Notebook specs for KSP (and a couple other games)

[jlcarneiro]

Hello, guys! I've been absent for a while now, partly due of real life, partly due to overheating notebook... If I can manage to buy a notebook, can you help me identify what specs should I look for?

I currently have a Core i5 3337U (3rd gen) with 6GB RAM and a GeForce GT 730M with 2GB VRAM.

My KSP install (1.5.1) has quite a few mods (seen here) and, since I haven't gone beyond Kerbin SOI, I haven't yet built extremely large ships. But my notebook's (a Dell) fan gets crazy: according to the Psensor (I use Ubuntu),  temperature gets up to 80 Celsius. Oh, I also like to play Cities Skylines (all major DLCs and less than 10 mods) and Crusader Kings II (with no mods)...

What notebook setup do you suggest? I mean:

• should I go for an i7 this time or an i5 would suffice (sorry, I'm quite on a budget)?
• what generation, is it worth it to pay more for an 8th Gen or a 7th would do?
• on the graphics card, should I go for a GeForce GTX 1050 or a GeForce 150MX? What about a GeForce 130MX?
• I know RAM should be the maximum one can afford, but is 16GB enough?

Now, some candidates I can buy here in Brazil to give you (and me) an idea:

Acer Predator Helios 300 G3-572-75L9 - around 1700 USD
Intel Core i7-7700HQ 7th gen, RAM 16GB DDR4 2400MHz, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB gDDR5

Samsung Gamer Odyssey - around 1100 USD
Intel Core i5 7300HQ 7th gen,  RAM 8GB DDR4, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 4GB gDDR5

Lenovo 330 81FE0001BR - around 850 USD
Intel Core i5-8250U 8th gen, RAM 8 GB DDR4, Nvidia GeForce MX150 2 GB GDDR5

Acer Aspire 5 – A515-51G-C97B (a bit hard to find) - around 770 USD
Intel Core i5-8250U 8th gen, RAM 8 GB DDR4, NVIDIA GeForce MX130 2 GB GDDR5

Acer Aspire A515-51G-58VH - around 720 USD
Intel Core i5-7200U 7th gen, RAM 8 GB DDR4, NVIDIA GeForce 940MX 2 GB GDDR5

Moderators, sorry if I posted this in the wrong section, please, feel free to move it... 

[Harry Rhodan]

To summarize your old topic: For KSP and CK2 you need a CPU with a high single core performance. In the generation your looking at they are all about the same in that regard. The only real difference is that the CPUs ending on HQ have a higher Thermal Design Power (TDP), which means that they might be able to keep up higher clock rates for more than a few seconds. For other games and software that might benefit from multiple threads you obviously want a CPU with more cores and threads. The 7200 only has 2 cores and 4 threads and is completely outclassed by any of the other CPUs in your examples. But here again the main problem is heat and how much the specific machine is able to handle. The TDP can give you a rough estimate on what to expect but that doesn't mean that the notebook you're looking at can actually handle it.

For the GPU CK2 and KSP both aren't that demanding. But for EVE and Skylines I would guess you need a somewhat stronger card. I have played Skylines on a GTX 1050 ti and the performance was already pretty mediocre. So a MX150 or a non-ti GTX 1050 might be to slow. Also notice that only having 2GB can be a limiting factor  if you want to use higher quality textures.

Brand wise I heard Acer is bad if you're using linux and most test I read suggest that consumer grade Lenovo is bad if you want a notebook that is not throtteling back constantly due to overheating.

And as usual: a desktop PC is in most cases better at handling heat and will give you much more performance, better heat management and the ability to upgrade most component seperately at a comparatively cheaper price.

[jlcarneiro]

On 3/24/2019 at 6:12 AM, Harry Rhodan said:

To summarize your old topic: For KSP and CK2 you need a CPU with a high single core performance. In the generation your looking at they are all about the same in that regard. The only real difference is that the CPUs ending on HQ have a higher Thermal Design Power (TDP), which means that they might be able to keep up higher clock rates for more than a few seconds. For other games and software that might benefit from multiple threads you obviously want a CPU with more cores and threads. The 7200 only has 2 cores and 4 threads and is completely outclassed by any of the other CPUs in your examples. But here again the main problem is heat and how much the specific machine is able to handle. The TDP can give you a rough estimate on what to expect but that doesn't mean that the notebook you're looking at can actually handle it.

For the GPU CK2 and KSP both aren't that demanding. But for EVE and Skylines I would guess you need a somewhat stronger card. I have played Skylines on a GTX 1050 ti and the performance was already pretty mediocre. So a MX150 or a non-ti GTX 1050 might be to slow. Also notice that only having 2GB can be a limiting factor  if you want to use higher quality textures.

Brand wise I heard Acer is bad if you're using linux and most test I read suggest that consumer grade Lenovo is bad if you want a notebook that is not throtteling back constantly due to overheating.

And as usual: a desktop PC is in most cases better at handling heat and will give you much more performance, better heat management and the ability to upgrade most component seperately at a comparatively cheaper price.

Thanks again for your kind answer, @Harry Rhodan! Believe it or not, I forgot about that topic (Wow, maybe this means I've been away for quite some time now!), but reading all its answers along with your new answer, helped me a lot!

I'll check https://www.notebookcheck.net/ but I'm not very confident, I will buy my new notebook (unfortunately, it cannot be a desktop) here in Brazil and these international sites don't usually contemplate brazilian equipment. Anyway checking it will help somehow.

What you said about Skylines startled me, I didn't think it's so demanding! But my main concern from now on will be heat dissipation. What was the size of the city you played on GTX 1050 TI? Did you use any eye-candy mods?

[Geonovast]

On 3/23/2019 at 9:24 PM, jlcarneiro said:

Acer Aspire A515-51G-58VH - around 720 USD
Intel Core i5-7200U 7th gen, RAM 8 GB DDR4, NVIDIA GeForce 940MX 2 GB GDDR5

I have nearly this exact laptop.  Same specs anyway.

It's... ok.  I think it's held back by the U SKU processor.  If I could go back and do it again, I wouldn't get a U SKU processor.

[Stone Blue]

I'm partial to Acer's... Lenovo... not so much...I'll never buy another Lenovo product... I've had 3 Acers... been pretty happy with all of them... even tho one had to go in for a warranty repair.

My Lenovo had to go three times for the same issue, and when it happened a fourth time out of warranty, I repaired it myself, and found out Lenovo totally lied to me about what they did for the first three repairs... havent had an issue after I fixed it myself, tho.

But my main reason for posting, is to try to budget in enuff for a good laptop cooler. I have a large Thermaltake. I have been pushing my current Acer hard with KSP for over 5yrs... I've been courting 90°C evertime I play... No issues so far... Only had it emergency shutdown for exceeding the thermal limit a couple times. Its been a trooper.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Stone Blue

[jlcarneiro]

2 hours ago, Geonovast said:

I have nearly this exact laptop.  Same specs anyway.

It's... ok.  I think it's held back by the U SKU processor.  If I could go back and do it again, I wouldn't get a U SKU processor.

Thanks for the tip! But... What's an U SKU processor?

[Harry Rhodan]

8 hours ago, jlcarneiro said:

What you said about Skylines startled me, I didn't think it's so demanding! But my main concern from now on will be heat dissipation. What was the size of the city you played on GTX 1050 TI? Did you use any eye-candy mods?

I think I effed that up somewhat. The v-sync setting apparently limits the fps to 30 when you drop too far below 60. Without v-sync and with medium quality settings I have about 55fps in a City of 100.000 people when zoomed out. It goes down to 22-25fps when zooming in on a busy intersection. No mods. Reducing the resolution and turning down all the other settings as far as possible will give me 65fps zoomed out and 30fps zoomed in while my CPU is running next to full speed on all four cores. So I guess the CPU is mostly the limiting factor here as well. Interesting.

5 hours ago, jlcarneiro said:

Thanks for the tip! But... What's an U SKU processor?

The ones ending on a U. They have the lowest TDP rating. In the 7000 series those were single cores with a TDP of 15W. Now they are usually quad cores with a TDP of 28W: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_Lake#Mobile_processors

[Geonovast]

3 hours ago, Harry Rhodan said:

The ones ending on a U. They have the lowest TDP rating. In the 7000 series those were single cores with a TDP of 15W. Now they are usually quad cores with a TDP of 28W: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_Lake#Mobile_processors

The i5-7200U is a hyperthreaded dual core. https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/95443/intel-core-i5-7200u-processor-3m-cache-up-to-3-10-ghz.html

There are no single core processors in the i3/i5/i7/i9.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Geonovast

[Harry Rhodan]

Sowwy.

[Geonovast]

I may have to retract what I said earlier.

When I got my laptop, getting Mint installed was a bit of a fight due to the UEFI on the laptop being... difficult.  I managed to get it installed in such a way I couldn't remember, but I was using a UEFI install image.

I wiped the thing today, and re-installed straight up in legacy mode using a non-UEFI install image.  Overall the computer seems to be running better, even in KSP.

 

No matter what, though, get a cooling pad.  KSP bakes laptops like you wouldn't believe.

[Ratwerke_Actual]

12 hours ago, Geonovast said:

 

 

<snip....

No matter what, though, get a cooling pad.  KSP bakes laptops like you wouldn't believe.

In the cupboard, I found an aluminum cookie sheet w/2 layers and a convective space inside that did wonders for my Lenovo Flex14.