Hello team. I've read several threads with the same ask so apologies for throwing another into the fold! I'm looking at purchasing a desktop PC to get onto TS21 and come away from console gaming. I'm not mega clued up on what to get these days as I haven't had a PC for over ten years now but I want to get back into it as the variety for PC gaming is far more vast and actually includes routes I work over in the real world. I've found a set up with the following spec: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 16GB DDR4 6GB ASUS GTX 1660 SUPER 1TB M.2 SSD Win 10 Is this a yay or nay set up for running the game smoothly? What changes would you make, if any? Any help/advice greatly appreciated folks; thanks in advance.
I predict that someone is going to dump on the graphics card and you don't mention how fast the RAM is (Ryzen CPUs in particular benefit from fast memory) but, on face value and if it's a good price, it should be fine for TS.
That depends on how much it costs, and you neglected to say. If it's £795 or so... that's a great deal. If it's £1200 it's a horrible deal. Also, any more details? Manufacturer for instance? The "specs" may be great, but it's it's a Dell with propitiatory parts, and all DIMM slots taken up with slow 4GB sticks, then I'd say avoid. Give us more details, or better still a link to the actual machine and I can advise further. Correct. They're not great, but it depends on the price of the system. Only up to a point. You have to run RAM at 1:1 infinity fabric on Ryzen (especially Zen 2) for best results, and 3200 is the sweet spot. If infinity fabric runs at a different speed to the ram (not 1:1), then there’s potential for offset between requests for data and the response of the RAM.. this harms performance. Also... the 3600 does not have stellar single core performance, and that matters with TS. It will be fine... I don't mean it wont cope with TS... but price depending, you may be able to get a better system elsewhere. More details please... PCs can, and often are so much more than the sum of their parts... it depends on what exact parts, and who threw them together.
Many apologies for the lack of extra scope. I'm currently looking at this bundle: https://www.scan.co.uk/products/sca...dr4-6gb-asus-gtx-1660-super-1tb-m2-ssd-win-10 I've got a budget of around £1200 with a possible stretch to £1400 if its going to make a huge difference to play.
Hmm. Well it comes with a headset and monitor (which I notice they're not very forthcoming about) but I think you're still looking at £1,000 or so for the system itself which doesn't seem brilliant.
That's the impression I'm getting...I suppose getting the monitor/mouse/keyboard could be achieved separately rather than bundling everything together.
I concur. It's an A320 chipset motherboard, which woudl not be an ideal choice, and it's also a micro ATX board, so may have limited RAM slots for future expansion. It only has the one 1TB SSD, and no larger storage capacity. 450W PSU limits future GPU upgrades as well. I'd avoid for that price.
This... https://www.scan.co.uk/products/sca...b-ddr4-12gb-nvidia-rtx-3060-1tb-m2-ssd-win-10 ...is a MUCH better deal. The only drawbacks are the PSU is a little on the stingy side (I'd be happier with a 750 watt supply) and there is no mechanical storage drive... but the SSD is 1TB. It's the Ryzen 5600 though, which is a briliant CPU, and it uses the B450 chipset, so can be upgrade via BIOS flash to use Zen3 Ryzens if you upgrade later. If they actually HAVE a 3060 to put in it, I'd go for this, but there's a massive worldwide shortage of GPUs at the moment, especially RTX cards. If they don't have a 3060, see what deal they will do if they put something like a 1660Super in it... you may get the system for £995 or something, and you can upgrade when the market returns to normal. Also, Scan UK are brilliant. Although I've never bought a pre-built system from them (I always build my own) literally everything I've bought since 1994 has been from Scan... Yes.. they've been going that long. I remember when they were literally operating from a big shed down a back alley in Little Lever.. now look at them. I've returned faulty things.. no issue. I've asked for exchanges because parts didn't play nicely together... no problem. Talk to them. They may configure it differently (bigger PSU... add a large mechanical drive for storage etc). So, if you can stretch to £1400... do so... this leaves £200 for a monitor. Don't panic over 4K etc... 1440P is the sweet spot between price and performance. Just remember, 4k needs more GPU grunt... 1440P still looks brilliant, but almost halves your GPU requirement.
Don't skimp on the monitor- you won't regret getting a good screen and may be using it long after your new system is retired. If you want to play action games this may be irrelevant but for TS (and other sim's) you don't need some 300Hz, 0.5ms response time, pro-gamer ego-polisher. I have a Philips 27" QHD monitor with a widely adjustable stand which even rotates when that's useful (surprisingly often) and adequate speakers. It's great for video editing and regular work and TS and TSW. Do you have eight year old children to impress? If not ask if forgoing the RGB will save you anything.
I was happy with what Pookeyhead recommended for specs on my thread. I eventually found a good system for a decent price from AO. It was £1200 which left some available for monitor, mouse and keyboard.
I've just had a read through your thread, nice one. Noted, thanks. The PC will be largely used for TS but my partner is interested in playing The Sims on it as well. I imagine all the recommended specs will cover that too? Yeah, Scan have been recommended to me a few times and they're local to me too. Haven't seen a bad thing said about them.
I'm not familiar with The Sims but I don't believe it relies heavily on lighting reactions and accurate head shots.
JJTimothy is correct. Unless you are playing high FPS first person games, you don't need super fast refresh rates... especially with Train Simulator, where even with the best equipment available, you'll be lucky to get close to needing even a 120Hz monitor... or possibly even exceeding a "normal" 60Hz monitor. Make sure it is an IPS panel though... or even a VA panel (now getting rare). Some "fast" "gaming" monitors are still using TN panels, which are terrible. They're fast, but terrible in terms of viewing angles and colour accuracy.
Thanks. I've had an email recommending the following bundle: https://www.gladiatorpc.co.uk/configure/config/72528 I realise it has a lot of the same options that have previously been discussed but it looks like there are customisation options available on the package. What would you guys recommend?
It doesn't look like much of an improvement on the first system you linked to me. Any system maker worth the name should be able to build to order so it's really down to price and reputation. You've got a glowing recommendation for Scan from someone who knows his stuff. I found CCL very open to discussion when I was buying a couple of years ago. Anyone got anything to say about Gladiator?
That default spec doesn't look too bad for the money. It's not really much of an improvement over the first one, but it does use quality components. It's not not cheap (considering it's only a 3600)... but acceptable as the motherboard is good with upgrade options. My only reservation is the 1080P monitor... 1440P would be a wiser move, but they don't have that as an option... either 1080 or 4K and nothing in between. It's a reasonable screen though and you can upgrade later if you want. The SSD is a bit small, but if you keep it just as a boot drive, and put TS on the big storage drive it will be fine. (or add an extra 500GB SSD) I'd say the MSI rig that guy in the other trhead got woudl be faster, but this has the basis for some great upgrades in the future with the ability to use Ryzen Zen 3 chips with a BIOS update). It is only PCIe 3.0 though, and the Asus B550 board option would give you PCIe 4.0, which not only woudl allow future, faster GPUs room to breathe, but also makes your NVMe drives a little faster, as they also use the PCIe bus. Again, depends on your budget... there's nothing wrong with PCIe 3.0, and unless you plan to upgrade to something REALLY fast, like a RTX3090... you'd probably not notice any difference in GPU performance. Looks solid. The Ryzen 3600 is no slouch though and more than a match for the stuff you'll be doing with it. It is a fairly low end chip though... but the motherboard allows some good upgrade paths. I'd probably swap out the Adata RAM for the Corsair Vengeance, just because Adata have a habit of changing specs on their RAM and NAND products without telling anyone, so you've no real idea what you're getting. The AMD Wraith cooler is more than enough for the 3600 so no need to change that. Obviously, a second SSD for games wouldn't go amiss (500GB or larger), but that's down to your budget. If it was me, I'd get a larger power supply. Not essential, but if you upgrade at a later date to a RTX3080 or something, that power supply will be pushed VERY hard... possibly to the point of failure. If you have no such plans though, it will be fine. Its not bargain of the century, but it comes with monitor etc, has great upgrade potential, and comes ready to rock and uses some solid components. I'd say that looks like a safe buy. I have no experience with this company though, but reviews seem positive. The Scan machine is way better value though... but contingent on them actually being able to deliver it.. as they may not have the 3060 GPU... call them. If scan CAN build the machine with the 3060... that's your obvious choice as once you get a monitor and keyboard etc, the Scan machine will only be a couple of hundred more than this.
Okay, thanks for the advice. The reviews seem decent for the company and they're local to me too so it seems safe. And with decent scope for upgrades it also seems a good option as a start up. I think with some of the changes you've suggested I could get a decent set up within budget. EDIT: Read your updated post, ta.
Well, that's what I was thinking. Sometimes, it's worth paying more if the components are quality, and the company is actually local to you. There's nothing wrong with that last rig you linked to, but I'd DEFINITELY call scan and ask if they CAN build that 3060 rig or not... if not... ask how much it would be with a 1660 in it. It woudl be my first choice: The 5600 is a much more capable chip, and again, Scan are renowed for customer service and have been around since the late 80s.
