My budget “update later” iRacing machine

J

jplebre

New member
With the release of rain in iRacing, my hades canyon dropped down to nearly unusable levels.

This is already above my budget, it’s mainly centred on an affordable GPU and future proof motherboard (Z790)

When I need I’ll get i9 and perhaps more ram and cpu.

My main concerns are if I have enough cooling for the i5 and the system, as well as power, but also wondering if anyone has a benchmark for this system in iRacing

Comments? What do you all think?

Case
PCS SPECTRUM G ARGB MID TOWER CASE (PWM)
Promotional Item
Get a discount code for 20% off select peripherals at Corsair.com
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-14400F (Up to 4.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI (LGA1700, DDR5, PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 6E)
Memory (RAM)
16GB PCS PRO DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4070 SUPER - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3200 MB/R, 2700 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CX SERIES™ CX-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AK400 Performance CPU Cooler ZERO DARK
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo
Packaging
PCS Trade Pack - New 2023
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z790-ddr5-pc/cR47fdut6f/
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
I don't think the budget is there for what you are looking for unfortunately. There are so many areas falling short in order to select a higher end GPU that it's going to work out very poor economy.

The PCS Spectrum isn't a good choice of gaming case at all.
The i5 is OK, but nothing compared to a comparable AMD chip. The 7800X3D is by far and away the best choice for your use case.
No matter your choice of motherboard, it won't be future proof on Intel as they are changing the socket so the next generation won't be compatible. If you want future proof AM5 is the best option by far, as you will get at least the next generation of CPU in there and possibly even the one after that.
You've chosen the slowest cheapest RAM, this is critical to frame times with simulators, it needs to be a minimum of 6000Mhz and nowadays you will want 32GB (2x16) in there. 16GB just isn't enough nowadays.
The 4070 Super is a decent card, it would depend on your monitor selection though as to whether it was suitable or not. I don't like that it only has 12GB of vRAM (I recently maxed out 16GB on my 4080).
Very low end M2 drive. I wouldn't recommend this, even if you're planning on bringing across drives from the current rig. 512GB would be the standard and I would want a speedy drive in there to compliment windows etc.
The PSU is very low end. It'll barely support the 4070 Super, never mind any upgrades in the future. You should never follow the automated calculators guidance here. The 850w RMx would be the minimum recommendation from me
The cooler is nowhere near enough for the intel chips. Even with the i5 I would want the 620 cooler on there as a bare minimum. The Corsair H100 or above would be better though. For any future upgrades (the i9 was mentioned) a 360mm AIO would be the minimum for this chip as it runs seriously hot. The 650w chosen PSU wouldn't be enough for both the i9 and the 4070 Super though, so really needs better considered.
Silver warranty is a no brainer at £5 and covers shipping returns (which are expensive should they be required).

It's just not very well considered at all. A build with a 4070 Super in there would need a budget of around £1800 to be optimal.
 
J

jplebre

New member
Hi Scott! Thank you for this.

Could I clarify some bits:
- The current consumption of this build is ~450W ish (iirc). Why would a 650w rated psu fall short?

- I’d like to understand why the AK400 is not “nearly enough” before spending another £35 on something that will be there only for the short term. The i5-14400f is rated at 65w (148w peak), is there a reason why the AK400 (TDP <175W) won’t do the job?

- Does iRacing really maxes out 12GB (or 16GB for that matter) of GPU DDR? I’ve never seen this information anywhere including on rigs running on 3060 and below. If this is the case it would certainly be a good piece of info to know

- Finally, why is the case not a good choice?

Thanks for the tip for the silver - that’s one to get for sure!!!
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
jplebre said:
Hi Scott! Thank you for this.

Could I clarify some bits:
- The current consumption of this build is ~450W ish (iirc). Why would a 650w rated psu fall short?

- I’d like to understand why the AK400 is not “nearly enough” before spending another £35 on something that will be there only for the short term. The i5-14400f is rated at 65w (148w peak), is there a reason why the AK400 (TDP <175W) won’t do the job?

- Does iRacing really maxes out 12GB (or 16GB for that matter) of GPU DDR? I’ve never seen this information anywhere including on rigs running on 3060 and below. If this is the case it would certainly be a good piece of info to know

- Finally, why is the case not a good choice?

Thanks for the tip for the silver - that’s one to get for sure!!!
Click to expand...

How did you come about the 450w ish calculation? Like I said, the standard calculators cannot be relied upon as they opt for TDP for calculated use. The 4070 Super natively uses 220w peak, 290w OC and this can easily push past 400w with transient spikes. The standard PL2 limit on the 14400 is 148w, but you can easily blow past this if you overclocked. This is a maximum potential already of 550w, without any consideration of motherboard, drives or anything else. Typically I would consider 100w for the rest of the system, taking you to 650w (without transient spike consideration), with zero headroom. Normally you want 20% headroom but you also want to consider any future GPU upgrades, as you don't want to have to change the PSU.

Regardless of all of this, the CX series is very low end and wouldn't be considered a good choice for a gaming PC. A very low end office rig, sure, but even then for the price difference I wouldn't look to the CX range. The RM range is more premium but offers a massive upgrade in quality/warranty and is well worth the price. The 850w offering is the minimum any of us would recommend, with the 1000w being the more typical choice with upgrades in mind (you can plug any current GPU into the 1000w PSU without worrying).

With regards to cooling, on paper the cooler looks fine but the TDP noted is optimum conditions and doesn't take into account heat soak and being inside a case etc. Cooling is almost always undershot when not understood properly. For gaming scenarios it may be fine but I wouldn't want to run it at full chat on that cooler. The cooler will also be working hard, which leads to noise, much better to get the more powerful cooler to cover the needs while maintaining noise levels. There won't be much scope for a CPU upgrade though as the Intels are notoriously hot at full chat.

The amount of RAM & vRAM that will be used is down to the resolution. Would need to know what you're outputting to. I didn't max out in iRacing but I maxed out in MSFS. I haven't monitored in iRacing but I'm also on a Valve Index which is sub-4k.

The case is paramount to the performance and cooling of the system. The design and looks of the case has nothing to do with the performance. With an aircooler in play the performance of the case is even more important so having a good known thermal performing case is very important. The Spectrum G looks like it would be OK for airflow with the design of it but you won't find any case reviews showing any figures as it's a cheaper OEM model case that won't be available in mainstream. Similar to the PSU, it would work absolutely fine for an office system or something that didn't have a particularly high output GPU, but with any sort of future aspirations for higher end gear, you need a high end case to support it. The 4000D isn't a lot more and is a known good performing case for airflow and dust screening etc.
 
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