What computer setup for 2DOF?

G'day collective masters of motion!

I have pondered over a motion rig for many years and now after reading many posts on here I am going to give it a go. I'm sure you will see many posts from me soon.

First question, i have not owned a desktop computer for many years only using work laptops and one laptop of my own.

What computer should i get to run my setup? what ports does it need? what graphics card and sound card etc. ideally I would like to build the project as cheap as possible so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Anyone?

Hi!

I can tell you I'm very satisfied with:

- 7970-Lightning graphic card which enables native triple screen support (eye infinity) with 4 Mini DisplayPort!
- 3 screens: 24" iiyama ProLite E24B1HS with thin edges
- SSD hard disk​

You can have a very good gamer config for 1500€.

Mat

a cheap amd pc can be built for about $800 ish that will do the job
a basic quad core (best use 4 cores min), 4 gig ram, windows 7 32 bit, and a decent graphics card.
Single screen GTX660ti or AT equivalent

id suggest for motor control the Pololu JRK 12v 12 http://www.pololu.com/product/1393 not the cheapest, but by far the best card for motor control, one board per motor, 7 wires, one usb, NO CODE TO WRITE.
It will handle 14v at 30 amps continuous all day with heatsink on the big chip and fan cooling.

Shop around , running a bulldozer here AMDx8 -3.6 OC - 4.2 - 16gig ram - 2gig video AMD so supports 4 screens with no addons.
Under $800 AUS new had to build the machine so included last years Therm... Case with 1000W psu. 1TB min for HDD, still using SATA 3 , seen too many ssd drives fail for me to buy one.

Thanks, I have already ordered these after reading so many of your posts. I also ordered the motors you suggested and the pots!

This computer thing does have me confused though, I used to build my own but been so long now I cant believe how much has changed lol. I find one that looks ok on ebay and then there seems to be a million options to go with it... I guess the basics are fine - minimum quad core, 4 gig ram enough? what about the video card, this is where I really know nothing I used to build computers for work not play so they are foreign to me. I like to overkill things but budget has to be realistic, i dont mind paying for good gear though.

Graphics cards can be a bit tricky as there is 1 gig cards and 1 gig cards.
It depends on the actual chipset of the card as to how the performance will go.
Actual memory on the card doesnt say much.
I only use nvidia and run GTX 660 Ti minimum or older equivalent.
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php this is good to compare card.
Games will specify minimum and recommended, so go higher than that.

@Slider : Do you intend to have a triple screen?
if yes, look for a graphic card which can withstand 3screens... other options are more difficult (external box, bridge between 2 cards...)

That was my next question, what should I be looking for on the video card for three screens? i have looked at a few but they dont actually seem to say it.

How about this one?

• AMD Quad-Core A10-6700 APU (3.7 GHz, 4 MB cache)
• 16GB 1600 MHz DDR3
• 3TB 7200RPM SATA Hard Disk Drive
• SuperMulti DVD Burner drive
• AMD Radeon HD 8570 (DVI + HDMI Output)
• High Definition Audio
• Integrated Gigabit Ethernet
• Wireless LAN 802.11a/b/g/n
• 6-in-1 Card Reader
• 4x USB 3.0 ports (2x Front, 2x Back) , 4x USB 2.0 ports, 1x RJ-45, 1x VGA port, 1x DVI-D port
• Keyboard and Mouse, Power cord included
• Windows 8 Pre-installed

yes, for example look for AMD card with "eyeinfinity" mention: you can use 3 landscape screens (or you can even use 5 portrait screens...)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...ds=amd+eyeinfinity&rh=i:aps,k:amd+eyeinfinity

I would advice to not use some "Matrox TripleHead2Go"

So the computer I listed above be good enough?

Its good, RAM is good. Even the CPU will do the job. No idea about the motherboard though.
Although the 3TB HDD is good for storage, but Id suggest putting in a 500GB 7200 rpm HDD for normal windows use. It would run faster than having to search through 3TB. But having a 3TB is, as said good for storage.
Also, Simtools will run on windows 8, but again, windows 7 is preferred for games as it allows you to "alt tab" minimising a screen so you can fiddle with numbers in tuning centre. Windows 8 doesnt like you doing that and tends to crash the game.
As for the graphics card , I had a hell of a time finding reviews about it, but it seems to compare to a GTX650, I dont run cards that slow anymore. Seriously, I would not go less that a GTX 660 ti or a Raedon HD 7870 for gaming.
The 8570 is about a $110 card, Id suggest looking at upgrading the card to a $220 plus cost or more if you do get the computer. And yo may have to look at getting a bigger power supply as well to run the card and extra HDD.
Hope that helps a bit.
David.

Thanks David, thats what I want to know. i will keep looking

i want to add my opinion to graphics card for pc.
i prefer NVIDIA chipset instead ATI chipset for windows driver problems occurs in various years.

I'm still looking, haven't found the right solution yet.

I have had a good run out of a Asus HD6970 2Gig card, it will run 6 screens however I'm only putting it through 3 at the moment with eyefinity at 5280 x 1080. Some games particularly Project CARS are very hungry and will freeze and stall on anything less. I'm currently running a Z77 motherboard LGA1155 with an I7 3770k processor with Windows 8.1 and 16 Gig Ram. No issues running game and Simtools on the one PC however I've come into possession of a couple of lesser quad core computers that I'm going to run Sim Tools on and a separate screen so as to monitor and make adjustments on the fly, not necessary but why not.

I use a garden variety AMD quad core , 4 gig ram, GTX 560Ti, no prob running simtools on a single screen at fairly high resolution.