Gaming computer options/advice

[garrett296]

Hey all, I've done quite a bit of research in here to find the right laptop for my garage sim. From what Ive gathered, I likely need a minimum of a GTX 1600 GPU, but I am leaning toward going with an RTX chip. I also am going to go with 16 GB RAM. I really don't know much about gaming computers, so does anybody have any input on what would be sufficient? Is this Asus significantly better than the Acers? Is the extra $100 necessary between the two Acers? Am I missing any major computer component details that would make a big difference? Any other suggestions for a cheaper option? I really dont want to spend much more than 1k as I'll use it solely for the sim.

Some other details for reference:
-GC2 monitor
-planning to run TGC2019
-projector Optoma GT1080HDR
-Screen: carls preferred 8.5x10.5
-leaning towards a laptop over PC as it would be easier to bring inside (my garage can get hot in the summer and cold in the winter). Am also thinking about setting up a touch screen monitor in the garage as well, but nothing set in stone.

refurbished $950 - ASUS - ROG GU502GV 15.6" Gaming Laptop
- Intel Core i7
- 16GB Memory
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
-1TB SSD + Optane

new $999 - Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop - AN515-54-547D

• Windows 10 Home
• Intel® Core™ i5-9300H processor Quad-core 2.40 GHz
• NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2060 with 6 GB dedicated memory
• 15.6" Full HD (1920 x 1080) 16:9
• 16 GB, DDR4 SDRAM
• 512 GB SSD

new $899 - Acer - Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop - AN515-55-54Q0

• Windows 10 Home
• Intel® Core™ i5-10300H processor Quad-core 2.50 GHz
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650Ti with 4 GB dedicated memory
• 15.6" Full HD (1920 x 1080) 16:9
• 16 GB, DDR4 SDRAM
• 512 GB SSD

[SkeetShooter]

Do you absolutely need a laptop? Do you have the inclination to build your own PC? If so, for $1K and a little bit of patience, You can build a new PC that has the new RTX-3070 in it.

I saw your point about the sim being in the garage. So is mine. My computer stays out in the summer and the winter. Its humid in the summers and bitter cold in the winters. No issues yet here.

What is your timeline for when you want to get all this installed and start hitting? Ampere 3070 is available in October. 3080 is available in a few days (but its like $800)

Right now prices are coming down on GPU's because of the new releases and you can do really well on price if you decided to wait a bit. Laptops right now are not going to be worth purchasing as you are not going to get nearly the value you could get from building a computer.

[garrett296]

That's some good advice. I was hoping to have a computer set up in the next couple weeks just because I'm eager/excited to get it done, but truthfully I could probably wait. I read about those new GPU's and felt they could be overkill, as everything I've read says the RTX2000's are more than enough.

I really have nothing against going a PC vs laptop, I was just slightly concerned about leaving it in the garage. PC actually might work out better anyway since I was hoping to put a touch screen monitor in. Thats good to know yours does just fine. I don't really know anything about building a PC myself so I'll ask around locally to see if somebody could help me with it.

[SkeetShooter]

Its honestly not that hard. There are are ton's of videos on Youtube on how to do it. The sad part is that even though there have been ton's of technological advances over the last 20 years, the main ways to actually build a computer are almost exactly the same. I have an RTX 2070 in my computer and its capable of 1080p at very reasonable high settings for the simulator, however some courses do have some larger than normal details and it can chug on those.

If you are trying to get it done in the next few weeks, there are probably going to be some great deals on the 2070Super and 2080, and possibly some used GPU's coming up on the market.

As for the touchscreen... I would maybe recommend foregoing that. For the amount of money that you will spend on that, you can re-invest that somewhere else. Touchscreens don't work too well with TGC2019. A good xbox controller works as well if not better (since the game was designed with that in mind)

[garrett296]

Interesting, also useful info. I was thinking a touchscreen would make it much easier to move right/left, do fly by's etc, rather than screw with a mouse. And I feel like this borders on being a dumb question, but how do you use an xbox controller with a PC? I have an xbox controller that I very rarely use. Does it just pick up as a bluetooth and work seemlessly?

[SkeetShooter]

As long as the xbox controller is either USB tethered (I don't like this as I prefer wireless) or the newer Xbox One standard bluetooth one, you pair it with your computer via Bluetooth and then, once its paired. Make sure its on and connected before you start TGC2019. Then from there, it works just as you would expect, left stick aims you and the assorted buttons give you flyovers, yardage maps, change club etc... You will still need a keyboard if you wish to search for courses in TGC2019 though. I think its an acceptable $30 solution where the other options are all $250+ (Touchscreen monitor or a floor mounted button setup)

[garrett296]

Great, that's probably what I will go with, much cheaper. Thanks for the help

[s0707]

Also, keep in mind that for the Nvidia GPU's, the last two digits are the ones that give a clue to how fast it is. I think the minimum recommended is a GTX-1060, and I bought a GTX-1650 thinking it would be more powerful, but I was surprised it is bit slower than the 1060... I bought it for running the Steam version to do tgc19 course design in tgc19, and it runs ok, so it's not a big issue for me, but I'd go your 1st and 2nd options above if you go with a laptop.

[Knickerbocker]

I have the first Nitro 5 you have listed (I got it for $850 with a discount code) and it runs TGC19 at 1080p perfectly at Ultra settings.