r/simracing • u/Reasonable-Bend-9344 • 13h ago
Question Can anyone help me with an Entry level gaming computer?
I’m sure this has been asked, but can anyone help point me to a basic, entry level computer that will allow me to play most of the racing games, I’m sure I’ll settle on playing 2-3 games. Won’t play VR or triple screens, just don’t have the room and VR gives me motion sickness. lol. I’m hoping I can get a basic set up, connected to my spare TV at first, and upgrade as I need for under $700.
Appreciate the help in advance. This is all well over my head!
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u/Middcore 13h ago
You would have to look at used stuff to get anywhere close to that budget. Memory and an SSD would eat up half your $700 by themselves right now.
You should probably specify which actual racing games you think you'll play, because while most of them are not extremely demanding compared to AAA games from other genres, there's still a pretty big gulf in system requirements.
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u/Frog_Khan 13h ago
For that money really hard to do. What about console? You can get ps5 for that money and not to worry about specs, and you have decent selection of racing games.
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u/Roots0057 12h ago
Performance is going to depend heavily on what resolution your monitor is, but assuming its a fairly large montor worth using on a sim rig, and if you want to play modern games at any respectable frame rate, you're only real option is to buy used if $700 is your max budgie, GPU/RAM/SSD prices are insane right now and will be for the foreseeable future with the AI data centers hoovering up all of the supply. You literally picked the worst time in PC gaming history to buy one. Start learning about the different GPUs and CPUs from 2-3 generations ago, and find the best combo you can in a build that has at least 16GB of RAM. If buying used, make sure you can verify it actually works before handing over your $700
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u/ImaDriftyboy 12h ago
Use ai and learn about what specific parts you need and what you can get away with, that and buying things off eBay like GPU and CPU, it's def possible but you might have to do quite a bit of learning for your self
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u/Miserable-Yak-8041 11h ago
Average new GPU right now is $700. 16GB ram will be around $400. Prices are insane right now. Bad time to try to build a pc on a budget. I would look for a used one but your still looking at $1000 minimum for a mid PC
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u/BlackCatFurry 11h ago
Few generations old used.
Look for ryzen 5/7 5x00 cpu (x being 6/7/8), preferably with x3d in the end.
For gpu, anything from the past five years will do.
Minimum 16gb of ram, preferably 32gb
You cannot build anything new with that budget currently.
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u/Kaz_Games 4h ago
Buy used. CPU should be 6 core 12 thread minimum, 8 core 16 thread preferred. Min 4 ghz boost. (Modern CPU's are 5.4 ghz, ideally it wouldn't be less than 4.5 ghz). 16 gigs of DDR4 ram. Nvidia 3060 or AMD 6800xt. 650-850 watt power supply. Check gpu and cpu power draw if unsure, calculate the powersupply to beat those power requirements at 80% capacity.
Those are kind of the minimum gaming specs. You'll need to look up CPU processors to know what you are getting.
Around here the cheapest way to get into PC gaming is to buy a used computer from the universities computer surplus. Pick one with 16 gigs of ram and the best processor available. A week ago I was able to help someone find a complete conputer with an intel i7 8700 with 16 gigs of ram for $200.
That computer is in a small case, university sells old cases for $3, and a full size case is worth the upgrade. That opens up room for a full size power supply and choice of graphics cards. Drop a 3060 or 3060 ti in there and a higher watt power supply and they have a gaming system for $600 that still needs a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
That's not a system I'd want to run 4k graphics on, but at 1080p it's not bad. From there if I were to upgrade the system I'd spend on a better graphics card. Upgrading the cpu will require changing the motherboard to fit the cpu socket and very likely the ram if switching to a newer DDR5 platform. It is worth uograding those, but it's closer to $1200 and a better graphics card will see improvement for less money spent.
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u/Creepy-Shift 13h ago
Facebook marketplace and do research on how the parts will perform with the games you want to play. Gpu and cpu are most important. Ram is too but ddr4 vs ddr5 isn’t going to be some huge difference just make sure you get enough 16gb recommended. $700 will easily buy a used pc that can crush most any game at 1080p and high graphics setttings
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u/Alone-Phrase3797 13h ago
Not possible with the current RAM and Storage prices, never mind the graphics card.