Hardware & Technical A Buget Desktop build just for ED or EDH.

[oshb5ems]

Not Sure if this is the right place to ask this But I had asked something like it beforebut that was about a laptop. I can now see that it is going to cost to much to get a laptop capable of running ED or EDH and why I have thought about moving to a small tower/desktop unit. I have been looking at some CPUs and was told its not so much that a super fast CPU is needed \But more so the GPUs So with this in mind Iv looked at a couple of AMDs as follows

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd...core-s-fm2plus-37ghz-2mb-x-2-cache-95w-retail

and the

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd...-32ghz-turbo-4ghz-8mb-l3-cache-95w-cpu-retail

Both are AMD and are on a page from Scan Computers along with other components that could be picked to build a system. It would only be used for ED/EDH game Other wise would just be used to feed my media system and projector with torrents from my seedbox via rss from the internet. and that is about all

So if anyone has any suggestions from the two links above on what might be OK and with what components if any then please feel free to pass on your words of wisdom as it must be about 20-25 years since I last built a PC ( It was in the time of the Pentium 1/11 that stood vertical on the Mother boaaed?) Also any other suggestions if you think would benifit but I am looking to do it on a tight buget. At the moment the Acer V5-571 laptop is just coping with ED and that has a i5-3317u chip giving it a benchmark of 3098. on 6Gb ram and the Graphics is a HD 4000 So I know I need something else to be able to run ED better I do have a small footprint Dell in the house but is only a Duo Core unit.

Many thanks for any information I may get . Regards Os

 

[Wicz]

Aim for an i5, 16GB of ram ( 8 will do, but the price difference is minimal ) and the best GPU you can afford. Don't skimp on the power supply.

 

[oshb5ems]

What sort of i5 and M/B would you suggest mate?

 

[Sir.Tj]

Moved to hardware.

 

[Surfinjo]

I confess I have little or no experience with AMD being an Intel sort myself. But those look fine.

If I may suggest, most modern mother boards allow for parts to be upgraded later. As long as you start with a quad core CPU, you can get a better one later. Especially if prices fall or some sales offer discounts.

The same goes for RAM, though make sure you but ram with identical specs. That means keeping a note of what your current RAM's are. You really need 4Gb min. if get a pair of 2Gb for example, most MBs hold 4 so you can update later. Some don't recommend adding new to old RAM, but provided the specs are the same I've never had any problems.

Equally for a graphics card, though that generally needs to be replaced as a whole.

I hope you don't mind me adding this but do be careful to get adequate cooling and filtering. One input port with a good filter and some good fans.

 

[AceFlares]

I built the below for my 16yr old son last July mate and it runs like a dream... He plays all the latest games, ie Witcher 3 etc. home work, multimedia etc and it really hasn't crashed once or caused a single issue. Running on Windows 8.1 Home and upgraded to Win 10. The CPU is overclocked at 4.1ghz.

AMD FX8320 CPU
Gigabyte GA970a-G46 mobo
Zotac Nvidia GTX960 2GB GPU
8GB Hyperx Fury 1866mhz RAM (2x4GB sticks)
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 EVO 3 CPU fan
Corsair VS550 PSU
1TB Samsung HDD
LG 21.5" HDMI 2ms monitor
Cooler Master gamer keyboard/mouse set
An ATX gamer midi tower case I can't remember the brand (was about 30 quid)

A super cheap gaming PC. About £620 at the time of building except the OS which we already had, mostly from Ebuyer.co.uk and the monitor from Amazon.

You could scrimp even more and replace the CPU with an FX6300 and/or an AMD R7 370 2gb GPU to save approx. £50 and still have a good gaming/Elite experience although personally I would prefer to keep the GTX960. Its a great card for the price.

Edit: missed the hdd..

 

[Porina]

Interesting question, but it will come down to the budget is? And does it need to cover a monitor or not? If existing monitor, what are the specs of it?

 

[oshb5ems]

I would like to try and do it for say less than £400 but I know that may be pushing it so it might have to be around the £500 mark. Other than that seeing as Elite is the only game I am going to be playing I could get a XBox One for around the £200 mark . Its just if the whole playability is as good.. I know its funny but when your on a console it does not give you that feel of a PC. dont ask why but it just does not. LOL?

 

[Surfinjo]

I would like to try and do it for say less than £400 but I know that may be pushing it so it might have to be around the £500 mark. Other than that seeing as Elite is the only game I am going to be playing I could get a XBox One for around the £200 mark . Its just if the whole playability is as good.. I know its funny but when your on a console it does not give you that feel of a PC. dont ask why but it just does not. LOL?

Ready to rise to the challange.

Working with Intel because that's what I understand:

Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO Motherboards £175.00 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-MAXIMUS-VIII-HERO-Motherboards/dp/B0126R4F8W

Intel i5-750 Quad Core Processor - 2.66 GHz, 8MB Cache, £115.00 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-i5-750-Quad-Core-Processor/dp/B002KQBC0O

PALiT GeForce GTX 950 StormX OC 2GB GDDR5 £120.00 http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/...ds/nvidiagtx950series/ne5x95001041-2063f.html

Corsair CX750 Builder Series CX 750W £65.00 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CX7...rs&ie=UTF8&qid=1456267397&sr=1-2&keywords=PSU

Crucial 4GB DDR4-2133 SODIMM X2 £17 each £34.00 http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/ct4g4sfs8213

Xenta Computer case Black £13.00 http://www.ebuyer.com/630130-xenta-computer-case-black-ebb1y60


Total £ 522.00

This excludes monitor, keyboard/mouse. The components are absolute rock bottom with rock bottom performance. But it does leave a lot of room for expansion, better CPU, more memory, better GPU and so on.

 

[Porina]

There's a few major problems with Surfinjo's proposed build. Biggest of all, the CPU and mobo aren't compatible with each other. The listed CPU is 5 generations old. Also absent is any form of storage and operating system. In my opinion the mobo is massive overkill for a budget build, as is the power supply.

Oh, the Xbox might be a low cost route in, but there is no Horizons (for better or worse!).

After a bit of a play, I stuck with one supplier so only one set of postage costs. I chose ebuyer, which isn't necessarily the cheapest, but gives an indication and I find their site relatively easy to find things on. Following is what I came up with:
Common parts:
33.99 MSI H81M-P33
30.48 Kingston HyperX Blue Fury 2x4GB ram 1866 MHz
21.48 AvP Hyperion EV33B Black Cube case
32.00 120 GB SSD (pricing can vary depending on special offers at the time)
31.49 Corsair VS350 PSU
74.99 Windows 10 home 64-bit OEM - there might be more creative ways to get Windows 7 lower cost
9.09 DVD drive - optional, might be required for OS install

Option A - total £507.51, not including postage.
149.99 Intel i5-4460 3.2 GHz, 4 cores
124.00 Gigabyte GTX 950 2GB

Option B - total £502.49, not including postage.
91.98 Intel i3-4170 3.7 GHz, 2 cores 4 threads
164.99 Gigabyte GTX 960 4GB

Option A is putting a bit more into the CPU, but that means dropping down a GPU level. Option B goes the other way around. In this scenario, I'd lean towards option B if it was my money. ED isn't very CPU hungry, but can make more use of the graphics. I know from experience the 960 is enough to run 1080p at 60fps apart from on planets, where it drops into the 40's. The 950 might get a bit low on planets. Actually, you could go cheaper CPU and GPU to hit around £450.

The motherboard I've chosen is one I have two of myself. It is cheap, and no frills. There is no great expansion possibility, but it is adequate.

Similarly the ram I picked is as cheap as it gets for the capacity. You don't save by going to lesser brands or lower speeds. The only way to save there is to drop to 2GB modules, but 4GB really is cutting it too far and you're only saving a few quid, it isn't worth it.

The case again is one I have two of (they do it in black or gloss white). Not the cheapest but easy to work with, separating the PSU/HD side from the mobo side.

The SSD I've not specified exactly, as you can get whatever is cheapest at the time. It is worth considering paying the extra £20 or so for a 240GB to give you more breathing space. 120GB is still plenty for Windows and ED, but don't expect to install a ton of games on it. You can easily add another drive later on if needed anyway. I would really aim for a SSD for performance, although you could also get a traditional hard disk with much more capacity instead.

The PSU is a low end branded unit. 350W doesn't sound like a lot, but in either case, you're not likely to exceed 150W for the GPU and 100W for CPU as worst case from both scenarios. Everything else is insignificant, so it is still plenty.

Obviously I've also not included keyboard/mouse/monitor. Initially you can recycle whatever is on the Dell and maybe upgrade later. Oh, if you want some controller for ED add that to the shopping list too.

 

[Surfinjo]

Yeah, sorry about that.

My point was to show that, even squeezing everything to bare minimum, it is almost impossible to achieve an under £500 mark, let alone £400. Bear in mind my set up didn't include keyboard/mouse or a monitor, or even an OS! There might have been a possibility of using the Steam OS. I don't know if it is compatible with Elite Dangerous yet though.

Thanks for your corrections and input. Though it does tend to suggest the same result.

 

[oshb5ems]

After a bit of a play, I stuck with one supplier so only one set of postage costs. I chose ebuyer, which isn't necessarily the cheapest, but gives an indication and I find their site relatively easy to find things on. Following is what I came up with:
Common parts:
33.99 MSI H81M-P33
30.48 Kingston HyperX Blue Fury 2x4GB ram 1866 MHz
21.48 AvP Hyperion EV33B Black Cube case
32.00 120 GB SSD (pricing can vary depending on special offers at the time)
31.49 Corsair VS350 PSU
74.99 Windows 10 home 64-bit OEM - there might be more creative ways to get Windows 7 lower cost
9.09 DVD drive - optional, might be required for OS install

Option A - total £507.51, not including postage.
149.99 Intel i5-4460 3.2 GHz, 4 cores
124.00 Gigabyte GTX 950 2GB

Option B - total £502.49, not including postage.
91.98 Intel i3-4170 3.7 GHz, 2 cores 4 threads
164.99 Gigabyte GTX 960 4GB

Thankyou very much for your time and effort. I do have a spare new 240ssd which I bought some 3 weeks ago on a deal from Ebuyer which was just over £40 Iv also got quite a few hard drives in various sizes from 250Gb to 1TB and also a couple of DVD units. What can I say Im a magpie and dont like to see anything go to waste LOL
Also I have a windows 8.1 Licence im no longer using as the laptop has given up the ghost. So that should be Ok to use, Also I had read somewhere that Elite is nore of a GPU relianat game rather than CPU. So I would think that the better GPU may be the way to go. The other thing in the reading was not to scrimp on the power supply and have good cooling? So with the power supply you suggested will it be ok being a better quality unit or would a slightly larger one be better? Right like I originally said itd been some 20 years since I built my last unit Are they about the same as they where or has anything changed dermatically? and ifso what?

Also thankyou too everyone else that has has a input and spent time on helping.

Best regards Os

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

There might have been a possibility of using the Steam OS. I don't know if it is compatible with Elite Dangerous yet though..

Thanks and I also dont know about the steam OS Is there anyone in the Group that knows the answear please?

Os

 

[Porina]

I'm struggling to think back to what PC I had 20 years ago. I think the fundamentals aren't much different. Get compatible stuff. Plug it in. Install OS, and you're away.

On PSUs, there is a difference between a good one and a not so good one. In the old days people half joked you can tell a good one from its weight. Anyway, I went with Corsair as that is a brand I've used a lot with good results. I will admit I've not tried their VS or value series ones before. The next one up in their range is CX which is what I go for on a cheap build, but it does cost a little more. I only used the VS to really get the price down in the example above.

Obviously the list was an example of what you could get. You can always vary a bit depending on how you feel.

Cooling wise, the Intel supplied retail cooler is in my opinion ok for an i3, but if you go for an i5 or above it is worth spending another up to £20 on something better. It'll help keep it cool under load and prevent it from throttling. Again I didn't include that to really cut the budget to a minimum. Check the sizes though, as some may require more space in the case if you want to get the lid back on. The Coolermaster models around that price point should be ok.

Note if you go for a 960, there are 2 and 4 GB versions. The latter may be a little more future resistant and there isn't that much price difference between them.

If you can re-use the Windows 8.1 licence that will be a good saving in itself. If it was originally a retail version you should be able to transfer it, but if it was OEM you probably can't.

SteamOS is something Valve came up with when their leader threw his toys out of the pram after hearing about what MS were doing with Windows 10. It is a customised Linux, so until there is ED for Linux, it wont be much use here.

 

[oshb5ems]

I'm struggling to think back to what PC I had 20 years ago. I think the fundamentals aren't much different. Get compatible stuff. Plug it in. Install OS, and you're away.

On PSUs, there is a difference between a good one and a not so good one. In the old days people half joked you can tell a good one from its weight. Anyway, I went with Corsair as that is a brand I've used a lot with good results. I will admit I've not tried their VS or value series ones before. The next one up in their range is CX which is what I go for on a cheap build, but it does cost a little more. I only used the VS to really get the price down in the example above.

Obviously the list was an example of what you could get. You can always vary a bit depending on how you feel.

Cooling wise, the Intel supplied retail cooler is in my opinion ok for an i3, but if you go for an i5 or above it is worth spending another up to £20 on something better. It'll help keep it cool under load and prevent it from throttling. Again I didn't include that to really cut the budget to a minimum. Check the sizes though, as some may require more space in the case if you want to get the lid back on. The Coolermaster models around that price point should be ok.

Note if you go for a 960, there are 2 and 4 GB versions. The latter may be a little more future resistant and there isn't that much price difference between them.

If you can re-use the Windows 8.1 licence that will be a good saving in itself. If it was originally a retail version you should be able to transfer it, but if it was OEM you probably can't.

SteamOS is something Valve came up with when their leader threw his toys out of the pram after hearing about what MS were doing with Windows 10. It is a customised Linux, so until there is ED for Linux, it wont be much use here.

Thank you for clarifying the points above I can now hopefully sort something out with the list of bits and try to builda nice unit to run EDAnd hopefully over the network..

Regards Os,,

 

[oshb5ems]

Hello All

Thankyou for all the information and all the time you spent suggesting bits of kit. I think it has come down to picking which I think is about the best I ccan buy or should I say the best I can think about spending on a new m/c in reality as i do have other things to spend on and when all said and done this is just a hobby.

Right from the opyions Porina gave iv picked
The CPU i5-4460 which is the 1150 socket
The GPU GTX 960 at the moment I can get a 2gb for £151 But a 4gb for £162
And I would like it to be in a Micro ATX Cube case Iv seen a nice on that is around £40 with 4 fans included. and has good clearence for a large GPU and larger power supply

Does that sound like the start of a system that will run ED OK? I dont know but is there anyone running ED with this CPU and GPU if so how does it run please?

And I think the other bits he said are about the best bits unless there is anything that can be improved upon for the od £10 - £20 say? So if anyone can suggest any other bits to replace those that Porina has suggested in his list of bits he greatfully put together for me?

All the best Os.

 

[Zetta]

Wonder how an OC'd Pentium G3258 does with Horizons. If it handles the CPU side of things you could think about upgrading to a GTX 970.

 

[oshb5ems]

The reason I thought about the i5-4460 chip was that it was a 4th gen and fitted the 1150 socket Mobo along with there are quite a few coming up for sale on ebay as others are upgrading and wich also gives me the option of the same