Final Details Before I Buy a Complete System

[lockon2015]

Hi all,

 

I went shopping today looking for a Gaming Machine for DCS 2.0. Below is what vendors said on some common topics from the threads. I write this just to confirm that what the vendors told me is what people experience. If there is anything grossly wrong, please let me know, as I haven’t decided on what to buy yet.

 

I went to four vendors: best buy, microcenter, FRY’s electonics, and a local PC builder shop. Basically, here’s what I found for a necessary system to last a long time for a beginner if you bought it today:

 

The basic range is 1300 -1800 dollars.

 

If you order parts online and build it yourself, you will spend around the lower range. If you have the vendor build it and you want extra warranty, you’ll pay nearer the 1800. Bundles-in-one were also at the higher end of that range.

 

Motherboard

 

i5’s are being phased out. The local PC builder shop was the one to sell an i5 the best. Best Buy and Microcenter are clearing them out. FRY’s sold all they had and aren’t restocking but will specially order the i5. All four vendors carry overwhelmingly i7 machines. All 4 agreed “k” designation needed for gaming, overclock option. Though there may have been a huge cost difference between i5 and i7 six to eighteen months ago, there is only about a 100 dollar difference now. Though i5 is all that is technically needed for DCS but are obviously being phased out by i7.

 

Monitors:

 

All vendors agreed that 1920x1080 resolution for 27 inches is just fine for gaming as powered by the GTX 970. Most didn’t think a 4 K monitor (3849x2160) was needed—the local PC builder even going so far to say that it would be a very long time before 4 k monitors enhanced gaming experience in anyway. Other vendors said that if you really wanted a 4k monitor and wanted it bigger, say 32 inch, then you would need the GTX 980 card and that the GTX 970 video card would have trouble powering a large 4K monitor. Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

The vendors also said that ocular rift for 350 US dollars would be available in 6 months or so, and would replace multiple monitors. That might be great as I can’t buy 3 monitors and it’d be nice to have such an inexpensive device to do the work of 3 monitors.

 

Also, about power supply for GTX cards: No danger of blowing anything out that I could find. If you get a power supply with not enough watts (400 or so), the GTX card just simply won’t be powered enough to work right. But I didn’t see anything about not having a power supply damaging a computer or its components.

 

The local PC builder said that all-in-ones had cheaper power supply that wore out faster than build-yourself power supplies, but since he doesn’t sell all-in-ones, I don’t know if this was just a sales tactic. Can anyone comment on power supplies being unreliable in all-in-ones?

 

Such systems and parts should last a minimum of 5 years, without much advancement. Has this been the case historically with older generations of these parts?

 

Anyway, just reporting what I found. If anyone notices any real flags with what the vendors told me, let me know.

[Hadwell]

Unless something drastically changes, pretty much, yeah, 4k isn't all that right now, till something much more powerful than a 980ti comes at a decent price, and a top end i5 or medium end i7 K model cpu should last a few years at least.

[Demon_]

Any vendors who want to sell you an i7 hyper threading cpu for gaming is a... Vendor.

Keep the $100 for a good cpu heatsink.

 

A 27" 1920x1080 for gaming is the minimum. Serious gamers use a 40-55" 4K tv, not a small 32".

Video card for 4K tv? #1 and #8: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=144333

 

Yes, the power supply of an "all-in-ones" is too cheap for gaming.

[lockon2015]

One other question, does the number after the i7 or i5 mean anything? For example, the i5 has these models I5-6600K, I5-4670K, would there be a big difference for DCS in terms of 6600 and 4670K?

 

I have a couple other questions, but I'll do them one at a time.

[lockon2015]

Also, SSD. Some vendors said that the SSD drive was not needed, unless you play against other people on the internet. It does give an extra advantage on internet gaming, but not gaming against campaigns by yourself. Any comments on how important an SSD is for gaming?

[lockon2015]

So,I looked up the monitors: a 40 inch, 4k monitor is ~ 500-600 US dollars. A 55 inch ~ 1000 US dollars. I could probably do the 40 inch in say 6-10 months but I wouldn't be able to get to a 55 inch for a lot later. However, both of these are 4K monitors and would need the GTX 980, according to vendors. But, the forum seems emphatic that I shouldn't need the GTX 980, which is about 170 US dollars more than the GTX 970, for the same DCS experience. So that's my dilema. Of course, such posts go back a couple of years when there probably was a much greater price difference between the two cards and the 4K's were much more out of reach than they are now. Here are the options as I see them:

 

1) Get the GTX 980 now in anticipation of a larger 4K monitor later.

 

2) Use GTX 970 for now and go to 4K monitor later (32-40 inch). I don't know if this will cause noticeable problems later.

 

3) Forget the 4K for awhile, at least until a better video card than 980 comes out. Just get GTX 970 and use 27 inch to 32 inch for now and don't worry about 4K until way down the road.

 

4) What about GTX 970 on 32-40 inch but not at 4K? Is this possible? In fact, I realize I hadn't asked this yet. A 40 inch 1080 with GTX 970 might be a good solution, barring any bad experiences people have I don't know of yet.

 

Also, I would buy the larger monitor later to dedicate it to gaming and not TV. Would this make a difference in what to look for?

 

Again, I'm just going to be flying missions that come with DCS and maybe a few of my own and won't be going against anyone on the internet until I got really good, but will be awhile. I'll probably use pure dogfighting with the SU-27, F-15/16 series, and Mig series modules. I don't plan on any bombing, no WWII, no helicopter, no takeoff or landing. I should've mentioned such earlier but just thought of it now.

[RoflSeal]

Also, SSD. Some vendors said that the SSD drive was not needed, unless you play against other people on the internet. It does give an extra advantage on internet gaming, but not gaming against campaigns by yourself. Any comments on how important an SSD is for gaming?

 

They are talking out of their ass.

 

SSD will speed up loading times and booting times by a lot, but once ingame it does nothing more compared to a HDD

 

 

What you need for DCS to run 1080p

Intel i5 CPU (DCS doesn't take advantage of i7's hyperthreading and AMD CPUs are trash in comparison)

GTX 970 or R9 380X or better.

Don't skimp out on power supply. Do some research, get a Tier 2 PSU at least, http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html, you don't want your $600 dollar rig to burn out because you bought a crappy Corsair CX series PSU or even worse.

SSD is a quality of life improvement especially if you have your OS and DCS on it as out of game time will be non-existant.

16GB of RAM, DCS likes to hog RAM, especially NTTR, speed of ram actually doesn't affect performance that much according to benchmarks.

 

Running 4K at 60fps reliably is not possible with anything but a 980Ti or Titan.

Edited February 14, 2016 by RoflSeal

[tintifaxl]

I would highly recommend a SSD for DCS.

[Demon_]

One other question, does the number after the i7 or i5 mean anything? For example, the i5 has these models I5-6600K, I5-4670K, would there be a big difference for DCS in terms of 6600 and 4670K?

 

Yes, the number mean something, Look for the processor frequency. Faster is better. Overclock for 4Ghz or more. Anyway, the i5 6600K hits 3.9Ghz on turbo mode without overclocking.

The best for the buck: http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX36377

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_Heatsinks

 

The i5 6600K (or the i7 6700K) is the newer generation and slightly better than the i5 4690K-4670K at same speed.

 

So,I looked up the monitors: a 40 inch, 4k monitor is ~ 500-600 US dollars. A 55 inch ~ 1000 US dollars. I could probably do the 40 inch in say 6-10 months but I wouldn't be able to get to a 55 inch for a lot later. However, both of these are 4K monitors and would need the GTX 980, according to vendors. But, the forum seems emphatic that I shouldn't need the GTX 980, which is about 170 US dollars more than the GTX 970, for the same DCS experience. So that's my dilema. Of course, such posts go back a couple of years when there probably was a much greater price difference between the two cards and the 4K's were much more out of reach than they are now. Here are the options as I see them:

 

That depend on your wallet. 4K resolution is very expensive.

You can get another video card (sli) at your upgrade at 4K resolution. But the Gtx970 has 3.5MB of useable Vram,

the last 0.5MB is kaput. Maybe you will have to lower one or two settings at this high resolution. Nothing is perfect.

 

 

 

Power supply made by Seasonic, Delta are very good.

http://www.thetechgame.com/Archives/t=5613293/power-supply-guide-the-good-and-the-bad.html

http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/psu_manufacturers

 

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

Edited February 15, 2016 by Demon_

[bullettweak]

So what's wrong with getting an AMD r9 390 that has 8gb vram? I use it to run 4k games all the time....It also costs about the same as a 970gtx.

[JINX_1391]

Hey lockon...I just finished my first ever PC build two weekends ago. I'm new to PC gaming, and wanted to build a PC specifically for DCS gaming. Also, video editing (was a selling point to the wife because she does a lot of video work).

 

I spent about four months researching and asking questions. Literally started with only knowing how to search for things and basic PC use. In case you haven't been pointed there, may I suggest PC Part Picker. https://pcpartpicker.com/

 

You can completely build your PC, see all competitive prices, lots of guides, and lots of help. Plus the build part makes sure that you're choosing parts that will work with everything else you need. Also shows you how much power your system will be using and loads of other great info.

 

I personally was going to go for the i5-6600K. Perfect CPU for what I needed for DCS. But ended up spending the extra $100 for the i7-6700K cause it fairs better for video editing. With the i7 and the GTX 970 (4gb) i get 110-120 FPS on high settings on NTTR (that's just running stock...haven't messed with any settings or even looked at OC'ing).

 

Here is my PC: http://pcpartpicker.com/b/wwWXsY

 

Also take a look at those monitors. I found them on sale at Microcenter, 144hz with 1ms of response for $240...!!

[Hadwell]

a i5 6600 and a 6600k are totally different processors, the 6600 non-k is 3.3ghz, 3.9ghz in turbo and will never go faster than 3.9, the 6600k on the other hand can go right up to 4.5~ ghz.

 

 

non-ks are locked and can't overclock past their turbo speed, that's why they are so much cheaper.

 

Ks are unlocked and you can clock them as much as you can cool them and/or as much as your mobo and ram can handle.

Edited February 16, 2016 by Hadwell

[RoflSeal]

a i5 6600 and a 6600k are totally different processors, the 6600 non-k is 3.3ghz, 3.9ghz in turbo and will never go faster than 3.9, the 6600k on the other hand can go right up to 4.5~ ghz.

 

 

non-ks are locked and can't overclock past their turbo speed, that's why they are so much cheaper.

 

Ks are unlocked and you can clock them as much as you can cool them and/or as much as your mobo and ram can handle.

 

Non-K Skylakes can overclock well, however Intel is gonna put a stop to that soon because they are moneygrabbing bastards

 

 

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Edited February 16, 2016 by RoflSeal