Build a cheap rig to play Elite

Dash

Dash
I'm often asked to spec out computers for people to play games on; and it's also a subject that crops up on here a lot. I figured it'd be a good idea to approach the idea from the other angle and create a spec for people to reference against.

I figured I'd do two builds. One scraping the barrel of as cheap as possible and the other as what would be a "good" entry point. Obviously, a lot of parts people can get cheaper second-hand (monitors, keyboards, even graphics), but that's a little too ambiguous so new parts only. So please, review and chip in where you think improvements can be made. My PC is naturally at the other end of the market, so I'm not really sure what the minimums are.

Restrictions:
- Game must be largely in the 60fps area without dropping below 40fps in combat with multiple ships
- Game settings? Not sure what people would deem minimum to enjoy
- Parts must be new and currently in production
- Assumption that everything (including monitors, speakers etc) are needed
- Assumption that furniture isn't needed....

I'm using pcpartspicker.com for ease and in GBP because, well that's what I use.

The Bottom of the barrel build

This is not about what the minimum the game will run on, but the cheapest you can buy new, for the game to run enjoyably on.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£75.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£39.59 @ Aria PC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£32.40 @ Kustom PCs)
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F1 DT 750GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£14.94 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card (£102.98 @ Dabs)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£30.98 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Essential 400W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£30.40 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£74.20 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Hannspree HE247DPB 23.6" Monitor (£99.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case Fan: Arctic Cooling AF9 PWM 35.0 CFM 92mm Fan (£3.49 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-KM6150 Wired Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse (£12.97 @ Dabs)
Other: Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X (£29.98)
Total: £546.92

The great starter build

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£143.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-D2V Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£39.19 @ Aria PC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£32.40 @ Kustom PCs)
Storage: Seagate 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive (£80.97 @ Dabs)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card (£164.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£30.98 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Essential 400W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£30.40 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£74.20 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Hannspree HE247DPB 23.6" Monitor (£99.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case Fan: Arctic Cooling AF9 PWM 35.0 CFM 92mm Fan (£3.49 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-KM6150 Wired Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse (£12.97 @ Dabs)
Other: Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X (£29.98)
Total: £743.55

Money saving tips
  • Scavenge or buy a second-hand monitor
  • Buy a second-hand graphics card (or refurbed); an older, but more powerful card will do just as well. Look for anything with 2GB VRAM
  • If you're a student, you may be able to get a discount on Windows

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker Feb 2015
 
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coastal

C
I have no idea what fps I had with a 560Ti card but it was a joy with no complaints. Nothing but tech pressure made me get a 970 and tbh I haven't noticed a difference.
 

Flappers

Flappers
It's not quite bottom of the barrel...
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card (£102.98 @ Dabs)

I'm running a 650ti, and it runs a solid 60FPS on that.
 

Dash

Dash
I'm not sure if the 650ti is being manufactured any longer? Not sure there is much point listing parts that will be running dry soon.

I did also think that 2GB VRAM is probably a minimum. I had a 560ti before and whilst it was fine for the most part, I was often hitting the 1GB memory limit.

Would a Radeon card be a better choice than the 750ti?
 

Flappers

Flappers
Well, according to the website, a 1GB card is fine
DX 10 hardware GPU with 1GB video ram
Nvidia GTX 260
ATI 4870HD

Before my 650ti, I was running a 460SE, which had 1GB of VRAM. Apart from some mild FPS drops in cluttered space, it was more than capable too.
 

CMDR Goro

CMDR Goro
I'm at 4x2,4GHz intel processor, GTX 560 Ti, and 4 gigs of ram...
Aaaaaaand game 60fps all the time, i did not touch settings in game outside of controlls.

Bottom of the barrel? I dont think so...
 

Dash

Dash
* Bottom of the barrel that can currently be bought new

I thought that bit would be obvious ;)

What this thread is not intending to do is re-write the minimum requirements for the game. Just point people in the direction of what they should be buying if they don't have a computer and want to build one on a budget.
 

Logic

Logic
I just built a budget rig for ED and used the Zalman Z3 Plus case - £26.99 on Amazon UK - and it includes multiple case fans and fan controller as standard so you can bin your additional case fan from the list. Strongly recommend it for a budget or even mid-range build.
 

Rubbernuke

Rubbernuke
I went mental and put everything to max on my GTX 460 bar AA/ downsampling (at 1) and I get about 30- 45 FPS in space / dogfights and about 20-35 FPS in docks. This is at 2560 X 1080p. Any card upward from an R7 260 should be good.
 

CmdrKull

C
coastal said:
I have no idea what fps I had with a 560Ti card but it was a joy with no complaints. Nothing but tech pressure made me get a 970 and tbh I haven't noticed a difference.
Click to expand...

I have 2 used 560ti gfx cards. Its a great setup for me because it was a cheap way to do 3 monitors with great performance. (Everything on Ultra with 3840x1024 resolution. I'm building a custom mount that will let me turn then sideways for 3096x1280, which I think will work better.)

I paid US $75 per card, one from amazon and one from craigslist.

The monitors were the real "deal" though, US $15-20 each. ThriftShopping. I also stumbled across my MS Precision Pro Joystick whilst monitor shopping.

It was my goal to build the cheapest possible computer that would also meet my needs, which were 4-core intel with a macOS compatible mobo, which raised the price. I spent less than US $500 for an i5, gigabyte mobo with 12gb ram, 128gb ssd (M.2), sli gfx, and 3x screens. combination of waiting for the right deal from Microcenter and buying quality used parts.

I've been upgrading slowly since then, getting a new case to replace my $10 find, already added a 2nd ssd, I'm considering 2x 960 gfx cards and a 4k screen, if I find the right deals.
 

Dash

Dash
I've got no idea about the APUs.

From memory they're only worth getting if you're using on-board graphics. As soon as you add a dedicated card you may as well go for an entry level Intel. I went for the FX-6300 in the bargain build as compared to the Intel offering at the same price point it offered greater raw performance on a bunch of benchmarks.

If though this is massively overkill and a £40 part would do just a good a job then we can update it. Does anybody have any experience with cheaper CPUs (not out-of-production older ones) and gaming?
 
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