How much do specs really matter?

[Dewey]

Hey Everyone, I have been playing TGC2019 with Skytrak on my laptop, which is about six years old and I dont think will last much longer. So I am in the market to get a new one to continue playing.

My current laptop does the job, but it doesnt meet the recommended specs suggested by ProTee. I dont have many complaints, but maybe I dont know what I am missing.

My question for you guys is how much of a difference would I see between the minimum requirements and the recommended specs?

What specifically would I notice? Would it be in time it takes to hit a shot until it happens on the screen? Better data? Anything game play related? Or is it just simply it will look better on the screen?

I use a HDMI cable and just play it on a flat screen in my garage. I do want to go projector down the road but have other needs to worry about first.

It seems to be that to meet the recommended specs, it will take a gamer laptop that is pretty expensive (probably 1k or more) but there are much cheaper computers out there, they just come up short on some of the rec specs (but they meet the minimum requirements).

Thanks for educating me guys!

[SkeetShooter]

Specs are important and it all feeds into your experience. The better the GPU is the most important component and I'm a huge proponent of not getting a laptop, if you can help it. You can build or buy a much better spec desktop that will blow the doors off of the similarly priced laptop you are looking at for a $1K budget. Building is the best way to ensure future upgrade paths, and lowering your costs.

I can tell you I have a RTX-2070 GPU in my computer, which by all accounts is a pretty stout GPU (I'd consider it a mid-high tier GPU) and with all the settings maxed on TGC2019 running at 1080p, there are some courses that have tons of detail where it hits it hard and I see some stuttering. So really consider what you want your user experience to be.

[Dewey]

Thanks Skeet, I have seen you post on this subject and it seems like you have a great grasp on it. I use a laptop because I use it for other things as well. I never really thought about getting Desktop, because if I did, it would be used only for my sim. I wouldnt mind that actually but I dont think im savoy enough to build my own. To be honest, I only know the terms suggested on the Skytrak website. I had to google GPU when I saw you use the term. I only see the word "Graphics" when I look at the website, no clue it could be something other than GTX 1060 or better.

let me ask you this, you clearly have a better computer than I currently do. What other differences would there be besides the details on the course layouts?

[SkeetShooter]

No worries, and sorry for the acronyms. Graphics will be improved and the smoothness of the reproduction will be greatly improved the better the graphics card is. So the best way I can explain this is this... Playing a course that has a lot of trees, bushes, buildings, and things that are along the course that have movement and shadowing from lighting, all strain Graphics cards as they have to render those details. Where you will see a loss of texture, and performance with lower end cards is in that reproduction of those textures.

The most apparent area where you will see a graphics card fall on its face if its not up to the task is during ball flight, scouting, and moving the viewpoint. You will start to see stuttering and what is called "Frame drop". Basically imagine it this way... Your eyes take in light and converts that to an image and what you see is the picture that is dynamic and moving. When you move your eyes and or your head, your eyes pan and smoothly take in and process that image to your brain. A graphics card is doing the same thing, except its no where near as powerful as your eyes and brain. Imagine now if you closed your eyes and opened them as quickly as possible while moving your eyes and or head as you look across a room or image. What you will see is a stuttering image and it can be jarring to your brain. In some cases, your brain will process that and actually make you feel nausea. (This is why using Virtual Reality headsets require at minimum 45fps (frames per second) to ensure you dont get sick...


Ok so now that I've explained this, apply that same analogy to how the gameplay will be when sim golfing. Can you get by on a lower end graphics card? Yes. Will your experience be optimal? In my opinion, No. I'm a person who likes to see high fidelity images and motion when I'm watching them. Nothing gets me more angry than a stuttering playback. I'm also a person who likes good quality for acceptable costs. For me, my RTX2070 was worth the upgrade over anything I could have bought that was under its price point for the time.

Right now there are so many good Graphics cards on sale as new versions are due to be released in the next few months.

As for building a computer. I'm being honest here... There are tons of youtube videos explaining how to do it. I'm certain that my buddy Tim (Who literally is the most computer illiterate/technology/tool person I know) could do it. Consider this as a potential savings area.

[Dewey]

That is good stuff! Thanks for the insight. I think I may look at some of those videos and consider doing something like that! Where does one find those graphics cards?

[William Jenkins]

Are you comfortable with building your own PC? If so, then you can build a pretty good gaming rig for about $800. I just ordered all my stuff from Amazon, and 1 part via Best Buy. My cost was $778, but I did have my own PSU. The hardware is good stuff too, most are newer version of hardware.

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 gen 3000
AMD RX580 GTS Black edition 8gb
MSI gaming B450 motherboard Carbon AC (with WiFi/BT)
16gb Crucial Ballistic ram, 3200mhz
512gb nvme m.2 storage
550w PSU (Already owned)
Coolermaster case

[skaileh]

Are you comfortable with building your own PC? If so, then you can build a pretty good gaming rig for about $800. I just ordered all my stuff from Amazon, and 1 part via Best Buy. My cost was $778, but I did have my own PSU. The hardware is good stuff too, most are newer version of hardware.

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 gen 3000
AMD RX580 GTS Black edition 8gb
MSI gaming B450 motherboard Carbon AC (with WiFi/BT)
16gb Crucial Ballistic ram, 3200mhz
512gb nvme m.2 storage
550w PSU (Already owned)
Coolermaster case

Gonna be running the same GPU and similar specs as yours with except with a Ryzen 7. How’s your experience been? What sim software do you use? I’m planning on using E6 Connect.

[William Jenkins]

Gonna be running the same GPU and similar specs as yours with except with a Ryzen 7. How’s your experience been? What sim software do you use? I’m planning on using E6 Connect.

So far everything runs perfect. I'm using TGC2019 and the Skytrak range. Slight delay from ball strike to showing on screen, but that's more Skytrak than anything else. I only tried E6 demo and wasn't totally impressed with graphics and game play. Your build will be just fine.

[soupy]

I thought most manufacturers did not recommend AMD for their software?

[Stetson]

Uneekor doesn’t (or didn’t) for QED but they are now included in specs for Eye XO. That was the big one I recall that said no to AMD.

[skaileh]

So far everything runs perfect. I'm using TGC2019 and the Skytrak range. Slight delay from ball strike to showing on screen, but that's more Skytrak than anything else. I only tried E6 demo and wasn't totally impressed with graphics and game play. Your build will be just fine.

Awesome. Thanks!

[skaileh]

I thought most manufacturers did not recommend AMD for their software?

Any reason why they didn’t recommend AMD? Performance seems to be pretty in-line with Intel no?

[soupy]

I was asking as my newer desktop is amd cpu but 1070 TI GPU. I was worried there was some special coding for intel and I wouled need to upgrade. My older desktop is a gen 4 I5 with a 970I. I was seeing if it would be better to upgrade the newer or change the gpu on the older. Apparently i did not need to do either

[StalefishFS3]

I am considering a new PC build and also had a couple (probably stupid) questions. I have been a Mac guy for last 12 years or so, and the PC environment is foreign to me. For context, this PC will only be used for golf simulation. No gaming, no video editing, nothing.

1) I understand the GPU is the most important, and likely will invest in a RTX 2070 Super. However, is there any benefit in upgrading the CPU at all for performance? I am willing to spend a little more money to get an i7 (or AMD, see next topic) over an i5, but probably wouldn't consider an i9 given all the comments on these boards.

2) My friend who knows PCs, but is not into golf, really is pushing for an AMD vs. Intel, as he believes you are paying an "Intel Tax" for equivalent performance. My question is: what software will simply not run or not run well if an AMD is used vs. Intel? Or are we for the next couple years joined at the hip with Intel processors? I am planning on keeping this PC for a good 4-5 years.

3) What is the FPS we are all shooting for in sim golf? Is 60 FPS the gold standard?

For reference, I am running a SkyTrak only, and do not yet have TGC2019 or E6 Connect. Eventually I will upgrade from the Skytrak in the next 18 months, but for now, that is it.

Thanks.

[linkkingx]

I built a PC a couple of months ago and was debating the same thing. I think you definitely get more bang for your buck with AMD, but I ended up going with an Intel i5 9600K over the Ryzen 3600. The price is pretty similar on both at around the $200 range and performance close enough. The only reason I went with Intel is because I wasn't sure which simulator I was going with and there are a couple that don't recommend AMD for some reason. If not for that i would've went with AMD. Like you said, the GPU is the most important, and as long as the processor is decent it shouldn't bottleneck the performance on any of these golf games. I went with an RTX 2070 (not super) and it runs TGC 2019 at the highest settings easily over 60FPS at 1080p resolution. It handles 1440p well too but once you jump to 4K it struggles. The sims that didn't recommend AMD were Uneekor and Foresight. I ended up getting a GC2 with the old FR1 software, but may end up someday upgrading to FSX if the price is right even though I primarily use TGC 2019. It's nice to know that I won't have any compatibility issues if I decide to go that route.

[StuartG]

I thought most manufacturers did not recommend AMD for their software?

Make sure you read the recommendations carefully. Some gaming software doesn't recommend using AMD GPU's - usually due to NVIDEA specific GPU programming libraries. That's very different from a recommendation to not use an AMD CPU. The number of cores in the CPU might be important but whether an AMD or Intel CPU is used is usually completely transparent to the software.

[linkkingx]

That's what I thought but the Uneekor PC requirements specifically said AMD CPU not compatible. I just checked and they recently updated it to saying AMD 3600 or higher is ok and AMD 2700 not compatible. Foresight still says AMD processors not recommended and also says AMD GPUs not supported. Had I known that before I built my computer I might've considered going with AMD, but the specs on the intel CPU I went with were close enough that I don't regret being on the safe side.