recommend me a budget CPU, please

tirofijo

Hi,

I'm not a gamer (yet), but more of a gearhead, so bear with me please.

I just bought a Logitech wheel pretty cheap on ebay, thinking I'd try out sim racing. Now I'm looking for a CPU to go along with it, since my laptop probably isn't going to fit the bill.

I haven't bought a desktop computer in a while, and I was surprised to find that prices were higher than I was expecting.

Can someone recommend a entry-level to decent CPU (or set of components)? It will be used almost solely for rfactor2, hence me not wanting to spend a lot on it. (I've never played a sim racing game, so I'm trying to minimize how much I sink into this in case I don't get into it.)

So far I've figured out I need a Nvidia GTX ??? and a 3.2+ ghz processor?

What about if I'm going to hook up to my TV with a HDMI cable? Does that change my minimum requirements?

If someone wants to link to a good site to buy the components, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks for entertaining noob questions.
 
I've bought alot of stuff from newegg. Never any problems and they often have sales. If you're from the U.S I suggest you have a look. There is also newegg.ca for Canadians. If you're from somewhere else I don't know. :p

http://www.newegg.com/
 
Your best bet is to give us a budget to work with and we can see what can be put together for you. Hooking up the computer to your HD TV with an HDMI cable is possible and shouldn't require anything special other than making sure that the graphic card has an HDMI output on it. There are going to be things that will need to be looked at regardless of what you are planning on doing, especially sim racing.

Are you looking for a system that will display all the eye candy? Do you know how to adjust settings to get the most out of the system without bogging it down? Do you know someone who is able to put components together or are you able to do this in case components are recommended instead of a complete system?

As a general rule, the computer you purchase, if purchasing new is going to cost around the $500 or higher mark. That cost is without a monitor and likely without a keyboard or mouse as well. There are specific things you want to look for in the PC that will determine suitability for rF2. I would suggest a minimum of an i5 2500K for the CPU, an nVidia GTX 650 or ATI Radeon HD 7850 minimum for graphics if you want all the eye candy. For the hard drive it would be a good idea to either look at a drive that runs at 7200 RPM or higher, or a decent sized SSD drive so that system startup and load times for the sim are not too long.

There are a few places you can look for a system used, but you need to be careful if you go that route as you never know if the person overclocked it and burned something out or how they took care of it.
 
Thanks, Gearjammer. I hadn't considered drive speed.

Let's say $550 for my budget.

As far as eye candy, I've only seen rfactor2 on Youtube, so I'm not sure what can or can't be turn off or turned down when it comes to graphics. I wouldn't mind if the background graphics weren't as good, but I wouldn't want to lose 'on track' realism when it comes to graphics (if that makes sense.)

I just searched Youtube for an example of rfactor2 with the graphics turned down, but came up empty.

I'd consider a used CPU. Besides ebay, is there anywhere to look?

Thanks in advance.
 
If you have access to craig's list, then you can have a look in there as there are on occasion some decent deals, though you should be careful about who you deal with there as some folks have had some serious issues from sellers or buyers. You could also watch different race forums to see if they have a for sale section. You might be able to find a good system that way as well, though more than likely you will find older systems that are being sold so that the user can upgrade.

For $550 US, you can put together a decent system for gaming actually. Have a look at this article from Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/budget-gaming-do-it-yourself-computer,3364.html

With that system you will likely have to keep HDR and shadows off as well as keeping AA off or low at best in order to get some good frame rates. Those will impact what you see visually, but not enough to detract terribly from the overall feel of racing. If you can afford a little more, I would see about getting the Intel i5 2500k CPU or similar for better performance, but it is not a requirement.

As you are saying that you are not sure that you will end up racing simulators, It will likely be best to just stay with what is listed at the bottom of the first page of that article to ensure you have a decent build. This will also limit your investment in the chance that you decide it isn't for you.

One other thing I should touch on here is that depending on the wheel you purchased, the pedal set might not be the best for accuracy, so keep that in mind when racing around the track. The wheel should likely be good, but Logitech pedals on wheels that are lower than the G25 tend to be just about junk :)
 
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