Nov/091
Scratch Built PC: Complete!
Hey everyone,
My PC build is now complete, and I’m really pleased with the outcome. I knew the whole process was going to be fairly difficult as I’d never put a system together before, but it’s really rewarding to have it all working. Installing all the components was mostly painless, although getting the motherboard in was quite tough, especially with the backplate needing to be precisely positioned. The one bit I was mainly worried about, although it turned out to be one of the easiest parts to do was the CPU installation. Locking it in was a bit of a push but it went smoothly, along with putting the CPU cooler on. I wired up all the front panel and PSU connectors when the motherboard was in place, which was easy enough to do after reading the manual.
The last component to go in was the graphics card, the case needed 2 panels slotting off the back (the Lancool PC-K58 has a great feature for this) and it went in pretty easily, all that I had to do then was connect the PCI Express PSU cable. I did have one scary moment after this however, as the PC wouldn’t boot, but it was a simple fix (thanks to Joni – who knows so much about PC’s) as all that was needed was one more cable putting in place on the motherboard. After that it booted up and I was able to format my hard drive and partition the Windows 7 install. Everything has been working really well so far, temperatures are great at both idle and load, and it’s quiet, so I’m really pleased with how it has turned out for my first build.
You obviously have to be very careful when putting a system together, making sure everything will be compatible, applying everything correctly and not rushing into it, but I definitely recommend building your own PC. It’s not only cheaper, but at the end of it your system feels much more personal. Everything is made to match your needs and it’s a cool feeling to have it working succesfully. I’ve learnt so much about PC components and how they all work, giving me all the confidence I need to do the same again in the future.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my recent posts,
Cheers!
Nov/091
Scratch Built PC: The Price List
As promised earlier, I’ve put together a price list of the various components and tools I’ve bought for my new system (All due to arrive tomorrow!).
PC Components:
- Lancool PC-K58 Case: £59.98
- Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield): £134.99
- Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB DDR5: £119.99
- OCZ Gold 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz RAM: £69.99
- Corsair TX 650W PSU: £76.99
- 320GB 7,200 RPM Hitachi Hard Drive: £32.99 (Not the specific component*)
- 22x DVD RW Drive: £19.99 (Not the specific component*)
* Transferred from my old PC, but I’ve posted fairly accurate other options
Extras:
Tools:
- Belkin Anti-Static Wristband: £3.68
- Anti Static Matting: £6.99
There’s the cost of a newer monitor to come, but that’s a little while away. I hope you enjoy reading the progress over the next few days!
- Prices accurate on the dates that I bought the items -
Nov/092
TV Bracket + Latest Order for new kit
I will be upgrading my computer within the next two weeks. Well, I say upgrading, I’m actually just buying a PC, to run rFactor and COD:MW2 specifically. I’m currently using a top of the range Mac Pro. While it’s performance is absolutely incredible, restarting to do a few laps or to play COD is annoying. I want something where I can just wake it from sleep and do some laps, so that’s where the idea came about.
I’m pretty much decided on the spec now.
- Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz
- Asus P6T SE Intel X58 1366 PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
- WD Velociraptor 150GB 10,000RPM HDD
- ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5
- OCZ 3X2GB DDR3 Triple Chanel Ram
- Corsair 650W ATX PSU
- Lancool Dragon-Lord PC-K58 Case
- Edimax EW-7728IN
- Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro CPU Cooler
- DVD/RW 22x Optical Drive
So, based on that, it will rip through any games I can throw at it. I am currently using a 30″ Apple Cinema Display which is the best of the best. The size, and the quality is phenominal. I decided that getting a smaller monitor was a bad idea as it would seem very small. I thought about using my TV, but it’s not Full HD, only 720, so the native resolution is 1280×720. I thought this would be poor for running rFactor, but it turns out that is isn’t. I gave it a go and it looks phenominal.
I realised a couple of things. Firstly, my 2560x 30″ Monitor upscales the game, the graphics aren’t even made into that resolution so while the image is pure, it’s not as good as it could be. The second thing was that my TV has such a low resolution that the game can be scaled down and therefore it looks even nicer. The buttons mainly and the interface, not so much the cars and tracks. Having only a 1280x resolution will also be easier on the graphics card, so thats a bonus.
When I’m playing COD, I’m simply going to switch display’s back to my current one, no way can I play COD from inside my cockpit and at a 1280x resolution!
Finally I can get Windows off my Mac, where it most certainly doesn’t belong!
Initially, I had my TV stood on my cockpit with the stand. But I had a solution that has worked incredibly well. I purchased a tilt/twist/swivel and rotate bracket from Amazon for £45. It’s the most solid bracket I’ve seen. I secured the bracket on the wall at the correct height for my cockpit, so there’s no stand anymore. However the beauty is that my bed is in line with the cockpit, so when I want to watch TV in bed, I can turn the TV around 180 degrees and watch it. If I’m at my PC, I can place it flat against the wall. So it works all ways around. Please ignore the curtains in the picture! My sister moved to Uni and I quickly stole her room!
I’ve also ordered a couple of other things today, while I wait to order my PC. When I’m in the cockpit, I still need a keyboard, just to type in game, but I also needed a mouse. Now, obviously I could just use a USB mouse and keyboard, but that means more wires and that also means putting it ontop of the cockpit, cluttering it up. So I decided I needed wireless. But I found the perfect solution.
A keyboard is pretty bulky and a mouse needs a decent surface to move on, so instead I went with the Logitech DiNovo. It’s a great little piece of kit. Very small, nearly palm sized. It has a small touchpad in the top right which I can use as the mouse, and it can just sit down the side of the seat when I don’t need it. Perfect.
I also ordered an anti-static wristband and mat ready for the PC build. And a headphone to Phono lead so I can use the TV speakers for racing.
Speak soon guys!
Nov/090
Scratch Built PC
Hey guys!
My first real post here, as Ste has been updating the blog for the majority of the time that it’s been online. I now have a project to be posting though, something which I hope interests a few people. Ste’s work on the cockpit and wheel side of things has been an inspiration to many people as proven by the steady rise in blog visists, and I’d certainly love to have a setup like that in the future. For the time being however, I’ve decided to put together my first scratch built PC.
After weeks of advice and reading reviews, I chose the parts that would make up my gaming rig. This isn’t a killer £1000 + setup, as we don’t all (me included) have that kind of money, but it is something that should do a great job of running race sims as they should be, with everything whacked up! You may find it a bit out of place, posting about a PC on a sim modding blog, but behind any enjoyable racing experience is the system that runs it. What I plan to do is write up a review of how I found things after the build (hopefully it will go well!). The main benfits to doing it this way can already be seen by the cost, as it is a lot cheaper to build your own, although of course there is the risk of doing something wrong. I’m fairly confident of doing it efficiently after reading what I have online, and have had experience of changing a couple of things around in my older PC, so I hope it works out.
I’ve also taken advantage of a great deal at ebuyer.com, buying a G25 for under £120. You can get it here. Equally, OverclockersUK have the same deal going, definitely worth it in my opinion. In the near future I also hope to be buying a 23″ (or bigger) full HD monitor, as an upgrade to the LG 19″ I have at the moment. Underneath is what my system will consist of, and an image to show the main components. Later on I’ll post a proper list of the costs!
- Lancool PC-K58 Case
- Windows 7 64 bit
- Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) + Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler
- Asus P7P55D LE Motherboard
- OCZ Gold 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz RAM
- Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 Graphics Card
- Corsair 650w PSU
- 7,200 RPM Hitachi Hard Drive (From old system, formatting + partitioning for new OS)
- Toshiba 22x Disc Drive (From old system)
Thanks for reading,
Mike
Nov/090
ARC Wheel Installation
More detailed guide to installation coming soon, but for now, a few pictures.
Nov/090
ARC Wheel Review
ARC Wheel Review - Image based.
Click to View.
PDF Version can be downloaded by clicking here.
Nov/090
Wheel updates & Other Information
Hey guys!
I’ve paid for the wheel, a month ahead of release! ARC are shipping the wheel on Wednesday, so I’m hoping it should be here within the next week or so, cannot wait!
The guy I asked to make me a couple of button boxes has re-surfaced, he was on holiday and had no access to email’s. So it’s back on! He’s making me two button boxes, 6 buttons in each, with a main, slightly larger box housing more wiring and a Leo Bodnar board. This will then plug into my computer via USB. Image attached.
I am buying a new computer in December. I currently have a top of the range Mac Pro. Which does the job perfectly. However, I have to restart into Windows everytime I want to drive, which is totally inconvenient. Also, moving the cockpit across the room each time is frustrating, so keeping it where it is permanantly will be great.
The computer will be a self build, highly spec’d, with Core i5 or i7 processors, 4GB of DDR3 ram, an ATI 5770 1GB and an top of the range motherboard. The PC will blitz anything.
Because of this I wanted a new monitor. So I don’t have to move my current one each time as I currently am. The problem is that my current monitor is 2560x resolution, 30″ screen size. So anything smaller would seem tiny. The only resolution was a TV but I was worried about my 32″ LCD TV resolution, it’s only HD Ready at 720p. I tested it tonight however and was incredibly surprised. Due to the massive resolution of my monitor, it actually upscales the game, so some of the buttons look rough and other things as well. With the TV, and the resolution being lower the game looks even more crisp, not a let down at all. I had expected the car to fill up most of the screen which really wasn’t the case.
So now I’m using my 32″ TV as my gaming monitor. I want to buy a swivel stand so I can turn it around – my bed is the exact opposite way to the cockpit.
Button Box Diagram
Nov/090
More carpeting and Track Map Holder
Wow, I finally got around to doing some more work on the cockpit. I suddenly had an urge to finish the carpet, so I spent a couple of hours finishing it tonight.
Before starting this I fixed in the rear brackets on the wheel shelf, I forgot to secure this before.
I chose to do the bottom section first off, measuring the length and width needed and leaving enough for an inch of overlap on each side. I was only carpeting up to the edge of the carpet gripper, where the pedals start. Nothing else is visible, from either inside or out.
I was more accurate than when I did the back half, so cutting things too small wasn’t an issue. After fixing the bottom piece, I chose to do the large vertical face at the bottom. This would overlap the extra inch from the bottom section and be trimmed at the edge for a clean line.
Next up, I did the sides, inside. These sections would go over the brackets for holding the wheel shelf. Again, I left an inch of overlap. This would be trimmed to the edge afterwards. Next I wanted to cover the vertical face going up the sides. I used one rectangular piece for either side. This would overlap the sides inside and leave no line visible.
Next, I needed to make custom shapes to fit in the top corners (see images). I did some brief measuring and ended up with a shape that somehow looked like the cockpit itself! I got these two stuck in.
Finally I decided to cover the wheel shelf. In hope it might deaden the sound of my wheel just a bit. There were a few tiny little gaps in the material so I just used some of the offcuts and filled them. Once the glue is perfectly dry I will brush off any excess glue that has got onto the front of the carpet.
Very happy with the final result of the carpeting, like the back half, it really absorbs the corners, it’s great to sit in.
Finally, just for a little touch, I added a plastic Business Card Pocket. This would hold a track map.
Not much more left to do now. Decals, Wheel, Final touch ups and hopefully two button boxes if someone can make them for me!
I’m thinking of covering the wheel cowling in the carbon fibre I’ve got left over. It’s either that or painting it.