The preamble: Hello. First things first, as you will see from my forum join date I joined this forum back in the dark days when Elite IV was nothing but rumour, fuelled by the quinquennial comments from David Braben in the gaming press. I loved Elite on my BBC B in the mid-80s, then Amiga and played the hell out of Frontier and FFE on the PC. Needless to say I was dead excited about Elite Dangerous, but have not been able to participate until now. If the announcement was made 4 years ago I would certainly have backed the kickstarter with a 3 figure sum, but 3 1/2 years ago... parenthood, 2 incomes became one and we still have close to zero disposable income! Life's good, who REALLY needs money... but I've listened to every episode of Lave Radio but just sat on the periphery throughout the kickstarter and into the Beta and Gamma, knowing that I couldn't afford to get involved myself for the time being, mainly because my computer is not currently up to scratch.
Well, things are looking up. I've decided to sell a couple of old Roland drum machines I never use. I should get a reasonable amount of money, at the least enough to cover the cost of the game and a second hand or low budget GFX card. Best case scenario, as one of the drum machines is a bit of a wildcard and COULD fetch a fair bit even though it doesn't work properly, is that I raise enough for an OK GFX card AND a CPU upgrade, the latter is not necessarily for ED, just to extend the life of my machine somewhat (it is currently 2.66 GHz 4 core, could grab a 3.33 GHZ 6 core if I raise enough cash).
I just cannot wait to finally get stuck into ED - I'm experiencing that excitement that so many of you experienced when the first Beta was imminent.
The important question: Please could anyone make some recommendations for Nvidia GFX cards (Nvidia is important - see full disclosure below) for someone on a budget to be able to play ED - I'll go second hand if I have to - but a range of options from absolute shoestring budget to new, kind-of OK, lower end options would be great, as I don't yet know the exact amount I have to spend. I just want to have my options ready so I can pull the trigger as soon as my gear has sold. I know that some will say that you must do ED justice and play on a really decent GFX card, but please bear in mind, I have been frustrated at not being able to be involved for ages now, and I will be happy just to be able to participate and have a reasonable experience on low settings, if that's all I can afford.
The disclaimer: OK - I have a Mac Pro (4,1 - early 2009). Just think of it as a PC for the purposes of this question, but it must be an Nvidia card. While until recently, I would have had to have paid through the nose for a card with Mac specific firmware (and had a very small selection of vastly overpriced cards), OS X will now support pretty much any Nvidia card (with some limitations around boot menu type issues - these are of no concern). Nvidia release updated OS X drivers, which is why I would prefer Nvidia to ATI. Some ATI cards will work but you don't get updated drivers. Now, I will have to check out any recommendations for Mac specific issues around power consumption and power connectors etc, but I can work that side of things out. It's just that I have never taken any notice of GFX cards before (I'm a musician - I only normally care about what my computer SOUNDS like), and while I understand Mac stuff, I don't understand GFX card specs, and there's just such a bewildering choice out there. If there's anyone here with any Mac specific advice, great, but if not - just think cheap, just think Nvidia. BTW, if anyones wondering, I have a separate HD in my machine with Windows 7.
Thanks so much in advance for your help. I just can't wait to get this sorted. See you somewhere in the Galaxy!
Well, things are looking up. I've decided to sell a couple of old Roland drum machines I never use. I should get a reasonable amount of money, at the least enough to cover the cost of the game and a second hand or low budget GFX card. Best case scenario, as one of the drum machines is a bit of a wildcard and COULD fetch a fair bit even though it doesn't work properly, is that I raise enough for an OK GFX card AND a CPU upgrade, the latter is not necessarily for ED, just to extend the life of my machine somewhat (it is currently 2.66 GHz 4 core, could grab a 3.33 GHZ 6 core if I raise enough cash).
I just cannot wait to finally get stuck into ED - I'm experiencing that excitement that so many of you experienced when the first Beta was imminent.
The important question: Please could anyone make some recommendations for Nvidia GFX cards (Nvidia is important - see full disclosure below) for someone on a budget to be able to play ED - I'll go second hand if I have to - but a range of options from absolute shoestring budget to new, kind-of OK, lower end options would be great, as I don't yet know the exact amount I have to spend. I just want to have my options ready so I can pull the trigger as soon as my gear has sold. I know that some will say that you must do ED justice and play on a really decent GFX card, but please bear in mind, I have been frustrated at not being able to be involved for ages now, and I will be happy just to be able to participate and have a reasonable experience on low settings, if that's all I can afford.
The disclaimer: OK - I have a Mac Pro (4,1 - early 2009). Just think of it as a PC for the purposes of this question, but it must be an Nvidia card. While until recently, I would have had to have paid through the nose for a card with Mac specific firmware (and had a very small selection of vastly overpriced cards), OS X will now support pretty much any Nvidia card (with some limitations around boot menu type issues - these are of no concern). Nvidia release updated OS X drivers, which is why I would prefer Nvidia to ATI. Some ATI cards will work but you don't get updated drivers. Now, I will have to check out any recommendations for Mac specific issues around power consumption and power connectors etc, but I can work that side of things out. It's just that I have never taken any notice of GFX cards before (I'm a musician - I only normally care about what my computer SOUNDS like), and while I understand Mac stuff, I don't understand GFX card specs, and there's just such a bewildering choice out there. If there's anyone here with any Mac specific advice, great, but if not - just think cheap, just think Nvidia. BTW, if anyones wondering, I have a separate HD in my machine with Windows 7.
Thanks so much in advance for your help. I just can't wait to get this sorted. See you somewhere in the Galaxy!
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