Is my computer up to it?

X-Bit · Apr 16, 2019

Hello Forum!
This is my first post here and I am new to Planet Coaster. After some time assisting You Tube videos I really want to throw myself into it!

What would I like to do?
My main focus would be building coasters and parks in sandbox mode, which would be heavily decorated. I would like to reconstruct exisiting parks and extend them to my liking. Expect some custom decorations, a lot of billboard videos and custom sounds.
I would appreciate it if it would run smoothly, even when the park has some hundred visitors or when I ride the coasters

What do I have?
At the moment I use, mainly for development:

Gigabyte H87M-D3H Mainboard for Haswell Chipsets
Intel i5-4570 @ 3.20Ghz
24 GBytes DDR 3 Memory
Loads of HDD Space free (we are talking TBs)
Onboard graphic card Intel 4600 (that's for sure not enough)

What I would like to know
I would like to use this rig for my plans but I don't know if it would be even possible. So what I could do is update the graphic card and even update the CPU to a i7-4790 which is the the maximum possibility for my board. Gigabyte has PCI Express 2.0 and support for PCI Express 3.0 on board.

Which graphic card would be my best choice?
What would it bring to update the 7-4790 CPU?
Would you think that it is, in general, the right way to go for my endevour?

Thanks for your appreciated feedback and I am really looking forward playing Planet Coaster for myself!

Joël · Apr 16, 2019

Welcome to the Planet Coaster forums!

Since you are a new user your posts may be held back for approval by a moderator. Please do not create duplicate threads while your posts are being reviewed. Thanks!

Nice to see that you want to start playing Planet Coaster. As you have already concluded; the Intel 4600 onboard graphics chip won't be able to run the game in such a way that you can have large parks with high quantities of scenery, guests and rides.

I would like to advise you to have a computer that meets at least the recommended specs for Planet Coaster. Especially the CPU will need to have a clock speed in GHz as high as possible, at least quad core, preferably with hyper-threading. The graphics card will need to be a dedicated card from Nvidia or AMD and will need to meet or exceed the recommended specs.

Please do keep in mind that even computers with high specs will eventually run into performance issues when playing with very large parks; the more objects in a park, the lower the FPS will be, as there is no limit to what you can build / how many objects you can use in Planet Coaster.

Good luck!

X-Bit · Apr 17, 2019

Hello Joël!

Sorry for the multiple postings, my fault, I didn't realize that the posts are held back. I'll be more patient in future.

I found diferent "recommended" specifications and thats why I was wondering what other users are using as GPU and CPU as I am not very experienced in this part of gaming computers. As I mentioned, I develop software which isn't so needy in many aspects and Planet Coaster would be my first game I would like to get in to it since a very long time.

Please give me some more tips and insights, what kind of system would be considererd good for the game.

Thanks in advance!

Edit:
After some thoughts, I understand that my question is very broad. Let me put it in some context.

CPU
There are two main brands, Intel and AMD. As I should look for CPUs with hyper-threading, which one of each would bring the best performance / price value? How to I know that a chip gives hyper-threading possiblities?

GPU
Sure, the more expensive, the better... but we all aren't swimming in money, isn't it? So here the same question arises... Which one would give a good performance for the price?
I see that you mention two other brands here, Nvidia and AMD. What is the most important point here? Memory?

RAM
How much RAM would be a good value? As I mentioned, I'm using 24 GB of RAM at the moment, it gives me, in my environment, a big performance boost. As I would have to build a separate machine for my plans, I would have to factor in the price of those as well.

Mainboard
To be honest, I don't even understand which mainboard (except the ones for Intel and the others for AMD) i.e. which socket combines with which CPU. It's to long that I had to wrap my head around it.

...I hope this clarifies my questions.

S3B4ST13N · Apr 17, 2019

What's your budget?
Also .. Hi.

X-Bit · Apr 17, 2019

Hello RedPaintedPaw!

I'm aiming at around 1000 to max 1300 USD for the whole rig, without monitors which I already have.

S3B4ST13N · Apr 17, 2019

This is what I came up with based on your budget and my understanding for a whole rig.

No Kb/M, no screens.

Total price is $1356.69.

Here's the permalink: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BW4rkd
You can use it to add/remove things to your hearts content. PC Picker will also ensure your stuff is compatible. Eg, if you feel the RAM is too expensive, remove it using the X on the right, then click on "Choose Memory".

Bear in mind that a current limitation of PC is the more detailed your park, the slower it gets; I believe this is solidly down to programming/hardware limitations that the Coaster devs can't get around. Though I might be mistaken.
However, it should be able to do what you need; you can have a look at some YouTuber's park creations; amazing stuff.

Hope this helps.

X-Bit · Apr 17, 2019

RedPaintedPaw

WOW... thanks so much, thats so nice from you!
I'll have a look at it and come back to you if needed.

X-Bit · Apr 18, 2019

Hello all!

So I dived knee deep into the possibilities I have here in Brazil, which leaves me with some less options as I am situated far away from any bigger city, near the Amazonas area.

I came up with:

i7-8700K 3.7 Ghz
Gigabyte Y390 DESIGNARE
Predator DDR4-RAM 2666 MHz (2x16GB)
Samsung SSD 860 1 TB
Corsair H60 cooler
GAINWARD GeForceRTX 2070 8GB (this version still has a DVI-D port which would come in handy for the second monitor)

What would you think about this configuration? Are there any incompatibilities between the CPU and the board?

To be honest, I'm shocked about the GPU prices! For years the onboard solution was enough for me and I didn't follow the market. As the prices in Brazil are higher than in the US, I have to scale down something.

The most expensive component would be the graphic card and I would be interested in some more options which would suit the matter...

Could you help me out some more time, please?

S3B4ST13N · Apr 18, 2019

Hi,

Looks like a good build. The CPU and board are compatible*.

I upgrade once every 5 years (or if there's a special on that I can't miss); so I'd say the money you invest in the card is your biggest return on investment and definitely worth it.

You could have a look at the Nvidia RTX 2060 (around $350).
Other options include the GTX 1070 (around $319.99), GTX 1660ti (around $280) and the GTX 1060 (around $160).

EDIT: I suggest Intel and Nvidia because that's all I've used. If anyone with AMD experience can chime in, please do so.

*

maramsp · Apr 19, 2019

You can also use a hdmi to dvi converter which i use for my 2070 (gigabyte windforce one) if the price of the gpu without a dvi port is cheaper.
These cables are not very expensive

Btw, also i reccomend the amd ryzen 2700x cpu, which is better then your current selected core i7 8700k, and also is a bit cheaper.
Here in the netherlands the 2700x cpu can be had for around 315 euros (354usd) where the 8700k sits at 415 euros (466 usd)
As well the motherboards required for the 2700x (socket am4) are a tiny bit cheaper then the intel motherboards.
Also the 2700x requires less power then the 8700k, so you get a bit less expensive electricity bills

But in the end its your choice, but if you go for intel, then you should buy the 9700k or the 9900k instead of the 8700k. Its a bit more expensive, but a lot better then the 8700k

X-Bit · Apr 22, 2019

You guys really don't know how I do appreciate your input, is it RedPaintedPaw or maramsp, I am really grateful.

I had a look at the AMD option, and it seems I get some better pricing here in Brazil, as the following configuration will cost me some 300 USD less than the Intel configuration.

CPU Ryzen 7 2700X 3.70 GHz
Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 5 WiFi
GeForce RTX 2070 Aorus Xtreme 8G
Cooler Master MasterLiquid Lite 120
SSD 860 EVO 2.5" 1 TB

Would this be at a better performance level than the i7-8700K 3.7 Ghz approach?

maramsp · Apr 22, 2019

Dunno if its allowed to paste links here but im gonna try it:

https://www.game-debate.com/cpu/index.php?pid=2542&pid2=2506&compare=AMD Ryzen 7 2700X-vs-Intel Core i7-8700K 6-Core 3.7GHz

Here you will see that for gaming the 2700x is 16% better then the 8700k.

And if youre gonna pay 300 usd less then it would be an obvious choice

Remember that you need the strongest cpu you can get to run big parks with reasonable fps.

So concerning that i would recomend the 9900k from intel but that one has a bigger price tag then even the 8700k.

So your best bet would be to go for the 2700x.

The system youve posted is almost exactly to mine, cause my 1800x is almost on par with the 2700x, i also have a 2070 but one from gigabyte, and my ssd is a kingston one, but it doesnt matter very much...

The system you posted should be able to run big parks with very reasonable fps and even with guests, however to have lots of guests you might need to tweak some settings.

Anti aliasing, set it to 2, or 4
Background atmospherics to medium
Foreground atmospherics to high
Shadows to medium or high
Water quality to high
And dynamic environment map to off (you actually can have this on as well if the other settings give enough fps)

With this settings even big or very big parks should run pretty well

Hope this had helped you..

Cheers, Mara

Edit: Don't forget btw that you might need to do a bit of bios updating cause some motherboards are a bit older than the 2700x, so to get better compatibility and performance, always do update to the latest version.

But you can do this via the asus ez flash option, and then via internet.
Just go to the bios, and find the option to update it, and then select via internet, and everything goes automaticly.

This is the case for asus boards, i dont know it for other brands, but asus boards are this easy to update

Edit 2: Just saw that your board is a gigabyte one. Its not a bad one, but for bios updating i dont know how it works.
In that price range there are also some Asus boards that are quite nice tho

X-Bit · Apr 23, 2019

Hello Mara!
Thank you again for your valuable thoughts and all the tips you sent me!

I earned some experience with Asus and Gigabyte boards and they are quite similar. I do have better access to Gigabyte boards here so I think I'll stick to those for now.

I will place the order for the components this week and then I just have to be patient and wait... quite a long time, as the mail service in Brazil take weeks to get to my place.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to get into this game and to be an active member of the community!