I reset my Alienware M15x to factory settings. Pared down all background processes to bare essentials, updated Windows 7 to current state. Upgraded RAM to 8 GB. Installed Microsoft Security essentials, (I know I know, but it's the least invasive suite I can tolerate) the ONLY exe.s I have on there now see Kerbal Space Program and Elite Dangerous. (I barely touch KSP nowadays since gamma.
But it's all futile really as I literally get about 1 hour every 48 hrs to actually play. And then I have to leave headphones off so I can hear my wee bairn
Heh, I have 3 kids (youngest is 3), so I feel for ya. But that's where my Grado SR80i headphones are good. They are open backed. Really good quality sound (HiFi aficionados shake their heads when they hear I game with it). And as I said, open backed so the sound leaks out like a sieve but the same applies to external sound... You can hear external sounds like kids crying and get to them before the wife wakes!
My largest purchase was the X52PRO from the flightstore.co.uk for a modest £130 incl del.
I also bought the EDTracker parts which was a massive £13 and is easily the best investment for return on immersion!
I also bought Voice Attack $8 but funnily enough, that's the least used even though I bought a nice voice pack for it (£3.50) which actually was great value as they've done loads more responses and default profiles and quite importantly (since I game in the main bedroom and can't actually vocalize commands) lots of key bindings so I can hear nice Computer voice responses to the things ED didn't give a voice response to!
Some other threads have mentioned the improvement in sound with a discrete sound card so considering a further modest £25 on some ASUS Xonar DG which should work well with the Grados as it has an onboard headphone amplifier.
I'm also considering a third screen but with the EDTracker, I'm not sure that's required!
I still haven't tried hooking the PC up to the JVC HD projector which we watch movies on the 84" screen with.... Perhaps one weekend when the whole family is asleep.
Oh and whilst kickstarter backers saved about a fiver over the beta buyers, I also prepped by getting a couple of ship options.
So in the end I spent £25 plus extra ship options for £20 and then £15 for beta.
From the posts on this thread and some people I've spoken to, there is so much nostalgia from 1984 and hopes and dreams being carried behind Elite : Dangerous. TBH if we all had just stopped playing the original and started playing this we'd have been absolutely gobsmacked.
