Hardware & Technical Computer Build to run Elite Dangerous

Click to off to see your max frame rates. But just to note that screen tearing (literally looks like someone is tearing portions of your screen off) occurs once you go past your max monitor refresh rate which is (commonly) 60hz for most main stream monitors.

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I've been flying around quite happily since Beta launched but today I noticed that the stars had vanished (temporarily). Raised a ticket only to find out that my 3 year old machine is antiquated and not up to spec :(

AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 220 Processor (2 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti
3Gb DDR3
1 Tb SATA drive

Do I go for a new set-up, or wait for the final release and see if it's still playable?

Decisions, decisions.... :rolleyes:

Are you upgrading solely for the game or are there other programs that are over burdening your system?

How much money are you looking to invest?

Must the parts be brand spanking new or would "Ebay used" be acceptable?

Their is no right or wrong answer to the above questions. Its just a matter of choosing the best path based on what direction you want to go,,,,,,,,,
 
Do the most easiest upgrade first, and see how it goes... Buying a better graphics card may solve all your issues. And if it does not, you have a card for your new build. So you do not lose out on money... Loads of cheap 660 TI and 760 geforces on Ebay at the moment, and they are still very good cards... if you want to stick with Geforce. That is what I would do. :D

Thanks for the response.

According to FD the issue is only having a dual core processor not a quad, but I'm happy to have a go at another graphics card. Recommendations gratefully accepted :D
 
Thanks for the offer

At the moment I'm on Windows 7, but no worries about moving to 8.1 (although it took me a while to figure out how to power off my grandaughters laptop :D)

TBH, rather than upgrading, I'll just pass this one on to a friend (after I've swapped that nice big drive for a smaller one) and start anew.

Recommendations from ebay, Amazon or dabs would be handy.
 
After doing some research regarding what I should buy (Twin Xeon second hand or new i4790) I have come to realize that if I go for the Xeon setup I'd be wasting my time- from what I understand most games currently only really benefit from quad core processors, and some hyperthreading. Looking at the per core scores of the Xeon on Passmark shows I would not gain any speed advantage with ED (assuming ED caps the number of threads) whereas with the i4790, the per core score is over double, so in those terms I would be processing ED twice as fast as my current PC. With the Xeon setup the power is spread more thinly over multiple cores, while the i4790 concentrates its firepower in a small amount of cores.

This all assumes ED only uses a set amount of cores though- does anyone know how many ED uses?

Its a shame really, I was beginning to like the novelty of owning a dual CPU machine with 64 gig RAM.....
 
When I started playing Elite I ran on a super old Server/Workstation. It was Dual Xeon 5450's and a GTX 660. Elite ran well on it although there were some times where it would lock up for a second or two. I have since replaced my workstation with a i7 4770k with dual 660's SLI, and it ran really well. I just replaced one of my 660's with a 980 because I could. But really I think you'll do well with either the dual Xeon set up, or the i7 set up.

Xeons are really solid processors, and last forever. The i7 is a really good processor line too, and has more consumer friendly instruction sets on it, which some of the Xeon line processors do not have, because they are more typically geared toward servers, and production tasks.

Anyway either processor you choose I am sure you will enjoy the experience.


Cheers
 
I was due a new PC so put this one together specifically so i could play Elite i doubt i will play any other games on the PC.I used an 120 GB SSD and 1 TB storage HD from my existing PC.

Intel Core i5 4460
Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3
2GB XFX Radeon R9 270 Boost
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance
Corsair Series CXM 600W
ZALMAN CNPS7500
Aerocool Dead Silence DS200
Windows 8.1
 
Decent 4 Core Phenom II 945 is not sufficient?

Im reading that decent CPU will do the trick.

I have
Phenom II X4 945
Sapphire Vapor-x R9 280x

No matter on which setting I go, the game has about 20 - 25 FPS. So I assume its CPU issue. GPU is kinda half year new.

I also reinstalled win 8.1. All is up to date, all drivers.

Is this CPU not sufficient? I just need confirmation before I go with i5 4790 today.-)

This is the game I was waiting whole my life.....
 
Anyone comment on if an I7 is worth the additional money over an I5, predominantly for gaming?

I can get a 4ghz I7 for about £90 more than a 3.5ghz I5, which would seem to make it worth while IMHO. ie: Make it last a bit longer...
 
Im reading that decent CPU will do the trick.

I have
Phenom II X4 945
Sapphire Vapor-x R9 280x

No matter on which setting I go, the game has about 20 - 25 FPS. So I assume its CPU issue. GPU is kinda half year new.

I also reinstalled win 8.1. All is up to date, all drivers.

Is this CPU not sufficient? I just need confirmation before I go with i5 4790 today.-)

This is the game I was waiting whole my life.....
PassMark comparison here http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html gives you a rough indication of relative performances of different CPUs. You'll find the Phenom II X4 945 quite near bottom of that page. Looks like it should be on par with later Intel Core2Quad processors and today's mid-range mobile CPUs. The i7 4790 is top-notch, and i5 4690 gets double score compared to your X4, so you should see a definite improvement. Like 60+ FPS in most situations. :)
 
Anyone comment on if an I7 is worth the additional money over an I5, predominantly for gaming?

I can get a 4ghz I7 for about £90 more than a 3.5ghz I5, which would seem to make it worth while IMHO. ie: Make it last a bit longer...
So far the consensus has been that the extra grunt isn't worth the extra cost.

That may change in the (near) future, as more games will be built to utilize more than 2 (or 4) cores and Hyper-threading may begin to make a difference too.
 
So far the consensus has been that the extra grunt isn't worth the extra cost.

That may change in the (near) future, as more games will be built to utilize more than 2 (or 4) cores and Hyper-threading may begin to make a difference too.

The XBox One has 8 cores doesn't it? That in itself should surely promote this?
 
Anyone comment on if an I7 is worth the additional money over an I5, predominantly for gaming?

I can get a 4ghz I7 for about £90 more than a 3.5ghz I5, which would seem to make it worth while IMHO. ie: Make it last a bit longer...

Not really no. If it's primarily used for gaming, an i5 will do you fine. I use an i7 but I also do a lot of 3D modelling/rendering so I need the extra cores.
 
Im reading that decent CPU will do the trick.

I have
Phenom II X4 945
Sapphire Vapor-x R9 280x

No matter on which setting I go, the game has about 20 - 25 FPS. So I assume its CPU issue. GPU is kinda half year new.

I also reinstalled win 8.1. All is up to date, all drivers.

Is this CPU not sufficient? I just need confirmation before I go with i5 4790 today.-)

This is the game I was waiting whole my life.....

How much system memory do you have?

20-25 fps does seem really low. When I was running a X5450 and a r9 270 card I was (vertical sync enabled) running 60 fps in open space and about 40 fps inside stations. Upgrading my system to a X5650 cpu I only gained about 5 - 10 fps inside stations. I also bumped my system memory from 8gb dual channel to 12 gb triple channel.

Considering your CPU runs at about the same performance level as my X5450 AND you have a better GPU I am surprised that your frame rates are so low,,,,,,,,,
 
So far the consensus has been that the extra grunt isn't worth the extra cost.

That may change in the (near) future, as more games will be built to utilize more than 2 (or 4) cores and Hyper-threading may begin to make a difference too.

U were correct. After I switch to i5 4790 I got 60+ fps everywhere. Its just beautiful :) so yes, the CPU was really the issue..
 
How much system memory do you have?

20-25 fps does seem really low. When I was running a X5450 and a r9 270 card I was (vertical sync enabled) running 60 fps in open space and about 40 fps inside stations. Upgrading my system to a X5650 cpu I only gained about 5 - 10 fps inside stations. I also bumped my system memory from 8gb dual channel to 12 gb triple channel.

Considering your CPU runs at about the same performance level as my X5450 AND you have a better GPU I am surprised that your frame rates are so low,,,,,,,,,

I have 6GB. I was surprised as well, so I tried clean win install, all on SSD including ED and still nothing. Bought yesterday i5 4790 and I got now 60fps everywhere. Its just awesome. On all Details. Tried 3 starports and no glitch no sutering, all flawlessly fluid :) im happy now. So yes, the CPU was the issue in the end.
 
U were correct. After I switch to i5 4790 I got 60+ fps everywhere. Its just beautiful :) so yes, the CPU was really the issue..
Great! :)

<pedantic mode>
BTW, if it is 4790, it is definitely an i7. If it is i5, then it is 4690.
</pedantic mode>


Not going to say I told you so.... :D

I am going to be selling my Geforce GTX 660 graphics card soon, in the next couple of days. I know it will run Elite at full resolution. So if you are interested, I will be listing it on EBAY. At just £50. I will post the link on here when it goes live. UK only by the way.
Ummm... his R9 280x beats the crap out of GTX660...

£50 though, I'd call that a bargain (if you've played nicely with it, e.g. no OC & having temps stay under 80° C). :)
 
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I have 6GB. I was surprised as well, so I tried clean win install, all on SSD including ED and still nothing. Bought yesterday i5 4790 and I got now 60fps everywhere. Its just awesome. On all Details. Tried 3 starports and no glitch no sutering, all flawlessly fluid :) im happy now. So yes, the CPU was the issue in the end.
Go figure. I guess thats why you cant determine everything from benchmarks. Maybe Intel just does better on the "low end" then AMD,,,,,

Glad you got it sorted out!!
 
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