sim racing pc build up

[Jim Cole]

It appears to be the case that it should do the job, and it seems pretty cool as well,

 

[Mathew Suboski]

So I ordered up a couple more components that should arrive later this week. I also found a case mod that I like and will start that tomorrow morning. I will post some pics as soon as she is done!

 

[Mathew Suboski]

Started working on case mod this morning. That is coming together nicely and should have some pics up tomorow
I am having a hard time finding win 7 locally. Win 8 is what seems to be all that is stocked now. Should I go ahead with the win 8? Have you had anyone had experience with win 8 yet??

 

[Jim Cole]

Functionally, Windows 8 is about the same as Windows 7 for gaming, though I detest the interface as it is designed for touch screen systems. There is a way to never see that part of the Interface but involves editing the registry in order to do it. As far as I know btw, there has been no stand alone installation of Windows 8 released, only upgrades which require Windows 7 or Vista to be installed prior so you may have to order online for Windows 7 anyways.

 

[Mathew Suboski]

Thank you sir!

 

[Mathew Suboski]

I finished up my case mod today. I think it turned out pretty good. I found this mod on you tube under lancool PC-K62. So here's a few of pics....

As soon as the rest of my components show up I will get to building and post up some more pics.

 

[Jim Cole]

Nice paint job

 

[Mathew Suboski]

I am still trying to figure out what os to go with. I have seen there is a 64 bit OEM win 8 at new egg. Do you have to upgrade from win 7 or is this a stand alone system?

 

[Jim Cole]

The version I saw on Newegg is an OEM full version of Windows 8, so apparently they are at least shipping OEM full versions now.

That being said, if you like the way that Windows 8 looks and acts, by all means go for that OS. If on the other hand you don't really care for the look and feel, you can still get Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit and that is the way I would go.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

 

[Mathew Suboski]

I happened to find a copy of win 7 home premium locally. I am going to start on the build tomorrow. I will keep you posted!

 

[Mathew Suboski]

Put together as an external build for pre build boot up. I hit the power button and and all fans are running but no post beep and error code d7 on board.
I installed a wireless keyboard and still no post beep and now I am getting code A2 from the Dr Debug code info led.
On my monitor I get the following.........

CMOS Date/Time Not Set
Press F2 or DEL to Run Setup
Press F1 to Continue


Any ideas?

 

[Jim Cole]

Start with minimal items installed, 1 stick of ram, video card, cpu, heatsink and fan. No hard drive, no other drives, Regular keyboard attached but no mouse. See what happens. If you still get the error, try a different ram stick and after all the ram is tried, try the other GPU.

Also, double check and make sure graphics card is seated properly and the 6 pin power connector is plugged into the card properly. There might also be a 4 pin square plug that needs to be plugged into the motherboard as well.

 

[Mathew Suboski]

So I could'nt bring myself to tear this external build apart and start completely over. I have come this far so I decided to go ahead with the build.
I have everything installed and powered up and when I hit power I hear a most glorious beep followed by an ASRock splash screen followed by the screen I mentioned before. Now were getting somewhere!

 

[Jim Cole]

Some people have had some issues with the graphics cards lifting a little or unseating when they tighten the mounting screw at the back of the case. Double check to be sure that all your cards are seated correctly and that all your cables are nice and tight.

 

[Mathew Suboski]

First and foremost, thank you Jim for all of your help. I really do appreciate it!
Now onto the rig. Before I started installing components I watched new eggs video how to build a computer series about a dozen times. Once I started installing components it was'nt so overwhelming and went togeather very well.
So now that everything is installed component wise it was time to move on to the OS instalation. Os installed fine with no problems so now it was time to install drivers and utilitys. This was actually the hardest part for me. I did not want to install things that I did'nt need. Figuring out what and what not to install. I finished up with installs then it was time for some testing.
The rig is working smoothly so I moved on to set up email account and start my iracing membership!! With that all taken care of it was time to see how this rig was going to perform. Well not quite, It took me a couple of hours to figure out setting for eyefinty triple screen set up, and another hour figuring out iracing settings.
So finally I get everything working together and now I am on the track for the first time and all I have to say is daaaammmmnnnnn I have been misssing out!! The physics are spot on and racing with triple screens definatley brings another level of immersion to the whole expierience.
If anyone is wondering what overall performance is I would have to say exellent. This coming from a first time computer builder.
Thanks again for all of your help Jim.

I will get some pics posted up in the next couple of days...

 

[Jim Cole]

Heheh, if you think the physics is spot on, wait till you give rFactor2 a shot Your welcome for the help on the system design, glad I was able to help you get up and running with a PC.

 

[Mathew Suboski]

I am not sure I completely know what beta testing is. Is there anything to worry about when downloading a program of this type? Does something like this have the potential to harm my system?

 

[Jim Cole]

If you were downloading a beta of an OS or drivers for some of your hardware, then yes there would be a potential to damage your system. With a sim, it means that there are some features still being worked on before it get's released. ISI is taking their time on the beta though, so it might be a bit before they actually release a finished version to the public.

With that in mind, the sim is very playable at the moment and the physics seem to be well in place, but they are working on the tire model to try and get it to where they like as well as having a number of other things they will be working out before release.

The main difficulty about it being a beta is that there won't be too many mods released as full versions until the software is final, so you would have to live with the cars and tracks that come with the beta as well as the few tracks that have been released so far.