KSP 2 PC Hardware guide

[Art3mis777]

So, yeah, I know, it's still a long way off, but some of us are planning to buy things this holiday season after Nvidia and AMD rolled out their bangin' new hardware lineups. Can the devs chime in on what they're planning on in terms of hardware and what kinds of accelerated features should we expect? Should we expect KSP 2 to be as dependent on single-core speed as KSP 1 was or will 8+ cores be better (consoles are now at 8 Zen 2 cores)? Should we expect an implementation of superfast texture/data streaming from PCIe 4.0 drives because of the new consoles and buy accordingly? Will there be raytracing at all and if so, will it be Nvidia RTX or generic DXR based (Nvidia or AMD respectively)? Will DLSS be making an appearance?

Finally, if these details aren't available, what kind of timeframe should we be expecting for these details to come out? I get it's a long time to release (assuming we stick to August-October of next year), but this is a massive investment for people looking to upgrade around now. Both the AMD and Nvidia GPU refreshes present huge increases in performance, plus with the new consoles getting such massive upgrades, a lot of people are going to want to upgrade from their Maxwell/Pascal/Zen 1/Zen+/Intel 14nm whatever systems. I personally would like to know if I can still survive on a PCIe 3.0 based system or if I need to invest hundreds of dollars into upgrading to a fully PCIe 4.0 based rig. I'd also like to know if I should stick with an Nvidia based card for RTX/DLSS (which have shown huge improvements) or if I can switch to a Zen3/RAdeon build with more open source DXR support. After more than a year in development, I would be surprised if Star Theory doesn't at least have SOME idea on the direction of these features, especially considering this is supposed to be a multi-platform release on PC and the console.

[Guest]

The game was scheduled to be released early this year and on old gen consoles, I wouldn't worry about it working on the new hardware coming out right now.

As for an hypothetical RTX I would risk speculating that, given the fact that it isn't exactly a core feature for KSP, they still have to implement it (if they do at all) and having watched both Nvidia disastrous launch and AMD incredible offer I would bet that no developer will jump on NVidia-exclusive features and instead opt for the AMD/open alternative.

Anyway I wouldn't build my PC around KSP2 unless you're planning to run at the bare minimum requirements, but since the title is supposed to run on old gen hardware and given that neither NVIDIA nor AMD has shown budget options yet I don't think it's possible to do that.

BTW I absolutely expect Intercept to drop the idea of releasing the game on old gen consoles, after all it was supposed to launch after the PC release and if that is still the plan with the game launching a year from now I don't see the compromises needed for the game to work on such old platforms worth it.

[Guest]

I was concerned about computer specs. So I have been upgrading my computer over time, while I think you will be ok for minimum, I think that the recommended is something your computer should always go for. 

[The Aziz]

10 hours ago, Master39 said:

I absolutely expect Intercept to drop the idea of releasing the game on old gen consoles, after all it was supposed to launch after the PC release and if that is still the plan with the game launching a year from now I don't see the compromises needed for the game to work on such old platforms worth it.

I would too but then games for old gen - or cross gen in many cases - are still going to appear until at least late 2021. So yah I don't think ksp2 is true next gen either.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, The Aziz said:

So yah I don't think ksp2 is true next gen either.

Luckily "true next gen" means nothing, just like all the power of the old gen was cannibalized by 4K this time it will be raytracing. Meanwhile as a VR player I ask myself how on earth people can consider the same old games with slightly better reflection in puddles as "next gen".

Don't get me wrong, the new consoles are an incredible jump for the price, but that mostly comes from the old gen being stuck with a HD and almost not having a CPU.

[The Aziz]

VR is still very much niche today, and I don't expect it to come into mainstream anytime soon, since it costs as much as a console and you still need something to plug the headset into.

So really, generations nowadays are a matter of framerate, resolution and prettiness. In fact, they always were. And with that said, the 30/1080 cap is very 2013, but they had to keep it that way to avoid reduced performance in games made in 2020. Which is surprising, because some of these games are truly beautiful and work mostly without problems. And some games don't even need raytracing tech.

Also nobody knew back then, where the technology would go, right?

[Incarnation of Chaos]

15 hours ago, Art3mis777 said:

So, yeah, I know, it's still a long way off, but some of us are planning to buy things this holiday season after Nvidia and AMD rolled out their bangin' new hardware lineups. Can the devs chime in on what they're planning on in terms of hardware and what kinds of accelerated features should we expect? Should we expect KSP 2 to be as dependent on single-core speed as KSP 1 was or will 8+ cores be better (consoles are now at 8 Zen 2 cores)? Should we expect an implementation of superfast texture/data streaming from PCIe 4.0 drives because of the new consoles and buy accordingly? Will there be raytracing at all and if so, will it be Nvidia RTX or generic DXR based (Nvidia or AMD respectively)? Will DLSS be making an appearance?

Finally, if these details aren't available, what kind of timeframe should we be expecting for these details to come out? I get it's a long time to release (assuming we stick to August-October of next year), but this is a massive investment for people looking to upgrade around now. Both the AMD and Nvidia GPU refreshes present huge increases in performance, plus with the new consoles getting such massive upgrades, a lot of people are going to want to upgrade from their Maxwell/Pascal/Zen 1/Zen+/Intel 14nm whatever systems. I personally would like to know if I can still survive on a PCIe 3.0 based system or if I need to invest hundreds of dollars into upgrading to a fully PCIe 4.0 based rig. I'd also like to know if I should stick with an Nvidia based card for RTX/DLSS (which have shown huge improvements) or if I can switch to a Zen3/RAdeon build with more open source DXR support. After more than a year in development, I would be surprised if Star Theory doesn't at least have SOME idea on the direction of these features, especially considering this is supposed to be a multi-platform release on PC and the console.

They're still using rigid-body Physics for craft, so single-threaded performance is still going to matter. It won't be as important due to their "Physics LOD", but still the general advice holds. Get as many cores with as much single-threaded grunt and frequency as you can realistically, so translated into actual SKU's that means Ryzen 2600/3600 and Intel Coffee Lake i5/i7 parts are probably fine.  There's other things that will be on other cores, so > 4 cores won't be a bad idea so long as they have the chops to hold their own.

And no, the textures they're using are basically DX11 compliant and that means that normal texture loading is fine. RTX is unconfirmed, but RTX is just DXR. So if any rayyyyy tracing gimmicks are implemented, they'll work on AMD or Nividia cards with the hardware as long as the drivers are aware. DLSS is up to Nividia, but again this game is DX11 under the hood. It's not going to be a monster to run graphically, so i'd doubt it would happen on release. Might come later, but who knows.

And honestly;  single cards still don't saturate PCI 2.0 X 16 bandwidth let alone PCI  3.0 X 16.  PCI 4.0 really in all honesty is for Servers using massive arrays of SSD based storage, or multiple GPU number crunching where the traffic CAN saturate the lanes. Don't fall for the marketing and hype, and breathe.  If you already have a PCI 3.0 based system, and a GPU that's mid-range (GTX 1060, RX 480, etc.) and no other games are calling out for an upgrade just sit back and save up for a potential upgrade in the meantime.

I'm not Intercept Games, but this is all based on either direct statements (Rigid-Body, Physics-LOD, DX11) or slight interpretation of them in the context of the beginning of development (The Unity version they're on doesn't even support DXR for instance, and Direct Storage was literally just announced.)

That being said; if Nate Simpson comes in and contradicts literally everything here. Listen to him; he's actual staff

[Kerminator K-100]

17 hours ago, Master39 said:

As for an hypothetical RTX I would risk speculating that, given the fact that it isn't exactly a core feature for KSP, they still have to implement it (if they do at all) and having watched both Nvidia disastrous launch and AMD incredible offer I would bet that no developer will jump on NVidia-exclusive features and instead opt for the AMD/open alternative.

 

I would say no RTX because it is a space game and there isn't much call for RTX in space.

[dave1904]

For games in general you want to buy CPUs with higher IPC. If you want to buy hardware for KSP2 you wait until ksp 2 releases. In one years time Intel will have a reponse to zen3. Rocket lake is rumored to have a bit more umpf than comet lake. Anyway even as someone that has being playing on intel systems because of the IPC for years now I am glad AMD caught up. The core marketing from AMD was useless for us gamers. We need an IPC war. 

[DerkyJerkyWreaksHavoc]

On 11/2/2020 at 1:53 AM, The Aziz said:

So yah I don't think ksp2 is true next gen either.

That's either mental cruelty to the devs or Music to the critics ears. ill let you be the judge on that one.

to me it sounds like Bass Boosted earrape with Kerbal Space Program Soundtrack (also bass boosted)

[steve_v]

12 hours ago, dave1904 said:

The core marketing from AMD was useless for us gamers.

The entire bulldozer "moar cores" (and lies WRT core count to boot) architecture was a blunder, not only for gamers but for 95% of desktop workloads as well... Not to mention AMD's credibility in the CPU market in general.
 

[dave1904]

9 hours ago, steve_v said:

The entire bulldozer "moar cores" (and lies WRT core count to boot) architecture was a blunder, not only for gamers but for 95% of desktop workloads as well... Not to mention AMD's credibility in the CPU market in general.
 

What amuses me the most is now that amd has caught up with intel the prices are going up to. Seems like I wasn't wasting 200 euros more for a 20-30% single core performance advantage at the time. I have to admit however that I should have waited for rocket like. I got a 10700k and am hoping the 11700k is also 1200. Running a 3080 on it and pci 3 is no problem at all so I might consider selling my cpu and buying a rocket lake if the ipc is a good bit better. Not sure. I still do not trust amd. 

Edited November 4, 2020 by dave1904

[shdwlrd]

I wouldn't worry about it until the system specs for the game is released. There is still about a year for hardware improvement to happen before KSP2 is supposed to release.

[Incarnation of Chaos]

4 hours ago, dave1904 said:

What amuses me the most is now that amd has caught up with intel the prices are going up to. Seems like I wasn't wasting 200 euros more for a 20-30% single core performance advantage at the time. I have to admit however that I should have waited for rocket like. I got a 10700k and am hoping the 11700k is also 1200. Running a 3080 on it and pci 3 is no problem at all so I might consider selling my cpu and buying a rocket lake if the ipc is a good bit better. Not sure. I still do not trust amd. 

Personally you shouldn't "Trust" any of them, they're not charities. Both are publicly traded companies with shareholders, they'll do whatever they need to for their shareholders to see returns and furfill obligations to them.

Buy the best product you can, at the price you can, from whichever company offers it. Intel's roadmap has slipped multiple times though, so I'm not as confident that they'll pull it off. But i wish them the best, last thing we need is for AMD and Intel trade places in this race for years at a time. We need them to fight, bitterly over our money.

Otherwise stagnation will result.