Somebody stop me... (Gaming PC Build Thread)

[George]

Thanks again guys. We may order a PC (or buy one locally at Microcenter) as soon as today, so this help is very valuable.

I see all these numbers for Nvidia video cards - 1050, 1060, 1080, etc.

Which is "best"? The higher numbers, I'm assuming, but there seems to be little rhyme or reason about what's offered with different machines or packages at sites like DellOutlet.com and Newegg. One machine will have a better something and a worse (or at least a lower-numbered) video card, but then the next will seem to have lower-end specs but a higher numbered card.

Or maybe a better question is this - what is the lowest card that I should consider buying here at the end of 2018? I'm not necessarily looking for the cheapest, but I'd like to know the minimum we need in order to stay current for as long as possible. I hope to do better than the minimum, for what it's worth.

I can't seem to find a list of all the cards and their specs, including at Nvidia's own site! I see the RTX 2080 and 2080i, but nothing else. Let me guess: The 10xx cards are no longer made and I'm shopping stuff that's already "obsolete".

I should probably just buy as much as I can afford and not worry so much about specs, but that's how I ended up with what we have. I see the games on our current Dell and think the graphics look amazing, but my son humorously says they're "trash".

I wish I could take him back in time to when I was a boy and trying to pry a quarter out of my Dad while on vacation so I could play the Night Driver machine in the hotel lobby.

[dodint]

Night Driver. Amazing.

[Tom Servo]

I don't know much about how AMD names their cards, but for a while Nvidia has done it where the last two numbers denote where the card lies in the generation, and preceding numbers are the generation. E.g., a 1080 is a faster card in its generation than a 1060 (80 vs. 60, with 10 being the generation), and a 2080 is the newer version of the 1080 (same level at 80, but newer generation (they leapt from from 10 to 20 for some reason). Then they usually come out with a "Ti" edition at some point, that's a faster version of that card, so a 1080 Ti is faster than a 1080.

The 20 series just came out and are promising real-time raytracing, but almost no games use it yet and it makes for a big performance hit. In the meantime, I think they weren't as big a leap over the 10 series as people were hoping, especially for the price. Personally, I'd say a 1060 would be my minimum for something that'll last for a bit. I've got a 1080 now and it handles pretty much everything I throw at it, but I also don't tend to play the newest of the first person shooters or anything. It does run Forza Horizon 4 at 60fps in 4k with most everything cranked up, so it'll do the trick. You can definitely find a ton of 10 series cards all over sites like Amazon, Newegg, etc, there's no shortage at the moment.

In the meantime, this site might be helpful: https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/ At least according to that site, the 2070 outperforms the 1080 by a bit for about the same price.

[Blerpa]

The 1050Ti is the reeeally cheap budget card. The 1060 6GB (Steer clear of the 3GB, it sucks majorly in every sense) is good for solid Full HD (1080p) gaming at 60hz (Its counterpart on AMD is the RX 580 8GB - more ram, slightly bit quicker in general, quicker with DirectX 12 games but almost double the wattage needed). Then you have the 1070 from Nvidia for barely 2K gaming. The 1070 Ti that is a different card and for decent 2K 60hz. Anything higher (1080 Ti, 2070, 2080, 2080 Ti) is for real gamers and the only cards able to play almost decently 4K.

So 1060 6GB (with at least 2 fans - mono fan cards are noisy and can overheat easier) minimum as Bryan said.
Drew used 1080 is a no brainer. I would have already bought it from him like yesterday if I was in North America.

Otherwise a 2070 is better than a 1080 (normal one, NOT the Ti version) *if* you can find one at the same price.
2080 and 2080Ti are a waste of money for your usage and, also, are experiencing overheat and other issues... Nvidia new series 20xx is not as worthy as it seems (Also upcoming 2060 and lower cards won't have raytracing capabilities - basically a revamp of last years 10xx low end cards).

[George]

Thanks for those last two posts, especially.

Steer clear of the 3GB, it sucks majorly in every sense

That is the kind of advice a dummy like me needs.

I'm going to print those last two posts and stick 'em in my pocket for my visit to Microcenter after work.

[George]

Night Driver. Amazing.

It was! It had a steering wheel and a gearshift and everything!

[Alan P]

As my learned Italian friend has advised the 1060 6Gb and the AMD RX580 (or 590) are very respectable 1080p cards.

[dodint]

George: http://www.roadraceautox.com/showthr...g-PC-Dell-5680

That may be of interest. There are a couple of us on there so if you were interested I'm sure we could work it out. I'd PayPal the guy and have it shipped to your place, for instance.

If anyone is interested in getting into iRacing for cheap and doesn't want to build a PC I have a brand new Dell gaming PC for sale. It's a Inspiron 5680, VR ready, i5 8400, NVIDIA GTX 1060 3GB, 8GB RAM, 1TB HD, etc.

Got it in a sale. Retails for $799, will take $675.00 + shipping or pickup from me near Atlanta. Will take PayPal or cash in person. Literally in the box, sealed. I can open it for photos if needed.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell...p/ddcwblsk103h

[Blerpa]

VR Ready with a 1060 3GB? LOL

[dodint]

I'm positive it could render Night Driver.