1st time PC build for Oculus Rift and Unity

Mcjmetroid

Hey All,

I'm starting a masters in 3d modelling in September so I'll be looking to build my own PC with the necessary specs. I don't really have a budget limit but I would say around 700-800 if necessary.

I've looked at threads such as:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057549203
and
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057542919

and I'm wondering would these 2 builds suffice?
I'm not a big expert in the whole thing but having repaired hard discs and RAM etc by myself for the first time I think I'd like to give it a shot myself.

Any help would be fantastic. I would like to be able to run graphic engines without slowdown etc.

Cheers guys

update: OK guys Oculus themselves recommend

Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970/AMD Radeon R9 290 equivalent or greater
Processor: Intel Core i5-4590 equivalent or greater
Memory: 8GB or more RAM
Output: compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
Input: two USB 3.0 ports and one USB 2.0 port
Operating System: Windows 7 SP1 64-bit or newer (Oculus is not compatible with Mac OS X or Linux at launch.)

Digital Solitude

The graphics card won't push the Occulus, you'd be looking at min €1000 for that.

I imagine a 380 or similar would be enough for running engines, though I have no idea, are there min specs for it?

Eoinmc97

Wait for Polaris. AMD have stated that they want to bring the VR market to more people, so we should start seeing more powerful cards for cheap. If this is the case, July will be an awesome month.
I would recommend building then perhaps, or building a barebones now, and put in a GPU later on.

Zillah

Eoinmc97 wrote: »

Wait for Polaris. AMD have stated that they want to bring the VR market to more people, so we should start seeing more powerful cards for cheap. If this is the case, July will be an awesome month.
I would recommend building then perhaps, or building a barebones now, and put in a GPU later on.

Geforce Pascal is coming out around the same time, too. So we're actually in a weird position for VR. I'm going to upgrade my GPU for Oculus but I'm going to wait until the absolute last minute before biting the bullet.

If you need it sooner I'd consider getting a basic second hand card for now and upgrading later when VR actually hits.

ED E

Its worth noting that you don't just want to play the games, but develop them. With the required dev tools open you can expect a bit of extra load, so go for at least 16GB of RAM. Also while actively developing you don't get the benefit of optimization so CPU/GPU will need to be more powerful than you would normally buy.

Mcjmetroid

Cool ok I may aim for 16GB of RAM so. I understand some of telling me to wait until July but I may be a little more impatient than that. Maybe I shouldn't be though but I think I would like to get something that's out there now. It doesn't have to be an extreme powerhouse or anything just something to run things smoothly. SO so far based on the recommendations and some opinions here I have:

Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970/AMD Radeon R9 290 equivalent or greater
Processor: Intel Core i5-4590 equivalent or greater
Memory: 16GB or more RAM
Output: compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
Input: two USB 3.0 ports and one USB 2.0 port
Operating System: Windows 7 SP1 64-bit or newer (Oculus is not compatible with Mac OS X or Linux at launch.)

Is that processor here a safe bet?

Also what about things like the Case?

Mcjmetroid

Cool ok I may aim for 16GB of RAM so. I understand some of telling me to wait until July but I may be a little more impatient than that. Maybe I shouldn't be though but I think I would like to get something that's out there now. It doesn't have to be an extreme powerhouse or anything just something to run things smoothly. SO so far based on the recommendations and some opinions here I have:

Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970/AMD Radeon R9 290 equivalent or greater
Processor: Intel Core i5-4590 equivalent or greater
Memory: 16GB
Output: compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
Input: two USB 3.0 ports and one USB 2.0 port
Operating System: Windows 7 SP1 64-bit or newer

Is that processor here a safe bet?

Also what about things like the Case?

Mcjmetroid

Zillah wrote: »

Geforce Pascal is coming out around the same time, too. So we're actually in a weird position for VR. I'm going to upgrade my GPU for Oculus but I'm going to wait until the absolute last minute before biting the bullet.

If you need it sooner I'd consider getting a basic second hand card for now and upgrading later when VR actually hits.

I just saw this one. I see. Hmm that could be an option I suppose. Maybe you're right perhaps getting everything in order and then jumping at the GPU when it's the right time. No use in rushing into these things I Suppose.

Eoinmc97

If you can stretch the budget, the Xeon E3 series offers a 4 Core 8 thread CPU for about €240. Excellent for developing. It will also meet and surpass the VR spec.
As for Pascal, well we haven't seen it yet. No one knows if nVidia is actually going to make the summer release, and instead hit the Sep-October release instead.

Eoinmc97

If you can stretch the budget, the Xeon E3 series offers a 4 Core 8 thread CPU for about €240. Excellent for developing. It will also meet and surpass the VR spec.
As for Pascal, well we haven't seen it yet. No one knows if nVidia is actually going to make the summer release, and instead hit the Sep-October release instead.

Digital Solitude

Xeon 1231v3 €250
H87 board €60
16gb RAM €80
500w PSU €60
Case €70
1tb HDD €50
250gb SSD €90
R9 390 €350
Total €1030

That's the min I'd go for your needs. SSD optional but highly recommended

Mcjmetroid

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Xeon 1231v3 €250
H87 board €60
16gb RAM €80
500w PSU €60
Case €70
1tb HDD €50
250gb SSD €90
R9 390 €350
Total €1030

That's the min I'd go for your needs. SSD optional but highly recommended

sounds great man. Where would you recommend buying this stuff may I ask. I'm a total beginner at this I'm not going to lie

Serephucus

As someone who's done some games dev, and is currently doing a games dev masters, you really don't need a powerhouse.

Are you sure you want to use VR for your projects? Because while it's certainly cool, it requires a lot of attention to details that lots of traditional games can ignore. Also you generally have to produce things of a higher quality, which takes added time.

Aside from this, even if you're working in larger (5+ people) group projects and have more manpower to devote to higher-detail assets, your games are at most going to be similar to things like Limbo or Air Brawl. You don't be making CoD or anything like that, simply because it takes a lot more people a lot more time.

For reference, most of the people in my course are using iMac (college-provided), which are pretty similar to mid-range laptops. By all means build yourself an awesome rig - it certainly won't be wasted - just understand that you don't need it for what you'll most-likely be doing.

Mcjmetroid

Serephucus wrote: »

As someone who's done some games dev, and is currently doing a games dev masters, you really don't need a powerhouse.

Are you sure you want to use VR for your projects? Because while it's certainly cool, it requires a lot of attention to details that lots of traditional games can ignore. Also you generally have to produce things of a higher quality, which takes added time.

Aside from this, even if you're working in larger (5+ people) group projects and have more manpower to devote to higher-detail assets, your games are at most going to be similar to things like Limbo or Air Brawl. You don't be making CoD or anything like that, simply because it takes a lot more people a lot more time.

For reference, most of the people in my course are using iMac (college-provided), which are pretty similar to mid-range laptops. By all means build yourself an awesome rig - it certainly won't be wasted - just understand that you don't need it for what you'll most-likely be doing.

Well I suppose I should clarify. It won't be a game I will be creating but an interactive experience.. I know that sounds the same but let me explain. Without going into too much detail I will be creating a realistic city look to walk around.

Hope that clears a few things up.

Mcjmetroid

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Xeon 1231v3 €250
H87 board €60
16gb RAM €80
500w PSU €60
Case €70
1tb HDD €50
250gb SSD €90
R9 390 €350
Total €1030

That's the min I'd go for your needs. SSD optional but highly recommended

OK This is what I'm thinking about going for

Xeon 1231v3
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Sockel+1150+%28XEON%29/169193/Intel+Xeon+E3-1231v3+Box%2C+LGA1150.article
€257

H87 board
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/DDR3/281776/Sale%3A+MSI+H87-G43+Gaming%2C+ATX%2C+Sockel+1150.article
€72.38

16GB RAM
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/1600+Low+Voltage/125973/16GB+Kit+Crucial+Ballistix+Sport+Series+DDR3-1600%2C+CL9.article
€75

500w PSU
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/400+-+500+Watts/279298/Thermaltake+TR2+S+500W+ATX+2.3.article
€45

Computer Case:
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Midi/48895/BitFenix+Shinobi+Midi-Tower+USB+3.0%2C+schwarz%2C+ohne+Netzteil.article
€60

Hardrive:
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/7200+RPM/62133/WD+Blue+1TB+6Gb's.article
€50

R9 390:
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/8192+MB/239709/MSI+R9+390+GAMING+8G.article
€366

Any advice on this bunch? Thanks

Xenoronin

We've been advising away from HardwareVersand recently as their parent company went under. They seem to have resumed full operations but make sure to use paypal or credit card as payment options if you do. Do not use bank transfer as we do not have as strong laws around this area as in Germany.

Check amazon.co.uk, ComputerUniverse.net and Mindfactory.de for alternative options. Shipping is more expensive though so look into getting the case (counts as a separate parcel usually) from Amazon if you go this route.

Also, computer looks good! Would advise looking into an SSD for the OS if it can squeeze into the budget. There are some really cheap sandisk options.

Mcjmetroid

Xenoronin wrote: »

We've been advising away from HardwareVersand recently as their parent company went under. They seem to have resumed full operations but make sure to use paypal or credit card as payment options if you do. Do not use bank transfer as we do not have as strong laws around this area as in Germany.

Check amazon.co.uk, ComputerUniverse.net and Mindfactory.de for alternative options. Shipping is more expensive though so look into getting the case (counts as a separate parcel usually) from Amazon if you go this route.

Also, computer looks good! Would advise looking into an SSD for the OS if it can squeeze into the budget. There are some really cheap sandisk options.

yes I was thinking about the SSD. I guess if I'm paying that much I might as well go a little bit more.

Thanks for the warning about the company. I'll look elsewhere just in case as well.

Dyr

Zillah wrote: »

Geforce Pascal is coming out around the same time, too. So we're actually in a weird position for VR. I'm going to upgrade my GPU for Oculus but I'm going to wait until the absolute last minute before biting the bullet.

If you need it sooner I'd consider getting a basic second hand card for now and upgrading later when VR actually hits.

I'm going to be a buying a new set up for VR but the pascal/polaris thing is stalling me a bit, I'm not really in the mood to hang around waiting for new cards to get a release date, especially if they're coming in at a premium price.


That said I have a sneaking feeling for the min specfor AAA VR games is going to climb fast.

Mcjmetroid

Sorry to jump all over the place here but my mate has recommended these. Would these be good enough.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/AMD+Socket/Socket+AM3%2B+Piledriver+FX/Gigabyte+GA-990FX-Gaming+Motherboard+with+M.2+%2B+USB+3.1+Type+A%2FType+C+?productId=65465

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Processors/AMD+CPUs/FX+%28Piledriver%29+-+Socket+AM3%2B/AMD+FX-8350+4.00GHz+%284.20GHz+Turbo%29+8x+Core+Processor+-+Unlocked+?productId=52722

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/RAM/DDR3/Single+Modules/8GB+%281x8GB%29+1600MHz+Crucial+Ballistix+Sport+DDR3+Memory+-+CL9+?productId=58571
(Two of these)

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/Full+Tower/NZXT+Phantom+530+Full+Tower+Gaming+Case+-+White+?productId=60595

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/Modular+700-950W/Cooler+Master+GM+Series+G750M+%22UK+Cable%2C+High+Performance%2C+80%2B+Bronze+Rate%2C+Semi+Modular.+5+Year+Warranty%22+750w+?productId=61004

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Storage/Hard+Drives/2.5+Inch+SATA+Drives/80GB+-+2TB+SATA/Western+Digital+Scorpio+Black+500GB+16MB+7200RPM+SATA-II+Cache+-+OEM+?productId=57294

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/NVIDIA+GeForce/GeForce+GTX+750/Gigabyte+GeForce+GTX+750Ti+WindForce+OC+2048MB+GDDR5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+?productId=59740

ED E

Politely tell your mate that his help isnt required. He's specced €120 for a case and then picked an old and underpowered GPU. Digital has already posted a better build.

Mcjmetroid

ED E wrote: »

Politely tell your mate that his help isnt required. He's specced €120 for a case and then picked an old and underpowered GPU. Digital has already posted a better build.

Fair enough. He always insisted on a good case mind ya.

how is the pricing on that website. Any good?
To be fair to him he was only thinking I wanted a gaming PC.

When I Suggested what I wanted it for he said this:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/AMD+Radeon/Radeon+R9+380/XFX+Radeon+R9+380+Double+Dissipation+AMD+Graphics+Card+2GB+?productId=63929

is this GPU good enough would you say?

Thanks lads Appreciate it. Have a virtual pint on me

Digital Solitude

Not for VR, its a bit weaker than the 290, which is weaker than the 970, which is weaker than the 390.

Mcjmetroid

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Not for VR, its a bit weaker than the 290, which is weaker than the 970, which is weaker than the 390.

ok that's fair. So basically you're recommendation of:
http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/8192%20MB/239709/MSI%20R9%20390%20GAMING%208G.article

Should be the one I should go for.

grand stuff.