Building/Buying a PC

[Limpboot]

I've been deciding whether I should be putting together a PC or buying one that's already built. I don't have any experience putting one together, so I'm leaning towards the latter. It's not that I can't plug some things in, but when it comes to issues around software and compatibility I am completely lost and know nothing about the terminology. Probably shooting myself in the foot here, but I don't have a lot of time to sit down and read about it. My degree program takes up most of my time as it is.When/if things go wrong, it'd be nice to have a company or person to turn it over to.

I went through a few options on Overclockers.co.uk and found most of their options to include the things I'm looking for. The key thing I want to be able to do is run the Odyssey in Ultra in 4k at a steady 60 Fps (if possible). Currently I'm running a GTX 1070 in a laptop. It can run ultra on its own native monitor-but once it gets onto my 4k monitor the frames instantly tank below 20 fps. Mind this is only on planetary surfaces, but this is typically what I'm doing in game (planetary surface missions).

I'm currently running:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H CPU @ 2.20GHz 2.20 GHz
16 Gb RAM
GTX 1070

Ideally, I'm trying to upgrade to:
Literally anything better than this processor. Preferably above 3 GHz, AMD or intel.
32 Gb RAM
RTX 3070/3070 Ti/RTX 3080

I'm using GPU benchmarks as a way to decide on the video card. I'm entirely unsure how much of a benefit I'd get going from the 3070 ti to a 3080. According to some of the benchmarks I'm seeing, it isn't much of a price gap or a performance gap (not savvy with the technical stuff, if you disagree please tell me why). Any thoughts from the community would be welcomed here.

 

[Dragsham]

Firstly I'd like to say what my muckers told me.
My system is an i7 9600f 16 gig ddr4 ram and a 3060oc. Now I'm in VR I recently got some money so l told my fellow cmdrs I was gonner get a new board cpu more faster (mhz) ram.
They said.
Sack all that and get a faster gpu.
Long story short so l ended up with a 3070ti.
did buy a new fractal design case cos my prebuilts case is crap for airflow.

So come this weekend I'll be busy moving it all over to New case in time for the new gpu to arrive.
Bottom line!
Upgrade just the gpu. That takes the brunt of what's needed.
Secondly .. if you ain't sure watch recent utube videos and ask here there's always someone here who will give sound advice.
Good luck o7

 

[Limpboot]

Firstly I'd like to say what my muckers told me.
My system is an i7 9600f 16 gig ddr4 ram and a 3060oc. Now I'm in VR I recently got some money so l told my fellow cmdrs I was gonner get a new board cpu more faster (mhz) ram.
They said.
Sack all that and get a faster gpu.
Long story short so l ended up with a 3070ti.
did buy a new fractal design case cos my prebuilts case is crap for airflow.

So come this weekend I'll be busy moving it all over to New case in time for the new gpu to arrive.
Bottom line!
Upgrade just the gpu. That takes the brunt of what's needed.
Secondly .. if you ain't sure watch recent utube videos and ask here there's always someone here who will give sound advice.
Good luck o7

Upgrade the GPU, noted thank you very much

 

[Garix]

There isn't enough of a performance boost to go for the 3070ti over the 3070 (pricewise). I ended up with the 3070ti purely because I couldn't get the standard 3070 and couldn't quite stretch to a 3080.

Basically if you can afford it 3080, other wise 3070. 3070ti only if that's all you can get.

Others may see it different

 

[Para Handy]

...
Upgrade just the gpu. That takes the brunt of what's needed.
...

Upgrade the GPU, noted thank you very much

Since the i7-8750H is a laptop processor the "just upgrade the GPU" is not really apposite.

According to the voices on here that I trust, the CPU cores are very important for Odyssey so six (like your laptop) or more is to be aimed for.

The rest is budget dependant, I have not built a new PC for some time as my plan to "build with the RTX" fell apart thanks to prices going stupid so I can't offer anything of note.

Good luck

 

[Limpboot]

Since the i7-8750H is a laptop processor the "just upgrade the GPU" is not really apposite.

According to the voices on here that I trust, the CPU cores are very important for Odyssey so six (like your laptop) or more is to be aimed for.

The rest is budget dependant, I have not built a new PC for some time as my plan to "build with the RTX" fell apart thanks to prices going stupid so I can't offer anything of note.

Good luck

Still worthy of note. True, I can't just upgrade the GPU in my laptop.

But the number of cores for Odyssey was news to me. It instead makes me consider an newer i5 model or an AMD Ryzen 5 model.

 

[Sleepyman]

Why do you need 32Gb? With the exception of a few games like DCS 16Gb is more than enough for gaming

 

[Para Handy]

.....
But the number of cores for Odyssey was news to me. It instead makes me consider an newer i5 model or an AMD Ryzen 5 model.

It might be worth asking directly of someone like @Morbad

 

[Limpboot]

Why do you need 32Gb? With the exception of a few games like DCS 16Gb is more than enough for gaThe 32 GB of

The 32 Gb of RAM is just a personal choice-the reasoning was just that the price point isn't that large of a difference.

 

[GroG79]

Number of cores not so much. But older gen cores have trouble keeping up. That said a 8 core CPU these days is almost standard. A 6 core will do fine too as long as they are not ancient

Indeed 16 Gb is fine; 32 is nice to have

 

[Northpin]

I'm using GPU benchmarks as a way to decide on the video card. I'm entirely unsure how much of a benefit I'd get going from the 3070 ti to a 3080. According to some of the benchmarks I'm seeing, it isn't much of a price gap or a performance gap

My advice would be to wait till the autumn if you can - as in maybe wait for nextgens from both nvidia and amd - both promises unseen performance increases compared with the current generation of gfx cards.

Now if you dont plan to wait...
...about 3070ti and 3080 - go for a 3080/16gb.
It's a bit more future proof than 3070ti simply because it's a bit faster and it comes with 16gb of VRAM opposed to 8gb for 3070ti

And for CPU, an I7 from series 12 (12700 or so)

 

[GroG79]

both promises unseen performance increases compared with the current generation of gfx cards

Same will go for pricing and power usage

You could even go as far as: Who need more than a 6800xt or 3080?

 

[Northpin]

Who need more than a 6800xt or 3080?

Not at the moment, but it's about futureproofing

Currently I'm running a GTX 1070 in a laptop

If you are into laptops, this model (ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 G733ZX) comes with I7-12700 (and up) and RTX3080TI/16gb - sure... it can get up to 3k, but who knows, you might stumble on some deal.
I'm running the last gen (G733QS) with Amd Ryzen 9 5900HX, a RTX3080/16gb and 32GB ram - and i'm quite happy with it.

 

[GroG79]

As loads of people game on 1070s.. How is a 3080 or similar not future proof?

 

[Cmdr Aos_Si]

3070 may still be underpowered. In busy settlements with other Cmdrs you frame rate may drop down to the 30s. The game may get further optimisations but a friend currently running a 3070 plays at 1440p for this reason

 

[GroG79]

That is not due to the gpu but due to the cobra engine

 

[Northpin]

That is not due to the gpu but due to the cobra engine

Correct, but a better gpu would help the OP to play in 4k

It's the reason that, instead of waiting for FDev to optimize the engine, i replaced my older i7-9750h / GTX1660TI laptop with the laptop mentioned above

 

[Limpboot]

I'm not totally sold on buying another laptop, but I have considered it. The one I have is my 3rd in the last 15 years and so far it's been amazing. But it does have it's limitations, the main one being that I can add no hardware except a solid state drive. I have 2 of those already, one as my operating drive and another as an external to hold all my games.

A desktop PC is something I have never bought myself and now that I have the money to do so comfortbaly I want to go all in.

 

[Morbad]

The key thing I want to be able to do is run the Odyssey in Ultra in 4k at a steady 60 Fps (if possible).

This is difficult without top-end hardware, mostly due to settlements, which are very heavy on CPU (especially around CZs) and GPU.

You want 6c/12t or 8c/8t on the CPU, as a minimum, and they should be the newest/fastest cores you can get. Odyssey is just well threaded enough to not like quad cores much, but still heavily dependent on a few threads to the point that the fastest cores possible are more important than more than six cores.

GPU wise, whatever is the best you can afford. The game doesn't have much a brand preference when it comes to performance, but the game has some issues with AMD GPUs (orbit line aliasin and intermittent odd texture problems).

 

[ethelred]

As it stands at the moment (in the UK), the individual GPUs are so expensive, a pre-built from overclockers is probably your best bet.

Plus you won't have to faff around with building it. My go to references for bang for buck is https://www.logicalincrements.com/ as you're guaranteed all components are compatible. Most of the links go to Amazon, but you can usually knock a few quid off as most mobo & processors can be bought as a cheaper bundle.

Where pre-built is better is that whoever you buy from can get cards direct from Nvidia meaning the prices are better. Allegedly.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...en-7-5800x-geforce-rtx-3070-ti-fs-1dw-og.html looks decent

You know your budget, if getting pre-built get the best card you can, personally I'd feel uncomfortable spending more that £2k on a machine (as I don't think the extra cash makes enough of a difference) but that may not be the case for you.

Even with a lottery win, I probably wouldn't spunk £30k on a PC (like the most expensive from the OC site), I'd probably go for the 4.5k monstrous build from Logical Increments!

Whatever you choose, please post the build here and I'm sure the more technically minded will help you choose between two!