Budget graphics card?

GreyAreaUK · Apr 10, 2017

Apologies if this is the wrong area - I can't seem to see a hardware section.

My wife will be starting to play the game soon (CMDR Grytpype-Thynne) so I'm dusting off one of my old PCs. It's a Core i5 from about 4 years ago with 8GB RAM. However, the graphics card in it (GT710 I think) is perhaps a wee bit underspecced. I loaded Elite up on it and while it kind of plays ok, it's somewhat sluggish.

Any recommendations for a decent, budget graphics card? An SSD will also help but I can get that later.

Robert Maynard · Apr 10, 2017

What's the intended display resolution, desired framerate and budget?

GreyAreaUK · Apr 10, 2017

Robert Maynard said:
What's the intended display resolution, desired framerate and budget?

It'll be hooked up to a TV, so 1080p for preference. Budget...say, under £100? Might be prepared to go higher if I'm sure it's mostly the card that's slowing it down.

Obsidian Ant · Apr 10, 2017

The GTX 1050 plays the game very well at 1080p. Seems to run mid / high most of the time at 30fps, this includes inside stations and on planets. However, I haven't seen how well it runs in heavy combat areas yet...

GreyAreaUK · Apr 10, 2017

Obsidian Ant said:
The GTX 1050 plays the game very well at 1080p. Seems to run mid / high most of the time at 30fps, this includes inside stations and on planets. However, I haven't seen how well it runs in heavy combat areas yet...

Thank you. Looks like it squeaks slightly over the budget, but not by enough to matter. I'll add that to the list of possibles.

Friedenreich Xante · Apr 10, 2017

GTX 1050, perhaps? As I Play on ultra settings on a 1060, I guess the 1050 will do fine. And it's just your Budget (a KFA2 is even below it).

EDIT: Ninja'd

GreyAreaUK · Apr 10, 2017

Friedenreich Xante said:
GTX 1050, perhaps? As I Play on ultra settings on a 1060, I guess the 1050 will do fine. And it's just your Budget (a KFA2 is even below it).

EDIT: Ninja'd

Thanks. Always good to get a second opinion

fennster · Apr 10, 2017

Beware of the pricing on the 1050 though.

The cheaper £100 region cards have only 2GB VRAM, where as the the more desirable 4GB versions are more like £140.

metascrawl · Apr 10, 2017

I recently picked up a secondhand GTX 750 Ti for £68 on ebay - it runs the game very well alongside a very outdated i3.

Two things though: 1) the card is a version by Palit that is super-overclocked out of the box, which may well help. 2) I'm using a VGA monitor so I'm obviously not demanding 1080p.

GreyAreaUK · Apr 10, 2017

fennster said:
Beware of the pricing on the 1050 though.

The cheaper £100 region cards have only 2GB VRAM, where as the the more desirable 4GB versions are more like £140.

Thanks.

Wouldn't 2GB be enough though? I mean sure, more is better, but I'm just trying to speed things up a bit. Switching to the Nav console took ages.

Robert Maynard · Apr 10, 2017

fennster said:
Beware of the pricing on the 1050 though.

The cheaper £100 region cards have only 2GB VRAM, where as the the more desirable 4GB versions are more like £140.

.... or £141 for a 1050Ti (which offers about 25% more performance than the 1050): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-Nvidia-1050Ti-GDDR5-PCI-E/dp/B01MG15JZS

Obsidian Ant · Apr 10, 2017

GreyAreaUK said:
Thanks.

Wouldn't 2GB be enough though? I mean sure, more is better, but I'm just trying to speed things up a bit. Switching to the Nav console took ages.

I have used the 2GB version, and had no problems whatsoever.

GreyAreaUK · Apr 10, 2017

Thanks all.

In your opinion, is it likely to be the card that producing the slow-downs? It's mostly in-cockpit movement (switching to nav panels, etc).

Robert Maynard · Apr 10, 2017

GreyAreaUK said:
Thanks all.

In your opinion, is it likely to be the card that producing the slow-downs? It's mostly in-cockpit movement (switching to nav panels, etc).

The GT710 has about 15% of the performance of the 1050 and is below the minimum spec for the game (it's about 22% as capable as the GTX 470).

GreyAreaUK · Apr 10, 2017

Robert Maynard said:
The GT710 has about 15% of the performance of the 1050 and is below the minimum spec for the game (it's about 22% as capable as the GTX 470).

That'll be a 'yes' then

Thanks.

Friedenreich Xante · Apr 10, 2017

Obsidian Ant said:
I have used the 2GB version, and had no problems whatsoever.

Depends at what speed the graphic card can communicate with the CPU. If it’s an older motherboard with a chipset that supplies only few lanes or with a low BUS speed, it could come short of GDDR Ram.

GreyAreaUK · Apr 10, 2017

Friedenreich Xante said:
Depends at what speed the graphic card can communicate with the CPU. If it’s an older motherboard with a chipset that supplies only few lanes or with a low BUS speed, it could come short of GDDR Ram.

I can't remember the exact spec, but it was current about 4 years ago. It's a Fujitsu Scenic. 400, I think, but don't quote me.

Necronaught · Apr 10, 2017

I have one of these to sell for 25 quid. It will run Elite. I don't know how well https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-HD7770-...&qid=1491818943&sr=1-1&keywords=Asus+amd+7770

It ran Arma 3 quite well when it was in Alpha. View distance was low and AA turned off of course. Probably handle Elite really well if you play with settings low. PM me if you interested

bubbabenali · Apr 10, 2017

Obsidian Ant said:
The GTX 1050 plays the game very well at 1080p. Seems to run mid / high most of the time at 30fps, this includes inside stations and on planets. However, I haven't seen how well it runs in heavy combat areas yet...

Yeah, not that there are any alternatives at the moment in that price range, maybe the 1050 Ti but thats 50€ extra already

GreyAreaUK · Apr 10, 2017

bubbabenali said:
Yeah, not that there are any alternatives at the moment in that price range, maybe the 1050 Ti but thats 50€ extra already

The stock 1050 looks good, and it just about in the budget I'm setting. I'll pass it by the Chief Financial Officer (my wife) and see where we go from there.

Thanks everyone.