New Build! - Parts list, space planning, etc... Opinions?

[athomas625]

Hey guys! I am just getting into sim racing and have ordered a bunch of parts (list below of what I've ordered and what I still have left to order).

Would love your all's input and maybe get some suggestions and guidance on what I have left to order!

I've also included some space planning drawings as I'm putting the sim in my home office. I live in a condo and we don't want to give up our guest bedroom as we have visitors often. Anyways, I drew them up to try to decide if I would have enough space for 35-inch triple monitor setup.

I have also listed my PC specs... Can anyone tell me if my PC is capable of running three 35-inch monitors? Or if I should just stick with 32-inch?


HAVE ORDERED:

PC - Alienware - Aurora R9 Gaming Desktop - Intel Core i7-9700 - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER - 1TB HDD + 512GB SSD

Wheel Base - Fanatec DD2

Formula One Wheel - Fanatec Clubsport Formula V2

Paddles - Fanatec Podium Advanced Paddle Module

Fanatec Podium Hub

Shifter - Fanatec Clubsport SQ V1.5

Pedals - HPP JBV (Can't wait for these!)

Buttkicker Gamer 2

Edit: I decided to upgrade and go with the Cube Controls Formula CSX 2 wheel instead of the Fanatec. Pumped!


NEED TO ORDER:

Monitors -- This one is my biggest question mark still.. I have no idea what my PC is capable of running as I'm new to this and PC gaming in general. I've done some research and I assume I want something curved, with G-Sync? I'm not sure what resolution and refresh rate and all that I need though based on my PC specs.

Edit: I went with 3 of the 34 inch Alienware AW3420DW monitors... Thousand bucks a pop but I think it'll be worth it. They look incredible.

Cockpit -- Waiting to order P1-X. Have my finger on the trigger as soon as they come back in stock. Not sure if I need any accessories though. Probably pedal sliders to adjust pedals (I'll be letting my friends try it out from time to time) and a keyboard tray? Not sure what else I'll need.

Edit: Ordered P1-X in black yesterday!

Regular Steering Wheel -- I plan to do many types of driving (mostly in iRacing but some rally too) and would like to have something more universal than the Formula One wheel.

Seat -- No idea what to get here but I'm in the US so I have to keep that in mind for shipping. Any ideas?

Edit: I ordered the Corbeau FX1 Pro in microsuede black yesterday. Pretty good reviews on it. We'll see.

Monitor mount - I assume anything will work for this as long as it gets the job done. I'll probably just order the one from Sim Lab since I'll be ordering my cockpit from there.

Edit: I got the free-standing triple monitor mount from Sim Lab.


Excited to be apart of this community and to get started racing! Not the best time to get into sim racing as everything is out of stock and taking forever to ship, but either way, I'll get this thing built sooner or later.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Any reason you chose Podium over SC2?

 

[athomas625]

Any reason you chose Podium over SC2?

Are you referring to the DD2 wheel base? If so, then nope, no reason at all.. I just read reviews that it was good. Would you recommend something else? I don't believe they've shipped yet so I could probably cancel the order if necessary.

 

[Tusker]

Adam. I’m at the same place you are. I have an Alienware R8 already, and am very happy with it. I’ve been researching the hell out of my build, and I’ll post all of my items and thoughts tmrw. I’m not too far off from where you are. I’d like to compare notes.
cheers,
eric

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Are you referring to the DD2 wheel base? If so, then nope, no reason at all.. I just read reviews that it was good. Would you recommend something else? I don't believe they've shipped yet so I could probably cancel the order if necessary.

It's a long read, but the bottom line unless you already heavily invested into Fanatec ecosystem, SC2 could be another and perhaps better for most option to consider.

Podium DD's VS Simucube 2's

Hi guys, the past while I was trying to find good comparisons between these two models of dd's. Has anyone tested both ? I understand that the software for these aren't complete yet but is there any clear winner here ? thanks.

www.racedepartment.com

I would skip their wireless wheels though, they are not very reliable, stick with old and proven USB for now.

 

[Tusker]

Adam

After a ton of research, here is my intended build. I will grant you that it's not for the financially feint of heart, but I'm pretty satisfied with the design. I've attached a spreadsheet with estimated costings and sourcing.

Dell R8 Alienware Aurora i9 9900K with Dual NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB
64 GB DDR4 @ 2666MHz
2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) + 2TB 7200RPM 3.5" SATA HDD
850 Watt Power Supply with Liquid Cooling
I currently use this system from flight simming, (DCS) and will simply repurpose it for race sims. My race simming will begin with ACC, iRacing and maybe F1. It's pretty beefy and can handle pretty much anything that you can throw at it.

Cockpit - All Sim Lab
P1-X Racing Cockpit in anodized black
Pedal Slider Baseplate
Seat Slider x2 - One for the seat and the other for the pedal baseplate
Front Mounting Bracket for Simucube direct drive
Keyboard Tray
Mousepad
ButtKicker Mounting Plates x4
Triple Monitor Mount - There might be better mounts, but I just decided to stay within the Sim Lab ecosystem

Seat
Sparco Evo-L QRT - based on my 6'6", 200 lbs. frame
Sparco Steel Side Mount

Pedals
2x Heusinkveld Engineering. Sim Pedals Ultimate - I will likely add a clutch one day, but for now just accelerator and brake

Formula Wheel
Cube Controls Formula Pro - I'm really interested in open wheel, circuit racing, hence the formula wheel. There are a ton of options here, and I was initially attracted to in-wheel displays, but came to the conclusion that I can get better data with an in-game display of Simhub. I considered a separate tablet or device running Simhub, but will try the in-game display option first.

Direct Drive
Simucube 2 Pro

Monitors
3x - AOC C27G1 27" Curved Frameless Gaming Monitor FHD 1080p, 1ms, 144Hz

4x ButtKicker Mini LFE
Behringer NX4-6000 4-Channel Amplifier

 

[GEO147]

Don't forget the mount for the shifter from simlab. I got the one that's round at the top which allows a bit of rotation.

 

[athomas625]

Adam

After a ton of research, here is my intended build. I will grant you that it's not for the financially feint of heart, but I'm pretty satisfied with the design. I've attached a spreadsheet with estimated costings and sourcing.

Dell R8 Alienware Aurora i9 9900K with Dual NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB
64 GB DDR4 @ 2666MHz
2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) + 2TB 7200RPM 3.5" SATA HDD
850 Watt Power Supply with Liquid Cooling
I currently use this system from flight simming, (DCS) and will simply repurpose it for race sims. My race simming will begin with ACC, iRacing and maybe F1. It's pretty beefy and can handle pretty much anything that you can throw at it.

Cockpit - All Sim Lab
P1-X Racing Cockpit in anodized black
Pedal Slider Baseplate
Seat Slider x2 - One for the seat and the other for the pedal baseplate
Front Mounting Bracket for Simucube direct drive
Keyboard Tray
Mousepad
ButtKicker Mounting Plates x4
Triple Monitor Mount - There might be better mounts, but I just decided to stay within the Sim Lab ecosystem

Seat
Sparco Evo-L QRT - based on my 6'6", 200 lbs. frame
Sparco Steel Side Mount

Pedals
2x Heusinkveld Engineering. Sim Pedals Ultimate - I will likely add a clutch one day, but for now just accelerator and brake

Formula Wheel
Cube Controls Formula Pro - I'm really interested in open wheel, circuit racing, hence the formula wheel. There are a ton of options here, and I was initially attracted to in-wheel displays, but came to the conclusion that I can get better data with an in-game display of Simhub. I considered a separate tablet or device running Simhub, but will try the in-game display option first.

Direct Drive
Simucube 2 Pro

Monitors
3x - AOC C27G1 27" Curved Frameless Gaming Monitor FHD 1080p, 1ms, 144Hz

4x ButtKicker Mini LFE
Behringer NX4-6000 4-Channel Amplifier

Very nice man! Thanks for the info, it's cool to compare builds. Have you gotten anything delivered to you yet? I've ordered a bunch of stuff and I have NO idea what the timeframe is looking like. Unable to get most of the companies to respond to me either. I did get a response from Digital Motorsports though and they said it's looking like it will be a few weeks before they'll have the P1-X in stock.

Have you ordered your pedals yet? I was going to get the Heusinkveld Ultimate but I couldn't find them anywhere so I went with the HPP JBV (which are still going to take about 6-8 weeks to get to me I was told).

After some more research, I'm thinking of going with the Alienware 34" monitors. They're on the pricier side (especially for 3 of them) but they look pretty amazing. https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/ali...0dw/apd/210-ATZQ/monitors-monitor-accessories

But, it looks like they have a 21:9 display ratio... Is this preferable or should I look for something with a more standard display ratio of 16:9? Anyone?

 

[5-Card-Major]

I like the idea of a 34-35" Ultra Wide, 21x9, 3440x1440, IPS or VA panel for my PC desktop. I'll order, I hope, within a month or so. Unfortunately, my wheel will be attached to my desk, as I don't have enough space in this small room for a wheelbase rig.

I've researched the choices for a monitor. I'm down to 5-6 candidates ATM. Here they are, in no particular order:

*LG 34GN850-B (Successor to the LG 34GK950F) https://www.tftcentral.co.uk/blog/lg-34gn850-with-34-ultrawide-ips-panel-and-160hz-refresh-rate/
*Agon AG353UCG .... out next month. https://www.hexus.net/tech/reviews/monitors/140837-aoc-agon-ag353ucg/
*Alienware AW3420DW https://www.tftcentral.co.uk/blog/d...ltrawide-gaming-screen-with-g-sync-and-120hz/
*Acer X34 https://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/acer_predator_x34.htm
*Asus PG35VQ https://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/asus_rog_swift_pg35vq.htm
*Acer X35 https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/acer-predator-x35-gaming-monitor

 

[athomas625]

Edited original post showing full build! Only thing left is a regular steering wheel and a handbrake for rally. I'll order those today, probably from Fanatec. Then just have to play the waiting game until it all shows up at my door!

 

[5-Card-Major]

Adam

After a ton of research, here is my intended build. I will grant you that it's not for the financially feint of heart, but I'm pretty satisfied with the design. I've attached a spreadsheet with estimated costings and sourcing.

Dell R8 Alienware Aurora i9 9900K with Dual NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB
64 GB DDR4 @ 2666MHz
2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) + 2TB 7200RPM 3.5" SATA HDD
850 Watt Power Supply with Liquid Cooling
I currently use this system from flight simming, (DCS) and will simply repurpose it for race sims. My race simming will begin with ACC, iRacing and maybe F1. It's pretty beefy and can handle pretty much anything that you can throw at it.

Cockpit - All Sim Lab
P1-X Racing Cockpit in anodized black
Pedal Slider Baseplate
Seat Slider x2 - One for the seat and the other for the pedal baseplate
Front Mounting Bracket for Simucube direct drive
Keyboard Tray
Mousepad
ButtKicker Mounting Plates x4
Triple Monitor Mount - There might be better mounts, but I just decided to stay within the Sim Lab ecosystem

Seat
Sparco Evo-L QRT - based on my 6'6", 200 lbs. frame
Sparco Steel Side Mount

Pedals
2x Heusinkveld Engineering. Sim Pedals Ultimate - I will likely add a clutch one day, but for now just accelerator and brake

Formula Wheel
Cube Controls Formula Pro - I'm really interested in open wheel, circuit racing, hence the formula wheel. There are a ton of options here, and I was initially attracted to in-wheel displays, but came to the conclusion that I can get better data with an in-game display of Simhub. I considered a separate tablet or device running Simhub, but will try the in-game display option first.

Direct Drive
Simucube 2 Pro

Monitors
3x - AOC C27G1 27" Curved Frameless Gaming Monitor FHD 1080p, 1ms, 144Hz

4x ButtKicker Mini LFE
Behringer NX4-6000 4-Channel Amplifier

I can't open your attachment...can't 'read' the file

 

[Chrhun]

Edited original post showing full build! Only thing left is a regular steering wheel and a handbrake for rally. I'll order those today, probably from Fanatec. Then just have to play the waiting game until it all shows up at my door!

I think with the handbrake you should go with the Heusinkveld one, the difference to the Fanatec handbrake is, well, quite big. Fanatec shifter is fine, though.

 

[athomas625]

I think with the handbrake you should go with the Heusinkveld one, the difference to the Fanatec handbrake is, well, quite big. Fanatec shifter is fine, though.

Awesome, I will take your advice on that. I wasn't sure if there'd be much of a difference so wasn't sure if spending the extra money was necessary.

 

[deandsfsdfewsad]

Adam

After a ton of research, here is my intended build. I will grant you that it's not for the financially feint of heart, but I'm pretty satisfied with the design. I've attached a spreadsheet with estimated costings and sourcing.

Dell R8 Alienware Aurora i9 9900K with Dual NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB
64 GB DDR4 @ 2666MHz
2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) + 2TB 7200RPM 3.5" SATA HDD
850 Watt Power Supply with Liquid Cooling
I currently use this system from flight simming, (DCS) and will simply repurpose it for race sims. My race simming will begin with ACC, iRacing and maybe F1. It's pretty beefy and can handle pretty much anything that you can throw at it.

Cockpit - All Sim Lab
P1-X Racing Cockpit in anodized black
Pedal Slider Baseplate
Seat Slider x2 - One for the seat and the other for the pedal baseplate
Front Mounting Bracket for Simucube direct drive
Keyboard Tray
Mousepad
ButtKicker Mounting Plates x4
Triple Monitor Mount - There might be better mounts, but I just decided to stay within the Sim Lab ecosystem

Seat
Sparco Evo-L QRT - based on my 6'6", 200 lbs. frame
Sparco Steel Side Mount

Pedals
2x Heusinkveld Engineering. Sim Pedals Ultimate - I will likely add a clutch one day, but for now just accelerator and brake

Formula Wheel
Cube Controls Formula Pro - I'm really interested in open wheel, circuit racing, hence the formula wheel. There are a ton of options here, and I was initially attracted to in-wheel displays, but came to the conclusion that I can get better data with an in-game display of Simhub. I considered a separate tablet or device running Simhub, but will try the in-game display option first.

Direct Drive
Simucube 2 Pro

Monitors
3x - AOC C27G1 27" Curved Frameless Gaming Monitor FHD 1080p, 1ms, 144Hz

4x ButtKicker Mini LFE
Behringer NX4-6000 4-Channel Amplifier

that amount of RAM is totally overkill, in fact the system performance would be miles better with half the amount and a much faster kit with lower latencies something like 3600 MHz + 16-18-18-36, you'll never need that much ram

 

[athomas625]

that amount of RAM is totally overkill, in fact the system performance would be miles better with half the amount and a much faster kit with lower latencies something like 3600 MHz + 16-18-18-36, you'll never need that much ram

Are you referring to my PC or Tusker's? I know nothing about PC but to be honest, I am not worried about budget too much... so when comparing PC's I just went with the higher specs to make sure I wouldn't run into issues... I didn't know that there could be such a thing as too much RAM.

 

[deandsfsdfewsad]

Are you referring to my PC or Tusker's? I know nothing about PC but to be honest, I am not worried about budget too much... so when comparing PC's I just went with the higher specs to make sure I wouldn't run into issues... I didn't know that there could be such a thing as too much RAM.

Yes too much RAM is pointless and will decrease system performance (for sim racing) as some motherboards will struggle to run them at higher clock speeds (will limit overclocks). With RAM quantity and gaming, it's basically you have enough or you don't and if you don't then you will lose FPS (these days 8Gb is not enough, 16Gb is the sweet spot or 32Gb if you want a little extra as I have but I do need it for simple FEA and CFD simulations). However, you can easily gain FPS with higher clocked RAM and lower latency timings (especially with Ryzen).
If you don't know much about computers but still want to build it yourself, I would recommend using this website: https://pcpartpicker.com/
That way you can pick all the best stuff and be fairly safe with its compatibility, plus you can choose your own case and graphics card so you can make it suit the theme of your rig or whatever. A general tip though in the coming months the next generation of Nvidia GPU's will be released if it were me and I needed an upgrade I would wait and buy a 3080/ 3080ti. Also, come September/ October AMD will be releasing Zen 3 with quite big performance gains to be had

 

[athomas625]

Yes too much RAM is pointless and will decrease system performance (for sim racing) as some motherboards will struggle to run them at higher clock speeds (will limit overclocks). With RAM quantity and gaming, it's basically you have enough or you don't and if you don't then you will lose FPS (these days 8Gb is not enough, 16Gb is the sweet spot or 32Gb if you want a little extra as I have but I do need it for simple FEA and CFD simulations). However, you can easily gain FPS with higher clocked RAM and lower latency timings (especially with Ryzen).
If you don't know much about computers but still want to build it yourself, I would recommend using this website: https://pcpartpicker.com/
That way you can pick all the best stuff and be fairly safe with its compatibility, plus you can choose your own case and graphics card so you can make it suit the theme of your rig or whatever. A general tip though in the coming months the next generation of Nvidia GPU's will be released if it were me and I needed an upgrade I would wait and buy a 3080/ 3080ti. Also, come September/ October AMD will be releasing Zen 3 with quite big performance gains to be had

Ok, thanks for the info. I am still wondering if you're confusing my PC with the one Tusker posted though (we both posted our builds to compare). Here is the link to my PC. I believe it says mine has 16GB of RAM. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/alienw...ssd-white-lunar-light/6373818.p?skuId=6373818

 

[5-Card-Major]

Yes too much RAM is pointless and will decrease system performance (for sim racing) as some motherboards will struggle to run them at higher clock speeds (will limit overclocks). With RAM quantity and gaming, it's basically you have enough or you don't and if you don't then you will lose FPS (these days 8Gb is not enough, 16Gb is the sweet spot or 32Gb if you want a little extra as I have but I do need it for simple FEA and CFD simulations). However, you can easily gain FPS with higher clocked RAM and lower latency timings (especially with Ryzen).
If you don't know much about computers but still want to build it yourself, I would recommend using this website: https://pcpartpicker.com/
That way you can pick all the best stuff and be fairly safe with its compatibility, plus you can choose your own case and graphics card so you can make it suit the theme of your rig or whatever. A general tip though in the coming months the next generation of Nvidia GPU's will be released if it were me and I needed an upgrade I would wait and buy a 3080/ 3080ti. Also, come September/ October AMD will be releasing Zen 3 with quite big performance gains to be had

New nVidia 3080 lineup.... Per PCMag https://www.pcmag.com/news/report-nvidia-rtx-3080-cards-launch-june-2020 I don't know about this release date...I would be skeptical, and NOT the 3080ti...

 

[deandsfsdfewsad]

Ok, thanks for the info. I am still wondering if you're confusing my PC with the one Tusker posted though (we both posted our builds to compare). Here is the link to my PC. I believe it says mine has 16GB of RAM. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/alienw...ssd-white-lunar-light/6373818.p?skuId=6373818

yeah i should have clarified I was talking about his. You've pretty good specs aside the 1tb HDD for that much money it should really be an NVME drive but in terms of sim racing that'll do plenty good for a few years also I would have liked the CPU to be a bit better bit again for sim racing it's plenty

 

[athomas625]

yeah i should have clarified I was talking about his. You've pretty good specs aside the 1tb HDD for that much money it should really be an NVME drive but in terms of sim racing that'll do plenty good for a few years also I would have liked the CPU to be a bit better bit again for sim racing it's plenty

Awesome, that's good to know I'll be good to get started! Can always upgrade in a few years if needed.