Guide to Starting PC Gaming

Hi folks. As requested by a few people looking to start PC Gaming, Midnight suggested I write a thread for anyone who wants to venture into the world of PC gaming but are lost on information.

First let me say, PC Gaming is not difficult to get into. You CAN run most games on a decent $300 laptop but for a more immersive experience you would be better of building or buying a purposed gaming tower. PC Gaming isn't as expensive as it sounds with it ranging from the $500 right up to the $2000's but lets take it easy first so you get a broader idea on starting PC gaming

Part 1: To build or buy?
PC Gaming isn't as easy to get into as going out and buying an Xbox or Playstation. To get a PC Tower you're looking at whether you should build one or buy one from a retailer. Buying from a retailer is usually more expensive for a less powerful tower. A good gaming tower these days go for around $800-900 from a retailer however building one is not nearly as costly. I was originally planning on buying but I was recommended to build so I did some research and watched a series by NewEgg.com on how to build a computer, you can check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPIXAtNGGCw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_56kyib-Ls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxaVBsXEiok

Part 2: Components
Below is a list of mandatory parts for building a computer:

- Processor (CPU) - Preferably a new modern CPU as it will be the brain of your computer
- Graphics Card (GPU) - Look down below as it gets complex
- Motherboard - Most that have as much features as possible on what you want to spend on one. A good MoBo is $110 - $150
- Case - There are different sizes that your case fits your motherboard. ATX size is the most popular and is quite spacious
- DVD Drive - Doesn't really matter since nearly all games will be moving digital such as Steam and Gamesplanet
- Hard Drive / SSD - This s basically how much your computer stores. 500GB is definitely enough for gaming but it depends for programming it can go up to 1-2 TB
- Power Supply - Generally a good Power Supply is ALWAYS needed, a bad third party PSU can fry your motherboard, surge your electricity, etc. There are different ranks for PSU's depending on Quality (Bronze, Silver and Gold). The amount of Watts is also important. 650-800 is good.
- RAM/Memory - RAM is what opens your programs and runs everything with your CPU. Most gaming PC's have about 8-16GB.

Now on to Graphics Cards. This the backbone of your PC for gaming purposes. FPS and Quality is what you want, an average gaming GPU is about 1GB and retails for about $150. A good gaming card has about 2GB and 1000mhz and goes for about $300. A stupidly good GPU is about 3-4 GB but they can go for $600. It all depends on your budget. Watch the newegg videos, they have fantastic info!   

Part 3: Wheels, Pedals and Shifters
If you want to do racing a wheel is pretty much mandatory on most sims. rFactor, iRacing, RBR and Assetto Corsa tell you that you should not use pads or keyboards. There are 3 main good quality sim racing equipment manufacturers at the moment:

Thrustmaster
Fanatec
Logitech

- Thrustmaster: There really is only one praised wheel and that's the T500 RS. Bone stock it's a great wheel and has good Force Feedback. The pedals aren't that great but they're better than anything logitech has to offer. They have a decent shifter too. The good thing about the T500 is that you can purchase aftermarket adapters and put REAL LIFE race wheels on it.

- Fanatec:Fanatec are probably the best for quality of the 3. The CSR (which I own) is good for it's price but to be honest I only bought it for Forza and it only feels good on PC. It's a bit plastic feeling but it's not bad. There is the CSR Elite which is basically the same wheel but $250 more which I find is useless. Now there's the Clubsport, this wheel looks AMAZING but it's costly however it is fantastic quality but that's when you want to get more professional with it. They have a range of pedals and I find the CSR Elites are fantastic, they feel extremely good and are $100 less than the Clubsport Pedals which are known to give problems. The normal CSR pedals are very plastic and plain.

- Logitech: Logitech also make good quality wheels. Their G27 is very good and like the Thrustmaster has aftermarket adapters. The G25 is dated but there is the DFGT. The DFGT is a very basic wheel but it's incredibly good for its price. Its only $100 and has FFB, comes with pedals and is a very good wheel for beginning before you want to spend a lot of money. The normal G27 pedals do NOT have a Load Cell (Hydraulic and Pressure pedals) but instead uses a pentiometer (spring).

It also depends on your price range. Hopefully this will all give you an insight on how simple it actually is to start PC racing/gaming and how fun it can be to build a computer. It's very rewarding to have put together something that you can use everyday.

Get building folks!   

Awesome right up Oscar thank you, I think this will help alot of people with any questions they had, well done

Hey I went ahead and got with a computer geek friend of mine and he helped me put together this intial list so we can see real time cost estimates. Now remember this is just an estimate, prices will vary with subscriptions, parts and accessories

                                           TOWER BUILD

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case  $49.99

AMD Athlon II X3 455 3.3GHz AM3 Processor Retail           $63.99

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4850 (HD485XZDFC) 1 GB DDR3 SDRAM PCI Express x16 Graphics ada        $80.00

MSI Z87-G43 GAMING LGA1150/ Intel Z87/ DDR3/ 2-Way CrossFireX/ Motherboard           $139.99

DELL DS-8D3SH SATA DVD ROM DRIVE OPTIPLEX 740 745 755 960 SFF COMPUTER                  $12.99

1TB (1000GB) 32MB Cache 7200RPM SATA 3.5" Desktop Hard Drive -PC/Mac/NAS/DVR       $59.98

Ultra LSP 650W ATX Computer Power Supply LSP650           $45.00

G.SKILL Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14         $144.99

Tower Build Total                              $596.93
                                   
                                    GAMING EQUIPMENT

LOGITECH G27 RACING STEERING WHEEL PLAYSTATION       $299.99                    

  or

Thrustmaster T500RS Racing Wheel                   $600.00                                              

  or

Logitech Driving Force GT Racing Wheel & Pedals               $250.00                                                

 or

Fanatec Forza Motorsport CSR Wheel with Clubsport V2 Pedals $450.00

Average Wheel Pricing                                                 $399.99                                       
                                       
                                       COMPUTER GAMES

iRacing Yearly Membership Fee                                   $49.50    


OVERALL ENTRY COST ESTIMATE FOR PC GAMING       $1046.42


With average gaming towers selling for around $1000, its obviously better to build your own as you can get your game, wheel and pedals and tower for the same price. Just some food for thought

That list is good Midnight however, you can pick up a DFGT on Ebay or Sim Racing classified sites for much cheaper. I forgot to realise that iRacing usually costs $99 a year as they're doing a 50% off thing at the moment.

Here's with the tower.

If you buy an AMD processor, your motherboard has to be AMD compatible. The one above is windows. You have to check what socket your MoBo has. AMD use little gold contacts and Intel have pins. For example my Processor is a i5 3570k and has a LGA1155 socket so I bought a motherboard with a LGA 1155 socket.

Your Case, Hard Drive, DVD are very good. Your PSU is LSP which is a company I've never heard of try Corsair or others (I'll find you a site with pc parts)

The Graphics Card and Processor are sort of the Achilles in that list. You won't need 16GB ram and a really good motherboard for a 1GB card and a 3.3ghz Processor. I'm on my phone at the moment but I will put up a list here when I can Other than that, very good Midnight!

Oscar was this the list you were talking about in PM?