I don't think you'll be CPU bound even with an i5 which is why I've just built this computer http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2gNbv
Hardware & Technical Computer Build to run Elite Dangerous
- Thread starter Pazmeister
- Start date
I wanna go old skool:
Where can I get a Deca-core 6502 and surround 7.1 piezo bleepers?
Anyway, although I do things like BOINC that like as many cores/threads and GPU grunt as you care to throw at it, as far as gaming is concerned, currently four real cores seems to be the top end (as many GHz as you can manage or more realistically afford).
An efficient mobo, reasonably speedy RAM and a CPU socket that will not be outdated in a few months helps.
With all of the above in mind, it's going to be the GFX card that really makes the difference.
My advice for a GFX card: buy just reasonably good mainstream now, save your pennies and do the same in 12-18 months time and double your GFX power.
Where can I get a Deca-core 6502 and surround 7.1 piezo bleepers?
Anyway, although I do things like BOINC that like as many cores/threads and GPU grunt as you care to throw at it, as far as gaming is concerned, currently four real cores seems to be the top end (as many GHz as you can manage or more realistically afford).
An efficient mobo, reasonably speedy RAM and a CPU socket that will not be outdated in a few months helps.
With all of the above in mind, it's going to be the GFX card that really makes the difference.
My advice for a GFX card: buy just reasonably good mainstream now, save your pennies and do the same in 12-18 months time and double your GFX power.
There's an interesting post about why 4 real cores would be reqd here, based upon the mechanics of how hyper-threading works.
Michael has said that the alpha would likely be unplayable with a dual-core - even a 2+2 hyperthreading i5. That may change with the finished game, but they won't make any commitment. I have a dual-core (E8400) so will try the alpha and then swap it to a quad-core (Q6600) so will be able to see what difference that makes. The rest of the rig will stay the same.
Squicker
S
Will be interesting to see how it works out. In theory Windows can schedule threads across as many cores as it likes, but we start to get scaling problems with memory access the more cores are used, due to the way memory is controlled in the Core iX architecture, same with AMD. In fact some games in AMD benefit from disabling cores, due to AMD using a few shortcuts in their architecture to keep costs down.
Some games, whilst heavily multi-threaded, are coded in such a way as to make them scale badly on multicores. The worst example I have is Rift, which will spawn about 50 threads but essentially ends up saturating one core with a main thread because all the other 'lesser' threads end up waiting for events in this main thread.
I don't believe ED will fall afoul of this sort of thing, as they really seem to be on the ball with making a future proof game.
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Writing good balanced multithreaded code is really hard - there's tonnes of theory and mathematics in the underlying computer science but it's still got a decent dash of art / instinct / experience required for good results. It's a sign of a damn good systems designer & coder if they can produce code that balances across multiple cores and gets decent efficiency across each. Bonus points if it can scale the number of threads over however many cores you have. Not all "problems" are easily thread-able though, some calculation jobs simply have to be done sequentially.
I'm thinking FD probably have the "right sort" of mathematically minded coder onboard already for this, as the procedural generation systems are similarly geeky
Good that you've told me this; I can now save myself some money. So an i7 is only really necessary if you do lots of stuff like editing etc? It appears the difference between an i5 and i7 is more than £100!
That £100 could get you <1% benefit from an i7 or 30% or more from a more expensive graphics card. Or lots of beers, your choice
I will be uber interested to hear from you then, as my system is an overclocked Q6600 with an AMD 7870 graphics card - I'm hoping this will run Elite smoothly! (& can't see why it would not)
Squicker
S
Indeed, one of the reasons I think that games are often lacking in this area. It's one thing for a long-term, strategic and lucrative enterprise solution, such as SQL, to be written to scale well to masses of cores, but quite another for a risky project like a computer game. it's more about getting the thing released and working on the common denominator to make as much money as possible until people move onto the next new thing.
Squicker
S
Aye, I didn't realise it was over 100, so yeah, don't bother with an i7. I have an i7 laptop and desktop and I do use the extra for some things, but I can safely say that gaming-wise i don't see any benefit over my friends who all have Core i5s.
Pump up your GPU I'd say because ALL games will benefit from a better GPU, whereas only a tiny fraction of games will benefit from an i7 over an i5.
That £100 could get you <1% benefit from an i7 or 30% or more from a more expensive graphics card. Or lots of beers, your choice
Bit of a no-brainer then; i5 it is.
I will be running E in my recently bought:
i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz
16gb RAM (Kingston)
GIBABYTE NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 4gb
Seagate Barracuda 3tb
and a 24" Asus monitor
I hope it's well enough to play the final release at high quality!
in my recently bought: i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz
16gb RAM (Kingston)
GIBABYTE NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 4gb
Seagate Barracuda 3tb
and a 24" Asus monitor
I hope it's well enough to play the final release at high quality!
Minti2
Deadly, But very fluffy...
Got my new rig the other week and it has i5 and having no probs with any games so far, all running nice and smooth
Same here. I bought an i5 4670k after reading numerous posts on forums that said the i7 had no additional benefit to gaming.
I intend to overclock my system in the future. I have to build it yet, hopefully this weekend.
Minti2
Deadly, But very fluffy...
Same here. I bought an i5 4670k after reading numerous posts on forums that said the i7 had no additional benefit to gaming.
I intend to overclock my system in the future. I have to build it yet, hopefully this weekend.
You better get on with it, Alpha could be coming for tea today!
Pleased with my new set up, had a go online with tom clancy ghost protocol, and was lovely and smooth playing, got three free games for buying the GTX card to! one of which is Assassins Creed Black Flag which am downloading now, the effects for the trailers look really good, so should see how my card works on this one.
You better get on with it, Alpha could be coming for tea today!
Pleased with my new set up, had a go online with tom clancy ghost protocol, and was lovely and smooth playing, got three free games for buying the GTX card to! one of which is Assassins Creed Black Flag which am downloading now, the effects for the trailers look really good, so should see how my card works on this one.
Hehee, I'm in the 1st round Beta so I've got a bit of time yet.
I'm nervous about building as it's my first time but I've got to do it sometime.
Glad you've got the rig sorted, just need this Alpha to get under way now!
My rig is... 10 years old lol !
And it runs perfectly all modern games at 30 fps for now...
It is based on a AMD Athlon 64 CPU ( old heh ) and a HD radeon 3850 on a ... AGP port !
With 2 GB of RAM.
And it runs with Windows seven 64 almost smoothly !
When in the beta i will try to make ED run on it lol, and i will see what' s happen...
BUT... i think i will go for a new brand machine when ED will go out, and with the OR
And it runs perfectly all modern games at 30 fps for now...
It is based on a AMD Athlon 64 CPU ( old heh ) and a HD radeon 3850 on a ... AGP port !
With 2 GB of RAM.
And it runs with Windows seven 64 almost smoothly !
When in the beta i will try to make ED run on it lol, and i will see what' s happen...
BUT... i think i will go for a new brand machine when ED will go out, and with the OR
Minti2
Deadly, But very fluffy...
Hehee, I'm in the 1st round Beta so I've got a bit of time yet.
I'm nervous about building as it's my first time but I've got to do it sometime.
Glad you've got the rig sorted, just need this Alpha to get under way now!
Sorry mate thought you were in Alpha(you probably told me before! ive a bad mind lol)
Funny i left putting cables and turning new rig on for a day or so till i had enough time to really explore it, so kinda know how easy it is to put things off, but hopefully once you start building it will be a breeze