PC build advice for Star Citizen

Luggs

Luggs

Luggs

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Hey all,

Looking for some advice on behalf of my bro. His PC is rapidly falling apart but he does not really want to get a new PC until closer to the release of Star Citizen so he can get the best specs to run it as maxed as possible.

So I was wondering what peoples thoughts were on what to do. Should he buy something cheap now to last 12-18 months then get best PC he can afford? Is there any significant technology upgrades planned for release in the next 12-18 months worth waiting for? Should he just buy a new PC now and hope it will do for Star Citizen?

Hi budget is around £700, £800 absolutely max, but he does not need monitor, keyboard or mouse.

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
Hi

I am waiting for SC myself so let me tell you that:
Your brother may take 2 aproaches.

1. Get a future-proof pc now which means spending a bit more that he was planning, but it will last. That means 4770k, good motherboard with overclocking/expansion options. I can and most people will recommend you a Gigabyte Z87X-OC which is great. 8 gb ram, preferably one that overclicks well. Can't advice you on anything specific, but I am sure others will. Get a single r9 290 card. Z87X motherbiard allows up yo 4 of thise so your brother can get a better performance by simply adding another card. And SC developer recently declared support for amd Mantle so 290 is a good option for graphics card.
If you need good case as well, I can recommend a Corsair 540. Very good options and a lot if space. Need to add some quiet fans to it as stock ones are loud. And at last, get a ssd, 120gb should be enough.

2. Get a value motherboard gaming bundle, you can get amd based ones for around 250£ here at ocuk. Add a r9 280x gpu and ssd. Get a value 500w psu and case, unless you can use the ones from old rig, tast will save you some money. You should be ok with 700£ for all of it.

Like I mentioned, I am waiting for that game as well and I am going for option number 1.
It's a better choice if you know that you will have some more money to spend in the future.

Hope this helps a bit :-)
 
Thanks for the replies guys,

@Mickeyflinn - he has a 6 year old Dell from which I think he could re-use PSU, RAM and possibly GPU as he only plays MMO's right now (MWO, LOL, STO etc). But he is not confident to build his own rig so would have to get a full OCUK bundle (I think?) to get a fully working system. Otherwise I'd suggest a self build reusing parts (550ish PSU, 4GB RAM and iirc 8800GT type GPU)

@BART Hunt & bennydragonboy - thanks for your thoughts. I didn't know if SC would benefit from i7 over i5 as for most games I think you see little difference in performance as not all cores are used? But I know CIG are really pushing PC platform and I'm really not PC literate enough to understanc what he should be considering to run this game in style. (With the amount he has spent on ships so far he probably could have got a Titan card LOL)

I have heard good things on price/performance ratio of the R9 290 card (released just after I upgraded my PC sadly) Despite being a bit of an nVidia fanboy I would have gone that way myself... I did think about getting a second card nearer launch to max SC performance.

OK, if I look at bundles and post a couple, would you guys kindly give feedback on suitability for SC?

He wants to see his Connie, Hornet etc in super high resolution ;)
 
I agree with that previous guy apart from the value PSU part. It's just not worth skimping on a PSU to find it can't handle what you want it to and blow up taking all your expensive stuff with it.
 
By value PSU I meant some good unit , not some 20£ one, there are some good ones around 50£.
And if 700-800£ is absolutely max, then options are limited.
Maybe you can grab a deal on a 750-850w psu, they should cost around 100£.
And they would be enough to power sli/cf x2 and a 4770k.
But the target for now was making an entry buil that could be expanded later.

Luggs@ As far as I know, developer if Star Citizen said in some interview/stream that game will benefit from hyperthreading. Anyway a 4770k will make any gaming rig future proof. You don't need to overclock it or use any motherboard boosts. Stock speeds are ok.
By the way, there are some voltage unlocked and pre-flashed 290s in the store right now, so I'd look into it if I were you.
It's a good option to save some money.

Ps. When Star Citizen first 'module' was launched, I still had my old rig, an i5 3570k oc at 4.4ghz and slix2 gtx660ti and game was 'flying'. However with game being in development, that would change. Game won't be out for another 15 months, so everything will change by then.
 
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Best build advice for Star Citizen is not to buy before it's out.

The real alpha and beta versions will not be out before a year, and the game itself is more closer to two years. If you buy a rig now, it will be hundreds cheaper in years; just check what the GFX prices have done in the last six months. Only component that actually goes up is memory; the rest will always be cheaper in a year.

He said he wants to see his ships in super high resolution though; a budget of 800 will fall very short on that. The hangar module alpha keeps dropping to 30fps on my setup below, with max running on 55's in the setup in my signature. Imagine a hundred ships and moving around, even after optimizations.

Just wait 12-18 months, so you get better hardware for the price you'd pay today for whatever setup we can give you. The game will run better, and you'll probably get it quieter/more energy efficient too if you care.
 
4770k is an amazing cpu but it really costs so is peobably not the best choice on such a low budget.
Instead i would advice looking to build a system around an amd 8320 with a 290 as the graphics card.
We know for sure Star citizen is going to be a mantle game so will not require an i7 level of power and the money saved on amd will allow better other parts
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys, frustratingly, this seems to me to be a perfect scenario for a self build? Put his £££ into Mobo/CPU etc and use some old PC components to save money... Could probably get an i7 that way. I'll see if he can find someone local to help him do the self build option.

Looking at CPU bundles on OCUK, I can see your right, he is not going to be able to get those top specs with his current budget.

Adding a 2nd GPU when he has more funds defo sounds like a good idea, maybe a compromise on a self build?

Thanks again, I'll try to look at some bundles with the amd & 290 included and post them up for feedback. Cheers!
 
As others have said fella,

I would not build a PC for a game which is not out for approx two years yet.

Yes as a current backer you get access to the Alpha and Beta, but at present we have access to the Hangar which is laggy/buggy and the also the dog fighting module which is due Dec/Jan which again will be pre Alpha code.

I cant wait for the game also, but wouldnt upgrade solely for it at the moment. :)

Just my 2p, thought i would put it in the pot :D
 
Well, I am going to end up with 2 x r9 290 cf and I doubt the game will require more than that. See, we are still at 3-4 gb on single card and it can perform great in games like BF4. With CF/SLI you have double of that and the build will be future proof.
Check signatures on this forum with different builds in there and aren't that many around with high end GPUs in sli/cf, yet they can play all latest titles.
What is important is to have some base like good motherboard and cpu and then you can just keep upgrading your pc for years.
 
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