PC - Budget used upgrades to play Beamng?

elsmandino

Hi there.

My son has an XBox but wanted to play Beamng, so I set him up with a Steam account on my work laptop, which works OK.

However, I was wondering whether I could upgrade my old PC tower with a few cheap upgrades so he can play when I am not working.

I have a Haswell G1840 with 12GB RAM and a 350w Superflower PSU - no graphics card.

1. What sort of CPU upgrade (1150) would I need to play Beamng?
2. What GPU would I need?

I am going to see if I can get some cheap upgrades from everyone's favourite auction site.

km1500

https://documentation.beamng.com/support/troubleshooting/requirements/

or google 'beamng system requirements'

[Deleted User]

Upgraded processor, as recent and as much as you can afford. Ideally i5, Ryzen 5 or higher (if motherboard will allow)
New graphics card (which have been expensive in recent years). Second hand 1050ti is minimum I'd buy, currently around £100 on eBay (yes expensive, old and not particularly good for task but is what it is!)
Probably need 500w+ PSU, 16gb RAM and ideally an SSD 

Might be better trying to source an entire PC at higher spec - graphics card market is crazy with no sign of a let up!

interstellaflyer

elsmandino said:

Hi there.

My son has an XBox but wanted to play Beamng, so I set him up with a Steam account on my work laptop, which works OK.

However, I was wondering whether I could upgrade my old PC tower with a few cheap upgrades so he can play when I am not working.

I have a Haswell G1840 with 12GB RAM and a 350w Superflower PSU - no graphics card.

1. What sort of CPU upgrade (1150) would I need to play Beamng?
2. What GPU would I need?

I am going to see if I can get some cheap upgrades from everyone's favourite auction site.

Minimum specs require core i3 6300 so you would need at least a motherboard that supports 6th gen core i3, i5 and i7 processors, yours doesn't and worth bearing mind you would need an 8th gen intel CPU and suitable motherboard if you intend updating to Windows 11

elsmandino

Thanks guys - this is really helpful.

I never was a PC gamer and the specs needed for gaming is pretty surprising - the last games console I owned was a PS2 at university.

It seems it is clear that it is a bit of a false economy to try and keep such old tech going.

As this PC is only going to be occasionally used, it is not worth building something brand new.  I am going to see what I can get from Ebay and perhaps try and sell off any old parts I currently have (if they are worth anything anymore).

I have been doing a bit more research and have a few questions, if that is OK:

1. I note that the minimum spec for Beamng is an i3-6100.  My current socket can handle an i7-4790.  

This UserBenchmark: Intel Core i3-6100 vs i7-4790

However, suggests that the Haswell chip is better in almost all respects.  Is pretty confusing - how can an i3-6100 be a minimum requirement when much older chips should out perform it?

2. 

Tucosalamanca said:

Upgraded processor, as recent and as much as you can afford. Ideally i5, Ryzen 5 or higher (if motherboard will allow)
New graphics card (which have been expensive in recent years). Second hand 1050ti is minimum I'd buy, currently around £100 on eBay (yes expensive, old and not particularly good for task but is what it is!)
Probably need 500w+ PSU, 16gb RAM and ideally an SSD 

Might be better trying to source an entire PC at higher spec - graphics card market is crazy with no sign of a let up!

Graphics cards are components that have always been a bit of mystery to me - I have only ever used integrated graphics and so have never owned one.

I had a look on Ebay and you can get GTX 1050 Ti for around the £30.00 mark but, as you say, they can go for as much as £100.00.  Why do they have different manufacturers for the same product?  Does this dictate its price?

Is it ultimately the same situation as motherboards - for example two manufacturers can offer a motherboard for the same socket but one will be better quality or offer more features?

3. Is it cheaper to try and source a pre-built PC from Ebay as opposed to trying to source individual parts and build one from scratch?  I have found lots of cheap workstations with lots of RAM, would these be worth considering and what about those with server CPUS?

[Deleted User]

elsmandino said:

Thanks guys - this is really helpful.

I never was a PC gamer and the specs needed for gaming is pretty surprising - the last games console I owned was a PS2 at university.

It seems it is clear that it is a bit of a false economy to try and keep such old tech going.

As this PC is only going to be occasionally used, it is not worth building something brand new.  I am going to see what I can get from Ebay and perhaps try and sell off any old parts I currently have (if they are worth anything anymore).

I have been doing a bit more research and have a few questions, if that is OK:

1. I note that the minimum spec for Beamng is an i3-6100.  My current socket can handle an i7-4790.  

This UserBenchmark: Intel Core i3-6100 vs i7-4790

However, suggests that the Haswell chip is better in almost all respects.  Is pretty confusing - how can an i3-6100 be a minimum requirement when much older chips should out perform it?

2. 

Tucosalamanca said:

Upgraded processor, as recent and as much as you can afford. Ideally i5, Ryzen 5 or higher (if motherboard will allow)
New graphics card (which have been expensive in recent years). Second hand 1050ti is minimum I'd buy, currently around £100 on eBay (yes expensive, old and not particularly good for task but is what it is!)
Probably need 500w+ PSU, 16gb RAM and ideally an SSD 

Might be better trying to source an entire PC at higher spec - graphics card market is crazy with no sign of a let up!

Graphics cards are components that have always been a bit of mystery to me - I have only ever used integrated graphics and so have never owned one.

I had a look on Ebay and you can get GTX 1050 Ti for around the £30.00 mark but, as you say, they can go for as much as £100.00.  Why do they have different manufacturers for the same product?  Does this dictate its price?

Is it ultimately the same situation as motherboards - for example two manufacturers can offer a motherboard for the same socket but one will be better quality or offer more features?

3. Is it cheaper to try and source a pre-built PC from Ebay as opposed to trying to source individual parts and build one from scratch?  I have found lots of cheap workstations with lots of RAM, would these be worth considering and what about those with server CPUS?

GPUs are not always the same product. Lots of variables, size (form factor), overclock speed, number of fans etc.
Can you pick up a working example for £30? Most seem to be parts only or auction starting bid at this price.

Same with motherboards, lots of variables, size, no. of pcie slots, M2 & memory slots, other expansion slots, power options etc

I think sourcing a prebuilt secondhand PC will be a far better option.

RAM is relatively cheap, I'd say finding one with suitable processor and dedicated graphics card is the main aim.

Talking to my gaming son last night. He's running a GTX 1070, i7 6700k with 16gb RAM & 1tb SSD, lots of games are playable but he's struggling with frame rates on the latest titles.
His opinion is that it's lifespan is now limited. From a parent's viewpoint, the PC sounds like a Dyson as it's working so hard.
He won't upgrade as can't justify the current replacement costs (due to GPU prices).

Bearing in mind that this machine will still fetch a fair few quid, I'd consider if it's worth spending the money or just sticking with the xbox for the moment?
Personally, I think new machines offer far better value (over say the next 5-7 years) compared to buying a 6,7,8 yr old pc now.
Again purely down to GPU prices.

elsmandino

Tucosalamanca said:

Bearing in mind that this machine will still fetch a fair few quid, I'd consider if it's worth spending the money or just sticking with the xbox for the moment?
Personally, I think new machines offer far better value (over say the next 5-7 years) compared to buying a 6,7,8 yr old pc now.
Again purely down to GPU prices.

Thanks for this - I think you are right.  It might be worth waiting for things to calm down and stick with the XBox for the near future.

Prices of computer parts are crazy at the moment - I have a couple of old desktop PCs being unused (a second generation i3 and a fourth generation celeron) and they are worth more than I thought.  I might as well sell them now and put the proceeds into a new PC, later on.  Do you think it is better to break them up and sell the components individually or sell the PC as one?

[Deleted User]

For the time and effort required, and particularly considering the Royal Mail strikes, I'd be inclined to sell as one unit.