Hardware & Technical PC build - comments please.

superflyguy

superflyguy
Hello fellow CMDRs

I am looking into creating a cheap (c£500 budget) machine to play ED - and ED only, nothing else.

Currently two possibles under review and I'd like your input.
Option 1:
CPU - G3258
Mobo - H81M
GPU - R9 x90 / GTX x70
Cooler - hyper 212


Option 2:
CPU - I5 4590
GPU - R9 380
Mobo - Z97


both
RAM - 8GB
PSU - 550w - a decent one!. be quiet, probably
a case

So, my question is ... which is likely to better? And remember I'm only looking at playing ED. Pretty much no other considerations!

(I have all the other bits in hand e.g. SSD, monitor. I'm in England)


Cheers
<-lightspeed->
 
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Cody

Cody
As regards the CPU, definitely what Asp said - as for the GPU, I know zilch about AMD kit.
 

superflyguy

superflyguy
Apols to Asp Explorer & Zieman

I got the GPU's the wrong way around. which made the choice a non-choice!
 
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Cody

Cody
I'd go for the full ATX mobo (Z97) too - definitely preferable.

- - - Updated - - -

Ah, I'm confused now! Which choice is which? <grins>
 

Asp Explorer

Asp Explorer
Zieman said:
Yes, option 2 is still better. Even if the GPU seems to be just a rebranded R9 280 with memory bandwith throttled by 25% (http://www.hwcompare.com/19971/radeon-r9-280-vs-radeon-r9-380-4g/). You can always upgrade the GPU later, the MoBo & CPU are much better in option 2.
Click to expand...

With that CPU - a graphics card may not even be needed. I play Elite on my "portable" I5 4440 at 720p just fine on the inbuilt graphics. It won't really go much higher, but well, all the TV's I take it to are 720p spare ones anyway.
 

AeRoStAtIc

A
Just a warning. I sound like a broken record with this but: AMD is suffering issues in Elite that drop the game down to 15 FPS in Supercruise with Win 10 and the latest (15.7 and 15.7.1) drivers. The 300 and 200 cards can run Elite beautifully at Ultra (namely the 290 and 390, 380 also much of the same in terms of Elite), but not in Supercruise. This issue is fixed if you downgrade AMD drivers to 15.6 or earlier (different for different models), but the 300 series (IIRC) cannot downgrade that far, only the 200 series and below.
 

Space Fan

Banned
S
4 core porkprocessor and a reasonable graphics card - Nvidia seems better optimised. It seems almost ALL suffer stuttering - so no need to have a supercomputer...
 

adoredtv

adoredtv
Go with option 2. The 380 is in the "A" grade for VR feature-set along with the Fury X and Fury. The 290's/390's are good but not quite as good.

You might not be interested in VR now but you could be later. With a crossfire-capable motherboard you can add a second 380 later. This will be a fantastic VR-capable machine on the (relative) cheap. A 550W be quiet or similar PSU will be enough though you might consider a 600 or 650W for some headroom.
 
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superflyguy

superflyguy
Thanks everyone for you input.

i think i'm going with an i5 (maybe 4690k) and then adding a video card in the near future. It seems ED will run at a playable level with the onboard graphics.
 

Surfinjo

Surfinjo
superflyguy said:
Thanks everyone for you input.

i think i'm going with an i5 (maybe 4690k) and then adding a video card in the near future. It seems ED will run at a playable level with the onboard graphics.
Click to expand...

Though you seem to have made up your mind, may I suggest you take a slightly different approach, perhaps partly alluded to by ASP and Zieman above.

Get the best MB you can afford then buy what you can, upgrading later as you can afford it. With your budget

This for example: https://www.asus.com/us/ROG_ROG/MAXIMUS_VII_HERO/

It has better specs than those which you've been looking at. You can get one for around £160. Asus is a proven brand.


Here's an example:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/...elsocket1151/z170chipset/maximusviiihero.html £180
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/processors/intelhaswell1150/bx80646i54460.html £144
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/powersupplies/651wto850w/nov-oem750.html £043
Total £367

Leaving you almost 150 bucks to buy case, sound card ect.

Upgrade as you choose.
 
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Patrick_68000

Patrick_68000
Surfinjo said:
Though you seem to have made up your mind, may I suggest you take a slightly different approach, perhaps partly alluded to by ASP and Zieman above.

Get the best MB you can afford then buy what you can, upgrading later as you can afford it. With your budget

This for example: https://www.asus.com/us/ROG_ROG/MAXIMUS_VII_HERO/

It has better specs than those which you've been looking at. You can get one for around £160. Asus is a proven brand.


Here's an example:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/...elsocket1151/z170chipset/maximusviiihero.html £180
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/processors/intelhaswell1150/bx80646i54460.html £144
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/powersupplies/651wto850w/nov-oem750.html £043
Total £367

Leaving you almost 150 bucks to buy case, sound card ect.

Upgrade as you choose.
Click to expand...

I approve! The motherboard is a fundamental element. Especially with a ... I5 and the opportunity to progress to I7, later
 

Druid

Druid
Bare in mind Radion cards dont support fully featured direct x 12 . Only nvidia 9 series are fully featured . If you are not bothered about getting all the bells and whistles then it isnt a concern. Just something to think about when getting a GPU at this time.
 

superflyguy

superflyguy
Update if anyone is interested.

So far I have got a 4460 and a KFA2 GTX770 (half price from overclockers). decided that there was no need for anything more in the CPU department and the GPU should show everything is pretty fine style! PSU looks like being a Superflower GGHX550
Just need to decide on MB and case now.

H440 or DS 200 are favourite at the mo.
Possible a Krait MB if i opt for a window & white/black look

Cheers fellas
 

adoredtv

adoredtv
Druid said:
Bare in mind Radion cards dont support fully featured direct x 12 . Only nvidia 9 series are fully featured . If you are not bothered about getting all the bells and whistles then it isnt a concern. Just something to think about when getting a GPU at this time.
Click to expand...

This isn't true. AMD cards are actually much better suited for DX12. There's a really good reason for that - DX12 is basically a direct copy of Mantle which was created by AMD for their own architecture. Nvidia's marketing bucks sure go far to convincing people otherwise though.

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...what-amd-intel-and-nvidia-do-and-dont-deliver

The issue has been further confused by claims that Maxwell is the only GPU on the market to support “full” DirectX 12. While it’s true that Maxwell is the only GPU that supports DirectX 12_1, AMD is the only company offering full Tier 3 resource binding and asynchronous shaders for simultaneous graphics and compute.
Click to expand...

superflyguy said:
Update if anyone is interested.

So far I have got a 4460 and a KFA2 GTX770 (half price from overclockers). decided that there was no need for anything more in the CPU department and the GPU should show everything is pretty fine style! PSU looks like being a Superflower GGHX550
Just need to decide on MB and case now.

H440 or DS 200 are favourite at the mo.
Possible a Krait MB if i opt for a window & white/black look

Cheers fellas
Click to expand...

How much was half price on that 770? Could still be bad value depending on what prices they are using.
 
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