Upgrading a basic PC for my daughter. She wants to fly!

[ubermick]

So the other day, I was trying to come up with a way of transferring credits from my main account to my newly set up alt and rapidly came to the conclusion I needed it running on a second PC. I have an old i3 HTPC sitting in the cupboard that I had the brainwave to use, and got Epic downloaded and installed. Alas the thing could barely handle Horizons, but as I was testing it my daughter walked in, lit up and said "Daddy, can we fly spaceships together??!?"

Dad mode engaged. I'll get this upgraded to be able to (hopefully) handle Odyssey, reset my alt, and let her go for it.

So here sits this little box I was building as a media server 8 years ago. Its a Z77 LGA 1155 mini ATX in a Fractal Node 304 case with a rather underwhelming i3 that definitely needs replacing, just 8gb of memory, and no dedicated GPU all three of which needs sorting. That said, this is a random pet project with a minimal budget and looking to keep the costs as minimal as possible since I know her, and while she'll be all into it for a week or so, I expect her to lose interest and start wanting to play the stuff the other kids are playing like Fortnite.

So the two questions I'd have are:

Seems like the best CPU I can use on that board would be an I7-3770k. Is that good enough for Odyssey?
And what GPU would I need to be able to run it "okay"? Doesn't need to be on Ultra, I'd be happy enough getting her 50fps in medium.

 

[GroG79]

I think a I7-3770k will do cpu wise. Though obtaining one might be costlier than you think. It might turn out that a mobo + cpu + ram is a better investment. See if you can get this I7-3770k for under 80. The 8Gb memory will be enough. I ran with that for a long time and had no issues. You will need to run a SSD and source a decent GPU. I think amd rx480/gtx 1070 and playing 1080p should be doable with modest gfx settings. Forget a stable 50 fps.. You will need a much better gpu for that especially for foot stuff. In that case you might consider a new low end build. (Or of course play EDH for now)

 

[ubermick]

To be honest, the GPU is the bit that worries me/infuriates me the most. I've been eyeing either the 1650 or the 1070 (low profile versions) and even used ones that look... a bit rough are going for more than MSRP. I knew the graphics card shortage was causing lunacy in the current gen market and the previous gen, but had no idea it had kicked on down the road that much to cards six years old.

I've set myself an internal budget of about 200, maybe 250 for this, and just some cursory looking around today has seen that go out the window. I do have a horrible habit of upgrade creep (Ahh, if I add in another 50 to the budget I can get something decent... but if I add in ANOTHER 50 I can get something even BETTER... and so on) but given who this is for, am sticking to my guns this time!

 

[HRDiagram]

[...] my daughter walked in, lit up and said "Daddy, can we fly spaceships together??!?" [...]

Best post of the day!

 

[Maolagin]

Yeah I have bad news for you - an 8 year old system isn't much of a starting point, and sourcing a discrete GPU of any description is going to be hard.

If I was you I'd look for a used gaming laptop. Much softer market since thermals mean they're useless for mining, and you can't tear out the GPU for desktop use. If you were ready to repurpose an HTPC you presumably have a keyboard and monitor in mind, so the beat up inputs on a used laptop shouldn't be an issue. For reference, I played EDH for the first several years on a 2016 vintage laptop with a 970M GPU, and it was fine. You can ebay something like that for under $400 these days.

 

[ubermick]

Yeah, much to my chagrin I'm thinking its a lost cause. Upgrading it "for the sake of it" makes no sense since it'd just sit there, and getting it to a point where its useful to my daughter looks a bit pointless as well. Plopping a 3770k and something like a 1070 SHOULD get it to a point where its usable, and should be doable for $200 but in the current climate... more like $500. (And am kicking myself for GIVING AWAY the 4770k / 980ti gaming PC I used to run Horizons on prior to Covid plopping out of nature's backside.)

 

[HRDiagram]

I think a I7-3770k will do cpu wise. Though obtaining one might be costlier than you think. It might turn out that a mobo + cpu + ram is a better investment. See if you can get this I7-3770k for under 80. The 8Gb memory will be enough. I ran with that for a long time and had no issues. You will need to run a SSD and source a decent GPU. I think amd rx480/gtx 1070 and playing 1080p should be doable with modest gfx settings. Forget a stable 50 fps.. You will need a much better gpu for that especially for foot stuff. In that case you might consider a new low end build. (Or of course play EDH for now)

I have an AMD RX470 and it can deal with Odyssey (it's come a long way since release ): I run it at 1080 on Custom settings (starting at High and reducing some shadows), capped at 60FPS.
In space it is basically the same as Horizons, in stations it can go in the 40s-50s, settlements in the 30s, foot CZ can go in the teens.

My CPU is an Athlon X4 860K, which is ever so slightly below minimum specs, but seems to hold quite well, all things considered.

 

[Para Handy]

... Plopping a 3770k and something like a 1070 SHOULD get it to a point where its usable, ...

My main computer* uses a 6700K @ 4GHz and a GTX1070 8MB card - runs Horizons at 1440 with no problem, runs Odyssey much better than on it's release but the GPU is at 100% load most of the time.

*(built years ago for flight sim use)

EDIT - I feel your pain wrt GFX card prices, I waited for the 3series to build a new system only to find crazy prices stopping me, bought a gaming laptop for half the price of a GFX card - runs Oddity like a dream but wow the heat!

 

[MickyG1982]

To be honest, the GPU is the bit that worries me/infuriates me the most. I've been eyeing either the 1650 or the 1070 (low profile versions) and even used ones that look... a bit rough are going for more than MSRP. I knew the graphics card shortage was causing lunacy in the current gen market and the previous gen, but had no idea it had kicked on down the road that much to cards six years old.

I've set myself an internal budget of about 200, maybe 250 for this, and just some cursory looking around today has seen that go out the window. I do have a horrible habit of upgrade creep (Ahh, if I add in another 50 to the budget I can get something decent... but if I add in ANOTHER 50 I can get something even BETTER... and so on) but given who this is for, am sticking to my guns this time!

The 1650 does struggle, 30fps on that card is what you should expect on the ground (space is pretty much OK though). On my system (laptop) , on foot gameplay does seem to max out both the CPU and GPU though so the exact bottleneck isn't clear.

 

[Bravo17]

You will also need to check the output of your current PSU and whether it will be enough to power the new cpu and gpu

 

[MickyG1982]

I have an AMD RX470 and it can deal with Odyssey (it's come a long way since release ): I run it at 1080 on Custom settings (starting at High and reducing some shadows), capped at 60FPS.
In space it is basically the same as Horizons, in stations it can go in the 40s-50s, settlements in the 30s, foot CZ can go in the teens.

My CPU is an Athlon X4 860K, which is ever so slightly below minimum specs, but seems to hold quite well, all things considered.

I tell you what, I had that CPU in my old desktop that I had built and was amazed at just how well it performed when I wanted it to. For £50/£60 when I bought it I could not fault it at all.

Its even still in use as I gave my nephew it when I upgraded to the one I have now, perfectly capable of playing most modern day titles, he even had it playing cyberpunk 2077 at one point.

 

[tiddymun]

So the other day, I was trying to come up with a way of transferring credits from my main account to my newly set up alt and rapidly came to the conclusion I needed it running on a second PC. I have an old i3 HTPC sitting in the cupboard that I had the brainwave to use, and got Epic downloaded and installed. Alas the thing could barely handle Horizons, but as I was testing it my daughter walked in, lit up and said "Daddy, can we fly spaceships together??!?"

Dad mode engaged. I'll get this upgraded to be able to (hopefully) handle Odyssey, reset my alt, and let her go for it.

So here sits this little box I was building as a media server 8 years ago. Its a Z77 LGA 1155 mini ATX in a Fractal Node 304 case with a rather underwhelming i3 that definitely needs replacing, just 8gb of memory, and no dedicated GPU all three of which needs sorting. That said, this is a random pet project with a minimal budget and looking to keep the costs as minimal as possible since I know her, and while she'll be all into it for a week or so, I expect her to lose interest and start wanting to play the stuff the other kids are playing like Fortnite.

So the two questions I'd have are:

Seems like the best CPU I can use on that board would be an I7-3770k. Is that good enough for Odyssey?
And what GPU would I need to be able to run it "okay"? Doesn't need to be on Ultra, I'd be happy enough getting her 50fps in medium.

So... I spent a ton of ££ finding this out. But essentially, ED Odyssey is pretty much about VRAM. Rest is far less important. My 2009 Mac Pro (running Win 7) with 4 core 2.93 Xeon processor, 12Gb 1066MHz RAM and AMD RX 570 8Gb VRAM works really quite OK - about 45-50 FPS in med/high at 1080p. its 60+ FPS in Horizons in ultra. But my £2k "new" replacement (6 core i9, 16Gb 2400 DRAM, M2 SSD, RX 5500) which has far better specs in comparison , but 4Gb VRAM is worse (or at least no better).... so its not about speed of processor, memory or CPU. Its about VRAM. get a card with 8Gb or more and try it in your machine... doesnt matter how old (RX 570 is hardly cutting edge!).... might be able to fix it for a lot less than you might expect. The Mac Pro with 2Gb GTX 960 (previous card before the 570) gets 7 - yes 7! FPS in odyssey... completely unplayable... and yet a GTX 960 is not far off a RX 570 in performance in principle... its just the VRAM.... I'd bet getting an old GTX 980 6Gb and you'd be fine....

 

[Morbad]

A full list of what parts you have (including precise model numbers for the PSU, motherboard, and memory) would be useful in planning the minimum viable upgrade.

EDO's minimum frame rates are heavily CPU dependent, once VRAM limits are satisfied (6GiB minimum, 8GiB+ ideal). We have a substantial amount of control over GPU dependent graphics settings, but almost no control over anything CPU limited, and the game does like having 6+ physical cores. Still, something like an i7-2600K, 2700K, or 3770K should suffice, especially if you aren't adverse to a modest overclock.

A suitable i7 and capable DDR3 are quite cheap (I can still find decent Hynix BFR stuff for 5-10 dollars a stick), if you know what to look for. GPU will be the problem, but prices have been falling and will continue to do so.

 

[ubermick]

Yeah, it's all gone out the window.

Pal of mine said he had a 12GB 3060 I could have at his cost of $385 and he had a mITX AM4 mobo he could give me. Of course that meant a 5600X had to be ordered. I'll need to scrounge some DDR4 RAM and double check the 550w PSU will cover it, but she'll suddenly have a (little) beast of a machine.

Thus my $200-250 budget tripled. Incoming lecture from the wife when the credit card bills arrive...

 

[Morbad]

Pal of mine said he had a 12GB 3060 I could have at his cost of $385 and he had a mITX AM4 mobo he could give me. Of course that meant a 5600X had to be ordered. I'll need to scrounge some DDR4 RAM and double check the 550w PSU will cover it, but she'll suddenly have a (little) beast of a machine.

Pretty good price for a 3060.

550w is plenty, if it's a quality PSU that isn't too ancient.