PC PC building & spec check

Yeah my laptop is a beast. I use hdmi to connect it to my tv. It looks fine and its good that the hdmi also carries audio so I have it pumping through my 5.1 surround.

Your selection of parts looks good for a fairly budget build. The hd6960 is massive overkill for iracing, but at least you can play some other newer more graphically intense games. Future proofing is always smart and I have no idea what iracing 2 will be like graphically, so its probably a good move.

Just for reference I am playing iracing with:
E8400 (3ghz dual core Intel cpu)
4gb DDR2 Ram
Single ATI 3850 gfx card

It's a few years old but its good enough for playing iracing at medium-high settings at about 40-60fps at 1680x1050 resolution.

So you don't need a monster machine to be able to play. I'm sure just an updated vid card would allow me to run iracing maxed (or close to).

Hey just went into good old Dick Smith and they got a Toshiba Satellite lap top $300 off @ $899. Will it do for Iracing and any upgraded versions of it in the near future. Not intending to play other pc games on it just do video camera and photography editing on it. On special and finishes on the 1st of August the day before my Bday

specs:

CPU 2nd Gen Intel i5-2410m
2.3GHz (turbo Boost to 2.90 GHZ)
L2 Cache capasity - 3mb
front side bus 1333Mhz ( how they fit any part of a bus in there gets me lol)
HDD 750GB 54000rpm) SATA
Memory - 4GB DDR3 (1333MHZ) slot to expand to 8GB
screen res 1366 x 768 (but i be hooking it up to tv for play)
Graphics- NIVIDA GeForce GT 540M w/Optimus 1GB
Disc Drive DVD SuperMulti Double/Dual Layer (this a DVD burner?)
HDMI out
VGA (rgb)
4 USB ports, 3 are 2.0 and 1 is 3.0
SD slot
LAN- 1Gbps
DLNA Certified
Wireless networking - 802.11 (b/g/n)
Blue tooth V3.0 HS (high speed)
TV tuner
Windows Home Premium

Looks ok man. I'm not a big fan of the el'cheapo laptops. There's no doubt it will play iracing...but how well I don't know. For pure power the desktop build you listed will drop big steamy s on the laptop.

Thanks just looking at all aspects, i like the lap to for portability but if its not going to run iracing too good not the thing i want.

I'm not sure about the gfx card in that laptop. Might struggle to play iracing.

You could build a desktop that has much better specs than that laptop for $899.

What Outta said.

great Ill take the info i got on what i need and see what i can get, thanks all for your advice and patience for this old pc noob.
Carn came up with this cheaper version,

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K $214
Mobo: Asrock Z68 Pro3 B3 $135
RAM: G.Skill-NT 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1333 $59
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB $59
GPU: 1GB AMD Radeon HD6950 $226
Case: Antec 300 $59
PSU: Antec Neo Eco 520C $67 (BYO power cord)
ODD: LiteOn DVD burner $25
CPU HSF: Coolermaster Universal Hyper 212+ $33
Intake Fans: 2x Gelid Silent 12 120mm fans $14


Try that one mate
will only cost $900 max

Looks good mate.

yer going to go with that, just need to add windows 7 to costing is all? i can use me logitec cordless mouse and keyboard plug into TV fro screen, plug in g25 wheel and its a goer.
Now where to get all this at the price you quoted Carn, i can take your list and see if local guy can match it but be good to know where you getting yours from Carn, could probably do a bulk buy deal.
I got a new 680w psu for this pc i got given to see if i could get it going for my son but the pc no work too good. All the PSUs the same could i use it in a modern set up (plugs the same)? Its a A-Power P4-A680 ATX BLACK Label, 680W max single fan ATX 2.0. it cost 55 buck so its on the cheap side

It's kinda hard to say Bonus. The video card requires an 8 pin and a 6 pin pci-e power connector, and the mobo might have special needs also, maybe an 8 pin. It's always touch and go with old power supplies connecting to new hardware. It's probably safer to get a new power supply.

Just looked up the mobo, yes its an 8 pin for the cpu power.

Its a new PSU i just bought it to test this old 2006 computer. its got a few extra plugs than the old one i took out, Do all the new psu s come with compatibility to old and new setups or do you select a psu for the setup you got.
This is Just for my interest in learning, i will be puting all this to the sales man anyway and can probable give him back the other PSU if it doesn't suit. Thanks all for ya help, when i get it I'll be pestering again with noob question on how to get it going and stuff

Yeah Koastr, can't really go wrong with a Sapphire mate.

They are all just braidings of the core reference card. Normally just go with the brand that has the best bundle. Performance between brands will be within 1% of each other.

Yeah that's why I'm recommending the sapphire, I've bought maybe 3 or 4 and they always have a pretty good bundle.

My Pc Purchase is on hold for the time being, Wife's Prado took the cash to get some tyres, over a grand. I priced the components listed above locally and they quoted me over $1200 for just whats on this list and then $160 to putt it together, then operating system $160, then load it and test all $100. Over $1600 in the end. Anyone know a good place can get these bits listed above, put together and up and running with windows7 hp (I think you need Home premium for the 2x4GB ram)