New PC

Tdudek · Oct 2, 2020

Hey all,
My custom built PC is many years old at this point, even though I've upgraded pieces of it many times... I primarily run codies F1 titles and rFactor2, with Accuforce and some simvibe tactile immersion.

Anyone in the US that can give me a good lead on where to get a new PC built and best specs for F1 2020+ ? Having been primarily Intel, now seeing that AMD Ryzen might be a better bet.

Thoughts?

Tony

lovemesomespeed · Oct 2, 2020

I’m in the US - I looked at a bunch of different companies to build a custom PC for me - in the end I just decided to build my own. Saved me a ton of money. And I’m usually not the kind of person to do any DIY projects.

I went AMD at first but returned it and went with the Intel 10900K.

Emery · Oct 2, 2020

Tdudek said:
Anyone in the US that can give me a good lead on where to get a new PC built and best specs for F1 2020+ ? Having been primarily Intel, now seeing that AMD Ryzen might be a better bet.

Do a search for benchmarks in those programs. A lot depends on what resolution and whether you're using VR.

The soon-to-be-released (Oct 8) Ryzen 5900X will give Intel a run for the money, however, if you're buying today, the i9-10900K or i9-10850K will out perform existing Ryzens for simracing. Several recent reviews note a 15% penalty for choosing Ryzen when running iRacing. I have not seen anyone attempt similar benchmarks in rF2.

Using an RTX 3080, here are CPU comparisons running F1 2020:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 with AMD Ryzen 3900XT vs. Intel Core i9-10900K

What's the best processor for NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 3080? The AMD Ryzen 3900 XT or Intel Core i9-10900K? We dedicate a whole performance review to that question, with 23 games, each tested at 1080p Full HD, 1440p, and 4K Ultra HD.

www.techpowerup.com

One advantage Ryzen does have is motherboards with PCIe 4.0. Doesn't affect graphic cards today, but gives NVMe SSDs a boost. If you move bits around on disk as much as you game, it could be a wise tradeoff even if the new Ryzen doesn't match Intel for CPU performance.

Outspacer · Oct 3, 2020

Thoughts... quite simply, higher clocks are still generally better than more cores for gaming, but AMD mainly win by having more cores. I'm running an overclocked i7-8700K at 5GHz and I can't see any reason to upgrade it - either now or in the next year or two. Maybe when Intel get 7nm running, but I won't hold my breath!

The equivalent to that chip now would be the i5-10600K - 6 cores 12 threads, which is plenty for our sims. Almost certain to hit 5GHz overclock with no trouble, since it has a decent thermal interface between the die and the heatspreader (unlike the 8700K, which needed that fixing first). It costs half the price of the 10900K and the FPS difference would be small - it even wins in a few cases against a non-overclocked 10900K.

For sure the 10900K has the same good thermal interface and ends up a bit faster once overclocked, but it appears a solid overclock is more fiddly to get right and it takes a lot of power to get up to the max (more power -> more heat -> more noise and reduced longevity).

Intel Core i5-10600K Review: The Mainstream Gaming Champ

Six cores and 12 threads serve up a gaming stunner.

www.tomshardware.com

Intel Core i9-10900K Review: Ten Cores, 5.3 GHz, and Excessive Power Draw

Kick the tires and light the TDP fires

www.tomshardware.com

So right now the 10600K would be my pick of CPU, although I must admit I haven't researched the costs of a decent LGA1200 motherboard to go with it compared with an AMD equivalent.

PCIE Gen4, IMHO, is not going to come into its own for a while. I won't miss it on my current PC at all, but then it will get replaced in a couple of years time. A top tier PCIE Gen3 NVMe drive is already a very quick thing!

edit: Going by leaks, the Ryzen 5900X looks like it will be very strong on single core speed, scoring 652.8 compared to my 587.8 in CPU-Z. Worth waiting a week for benchmarks... and prices!