Hardware & Technical Computer Build to run Elite Dangerous

[Squicker]

I always put my own together but am an IT grad/professional. You can find quite a lot bespoke builders who will put together a system where specify the exact components...

It's for the very reason I am an IT Grad\pro (enterprise architect) I don't put together my own PC: It's a busman's holiday in that I started my career messing about with the internals of computers and, crucially in 2013's tough economic regime, I can make a lot more money consulting in EA than I'd save in the 1/2 day it would take me to assemble a PC. Or indeed play more games

Not to belittle those that do self-assemble, I understand hands on stuff can be very rewarding. For example, I will think nothing of spending a few hours doing a perfect setup on one of my guitars, even though in terms of time vs cost it would be more efficient to give it to a luthier, I like the self-satisfaction of doing it myself and I mostly know I will do a far better job. So it's a labour of love for me.

But PC assembly in my house results in swearing and chucking stuff across my office. It's a labour of loathe.

 

[NeilF]

This may prove of interest to some... Here's an article comparing someone who upgraded from a Q6600 (the exact CPU I have) to an i7-4770K (the exact CPU I'd upgrade to).

If we take his Battlefield 3 FPS as an example, the improvement is about... *drum roll*... 5%

Seems like a lot of expense for 5% more frames per second? I know! Seems mad, but here you are - http://www.legitreviews.com/upgrading-from-intel-core-2-quad-q6600-to-core-i7-4770k_2247/8

The other game he tested was Metro Last, which show a similar 5% improvement at 1920x1200 resolution, but far more at lower resolution.


EDIT: To be fair, BF3 is two years old! Metro Last Light released this year is over twice as fast on the i7!

And if we look here and use a Q9550 as an example of my old Q6600 we can see a modern CPU is 50% faster on minumum FPS in a lot of titles - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-wolfdale-yorkfield-comparison,3487-18.html


So maybe not as black and white as I suggest!

 

[Squicker]

This may prove of interest to some... Here's an article comparing someone who upgraded from a Q6600 (the exact CPU I have) to an i7-4770K (the exact CPU I'd upgrade to).

If we take his Battlefield 3 FPS as an example, the improvement is about... *drum roll*... 5%

The other game he tested was Metro Last, which show a similar 5% improvement at 1920x1200 resolution, but far more at lower resolution.
!

It's not black and white but as a rule, playing at higher res the GPU becomes the limiting factor (CPU doesn't have to work any less but GPU does far more), whilst playing at low res (delivering more frames) the CPU becomes the bottleneck as it is no longer limited by the throughput of the GPU. Now, my understanding is Bf3 is more limited by GPU anyway (but have never played it), so Last Light is a better benchmarking app in CPU terms I'd have thought. I have just bought this in the Steam sale and looking forward to checking it out later as it happens.

There is no doubt to me that a Core i7 is a better CPU architecture than a Q6600, after all a significant time has passed, but the Q6600 seems to have stood up remarkably well considering its age.

 

[Cody]

... but the Q6600 seems to have stood up remarkably well considering its age.

I had a Q6600 before I upgraded to my current i5-760 - the Q6600 is/was a very good CPU.

 

[NeilF]

It's not black and white but as a rule, playing at higher res the GPU becomes the limiting factor (CPU doesn't have to work any less but GPU does far more), whilst playing at low res (delivering more frames) the CPU becomes the bottleneck as it is no longer limited by the throughput of the GPU. Now, my understanding is Bf3 is more limited by GPU anyway (but have never played it), so Last Light is a better benchmarking app in CPU terms I'd have thought. I have just bought this in the Steam sale and looking forward to checking it out later as it happens.

There is no doubt to me that a Core i7 is a better CPU architecture than a Q6600, after all a significant time has passed, but the Q6600 seems to have stood up remarkably well considering its age.

I think looking at the other article I linked in, more modern games seem to perform with about a 50+% higher lower fps figure than the Q6600!

That said, some (eg: Tomb Raider) were running so high, that the difference did not exist.

So, question is, with Elite be incredibly CPU hungry or not? My gut feel is initially no. Space is pretty empty (as the name suggests) so I suspect it won't be too CPU hungry at all. Now, when we get maybe into the realms of future procedural planet landscapes, all bets are off

I guess we'll see when we see. But for the moment I'll hold off upgrading as I suspect my 5yr old CPU may actually do the game justice Be fun seeing!

 

[The Flying Gribble]

This may prove of interest to some...

Very interesting stuff, thanks!

I have a Core 2 Duo 8400, but with a more recent graphics card (AMD 6950), so it's interesting to see that he is GPU limited at HD res. It'll be fun trying this out in the Alpha - I'll hold off upgrading until the New Year I think.

TFG

 

[NeilF]

Very interesting stuff, thanks!

I have a Core 2 Duo 8400, but with a more recent graphics card (AMD 6950), so it's interesting to see that he is GPU limited at HD res. It'll be fun trying this out in the Alpha - I'll hold off upgrading until the New Year I think.

TFG

Somewhat similar then. I'm on a Q6600 (@3.4ghz) with a AMD 7870.

I suspect Elite will run fine on these systems... Guess feedback from alpha/beta will tell us though!

I won't be upgrading until I know I need to, and at the moment my system plays everything I want to play fine...

 

[HaiderGill]

It's for the very reason I am an IT Grad\pro (enterprise architect) I don't put together my own PC: It's a busman's holiday in that I started my career messing about with the internals of computers and, crucially in 2013's tough economic regime, I can make a lot more money consulting in EA than I'd save in the 1/2 day it would take me to assemble a PC. Or indeed play more games

Not to belittle those that do self-assemble, I understand hands on stuff can be very rewarding. For example, I will think nothing of spending a few hours doing a perfect setup on one of my guitars, even though in terms of time vs cost it would be more efficient to give it to a luthier, I like the self-satisfaction of doing it myself and I mostly know I will do a far better job. So it's a labour of love for me.

But PC assembly in my house results in swearing and chucking stuff across my office. It's a labour of loathe.

As a former IT contractor in the investing banking area I understand where you are coming from but something's you do for enjoyment...It's a passion the Arsenal, taking part in motorsport, tinkering with PCs, music, movies and games. Something like a suspension set-up - rebound rates, specialist equipment, track and drive style etc you have get in the pros, other stuff you can tinker with and drive it. If it goes faster than you achieved what you set out to do. Computers are cheaper form of the same. Build overclock and then see if gives me a smoother frame rate, more immersion etc...

 

[Commander Mick]

Is ALIENWARE any good?

Are they a reliable brand of computer?

Would the latest model the Alienware X51 good enough to run Elite - Dangerous the way it's meant to be.

I am thinking of getting one of those.

Can anybody talk me out of it?

I would appreciate if someone could tell me if Alienware are a reliable and which type would be suitable for Elite - Dangerous.

I would appreciate if Frontier gave us some idea of the system specs that would get the best out of Elite - Dangerous.

 

[Variform]

But PC assembly in my house results in swearing and chucking stuff across my office. It's a labour of loathe.

You make it sound like that is a bad thing! No one curses like me when one of those tiny annoying little screws falls behind the mainboard. All part of the fun man!

 

[Variform]

Somewhat similar then. I'm on a Q6600 (@3.4ghz) with a AMD 7870.

I suspect Elite will run fine on these systems... Guess feedback from alpha/beta will tell us though!

I won't be upgrading until I know I need to, and at the moment my system plays everything I want to play fine...

Good point. If you enter alpha, the idea is to find problems. It will be good that some of you alpha's have some older hardware to test the game.

 

[Robert Maynard]

You make it sound like that is a bad thing! No one curses like me when one of those tiny annoying little screws falls behind the mainboard. All part of the fun man!

I haven't bought an off the shelf desktop for about 15 years and, if I were to go hunting, I would probably be able to build one or possibly even two PCs from the spares that I have upgraded from previously.

 

[warbaby2]

I became an Alienware fan a couple of years ago... they may be (too) expensive, but they are also supremely solid work horses.

 

[Squicker]

As a former IT contractor in the investing banking area I understand where you are coming from but something's you do for enjoyment...It's a passion the Arsenal, taking part in motorsport, tinkering with PCs, music, movies and games. Something like a suspension set-up - rebound rates, specialist equipment, track and drive style etc you have get in the pros, other stuff you can tinker with and drive it. If it goes faster than you achieved what you set out to do. Computers are cheaper form of the same. Build overclock and then see if gives me a smoother frame rate, more immersion etc...

As a dedicated track day addict and sports car owner I am with you on it all except the footie and the PCs! I just, I just have some sort of mental block. I mean, I'll do the little bits if I have to, I am not going to pay someone to upgrade a video card. But assemble the whole thing from scratch? - I just. I just. And overclocking in the BIOS, yes I'm cool with that. Hands on technical work where I may scrape a knuckle? I can't, won't, I just.

See can't even bring myself to discuss it in detail.

I realise I am an old fuddy duddy, probably some sort of abhorrent outcast in present company, but we all have our crosses to bear and the thought of END TO END PC construction, particularly lining up the weird ****ing clip thing at the back that surrouds all the USB and sound ports, well that's my alabaster cross.

 

[Squicker]

You make it sound like that is a bad thing! No one curses like me when one of those tiny annoying little screws falls behind the mainboard. All part of the fun man!

I know! I am a shameful being that in all honesty should be cast into exile! I just have, temper issues with those little motherboard screws and the flimsy clip at the back of the motherboard. That's what it comes down to. If they make those better, then fine, I'll do it. I'll even film me doing it to prove it to you all. No, to the world!

So you know, someone make a better clip to go round the ports.

 

[Squicker]

wow, a swear word got through. I was relying on that filter.

 

[Cody]

wow, a swear word got through. I was relying on that filter.

Perhaps it would be preferable to refrain from profanity.

 

[Squicker]

Perhaps it would be preferable to refrain from profanity.

I did warn people about my temper issues vis a vis end to end PC assembly.

I'm so over it now, by the way.

 

[Memnoch]

I have a contact at Dell who can assist you, my friend!

 

[Squicker]

I have a contact at Dell who can assist you, my friend!

In fact yes, if they just re-invented that clip. All will be forgiven. I don't want to go on about it all night, but we've all felt the frustrations and shame I am sure. It's pretty much the final act of PC construction, the hard bit anyway, somehow lining that 1 inch by 4 metal clip up with that rectangular slot at the rear of the case, whilst making it slide correctly over say 20 ports at the rear of the motherboard. And you think you have done it and you power it on, and it shorts out. You spend ages looking for a problem and then you see it, you have managed to insert one of the 'leaves' of that little rear port clip, inside a USB port! And it's shorted out!. So then, well this is what I do, I just think, sod this, and bend the offending leaves right back inside the damn board cavity. I mean they don't do that much right??

It's nearly as sinful as getting the HDD LED fly lead back to front, putting the whole thing together and you think, "hmm no flashing HDD LED, I kind of like that reassuring flashing. It's good to know my disks are busy disks." Busy disks are happy disks right? So you have to open it all up again and correctly attach the HDD LED lead to the little pin panel on the mobo. Then you screw it all back together and it won't start. Because in the annoying process of putting the HDD LED lead on you accidentally knocked off the Power SW lead. and it goes on and on and on and on. Like some interminable post from a stranger on a forum twittering inanely about his lack of prowess in the PC construction stakes, you see those sometimes.