PC for Simulation Gaming

Bobit987

Member
Hi, I'm hoping to get some advice and tips on purchasing my first desktop PC.

I'm currently looking to buy a PC for simulation gaming. Currently have a PS4/Xbox so looking at a PC for games such as Cities: Skyline, Planet Coast, Two Point Hospital etc. I'm kind of new to this as I've had a Mac for over a decade.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to a good build please? Budget isn't tight so can afford a decent system.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Hi, I'm hoping to get some advice and tips on purchasing my first desktop PC.

I'm currently looking to buy a PC for simulation gaming. Currently have a PS4/Xbox so looking at a PC for games such as Cities: Skyline, Planet Coast, Two Point Hospital etc. I'm kind of new to this as I've had a Mac for over a decade.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to a good build please? Budget isn't tight so can afford a decent system.

Are you looking for a PCS build?

What’s your max budget? £4000, £8000? Totally depends on this to what build you need.

What monitor are you pairing it with? What resolution and refresh rate?
 

Bobit987

Member
Are you looking for a PCS build?

What’s your max budget? £4000, £8000? Totally depends on this to what build you need.

What monitor are you pairing it with? What resolution and refresh rate?

Yeah I'd be happy to go with a PCS build. Max would probably be around £1500.

In terms of monitor i'd probably go for between 24-27in. Unsure of resolution/refresh rate, whatever would be good for the games I'd play.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Yeah I'd be happy to go with a PCS build. Max would probably be around £1500.

In terms of monitor i'd probably go for between 24-27in. Unsure of resolution/refresh rate, whatever would be good for the games I'd play.

And what games do you play?

Do you need keyboard and mouse?
 

Bobit987

Member
'looking at a PC for games such as Cities: Skyline, Planet Coast, Two Point Hospital etc.'

As for keyboard and mouse I do have a new basic set stored away. So I'd probably stick with them for now and then upgrade once I've tried them out
 
Last edited by a moderator:

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
'looking at a PC for games such as Cities: Skyline, Planet Coast, Two Point Hospital etc.'

As for keyboard and mouse I do have a new basic set stored away. So I'd probably stick with them for now and then upgrade once I've tried them out

Sorry, totally missed that on the second scan!

I guess if we aim for perhaps £200 for the monitor giving £1300 for the rig itself, you should be able to factor in a gtx2070.

I’d hold off just for a tiny bit. Reason is, Nvidia have just announced a new range of cards which are now on preorder, but there’s an NDA in place until I think the 14th September.

We’ll get some benchmarks to see if they’re really worth the investment. They adopt a new shading and lighting technology called ray tracing which looks pretty sweet and makes a big impact to overall graphics realism in games. Not sure any of the games you mention will benefit from ray tracing but you may well want it in the future
 

Bobit987

Member
Thanks for the response.

Having looked through the recent forum posts it seems £1300 is the average price which seems reasonable.

I'm not looking to purchase the PC in the next week so waiting isn't a problem. Out of interest what would be a good build based on whats currently available?
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Thanks for the response.

Having looked through the recent forum posts it seems £1300 is the average price which seems reasonable.

I'm not looking to purchase the PC in the next week so waiting isn't a problem. Out of interest what would be a good build based on whats currently available?

As an example, but don’t take this as final, there are some other guys that are much better at configuring specs than me...

This is a tiny bit over:

Case
GAME MAX FALCON BLACK GAMING CASE (RGB LED)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-8600K (3.6 GHz) 9 MB Cache
FREE PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Battlefield 1 & More! w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1070 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk
500GB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 16MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB ADATA SX6000 PCIe M.2 2280 (1000 MB/R, 800 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,349.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/B9ryk8T7rJ/
 

Bobit987

Member
As an example, but don’t take this as final, there are some other guys that are much better at configuring specs than me...

This is a tiny bit over:

Case
GAME MAX FALCON BLACK GAMING CASE (RGB LED)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-8600K (3.6 GHz) 9 MB Cache
FREE PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Battlefield 1 & More! w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1070 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk
500GB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 16MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB ADATA SX6000 PCIe M.2 2280 (1000 MB/R, 800 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,349.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/B9ryk8T7rJ/

Thanks for the quote, gives me an idea of what to be looking for. I've saved it for now and as you say will look in around a week or twos time to see if the prices differ.

I've looked through so many build threads on this forum last night that I think I feel more confused than I did at the start haha
 

Bobit987

Member
While that's an ideal,
a) you have a limited budget
b) RAM is super expensive right now (~2x former prices)
c) the performance difference between 8gb and 16gb for gaming is somewhere between 0 and tiny
d) it's a lot easier to add more RAM in the future than it is to perform many other upgrades - and it's usually more cost effective to add a component than to replace an existing one

I did suggest 16gb RAM for the £1350 build - but for a £1000 build where you need a monitor etc within that budget too, paying for 16gb RAM will overly compromise the rest of the system.

If you can afford it, I would suggest the better system. It gives you the 16gb RAM, and while prices are very high at least you don't need to worry about upgrading later. The monitor is much better, and the i5 8400 is better for gaming than the R5 1600, in as much as there's a difference.

You could go with the 2nd system I posted, get the better monitor (AOC G2590PX), up the RAM to 16gb 3000MHz, and that's about £1250.

If buying 16gb RAM, buy 3000MHz as some games can benefit a huge amount from faster RAM. But at 8gb the pricing doesn't really justify that.

I've been reading through multiple threads and been looking at the 2 systems Oussebon has created on this post. I'm interested in buying a new PC and in a similar position as the original poster. If I'm looking to purchase a PC for gaming like Cities: Skyline, Two Point Hospital, Planet Coaster which of the above systems would be best? I won't be running any intensive FPS etc as I use the PS4/Xbox for those kind of games. Looking for a new platform to play simulation games on.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
I've been reading through multiple threads and been looking at the 2 systems Oussebon has created on this post. I'm interested in buying a new PC and in a similar position as the original poster. If I'm looking to purchase a PC for gaming like Cities: Skyline, Two Point Hospital, Planet Coaster which of the above systems would be best? I won't be running any intensive FPS etc as I use the PS4/Xbox for those kind of games. Looking for a new platform to play simulation games on.

It would be best to create your own thread as your uses and budget will be different ergo different system.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
I've taken the liberty of moving the 2 posts above to from this thread https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?60306-Can-I-have-some-advice-please to here :)

The builds I posted in the other topic were a bit more for generic gaming, and one was aimed at ~£1350 budget and the other at ~£1000 give-or-take. So different budget to your situation.

I would suggest something along the lines of what Spydertracks suggested. For simulation gaming I might try and look at squeezing an i7 CPU in there rather than an i5. The i7 8700 (non-k version) is only about £60 more than the i5 8600k, and you could pay for most of that by dropping the PSU to a 550W VS series. e.g. (https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/Qk534repGb/)

But I'd strongly agree with Spydertracks' suggestion to hold off and see what the new CPUs and GPUs do to pricing and whether they offer better bang for buck.
 

Bobit987

Member
I've taken the liberty of moving the 2 posts above to from this thread https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?60306-Can-I-have-some-advice-please to here :)

The builds I posted in the other topic were a bit more for generic gaming, and one was aimed at ~£1350 budget and the other at ~£1000 give-or-take. So different budget to your situation.

I would suggest something along the lines of what Spydertracks suggested. For simulation gaming I might try and look at squeezing an i7 CPU in there rather than an i5. The i7 8700 (non-k version) is only about £60 more than the i5 8600k, and you could pay for most of that by dropping the PSU to a 550W VS series. e.g. (https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/Qk534repGb/)

But I'd strongly agree with Spydertracks' suggestion to hold off and see what the new CPUs and GPUs do to pricing and whether they offer better bang for buck.

On the back of the previous message a few weeks back are you aware of any fluctuations in pricing? Any changes in the build type both of you suggested in the previous postings? Tempted to purchase the PC this month if possible.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Be aware Intel are releasing new CPUs in October which are expected to offer a bit better performance for a similar price.

What was the budget ultimately? Because all the specs above are pretty different in the budget they target and what they were designed for.
 

Bobit987

Member
Be aware Intel are releasing new CPUs in October which are expected to offer a bit better performance for a similar price.

What was the budget ultimately? Because all the specs above are pretty different in the budget they target and what they were designed for.

Probably looking around £1000-£1500 but the budget isn't really fixed. So long as the system itself is up to playing the simulation games previously mentioned as I wouldn't be playing any other types of games due to owning PS4/Xbox
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Normally I'd be tempted to suggest squeezing in an i7 but apparently Cities Skylines doesn't like hyperthreading (or the AMD equivalent). Also it's hard to squeeze an i7 into the budget.
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Cities-Skylines-Spiel-54756/Specials/CPU-Benchmark-Core-Ryzen-1255238/

I would really suggest waiting for the next CPUs out in October as by all accounts they will have higher clocked i5s.

From the current selection something like:

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 275R TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i5-8600K Six Core (3.6GHz @ up to 4.6GHz)
---FREE PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Battlefield 1 & More! w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 580 - HDMI, 3 x DP - DX® 12
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1[SUP]st[/SUP] M.2 SSD Drive
250GB WD Black™ M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/s R | 1600MB/s W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Monitor
IIYAMA G2530HSU-B1 24.5" Gaming Monitor
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,445.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-overclocked/FXptrR2HH2/
 

Bobit987

Member
Normally I'd be tempted to suggest squeezing in an i7 but apparently Cities Skylines doesn't like hyperthreading (or the AMD equivalent). Also it's hard to squeeze an i7 into the budget.
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Cities-Skylines-Spiel-54756/Specials/CPU-Benchmark-Core-Ryzen-1255238/

I would really suggest waiting for the next CPUs out in October as by all accounts they will have higher clocked i5s.

From the current selection something like:

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 275R TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i5-8600K Six Core (3.6GHz @ up to 4.6GHz)
---FREE PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Battlefield 1 & More! w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 580 - HDMI, 3 x DP - DX® 12
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1[SUP]st[/SUP] M.2 SSD Drive
250GB WD Black™ M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/s R | 1600MB/s W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Monitor
IIYAMA G2530HSU-B1 24.5" Gaming Monitor
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,445.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-overclocked/FXptrR2HH2/

I didn't end up purchasing a gaming PC last year based off the advice from yourself and SpyderTracks and holding out until after October.

I'm now looking at purchasing a PC for simulation gaming (Cities: Skylines, Planet Coaster etc) and wondered if either of you could recommend a good build due to the good advice given previously on this thread. Really appreciate any help received as its still a minefield for myself looking through the options.

Budget is around ?1000-?1500 and will be purchasing a monitor at a later date as I will be connecting PC to spare HD TV.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
The refreshed CPUs turned out to not be very interesting, but the new GPUs recently out in the mid-range are a decent step up in terms of bang for buck at least.

What sort of budget will you be looking at for your future monitor, and when do you expect you may buy it?

Helps to know in terms of suggesting a balanced spec :)
 

Bobit987

Member
The refreshed CPUs turned out to not be very interesting, but the new GPUs recently out in the mid-range are a decent step up in terms of bang for buck at least.

What sort of budget will you be looking at for your future monitor, and when do you expect you may buy it?

Helps to know in terms of suggesting a balanced spec :)

I've been looking at monitors around the ?200-?250 mark as a guide but is flexible if necessary. The budget for the monitor isn't coming from the money set aside for the PC itself.
 
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