Dear all
First off, please don't shoot me down for writing this thread here. I am also searching the forum at the moment for answers to this question, but I thought I would start a new thread for two reasons - 1. Any other threads may be out of date, even to the slightest degree, and 2. As the servers are down, I figure there will be a whole bunch of VERY skilled PC enthusiasts on here that could help me out with this at the moment, that may not see the thread another time.
So, currently I play ED on a laptop - it is an i5 5200 with 4Gb RAM and uses 5500HD graphics. It plays ED on high settings, but as more patches and updates have been added to the game, it has got slower and slower, yet I normally only notice this time lag when I am making jumps, SC transitions, or loading things like the gal-map as I presume it is heavy on the memory.
Now don't let me mislead you - I know that the game shouldn't really run well on the above spec machine, if at all, but it does. I bought Horizons before its release so had beta time to play it. Unfortunately, RL inhibited me playing at all in December, and since then when I try to load Horizons, it won't even reach the "shaders-loading" screen. But, once again, I was highly suspicious that I would even be able to run Horizons on the laptop, but I had planned to get a new computer [desktop] back in January which would have solved that problem.
But as is so common in life, it has dictated that I needed to spend my disposable income elsewhere back then, so it is only now that I am getting round to looking to buy a desktop again. What I wanted to get was a desktop that can confidently play the game with all its expansions for the next 3 or more years - I obviously recognise that we won't know the depth of content planned, but FD seem to be pretty good at coding, so I would imagine a decent machine can be bought now, that would last this long, and perhaps even up to 5 years?!? I have made some of my choices [such as motherboard and case/PSU], based on the fact that I am also trying to make the machine fairly future-proof; eg: the MB chip socket will take an i7 when they are less expensive and can offer better speed; there will be room within the system for a larger GPU/card, and even be able to run Crossfire/SLi if that offers the best upgrade choice in the future. I also don't want my system bottleneck to be the RAM in the future, so I wanted a dual or quad channel feature on the MB that lets me put in very high speed DDR4 RAM. I hope all this make sense?!
On the other hand, I have no desire or need right now to run ED at 4K as I am currently running the game on an HD monitor - if I were to upgrade that, I would need to re-build my desk-shelving unit as the monitor comes through it, and I would need to put in a new wall bracket; I am inherently lazy, and the monitor suits me well enough right now. I also have no plans to purchase a VR headset yet, although I may change my mind on that in a few years, so I am aiming for something that can handle VR although not to a spectacular standard.
So, I am not ignorant when it comes to computing and building machines, but I am also in no way an expert, and I think there will be a huge number of people on the forums here who can give much more accurate and reliable advice on component choices, than my 'educated'-guesses can make! So, I am looking at using a custom-built PC supplier, as they can literally fit the specific parts I choose and build a working machine from the ground up.
Below I will list a set of components and choices that I think will be suitable for the PC I am describing, with some comments as to why afterwards. If you are able to help me with these choices, and are able to offer any advice on choosing a different component [and why], I would really be grateful for the feedback please. It is worth noting as well that I have got this 'basic-spec' build designed using Intel and nVidia parts as opposed to AMD, but if you can argue that the AMD parts are better in this range of spec, then please also mention this, as I am not married to one set of components above another. The basic specification I have in mind is below, listed for each component:-
Motherboard - a full-size Z170 ATX Board [with an 1151 socket] with 4 x DDR4 RAM slots, would be my choice as a board preference, as it allows me to slightly future-proof the machine and the potential to upgrade both the CPU, and expand other components as fit, including things like adding an M.2 SSD, higher RAM capacity, and even to possibly set up a crossfire/SLi GPU combination if it makes the whole machine last longer!?!
Case and PSU - a case that is suitably large enough to handle an ATX board, and provide sufficient length for a GPU card that is currently the longest on the market. Beyond that, I was planning to get one with a nice window on it as I like to see pretty lights!!
With a PSU, I would probably get the builder-company to choose one that is suitable enough for this spec, but also provides enough power for expansion on the voltage channels for things like dual GPU cards and so on. If you know of an amazing case design and versatility, please put the name forward as well
CPU - Intel i5 6400 or better that an i5 6600 [I don't know if the game will benefit from the OC series - the K suffix? Does OC work for ED?]; at this point I am not convinced that an i7 will offer any more performance in ED for the increase in price?!
RAM - I don't know at this stage whether using 8Gb is enough, or whether it would be worth putting in 16Gb for future-proofing now? I was going to choose DDR4 RAM naturally, but I am also not sure if the clock speed of the RAM over and above that of 2400MHz is needed, especially if I am not over-clocking the CPU?
Graphics / GPU - I was aiming for an nVidia GTX 970 4Gb class graphics card or similar clone; to go for the 980 seems to be a good £200 more than I probably need to spend, and in 3 years time, I may be able to upgrade to the 1080 for the same if less, should the game need it.
Storage - I would put in a 1Tb or 2Tb Seagate Barracuda or similar good quality traditional HDD, but I was also thinking of putting in a small SSD to place the OS and this game onto. However, I honestly don't know what size SSD I would need to do this, as I don't know the size of Windows 10 as an OS and so on. Obviously the larger the better, but this is a place again where I don't need to spend more than I have to to get the same end result for the PC and ED game.
Other Kit - I would put in a basic optical drive; I have no need to run BRDs on here or to write them for that matter, and this is an easy one to upgrade in the future. With peripherals, I would get a wired KB+M probably, but I already have a HOTAS so can switch that over. The motherboard will give me at least 2 USB 3.0 ports, if not 4, so I doubt there is a need for any more of those either. About the only other thing I can think of is sound - I don't live alone so I cannot play the game through a 7.1 set of speakers as it won't go down very well with others at home!! However, most of the MBs that I am looking at come with 7.1 on-board sound, which is more than enough for me to use either through headphones, or on the speakers that are within my HD monitor.
The Final Touches - I will of course get appropriately strong fans [+ heatsink] for the CPU, and case mountings, that will hopefully also allow me to make some stylish lighting on the outside of the case. I am also one for 'pimping' up the PC a bit, so with a clear side panel, making it look pretty with various LEDs on fans or strips, so that it is cool to look at as well. At this stage I don't need any UV water-cooling, although I would love to have it just as it looks funky, but I can't afford it anyway!
For anyone on here that knows me, I tend to write very long posts, and frankly this is no exception!! Thank you all in advance for your help and time, even if it is just in reading my post. But if any of you can offer any advice, alternative choices, confirmation, or just general useful bits of information regarding good places to look to buy a custom PC from, I would be extremely grateful indeed. I am not sure if I am allowed to mention the two companies that I have been looking at online for custom PCs so far, but they are relatively well known. However I think it is okay for someone replying to mention a company name, but I could be wrong.
So if you have got this far and it is not TL;DR, please add your two cents in a reply, and pass on any bits of advice, or suggestions, or recommendations that you think are pertinent and worthwhile in making my final build-choice. I will probably be looking at placing an order in the next 2-4 weeks, so if you are reading this thread after the end of June 2016, then please consider it closed for my personal uses.
Thanks as always for any and all help or advice that you can offer, and I hope this gives you something else to read and do whilst the servers are down for the update. Cheers everyone, and much obliged for the time;
The Hat
First off, please don't shoot me down for writing this thread here. I am also searching the forum at the moment for answers to this question, but I thought I would start a new thread for two reasons - 1. Any other threads may be out of date, even to the slightest degree, and 2. As the servers are down, I figure there will be a whole bunch of VERY skilled PC enthusiasts on here that could help me out with this at the moment, that may not see the thread another time.
So, currently I play ED on a laptop - it is an i5 5200 with 4Gb RAM and uses 5500HD graphics. It plays ED on high settings, but as more patches and updates have been added to the game, it has got slower and slower, yet I normally only notice this time lag when I am making jumps, SC transitions, or loading things like the gal-map as I presume it is heavy on the memory.
Now don't let me mislead you - I know that the game shouldn't really run well on the above spec machine, if at all, but it does. I bought Horizons before its release so had beta time to play it. Unfortunately, RL inhibited me playing at all in December, and since then when I try to load Horizons, it won't even reach the "shaders-loading" screen. But, once again, I was highly suspicious that I would even be able to run Horizons on the laptop, but I had planned to get a new computer [desktop] back in January which would have solved that problem.
But as is so common in life, it has dictated that I needed to spend my disposable income elsewhere back then, so it is only now that I am getting round to looking to buy a desktop again. What I wanted to get was a desktop that can confidently play the game with all its expansions for the next 3 or more years - I obviously recognise that we won't know the depth of content planned, but FD seem to be pretty good at coding, so I would imagine a decent machine can be bought now, that would last this long, and perhaps even up to 5 years?!? I have made some of my choices [such as motherboard and case/PSU], based on the fact that I am also trying to make the machine fairly future-proof; eg: the MB chip socket will take an i7 when they are less expensive and can offer better speed; there will be room within the system for a larger GPU/card, and even be able to run Crossfire/SLi if that offers the best upgrade choice in the future. I also don't want my system bottleneck to be the RAM in the future, so I wanted a dual or quad channel feature on the MB that lets me put in very high speed DDR4 RAM. I hope all this make sense?!
On the other hand, I have no desire or need right now to run ED at 4K as I am currently running the game on an HD monitor - if I were to upgrade that, I would need to re-build my desk-shelving unit as the monitor comes through it, and I would need to put in a new wall bracket; I am inherently lazy, and the monitor suits me well enough right now. I also have no plans to purchase a VR headset yet, although I may change my mind on that in a few years, so I am aiming for something that can handle VR although not to a spectacular standard.
So, I am not ignorant when it comes to computing and building machines, but I am also in no way an expert, and I think there will be a huge number of people on the forums here who can give much more accurate and reliable advice on component choices, than my 'educated'-guesses can make! So, I am looking at using a custom-built PC supplier, as they can literally fit the specific parts I choose and build a working machine from the ground up.
Below I will list a set of components and choices that I think will be suitable for the PC I am describing, with some comments as to why afterwards. If you are able to help me with these choices, and are able to offer any advice on choosing a different component [and why], I would really be grateful for the feedback please. It is worth noting as well that I have got this 'basic-spec' build designed using Intel and nVidia parts as opposed to AMD, but if you can argue that the AMD parts are better in this range of spec, then please also mention this, as I am not married to one set of components above another. The basic specification I have in mind is below, listed for each component:-
Motherboard - a full-size Z170 ATX Board [with an 1151 socket] with 4 x DDR4 RAM slots, would be my choice as a board preference, as it allows me to slightly future-proof the machine and the potential to upgrade both the CPU, and expand other components as fit, including things like adding an M.2 SSD, higher RAM capacity, and even to possibly set up a crossfire/SLi GPU combination if it makes the whole machine last longer!?!
Case and PSU - a case that is suitably large enough to handle an ATX board, and provide sufficient length for a GPU card that is currently the longest on the market. Beyond that, I was planning to get one with a nice window on it as I like to see pretty lights!!
With a PSU, I would probably get the builder-company to choose one that is suitable enough for this spec, but also provides enough power for expansion on the voltage channels for things like dual GPU cards and so on. If you know of an amazing case design and versatility, please put the name forward as well
CPU - Intel i5 6400 or better that an i5 6600 [I don't know if the game will benefit from the OC series - the K suffix? Does OC work for ED?]; at this point I am not convinced that an i7 will offer any more performance in ED for the increase in price?!
RAM - I don't know at this stage whether using 8Gb is enough, or whether it would be worth putting in 16Gb for future-proofing now? I was going to choose DDR4 RAM naturally, but I am also not sure if the clock speed of the RAM over and above that of 2400MHz is needed, especially if I am not over-clocking the CPU?
Graphics / GPU - I was aiming for an nVidia GTX 970 4Gb class graphics card or similar clone; to go for the 980 seems to be a good £200 more than I probably need to spend, and in 3 years time, I may be able to upgrade to the 1080 for the same if less, should the game need it.
Storage - I would put in a 1Tb or 2Tb Seagate Barracuda or similar good quality traditional HDD, but I was also thinking of putting in a small SSD to place the OS and this game onto. However, I honestly don't know what size SSD I would need to do this, as I don't know the size of Windows 10 as an OS and so on. Obviously the larger the better, but this is a place again where I don't need to spend more than I have to to get the same end result for the PC and ED game.
Other Kit - I would put in a basic optical drive; I have no need to run BRDs on here or to write them for that matter, and this is an easy one to upgrade in the future. With peripherals, I would get a wired KB+M probably, but I already have a HOTAS so can switch that over. The motherboard will give me at least 2 USB 3.0 ports, if not 4, so I doubt there is a need for any more of those either. About the only other thing I can think of is sound - I don't live alone so I cannot play the game through a 7.1 set of speakers as it won't go down very well with others at home!! However, most of the MBs that I am looking at come with 7.1 on-board sound, which is more than enough for me to use either through headphones, or on the speakers that are within my HD monitor.
The Final Touches - I will of course get appropriately strong fans [+ heatsink] for the CPU, and case mountings, that will hopefully also allow me to make some stylish lighting on the outside of the case. I am also one for 'pimping' up the PC a bit, so with a clear side panel, making it look pretty with various LEDs on fans or strips, so that it is cool to look at as well. At this stage I don't need any UV water-cooling, although I would love to have it just as it looks funky, but I can't afford it anyway!
For anyone on here that knows me, I tend to write very long posts, and frankly this is no exception!! Thank you all in advance for your help and time, even if it is just in reading my post. But if any of you can offer any advice, alternative choices, confirmation, or just general useful bits of information regarding good places to look to buy a custom PC from, I would be extremely grateful indeed. I am not sure if I am allowed to mention the two companies that I have been looking at online for custom PCs so far, but they are relatively well known. However I think it is okay for someone replying to mention a company name, but I could be wrong.
So if you have got this far and it is not TL;DR, please add your two cents in a reply, and pass on any bits of advice, or suggestions, or recommendations that you think are pertinent and worthwhile in making my final build-choice. I will probably be looking at placing an order in the next 2-4 weeks, so if you are reading this thread after the end of June 2016, then please consider it closed for my personal uses.
Thanks as always for any and all help or advice that you can offer, and I hope this gives you something else to read and do whilst the servers are down for the update. Cheers everyone, and much obliged for the time;
The Hat
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