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KSP1 Computer Building/Buying Megathread


Leonov

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1 hour ago, Budgetspaceflight said:

Got an old t5088 desktop I'm looking to run ksp on. Yes it's old but Pentium 4 342/ 3 2 ghz processor and currently has it's Max 4gb ram. Does anyone have a recommendation as to a graphics card to replace the stock integrated video card?

I would recommend borrowing a graphics card to see if KSP will even run in any useful way. Reviews called that computer slow in 2007(!) and 4 GB RAM for both system and game is not going to help getting the show on the road either. Then again, I have played Fallout 3 on a Pentium 4 with a decent graphics card. It was not fast, but playable. Your best bet is to test before you buy.

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Wait, you're able to run the game on an ancient machine with a GMA 950? Is that the full game or the demo version?

Basically any used older card that supports at least shader model 3 (DirectX 9c and upwards) and has 512MB of RAM should be better than the GMA 950. But don't spend to much on that machine, you can easily get a refurbished office PC with a Pentium G2020 for about 100€.

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19 hours ago, Budgetspaceflight said:

Pentium 4

*Shudder*
It might be good for cooking the odd egg on though.

Ed. Wait, that's a Cedar Mill chip right? Not so great for eggs. Still slow though.

Edited by steve_v
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18 hours ago, Budgetspaceflight said:

Yeah she was real slugish at 512mb ram that was shared 240mb of it with the integrated video card, but it's smoothed out a lot at 4gb ram and I'm wondering if a decent video card might bring my frame rate to something a little more comfortable to offset a couple of mun (crash) landings

Where in the world are you located? With hardware that old and slow, it would not take much to outdo it and maybe someone nearby has something lying around.

 

1 hour ago, steve_v said:

*Shudder*
It might be good for cooking the odd egg on though.

It could be worse - it could be two Pentium 4's stuck together to make a Pentium D.

All joking aside, even though the chips are woefully slow by today's standard and even yesteryear's standard, with enough attention and care, you could get some actual work done on those Pentium 4's. That is a long time ago, though. If at all possible I would advise to upgrade even to a Core 2 Duo. Those are well on their way out and could easily be had for naught, but are not as hopelessly outdated as Pentium 4's. Getting anything newer is a matter of a little luck, but that too is not impossible. If you pay attention, properly useful and sometimes even modern machines or parts can be picked up for little money or even for nothing at all.

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7 minutes ago, Camacha said:

I would advise to upgrade even to a Core 2 Duo. Those are well on their way out and could easily be had for naught

Indeed, I fished a C2Q SFF desktop out of a skip the week before last.

I've got stuff plenty faster than that P4 gathering dust in a cupboard... It's free, but unless it's local shipping will kill it - I kinda live in the cheeks end of nowhere and all.

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4 hours ago, Harry Rhodan said:

Wait, you're able to run the game on an ancient machine with a GMA 950? Is that the full game or the demo version?

Basically any used older card that supports at least shader model 3 (DirectX 9c and upwards) and has 512MB of RAM should be better than the GMA 950. But don't spend to much on that machine, you can easily get a refurbished office PC with a Pentium G2020 for about 100€.

It's the full game, and yeah I don't intend  spend much on it. It was collecting dust in the basement but my laptop died so I decided I'd dick around and try it. I've got $15 in eBay ram to separate it from stock thats it

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59 minutes ago, steve_v said:

Indeed, I fished a C2Q SFF desktop out of a skip the week before last.

I've got stuff plenty faster than that P4 gathering dust in a cupboard... It's free, but unless it's local shipping will kill it - I kinda live in the cheeks end of nowhere and all.

If you're in the US USPS flat rate should be like $6 to ship a processor, flat rate international is ~$20 I think. Not too bad of prices.

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10 minutes ago, legoclone09 said:

If you're in the US USPS flat rate should be like $6 to ship a processor, flat rate international is ~$20 I think. Not too bad of prices.

A processor yeah, but any upgrade from a P4 is going to mean a new mobo & ram too, might as well be the whole box. Big box + lots of water = expensive. More expensive than getting one locally anyway.
I've had motherboards shipped from the US before, cost more than the item price.

Edited by steve_v
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So I'm considering buying a GTX 1050TI (was going to get a 960, but this was cheaper, and according to my research it's just as good if not slightly better).

Only problem is, it only has one DVI port and the rest are HDMI.

I have two monitors, one has a DVI cable, one has VGA. I seem to remember reading somewhere that DVI and HDMI are basically the same thing, but obviously DVI doesn't do sound.

So, the plan is to use my VGA>DVI adapter in the DVI port for the VGA monitor (which is what I do now), and use a HDMI>DVI cable for the DVI monitor.

Does that sound about right?

Edited by severedsolo
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8 minutes ago, severedsolo said:

So I'm considering buying a GTX 1050TI (was going to get a 960, but this was cheaper, and according to my research it's just as good if not slightly better).

Only problem is, it only has one DVI port and the rest are HDMI.

I have two monitors, one has a DVI cable, one has VGA. I seem to remember reading somewhere that DVI and HDMI are basically the same thing, but obviously DVI doesn't do sound.

So, the plan is to use my VGA>DVI adapter in the DVI port for the VGA monitor (which is what I do now), and use a HDMI>DVI cable for the DVI port.

Does that sound about right?

Looks like the card has one 'Display Port' connector next to the 3 HDMI connectors, I'd use that Displayport to connect your VGA monitor.
1010004_sa.jpg

(Unless the VGA monitor also has an DVI Input, then I'd opt for both on DVI)

Edited by LoSBoL
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11 minutes ago, severedsolo said:

So, the plan is to use my VGA>DVI adapter in the DVI port for the VGA monitor (which is what I do now), and use a HDMI>DVI cable for the DVI monitor.

Does that sound about right?

DVI and HDMI are electrically compatible IIRC, but watch out with the DVI -> VGA... DVI-A or DVI-I can drive a VGA monitor (with an adapter), but DVI-D does not do analog at all.
210b365f_dvi_connector_types.gif

The key is the left-hand (cross shaped) part of the connector, that's your analog signal.

You can get adapters for DVI-D/Displayport/HDMI to VGA, but they're active converters and are relatively expensive vs. a plain old cable.

Edited by steve_v
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4 minutes ago, steve_v said:

DVI and HDMI are electrically compatible IIRC, but watch out with the DVI -> VGA... DVI-A or DVI-I can drive a VGA monitor directly, but DVI-D does not do analog at all.
 

Good catch, it does look like it's DVI-D. My current card is DVI-I by the looks of it. I think I'll go with LosBol's suggestion and put the VGA on the display port then.

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6 minutes ago, severedsolo said:

I think I'll go with LosBol's suggestion and put the VGA on the display port then.

Just to mess up your day further... Some Displayport outputs do analog, but some do not. I'm not particularly familiar with the standard, so it would pay to check the card specs before you get a cable.
I've had this particular brand of fun before, in my case it turned out the Displayport was digital-only too... Ended up needing an active converter like this.

Edited by steve_v
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Afaik none of the new Generation cards output analog signal anymore, you would need something of AMDs 300 series or Nvidia 900 series. But maybe its a better idea do get rid of that VGA monitor, that technology is outdated for like a decade...

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3 minutes ago, steve_v said:

Just to mess up your day further... Some Displayport outputs do analog, some do not. I'm not particularly familiar with the standard, so it would pay to check the card specs before you get a cable.

 

Just now, Elthy said:

Afaik none of the new Generation cards output analog signal anymore, you would need something of AMDs 300 series or Nvidia 900 series. But maybe its a better idea do get rid of that VGA monitor, that technology is outdated for like a decade...

I agree. I think it's time to buy a new monitor. It is 10 years old. Perhaps for now I'll put the second monitor on the onboard graphics chip, until I can replace it (no issues with that are there? - I know I'll have to re-enable it in the Mobo)

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10 minutes ago, steve_v said:

I don't see why there would be... But I don't run Windows, so don't quote me on that.

Absolutely worst case I'll put the 460 in the spare PCI-E slot. Don't really want to do that though as it's only 1x speed, I'm not sure I have enough 12V connectors on my PSU, and space is an issue, but I suspect the on-board graphics will be fine.

Edited by severedsolo
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35 minutes ago, steve_v said:

Just to mess up your day further... Some Displayport outputs do analog, but some do not. I'm not particularly familiar with the standard, so it would pay to check the card specs before you get a cable.
I've had this particular brand of fun before, in my case it turned out the Displayport was digital-only too... Ended up needing an active converter like this.

You can get active converters for about a third of that price nowadays...

28 minutes ago, Elthy said:

Afaik none of the new Generation cards output analog signal anymore, you would need something of AMDs 300 series or Nvidia 900 series. But maybe its a better idea do get rid of that VGA monitor, that technology is outdated for like a decade...

That's for the DVI connection, you can connect just about everything to the DP 1.4 connector

 

25 minutes ago, severedsolo said:

 

I agree. I think it's time to buy a new monitor. It is 10 years old. Perhaps for now I'll put the second monitor on the onboard graphics chip, until I can replace it (no issues with that are there? - I know I'll have to re-enable it in the Mobo)

Better yet, don't throw away the old monitor when you get a new one, KSP absolutely loves triple monitor setups :D

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Just as a test I plugged in the VGA monitor into the Mobo's VGA port and turned it on. It seems to work, so I don't see any issues when the new card turns up (as it's the same drivers I believe).

The quality is noticeably worse, but I can make do until I can replace the monitor.

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35 minutes ago, severedsolo said:

Just as a test I plugged in the VGA monitor into the Mobo's VGA port and turned it on. It seems to work, so I don't see any issues when the new card turns up (as it's the same drivers I believe).

The quality is noticeably worse, but I can make do until I can replace the monitor.

That does work, just don't forget to set the other monitor as primary for running games on.

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Just now, LoSBoL said:

That does work, just don't forget to set the other monitor as primary for running games on.

Yeah I set that option in the BIOS. I assume it worked, as when the PC booted my main monitor came on, but the VGA one didn't while Windows installed the drivers for the Intel Graphics, and my BIOS shows on the DVI monitor.

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On 29/04/2017 at 5:15 PM, Budgetspaceflight said:

It's the full game, and yeah I don't intend  spend much on it. It was collecting dust in the basement but my laptop died so I decided I'd dick around and try it. I've got $15 in eBay ram to separate it from stock thats it

Where are you located? Maybe someone has some stuff.

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