Quick build question...

[Asp Explorer]

Here is a question to people who say that i7 is wasted on gaming... how much of the CPU do most games use? I know that ED can be particularly CPU intensive, using all 8 threads and >50% of power from my i7-4770 (not overclocked). I also know from the "rig to run elite" thread that several people have found their ED experience to be CPU locked with their GPUs not doing much at all.

An i7 will not usually boost gaming. Games (and OS) are usuallysensible enough to let the scheduler commit threads to real cores. Hyperthreading can lead to detrimental performance in some games - the microstuttering in Lotro being my particular favourite.

Hyperthreading is great at helping along with large chunks of reliably offloadable code. It's not so great at randomly changing code - which is what of a lot of games are.

The i5 has the same basic grunt with four real cores. Sure, you can get 6 and 8 and soon 12 or 16 core CPU's - but it's diminishing returns after a certain (and highly variable) point.

Certainly gaming benefits from 4 real cores, and it is always nice to have more - all depends on the budget and the games to be played I suppose.

Now, certain other software just loves cores, virtual or not, and will gladly swallow up as many as you want to throw at it. I'm sure at NASA you have absolute behemoth machines for modeling and statistics. I don't work at NASA, but I do get to play with machines that charge some serious money One has over a Tb of RAM, runs one system, and delivers a simple yes/no answer.

 

[dognosh]

To validate both i5 and i7 fans I reckon PCMag got it right :
"Intel Core i5 is made for mainstream users who care about performance, and Intel Core i7 is made for enthusiasts and high-end users. If you follow this mantra, you're likely going to find the system you need."

 

[Alexis]

To validate both i5 and i7 fans I reckon PCMag got it right :
"Intel Core i5 is made for mainstream users who care about performance, and Intel Core i7 is made for enthusiasts and high-end users. If you follow this mantra, you're likely going to find the system you need."

That's marketing, there is only 1-2% of perfe difference withe i5 and i7 ingame, so go for the new i5 4690k...

 

[reload]

I'm just going to throw this out there. My 8 core FX 8350 (Selling for about £130 on Amazon) seems to be perfectly capable with ED. In some multi-core fringe scenarios the general opinion is these can be better than top end i7s, easily besting their equivalently priced i5s.

In single-threaded scenarios (A large majority of games) though, I would agree that an i5 is probably the better thing to go for.

 

[SlackR]

So here is the build I opted for...

Components

Case Coolermaster Cosmos SE

Power Supply Corsair RM750 750W Fully Modular

Processor Intel Core i7 4770K 3.5Ghz - Highly Overclockable

Overclocking Extreme

Processor Cooler XSPC Raystorm 750 AX240 Full Watercooling System

RAM 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600Mhz/PC12800

Motherboard Asus ROG Maximus VI Extreme

Graphics card Nvidia GeForce GTX 780Ti 3GB *Free Watch Dogs PC Game*

Hard Drive Corsair 120GB Force LS Solid State Drive

2nd Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda 1TB Hard Drive 7200rpm 64MB Cache

3rd Hard Drive None

RAID None

Sound card Creative Sound Blaster ZX

Optical Drive Asus DRW-24B5ST 24x DVD/CD ± Re-Writer Black

Network card Integrated 10/100/1000Mbps

Wireless Card Asus AC68 1300MBPS

Modifications

Case Paint Standard Case Paint

Internal Lighting Kit Blue LED

Under Glow Lighting Blue LED

Case fans 4 x Xigmatek Crystal Blue LED

Cable Management UKGC Blue system

Cable Braiding UKGC UV Blue system

Sata Cables UKGC UV Blue system

Hard Drive Dampening UKGC Antivibration System

Thermal Compound Artic Silver 5

Watercooling

Tubing Colour XSPC Clear

Coolant Feser One Blue UV Reactive

Anti Kink Coils UV

Keyboard / Mouse Combo Zalman ZM-K400G Keyboard and ZM-M400 Mouse

Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

 

[reload]

Pre-build with a watercooling loop? Sounds expensive

 

[SlackR]

But soooo pretty!

 

[Bobbydylan]

That Chip and board I've got. You wont go wrong with it. Where you getting it from, Scan?

 

[Zarunoi]

I'm using amd and have no issue at all.
So if that is your only reason, then don't sweat it.

Go for an amd processor to save money and spend the saved money on a the gfx card instead.

 

[SlackR]

That Chip and board I've got. You wont go wrong with it. Where you getting it from, Scan?

UKGC am over in saudi so no time to build myself before DK2 shows up... They do great builds at competitive prices

 

[Aleksej]

I would strongly suggest to at least double the SSD size.

 

[KING5TON]

I would strongly suggest to at least double the SSD size.

Or buy more than one. you can never have enough SSD space
I've got a 120GB one with my OS and some stuff on (E: D for one), a 250GB one that contains games that benefit from an SSD (long load times, streaming content) and a 1TB HDD for the rest of my stuff.

My pagefiles are split over the 250GB SSD and 1TB HDD.

I dunno how much E: D benefits from being on an SSD though, probably a small amount.

 

[SlackR]

UKGC am over in saudi so no time to build myself before DK2 shows up... They do great builds at competitive prices

Or buy more than one. you can never have enough SSD space
I've got a 120GB one with my OS and some stuff on (E: D for one), a 250GB one that contains games that benefit from an SSD (long load times, streaming content) and a 1TB HDD for the rest of my stuff.

My pagefiles are split over the 250GB SSD and 1TB HDD.

I dunno how much E: D benefits from being on an SSD though, probably a small amount.

This is just a starter build... I'll add more as I go along...

 

[CmdrBond]

Well here is my build, for comparison (taken from the Alpha discussion forum)

I have upgraded especially for this

And the wife thinks I have spent half of what I actually have

Anyway, my rig is as follows

Case (existing) - Cooler Master CM690 II Advanced
PSU (Existing) - Corsair HX850W
M/B - Asus Z87 Sabertooth
CPU - Intel i7 4770k
HSF - Corsair H100i
RAM - 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro 2133MHz
SSD - 250GB Samsung 840 Evo
HDD - 1TB/8GB Seagate Hybrid 7200RPM/SSD
+4 37GB Western Digital Raptor's (10000RPM)

[edit] Can't believe I forgot to add my GFX card, an Asus GTX 760 DirectCU ii OC

Oh and my controller of choice, my existing Logitech Freedom 2.4 Cordless Joystick [/edit]

I am dual booting Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and Windows 8.1 Professional x64 off of VHD images on the SSD rather than from their own partitions.

On to ED.

I have everything set to MAX, I am running Full Screen at 1900x1080 and have got as far as scenario 4, and have yet to experience any issues.

The only changes to that are:

A Thrustmaster HOTAS X
A Logitech G13 (hardly used ATM but will be)
and a Creative SoundBlaster Z

 

[dognosh]

This is just a starter build... I'll add more as I go along...

no ! , go at least 250 to start with !
120G formats in to about 112 G
win 7 about 15-20 G
win 8 about 15-20 G
drivers and other must have programs about 5 G

I have ED , SC, WOT and GW2 on mine and it is currently at 145 G (but only WIN 7, no WIN 8)

well done on going for the i7

 

[Fangrim]

Here in Denmark a 250 GB SSD is only about 20-25% more expensive than a 120GB SSD. Well worth the extra money, I think.

 

[Aleksej]

no ! , go at least 250 to start with !
120G formats in to about 112 G
win 7 about 15-20 G
win 8 about 15-20 G
drivers and other must have programs about 5 G

I have ED , SC, WOT and GW2 on mine and it is currently at 145 G (but only WIN 7, no WIN 8)

well done on going for the i7

Exactly the reason of at least 250GB SSD. I have Win 8.1 with almost no additional soft, ED, AC and Watch Dogs (did not play it yet and not going to play in the near future) - and I have 66GB used.

 

[Kortossis]

This is what I built for Elite Dangerous, this smokes my friends I7 build in framerates and all games we play, mine rates 7.7 WEI.
My gameplay here is smooth as glass. everything maxed out on any game I play.

CPU: AMD FX-8350 OC @ 4.6
GFX: AMD Visiontek HD 7970 GHz Edition 3 GB Memory
MOBO: ASUS M5A99FX Pro 2.0
RAM: G.Skill TridentX Series - DDR3 - 16 GB : 2 x 8 GB
PSU: XFX ProSeries P1-750B-BEFX 750W - Black Edition
CPU Cooler: AMD FX Water Cooler *Special Edition*
SSD: PNY XLR8 240 GB SSD OS drive
Game Drive: Seagate Hybrid ST1000DX 1 TB Drive 7200/SSD
Storage HDD: Seagate 7200 RPM - 3 TB
Tower: Cooler Master HAF 832 AMD RED Special Edition
Optical: ASUS BC 12D2HT - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM / BD-ROM
Display: ASUS 27 LED 1080p monitor
Game Controller 1: G13
Game Controller 2: Saitek X52 Pro

To the comment on the 9370 series AMD CPU's..they are TERRIBLY over rated. the difference between the 8350 and them is so small it truly doesn't justify the cost. The heat you get from them is just plain nutz in the mouths of squirrels.
My bud built his and we ran tests between us and the benchmarks are pretty close in gaming. And that's why most of us build them anyways right? not just epeen haha.