[c1pher]

What PC configs work best? Would an intel NUC like a Hades Canyon be up to the task?

[bucketfoot]

If you are talking a PC primarily being used for sim racing purposes you do not need anything special.

Go look at the system requirements for iRacing or Assetto Corsa and you will see that pretty much any computer from the last 5-10 years will work just fine.

I picked up a used PC (with an AMD A8-5500) for under $300 that I'm using and it's running Assetto Corsa with ease. That said, I'm not a gamer, so if you plan to use it for other gaming purposes don't bother listening to me

[Andrew]

Check out https://pcpartpicker.com/ as they have custom builds documented. Seems like you can build a solid overall gaming rig for around $800 using the AMD Ryzen 5 CPU and a AMD RX 580 video card.

Check out these builds for under $800. https://pcpartpicker.com/builds/#X=0,80905&s=33

[jimbobiggens]

A NUC mini PC is a good idea on paper but has heat issues. I7 processor + passive cooling + small space = trouble. We had three of them at work and had to remove all of them because of overheating and freezing the video output during Zoom presentations. They were the sixth generation that supposedly have a "fix" for overheating. I've got one on my desk, it makes a nice paperweight. The skull on top is a nice touch.

[c1pher]

Originally Posted by jimbobiggens

A NUC mini PC is a good idea on paper but has heat issues. I7 processor + passive cooling + small space = trouble. We had three of them at work and had to remove all of them because of overheating and freezing the video output during Zoom presentations. They were the sixth generation that supposedly have a "fix" for overheating. I've got one on my desk, it makes a nice paperweight. The skull on top is a nice touch.

What about a raspberry pi lol? I keed I keed.

[jimbobiggens]

Originally Posted by c1pher

What about a raspberry pi lol? I keed I keed.

They work well for firewalls. Mine is running Ubuntu 18.04 server and works great. Less than a hundred dollars for a fully hardened and capable firewall is not bad. I wouldn't use it for a PC because the graphics are weak.

I have one of those Lenovo m720 Tiny small form factor desktops with I7 processor, 16 GB ram, 1TB M.2 SSD hard drive I use for a Windows deployment server. Works great, fast, stable. It's very similar to this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Thin...UAAOSwsEteZnzo

[c1pher]

Originally Posted by jimbobiggens

They work well for firewalls. Mine is running Ubuntu 18.04 server and works great. Less than a hundred dollars for a fully hardened and capable firewall is not bad. I wouldn't use it for a PC because the graphics are weak.

I have one of those Lenovo m720 Tiny small form factor desktops with I7 processor, 16 GB ram, 1TB M.2 SSD hard drive I use for a Windows deployment server. Works great, fast, stable. It's very similar to this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Thin...UAAOSwsEteZnzo

I use untangle firewalls at home. So I’m guessing a high end integrated GPU is okay and you don’t really need a independent gpu for this type of gaming.

[jimbobiggens]

Oh, fooey. I missed the part about using it strictly for sim racing. Yeah, pretty much anything with decent RX580-ish specs will work.

[detroitm2]

Originally Posted by jimbobiggens

Oh, fooey. I missed the part about using it strictly for sim racing. Yeah, pretty much anything with decent RX580-ish specs will work.

As long as you only do 1080p on a single monitor and/or don't mind dropping graphics settings down.

Im running an RTX 2080S and can hit 100fps or so on 3 x 1440p monitors with high/ultra settings in most titles. ACC takes the most graphics power, iRacing the least.

So YMMV depending on what your expectations are and setup.