltake are all good brands, I suggest getting a modular psu, as it helps make cable management cleaner and easier.
For a case, I mean, get what you like, but, I suggest a fractal design case, just make sure it fits your mobos form factor and has enough room for your cooling decision.
As for cooling. I highly recommend at least an AIO 2x120mm water cooler for the cpu. At least. But, if you're going big though, getting a 3x120mm looped system along with a cooling block for the GPU is the way to go.
Now, for storage, and speaking as an IT guy who worked in storage, jre is my suggestion. First off, for SSD's, don't mess around. Just fork over the cash for Samsung Evo's. I would do 250gb for your operating system only. Then a 500gb or two for gaming. For back up, if that was what the spin disk was for, get at least 2 1tb drives and run them in raid. That way if one disk goes out, you don't lose your data. With a good case, you should have plenty of room for 4 or 5 hard drives. Just make sure the mobo you get has enough SATA ports. Most have 6 these days.
Finally, the display. Do not use a TV. Get a monitor. Further, I recommend getting a g sync or free sync monitor. Pick whatever size and resolution fits your needs. Just do not use a tv.

Got any questions, feel free to ask away. When the tine comes to purchase and you are unsure of what you got, drop a copy of the posts list here and you will definitely get some help. Same with building when you do get it. I mean, really, is like adult legos. It is really easy the days. But we definitely will help ya out.