Hardware & Technical Building a PC for E:D

jadefriendly

jadefriendly
So, I'm going to build myself a new machine for Elite: Dangerous

(currently my desktop is a bit ancient...and my laptop certainly won't run E:D)

I've got a budget of about £400.
already got a decent tower with a psu, couple of 1tb HD's, and dual 19" monitors, so basically:

motherboard + cpu + fans / cooling
ram
gfx card
controllers

What would people recommend?
 

teamkill

T
jadefriendly said:
So, I'm going to build myself a new machine for Elite: Dangerous

(currently my desktop is a bit ancient...and my laptop certainly won't run E:D)

I've got a budget of about £400.
already got a decent tower with a psu, couple of 1tb HD's, and dual 19" monitors, so basically:

motherboard + cpu + fans / cooling
ram
gfx card
controllers

What would people recommend?
Click to expand...

I would recommend not going overboard on the controller, the TM Hotas X is < £40 and works fine.

A gfx < £100 would be fine especially if you can pick one up cheap on Cyber Monday :)

Have a look at motherboard and processor bundles, they usually work out cheaper
 

trekman

trekman
jadefriendly said:
So, I'm going to build myself a new machine for Elite: Dangerous

(currently my desktop is a bit ancient...and my laptop certainly won't run E:D)

I've got a budget of about £400.
already got a decent tower with a psu, couple of 1tb HD's, and dual 19" monitors, so basically:

motherboard + cpu + fans / cooling
ram
gfx card
controllers

What would people recommend?
Click to expand...

What graphics card, processor and motherboard do you have? Make sure you're psu is sufficiently powerful for all your equipment.
 

KING5TON

KING5TON
For £400 you're not going to be able to get very much.
I'd recommend saving up a bit more and getting a better system.

I just got this for my little brother, cost £658. I'd recommend something similar.

1 x 1TB Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 3.5" SATA III Hard Drive - HDD @ 35.94GBP
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail @ 166.74GBP
1 x Sharkoon VS3-S Chrome Black Midi Tower Gaming Case @ 23.74GBP
1 x 8GB Arianet (1x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz DIMM Memory @ 52.79GBP
1 x MSI Z97 PC Mate Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard @ 64.74GBP
1 x Cooler Master B-Series 600W 12V Single Rail Power Supply @ 41.94GBP
1 x Palit GeForce GTX970 4GB (Maxwell) Nvidia PCI Express Graphics Card + 1 FREE GAME! @ 259.19GBP

There's a very good chance that machine will run almost anything on high/ultra at 1080p and will be good for a couple of years at least.
If you buy lesser stuff now you'll probably find your PC just won't cut it a lot sooner than you'd expect and you'll probably have to spend a lot more to upgrade than you would if you spent a bit more now and then maybe just upgraded the GPU in a couple of years.

Since you already have some things you'll make some savings but I'd always recommend spending big on the GPU in comparison to the other components if you plan on gaming.
 
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Anopheles

Anopheles
I built a i5 with Gtx 650 and 4gig of ram for 340inc labour, so you could get a better card if you are building yourself or its mates rates. Just a guide.

The card and the chip were used.
 
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Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Robert Maynard
Do you have a copy of Windows 7 (or later)? If not then you would need to allocate c.£75 to that alone.

8GB RAM would probably be enough - single stick c.£60;

AMD FX-6300 CPU would be c.£80 - stock cooler should be fine; appropriate AM3+ mATX motherboard would be c.£55.

That leaves £130 for the GPU. What resolution are your monitors?
 

KING5TON

KING5TON
Robert Maynard said:
Do you have a copy of Windows 7 (or later)? If not then you would need to allocate c.£75 to that alone.

8GB RAM would probably be enough - single stick c.£60;

AMD FX-6300 CPU would be c.£80 - stock cooler should be fine; appropriate AM3+ mATX motherboard would be c.£55.

That leaves £130 for the GPU. What resolution are your monitors?
Click to expand...

You can pick up win 8.1 for a lot less if you shop around.
If anyone you know is a student you can also get it for even cheaper (e.g. £12).
 

Anopheles

Anopheles
Robert Maynard said:
Do you have a copy of Windows 7 (or later)? If not then you would need to allocate c.£75 to that alone.

8GB RAM would probably be enough - single stick c.£60;

AMD FX-6300 CPU would be c.£80 - stock cooler should be fine; appropriate AM3+ mATX motherboard would be c.£55.

That leaves £130 for the GPU. What resolution are your monitors?
Click to expand...

Got my copy for 25.
 

jadefriendly

jadefriendly
i should explain better:

i already have a case, psu, hd's, monitors etc.

so i just need: motherboard, cpu, ram, gfx card, controller...

currently looking at:

no-brand name motherboard
no-brand name cooling fan
INTEL Quad Core I5 4460 cpu
8gb no-brand name RAM
ASUS GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC 2GB GDDR5

£365 + delivery. still need a controller
 

CmdrKull

C
I don't have any experience with AMD this decade, but if you're going with Intel, get an i5. I3 has less cores which Elite relies on, i7 doesn't have additional cores unless you jump into workstation tier equipment. I'm not sure if superbiiz is available in the UK, I'm stateside so that's my frame of reference.

Consider getting a pair of used gtx 660 instead of a new 700 or 900 card. They'll cost less and will deliver well. I've seen them for $75-$100 each on craigslist and ebay, YMMV. Don't buy a new budget card, it's the single most important part these days. For nvidia, that means getting an 760, 770 at a minimum. No 750 or 750 ti, they're not up to the task. 660, 670 would do ok, and a pair of those will suit you fine across 3 screens (you'll need to buy a third screen if you want to span the game across screens, 2 isn't supported).
 

pfsinn

P
jadefriendly said:
i should explain better:

i already have a case, psu, hd's, monitors etc.

so i just need: motherboard, cpu, ram, gfx card, controller...

currently looking at:

no-brand name motherboard
no-brand name cooling fan
INTEL Quad Core I5 4460 cpu
8gb no-brand name RAM
ASUS GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC 2GB GDDR5

£365 + delivery. still need a controller
Click to expand...

Never skimp on a MotherBoard.

Go AMD always...much more bang for your buck (or get the same for less)

Memory what you save on the processor spend on quality memory.


Vid is preference what you selected will get it done.



I am running ED on an 'older' MSI 870a with a AMD Phenom II (dual 3.30 ghz) with 3 GB mem that I had laying around. So its under spec, I stuck a gv-r7870c-2gb in it and I am impressed at how well it runs the game based on the min specs listed. Only an occasional (rare) slight hang, nothing that has cost me a life or landing. Not sure if that will increase with more players or not , if so I will up the hardware.

I have a better card/machine but I have been mining LTC with it and wanted to see if ED would run on this first.
 

adoredtv

adoredtv
It's fine to skimp on the motherboard. Motherboards have zero effect on framerate and you're paying for stuff you likely won't need or use like 4 RAM slots or SLI/Crossfire. After that it's all about paying for brand.

AMD CPUs are mostly not worth buying if you are serious about gaming. For kids and non-gamers, yeah they are fine.

Memory is basically all the same so once again you're paying for packaging or brand.

I'd go with the faster AMD R9 270 rather than the 750 Ti, depending on whether or not the OP's PSU has a 6-pin PCI-E connector.
 

pfsinn

P
adoredtv said:
It's fine to skimp on the motherboard. Motherboards have zero effect on framerate and you're paying for stuff you likely won't need or use like 4 RAM slots or SLI/Crossfire. After that it's all about paying for brand.

AMD CPUs are mostly not worth buying if you are serious about gaming. For kids and non-gamers, yeah they are fine.

Memory is basically all the same so once again you're paying for packaging or brand.

I'd go with the faster AMD R9 270 rather than the 750 Ti, depending on whether or not the OP's PSU has a 6-pin PCI-E connector.
Click to expand...

When is the last time you used an up to date AMD system?

I used to think intel had better math co-processors ,but managing triple digit servers I decided to research the cost savings vs. performance. I discovered through research that AMD held its own even on complex/cycle hungry DB applications....saved a ton of loot over the past few years because of it.

You can pay more if you like but one can achieve equivalent performance and not have to buy the latest/most expensive processor.

Again I am running ED two cores shy of min spec. On a CPU that isn't even made anymore and one can pick up as B stock for 30 or 40 dollars.

Oh I disagree on MB's too...its the backbone of systems...that fancy processor had to communicate with everything else though it...as does everything else. But that is my opinion.
 
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McCloud

McCloud
HipToss said:
This site is tops. The community there is amazing!

Here is my build from that site:

http://pcpartpicker.com/b/ngFdnQ
Click to expand...

Now that's a build! Very nice color scheme. Great job!

My favorite part was your mouse haha.

jadefriendly said:
So, I'm going to build myself a new machine for Elite: Dangerous

(currently my desktop is a bit ancient...and my laptop certainly won't run E:D)

I've got a budget of about £400.
already got a decent tower with a psu, couple of 1tb HD's, and dual 19" monitors, so basically:

motherboard + cpu + fans / cooling
ram
gfx card
controller
Click to expand...

You should post your setup after everything is all set up! I'd like to see your dual monitor setup.
 
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