rec.autos.simulators

Due to coming into a bit of extra money, I am thinking of building a new
computer which will be used for GPL only. I do race GPL on-line as well
as on my own.

What recommendations do people have as to the hardware:

MoBo
Processor
Memory
Video Card
Sound Card
etc.

Racing is life......anything before or after is just waiting
       Michael Delaney (Steve McQueen) Le Mans 1970
--

GPLFD TEAM CHAD - You can count on us.
EUROF2 LADS RACING - Old enough to know better.

Cheers
Martin

Voodoo 5 5500 AGP if you want to use FSAA (anti-aliasing), otherwise Voodoo
3 3000 AGP.  GF2 gts/pro also an option here.  The V3/V5 still rule in GPL.
P3/P4/Athlon as fast as you can afford.
No less than 256 MB RAM.
M/B depends on which CPU of course (but look for ATA-100 support and AGP 4x)
SBLive! soundcard.

Windows 98/ME

Good luck :)

Mobo: ASUS A7M266 (now out of production but as far as I know the A7A is
just as good if not better)
Processor: Athlon 1333 (TBird).
Memory: Micron 256MB PC1600 DDR (the PC2100 wasn't available at the time)
Video card: Hercules Prophet II Ultra 64MB DDR (GeForce II Ultra). I
agonized over that card vs. the GF3, but decided the GF3 was still immature,
and GPL doesn't do DirectX 8 anyway.
Sound card: I kept my old Diamond Monster MX300, which works fine. I think
most people will tell you to get a SB Live of some kind.
HD: Maxtor 7200 rpm

With tax, etc. that cost me around $2200 Canadian. I'm sure you could cut
some $ off that, but I only buy a PC ever 3-4 years so I can live with not
getting the absolute best deal ;)

Without sparking any religious debates I'd like to suggest the following:

1. Athlon is the clear price/performance winner over Intel
2. For GPL alone, a Voodoo 5 may be the better price/performance but let's
face it, Voodoo is dead. A GF2 or GF3 is the card for the next few years. If
you're like me you'll agonize over whether to get the GF2 or GF3. When I
bought my PC, the GF3 was slower than the GF2 Ultra but that's no longer the
case. Future games are gonna love the GF3.

Build the best computer you can for the money you have to spend.  It will
still run GPL (might allow you to go up to high res tracks, wheels and
***pits....and still get max FPS too).....but you will be putting yourself
in a position to easily run N4....or WSC in the near future.  I'm building
seven "race boxes" right now for some of our staff.....and a couple
"customers"......these guys have essentially unlimited funds......so that is
not an issue.  Here's the specs on these (they are all exactly the same) and
I've put the estimated item cost in parenthesis (USD), since that
information is fresh at the moment (I've bought all this stuff in the last
10-days):

**Mobo:  MSI's K7 Master - I use this mobo because it allows over-clocking
the CPU with either changing the FSB or the clock multiplier and it has an
AMD northbridge chipset (761) instead of VIA northbridge.  ($155)

**CPU:  AMD Athlon 1.333 "blue core" - I have several of these and easily
get about 1.7 ghz out of them  (at 38 C) on the above mobo - change the
clock multiplier on the K7 Master...***NOT the FSB!***  ($120 OEM)

**CPU Cooler:  Swiftech MC462 (with ArcticSilver grease) - This is the best
CPU cooler, no contest...for the price - You have to take a nick out of one
of the corners to clear a pot on the K7 Master....but this takes 10 minutes
with a file or a Dremmel tool. ($100)

**RAM:  512 mb, PC2100 (two sticks of 256 mb).  ($110)

**Power Supply:  Antec PP403X 400w - This is the best ps on the market in my
opinion.  It has 245 w across the +5V and the 3.3V which is as much as
triple the competition. ($100)

**Case:  InWin (full tower) ATX (without power supply) - I love these cases,
even though these "race boxes" have minimums for H-drivers, CD and so forth
(they are not used for anything but sim racing), these InWin cases have
slide out mobo trays, soft-rolled steel edges and tons of room inside for
air flow.  They are my favorite case for building pure "race boxes."  ($55)

**Fans & thermal sensor:  3 each 90 mm FHO case fans (one "intake" & two
"exhaust"), 1 each 120 mm FHO case fan (side mount - blow hole), 1 thermal
sensor probe - digital LCD read out (mounts on front of case, free standing
probe above video card in center of case to measure internal case temps -
air flow temps).  ($100 - total fan package)  Note:  I buy all my fans from
www.1coolpc.com and have been doing so since 1997.  These guys are the
best....but not the cheapest....but for service and great fans that are
quiet...you can't beat them...in my experience at least.  (Note:  If you buy
fans from 1coolpc....tell Bart (the owner) in the order note pad area that
"Tom Pabst sent you to his site from the r.a.s. newsgroup" and he'll give
you a big break on the shipping costs.  And, "no" I'm not getting paid to
say that!  Bart and his wife run this small business from home.  They are
great people and they search and research for better fans constantly.  They
are a small business and I'm recommending them because of the quality of
their fans...and their customer service.  No other reason!)

**IDE Cables:  IDE-HD, IDE-CD and floppy - wrapped/sealed.  These increase
air flow inside the case by 30 to 50% and produce internal case temps 10 to
15 degrees lower than standard ribbon cables.  I buy these at *1coolpc* as
well.  ($42)

**Video:  GeForce 3 (Hercules).  ($365)

**Sound:  SB Live 5.1 X-Gamer.  ($45)

**Drives/storage:  I use a standard package of drives for these "race boxes"
that's a "no frills" set (these are only used for sim racing...so no "trick"
drives is necessary).  Usually that's an IBM 40 gig HD, an internal Zip
drive, std floppy and around a 40X CD drive.  ($225)

**LAN/Modem:  What ever your ISP or Internet connection requires. ($40)

Lee.....I am currently sim racing on a "race box" almost exactly like I've
described above.  Here's my performance key indicators:

***GPL***  at 1600 screen-res, back of field start at Mexico...full AI
fields....all sliders to max....high-res***pits, wheels and 32 bit tracks
= 25 FPS...goes to 36 FPS at the T-1 thin out of the AI field.

***N4*** at 1600 screen-res (OpenGL) with all detail settings to max,
sitting in pits - Practice Session - Atlanta (first FPS reading) = 118 FPS

***3DMark2001 Scores***  = 6100's

Lee.....as constructed .....these pure "race boxes" are under $1,500.
That's a lot of FPS and killer "eye candy" for the price.  And, you'll be
set to "upgrade" almost at will.....and sitting pretty for WSC when its out.

I hope this has been helpful?

Regards,

Tom Pabst

Is there really any benefit to going beyond say 800mhz?

I can now run the detail bar on 75% (-------+---) instead of 45%
(-----+------) and use 3d wheels (draw distance 8), and I still get a higher
frame rate (full grid race starts) than on the P3-650 (same video card of
course).

This is partly because I'm using D3D of course.  Voodoo owners might not
need the same CPU horsepower.

And, you only need this kind of system if you run full-grid races vs the AI.

Alex

--

     Rob.

Jan.
=---
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.

Hope that helps!

Jim

btw Insight have a GF3 for 286.

Eldred
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
F1 hcp. +16.36...Monster +366.59...

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
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--
Biz

"Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand
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