Recommended System for 50 to 100+ Mods

[Probus]

If you play with 50 to 100+ Mods, including visual enhancement mods, what would be the recommended system (CPU & GPU really)?  Its been a while since I updated my system, but I went for single threaded CPU speed and 32GB memory.  I think it was a GTX-480 at the time.  I've updated to a 1080 (since the 480 died).  Is GPU much more important than it used to be with KSP? 

Playing with mostly the highest settings and only really notice a periodic pause every once and a while (which is probably garbage collection).

There may be a better place to ask this question, but I thought I would start here.

[rettter3]

@Probus,

I own an i7-9700k, a GTX1660ti and 32GB of 3000mhz DDR-4ram.

Really happy whit this setup (my gamedata has arround 9GB).

If money isn't a thing for you just pick what you get, for example i9-9900ks, rtx2080ti, 64GB of 3600mhz ram.

 

(GTX1080 is really good so, better than rtx2070super, I would stick with it and for the first only upgrade CPU and Ram,eventually Mainboard if needed)

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-RTX-2070S-Super-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1080-Ti/4048vs3918

Edited February 12, 2020 by rettter3

[DStaal]

KSP is still CPU-bound, though it's gotten better - there's now *some* threading.  I'd say for that, you want RAM and CPU.

[Probus]

Sounds like nothing much has changed then that would want you to move more toward a GPU for performance.  I know that the memory leaks are under control (relative to 1.4) and the GC is much better.  The Kraken shows up much less than before also.  But he still shows up when you least expect it.

Thanks for the info!  If anyone else would like to weigh in with their system and how happy they are with their performance, I wouldn't mind hearing.  Especially if you have recommended graphic settings for the game (or a link to 'em).

Edited February 12, 2020 by Probus

[DeadJohn]

My PC is 4 years old and still does a good job with 90 mods. The only big slowdowns occur after playing for several days (I put my system to sleep with KSP running), and KSP or mods begin to glitch due to memory leaks or other bugs.

i7-4790K

32GB DDR3 RAM

Nvidia GTX 960 (2560x1440, most graphic settings at or near maximum, but I only need 2x AA at that resolution)

Run KSP from SSD rather than hard disk to improve startup time with so many mods.

[Incarnation of Chaos]

You want RAM more than anything else, any CPU from the last decade will be fine to run this game. And the GPU should also have plenty of VRAM, so if i was going to play on a budget i'd honestly look for an old workstation with a 4-core Intel i7 or Xeon. Then throw 32GB of DDR3 in it along with an RX 580 8GB, and that would run it well for about 400-600.

[overkill13]

I was running the game with a whole crapton of mods on a laptop with a 2nd gen i3 and a GPU, but I needed 16gigs of ram to keep from maxing out the memory.  I don't use graphics mods, but I've seen some graphical improvement with an RX 570, but I'm not convinced the i3-9100F has made much difference.  The real improvement came from the SSD for initial loading.  Interestingly I only use around 9g of RAM on this PC while the old laptop was pushing closer to 11 or 12, despite the same KSP mod suite.

Realistically, all you need is a couple decently fast cores and a basic GPU, and a bunch of RAM.  Unless you are really cash strapped, nobody is building a PC that can't run KSP with a bunch of mods.  I built this PC with some of the most middle of the road brand new parts and I couldn't be bothered to upgrade.  Not for KSP anyway.  If I didn't keep my PCs well past their expiration date already, I'd go with Incarnation of Chaos' old business PC with a few add-ons.

[zer0Kerbal]

a Cray Jedi IV.... only three were ever built. "You too can feel the true power of a Cray Jedi"

 

seriously, I am running 225-250 mods on a super-grand-potato (2008 HP notebook with half its brains fried, with 8gb ram and a 500 gb SSD). and it can be slow, it does okay by my standards.

[Probus]

15 hours ago, zer0Kerbal said:

a Cray Jedi IV.... only three were ever built. "You too can feel the true power of a Cray Jedi"

 

seriously, I am running 225-250 mods on a super-grand-potato (2008 HP notebook with half its brains fried, with 8gb ram and a 500 gb SSD). and it can be slow, it does okay by my standards.

Jeeze @zer0Kerbal. That's something. I would not have guessed it would have worked. 

We won't talk about your mod addiction.

 

[zer0Kerbal]

2 hours ago, Probus said:

We won't talk about your mod addiction.

which one? I attended (virtually) two support groups:

a) MA - Modders Anonymous - with founder Linux

b) MAA - Mass Addon Anonymous

I would have more - if allowed any fun ones in - like visual/sound/rpg - so
all visual mods out
chatterer et al
sound tracks - like kTunes
Final Frontier et al

that would be like 50 more.

Edited February 14, 2020 by zer0Kerbal