Should I spent the extra $200? Computer experts please chime in.

[shellman19]

I am FINALLY ready to starting buying the various components for my sim!
Here are the 2 computers I am considering buying:

1) https://www.costco.com/Lenovo-LEGION...100403063.html

2) https://www.costco.com/Alienware-Aur...100405468.html

As you can see the are pretty similar. I have no idea if the $200 price difference would be a worth it expense or wasted money. Would love to hear from those of you who know the in's & out's from PC spec side of things.

Thank you in advance for your input!

[Lefty71]

GO WITH THE 16GB OF RAM Sorry all caps LOL

[Bill Holt]

Could you help me please I noticed I see Lefty 71 on this website I am new on this website still trying to figure out how to operate it just bought a optishot 2 getting ready to remodel my garage and make something nice for my boys myself and Friends I know nothing about computers when I go on the web I read all different things about what I should have when it comes to graphic cards can you recommend a laptop that would run optishot 2 something around $300 also maybe hitting mat and screen projector I know I'm asking a lot just a computer would be fine I appreciate it thank you

[Godfather]

GO WITH THE 16GB OF RAM Sorry all caps LOL

Over 32gb for less?

I don’t think the gtx1070ti is worth it over the regular gtx1070. My 6gb GTX1060 runs TGC at high detail with no issues.

[cooke23]

For sim alone.....both are overkill by a lot. Could build a more in line SIM PC for much cheaper and still have a 1070 in it.

[andygg1986]

I agree that both are overkill and that you could find something with a good graphics card and i5 instead of i7 which won't affect simulator gameplay for considerably less. Also, TGC is probably the most demanding of all the simulator softwares in terms of graphics cards. If you are looking at other ones, you could get away with a lower performance computer.

1060 for $800

http://www.microcenter.com/product/507160/g223-desktop-computer

1070 for $1050

http://www.microcenter.com/product/502046/g315-desktop-computer

[shellman19]

First and foremost for those that have posted answers to my questions I really appreciate it. I have a follow up question about the "overkill" of the computers I listed in the original post.... Is there value in buying an "overkill" computer now to avoid having to upgrade some components of a "lesser" computer sooner rather than later? In other words in your guys opinion is there a price tag increase that is worth it for peace of mind moving forward knowing that an "overkill" computer will be a set it and forget it part of the sim for the foreseeable future.

[andygg1986]

Another way of phrasing that is will the graphics card, processor, or RAM be the bottleneck in the future. To answer that, it depends on what software you plan on going with. TGC really depends on the graphics card, so it is likely that the graphics card will be the bottleneck before anything else. So in that case, spending extra on a faster processor and more RAM won't buy you more time. It's possible that a different software package would require more processing power relative to the graphics card, so in that case it might be worth spending extra for a better processor.

[Buckminster]

I did quite a bit of research for my recent purchase. I wanted some growth and the capability to handle more than just the golf simulator. So I ended up with something similar to your options. I bought an HP OMEN with Intel i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB, storage, 256GB SSD, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 for just at $1,000. I bought it on eBay, but it was brand new in factory sealed retail packaging.

[JayWisco]

I bought this computer from Newegg a month ago for $799.

ABS Battlebox Essential Eclipse Gaming Desktop PC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB AMD Ryzen 7 2700 (3.20 GHz) 8 GB DDR4 120 GB SSD 1 TB HDD Windows 10 Home 64-Bit ALA082 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NCBPVDG..._FX0yCbW7G9YSD

rhns everything great on high.

[htdumps]

Where are you located, can you put a pc together, what's your budget. I just bought a new computer (Well the parts) yesterday and all this info is fresh in my head.

Here Is a 5 year system: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kj24TB

[mmcfadin]

Short answer No. Golf simulation software is graphics card dominant so that is where you should put your money. However if you plan to use the computer for other compute intensive tasks like CAD design or as a network server then maybe the extra money is worth it. Reading email and browsing the internet are not compute intensive.

For my Sim I searched out a used HP Z420 (16GB RAM and 500 GB HD) workstation on eBay that I paid $179 for with Win 10 already installed. Workstation computers typically have large Power Supplies and the HP Z420 has a 600 watt supply as wells as the extra 6 pin power connectors for a Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics card. I bought a new EVGA GTX 1060 with 6GB of video ram to put in it. Thanks to bitcoin mining, the graphics card will be the most expensive part. I have right around $500 in my whole Sim computer when you throw in the USB Bluetooth adapter I bought to connect to launch monitor. You can save money going used but need to pay attention to specs, especially power supply and connectors needed to support graphics card. The money saved can go a long way to paying for a projector, screen, or software license.

[Bill Holt]

What would you recommend for optishot 2 looking to buy a laptop I know nothing about computers thank you

[mmcfadin]

I am not familiar with the computer needs of Optishot.

[rmepilot]

I picked up a used Dell XPS on Craigslist, then upgraded the graphics card and power supply. TGC works just fine and total spent was <$500.

[wbond]

I went this same route, just upgraded the GPU and saved a ton. If you are able to decipher/filter through CL ad's you can find good deals on computers. The gamers like to upgrade all the time and some of those folks build nice computers and sell for cheap.

I picked up a used Dell XPS on Craigslist, then upgraded the graphics card and power supply. TGC works just fine and total spent was <$500.