How much (in USD) would I need to spend on a PC to play LFS (and most other racing sims) in 1920x1080 and get a frame rate of 120fps at minimum.

I want 120fps for 3D with 3D glasses.

I don't need a monitor, KB, mouse etc, just the PC and OS. The graphics card needs to be invidia for 3D.

case: anywhere from $50-$100 depending on quality
Mobo: $120-140 for ability to go SLI
CPU: $75-150
Ram: $40-100
GPU: GTX 285 is going for $380, and that'd be necessary for minimum of 120 fps with max aa/af. Too bad you can't go ATI =(
PSU: Might want to be able to go SLI, so around $90
hard drive: $40-100
optional extras: $50-100 more.
Windows 7: $105

$1000 to be safe.
However you could go dual GTS 250's for $260 but I'm not sure how well LFS uses SLI.

If you didn't need max aa/af, a gtx 275 would be fine.

Thanks for that. Ouch... $1K was more than I was hoping for... FWIW you can't use aa/af with 3D - I should have mention that in my initial post.

LFS doesn't use SLI as far as i know.
i can build a system (tower only) for £400. $1000 is a bit excessive.
why 120fps min?

Quote from zapz :

How much (in USD) would I need to spend on a PC to play LFS (and most other racing sims) in 1920x1080 and get a frame rate of 120fps at minimum.

I want 120fps for 3D with 3D glasses.

I don't need a monitor, KB, mouse etc, just the PC and OS. The graphics card needs to be invidia for 3D.

if you are running a flat screen monitor at 60Hz, then your max frame rate will be 60 that you'll see, even if it says 120!

if its with LCD flicker goggles....120fps is a big ask...or it was the last system i saw with that ability a couple years ago...and that had a gfx card worth about 1000AUD..

Quote from StableX :

if you are running a flat screen monitor at 60Hz, then your max frame rate will be 60 that you'll see, even if it says 120!

With a 120 Hz "3D" monitor, not really.

Quote from dadge :

LFS doesn't use SLI as far as i know.

Yeah it does, but 120 FPS *all* the time is damn near impossible (i.e. at the back of a full grid even with an i7 were "only" talking 40 FPS or so.

Quote from zapz :

Thanks for that. Ouch... $1K was more than I was hoping for... FWIW you can't use aa/af with 3D - I should have mention that in my initial post.

wait you can't use AA/AF with 3d? Screw 3D then.

A GTS 250 will be fine without any AA. Should keep you above 200 for the most part.

If you dont want to go SLI, you can get a $70 motherboard and a $50 PSU. a 9800gtx+/gts 250 will go around $120 with a good sale. Athlon II 240 costs around $60.

Quote from StableX :

if you are running a flat screen monitor at 60Hz, then your max frame rate will be 60 that you'll see, even if it says 120!

There are 120Hz flatscreens.

Thanks for the reply's guys.

I need 120fps so that each eye gets 60fps with the 3D shutter glasses.
When using 3D glasses I usually see a 40% frame rate drop.

I'm looking to get a 120hz 1080p monitor, around 30" at some point, but just wanted to get an idea how much it's all going to cost.

With a CRT monitor you can just lower the res to get your FPS where you want it, but not so with LCD.

Anyway it's a ways of yet as we're buying a house first.

BTW I'm a huge fan of 3D and I've been using a 21" 120hz CRT and 3D glasses since 2003 to play LFS.

I really can't stress enough - 3D is fvck!ng awesome! However I'm so over 1024x768 and 25fps with 15 players at the back of the grid.

3D Glasses FTW --->

The 120Hz monitors only come with 1680x1050 at the moment. The are 1080p models coming later at some point, now there are only few prototypes afaik. Those 1680x1050 models are all 22" and they cost about 300$.

Note that TVs which claim 120Hz (or higher) aren't really 120Hz. They are really only 60Hz, the rest of the frames are interpolated inside the TV to make the image smoother. So those won't work for you.

Quote from Jakg :

Yeah it does, but 120 FPS *all* the time is damn near impossible (i.e. at the back of a full grid even with an i7 were "only" talking 40 FPS or so.

I'm running an older system (e8500 at 3.8, 2 gigs at 1066, 512mb 8800GTS) and have it locked at 60 fps (unlocked 100+). I have never inched off of 60fps at any point of any track with full grids. I'd look into why the i7 is getting that performance.

Quote from RedStarArmy :

I'm running an older system (e8500 at 3.8, 2 gigs at 1066, 512mb 8800GTS) and have it locked at 60 fps (unlocked 100+). I have never inched off of 60fps at any point of any track with full grids. I'd look into why the i7 is getting that performance.

Depends on AA/AF settings as well as resolution and textures along with any mods, especially since an i7 will not bottleneck a non-sli/cf setup.

Well i guess thats true. I'm not running any texture mods for LFS. But all graphic settings are maxed out in LFS and nHancer (HQ, 16x,16x) at 1440x900.

Quote from RedStarArmy :

Well i guess thats true. I'm not running any texture mods for LFS. But all graphic settings are maxed out in LFS and nHancer (HQ, 16x,16x) at 1440x900.

Yeah LFS without max aa/af = *puke*

Quote from RedStarArmy :

I'm running an older system (e8500 at 3.8, 2 gigs at 1066, 512mb 8800GTS) and have it locked at 60 fps (unlocked 100+). I have never inched off of 60fps at any point of any track with full grids. I'd look into why the i7 is getting that performance.

Can you go at the back of a full grid of FBM's at South City with AI please and tell me what FPS you get at the lights?

Quote from Jakg :

at the back of a full grid even with an i7 were "only" talking 40 FPS or so.

Orly? I get ~50 fps with my crappy dual core

A LOT of custom textures, 8xAA, 16xAF, 1680x1050

Can you post a screenshot?

Try the back of SO Long with 19 AI cars in front of you.

Sure.

http://cdn.solidfiles.net/i/mXEG.png

And online it doesn't drops under 60 fps at all (no need to calculate AI physics I think)

Well I never.

In my defence, been a long time since I ran LFS.

Quote from Shadowww :

Sure.

http://cdn.solidfiles.net/i/mXEG.png

And online it doesn't drops under 60 fps at all (no need to calculate AI physics I think)

or uber charged heavy ate sandwich

Quote from Gegry1992 :

or uber charged heavy ate sandwich

What's point of eating sandviches while ubercharged? The only point I could think off is trolling the medic.

the nub players when ubercharged then eating sandwich so fun

Quote from Shadowww :

What's point of eating sandviches while ubercharged? The only point I could think off is trolling the medic.

Is there any sentence which makes less sense unless you know exactly what it's talking about?

Quote from Crashgate3 :

Is there any sentence which makes less sense unless you know exactly what it's talking about?

Well I think non-TF2 players had headache and went to loop when they read that sentence.