ATS Gaming PC

[lancemcgonigal]

Good morning...I'm going to build a pc for simulations...Primarily ATS. What specs would you, as a community, suggest?

I'll be on the Windows 11 platform. I plan on a 3 x 34in curve monitor setup with wheel, pedals, shifter, and button box.

thanks in advance.

[Wolfgang]

What resulution do these monitors have?

Assuming all of them will only be in HD (1080p) you will need a pretty beefy setup depending on the graphic settings you want to have. The higher you want the settings to be the more powerfull the hardware needs to be.

[lancemcgonigal]

2560 x 1080.

[Wolfgang]

And the desired graphic settings?

[lancemcgonigal]

as real as i can get

[Wolfgang]

I assume you mean that you want it in the highest settings from what you said.

Not sure about exact specs but I would assume that you need a RTX2070 or higher for that. As RAM 16GB should be the minimum but 32GB are better. You should also get a pretty fast CPU.

Maybe someone who has a setup similar to yours can chime in and share their specs.

[HighPlains Drifter]

I run an i5-10k, 1660 6gb, and 32gb ram on my desktop. Silky smooth, even up'ed some settings in the config.

Laptop is an i7-8770, 1060 6gb and 16gb ram. Runs max setting smoothly.

Another desktop with an i7-3770, 1060 3gb, and 16gb ram. Runs high settings smoothly.

Single monitor at 1920x1080 on all three. Should give you a good comparison for hardware shopping. You wont need the ultra latest with a huge price to get ATS to run and look good.

[AyMazingATS]

One thing to very much consider is where the game is going too. We don't know all the details but DX12 is coming, along with new anti aliasing methods. DX12 is not the important part though. It will be what SCS plans on doing with it as it does open more doors.

The more pixels you push with those monitors the more beefier the graphics card is going to be. You can't run a 1660 with what you are planning. You probably could but don't expect 3 screens to be able to run max graphics with that card.

Also one thing to consider right now is the cost of gpu's. CPU's are pretty much available everywhere but unless you are looking at the prebuilt route(still expensive for anything decent) plan to spend at least twice MSRP for a graphics card. Prebuilt prices have even gone up because of the shortages. These shortages are expected to last into 2023.

ALso if you are going Intel....you should do some research into Alder Lake and buy appropriately. DDR5 pricing is extreme and hard to find. Motherboards for newest Intel will be for DDR4 or DDR5. There is no swapping back and forth.

[justinwyoung2005]

Would it be affordable For everyone Financially? ''m a Driving Simulator Expert and Love being immersed into it!

[🐺Blue Wolf]

My PC is an i5-10400F (2.9GHz), 12GB RAM, 1650 super (4GB), Linux Mint. Use a 35" ultrawide at 2k with mixed settings in game (low, medium and high) and am consistently above 60fps, with only drops to about 35-40 briefly at around dawn in a city.

If you are aiming for as realistic as possible graphics and use a 3 monitor setup you'll want a pretty decent gpu (that will be quite costly).

[lancemcgonigal]

This is good input. I've been told to drop down to 2 x 34in curved monitors. I've been told to find a machine instead of tying to piece one together. I'm thinking in the $2500 to $2700 range for the pc. Where would you look to buy a complete system, CDW, Newegg?

thanks

[AyMazingATS]

I would watch Gamers Nexus channel on Youtube. They have been doing reviews of prebuilts. 15 videos currently in the playlist.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsuVSmND84QuM2HKzG7ipbIbE_R5EnCLM

Unless absolutely necessary do not buy anything Dell or Alienware. You will come to regret it.

[Sandhill]

Originally posted by lancemcgonigal:

Where would you look to buy a complete system, CDW, Newegg?
thanks

If you are within driving distance of a Micro Center (USA), watch their website for computers available only locally over the counter at that store. They will sometimes sell a high spec computer for about the market price of just the GPU. You do have to watch every day and be ready to go in an instant, but if you can score one it is a big time win.

[AyMazingATS]

I have been watching my nearest MicroCenter, which is 3 hours away in Overland Park, KS. MicroCenter's in house brand is called PowerSpec. This one is actually a monster PC, at least in my opinion.

PowerSpec G901 [www.microcenter.com]

I would love to get my hands on a 3070 but there is no way I am leaving my house at 5:30am to try their raffle without having a guarantee.

On the other hand if they have stock of those after their raffle or whatever is complete you can walk in and buy, or so I'm told.

[Sandhill]

Or even
https://www.microcenter.com/product/639591/asus-rog-strix-ga15-ga15dk-mb571-gaming-pc-platinum-collection
It is of course worth considering what other games might eventually be of interest...ATS is a pretty low bar, and buying a computer able to run ATS well might leave a person regretful if they later wanted to try iRacing, MSFS, DCS just to pick a few sims.

[lancemcgonigal]

what are your thoughts on this setup:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/combo/gaming-desktops/77597322-db50-450d-bff3-14ade9c59d18