KSP1 Computer Building/Buying Megathread

[Camacha]

Hun. didn't know that.

Do not be fooled by names, always look at what a chip can do

[DuoDex]

Certain generations of chips are rated up to a certain speed. Memory manufacturers will often make memory that can clock higher, but the system will not automatically do this for you. You (generally) will need to tell the system to run at these higher speeds.

If you go into your BIOS/UEFI, you will very likely see a relevant setting. Each manufacturer tends to call things differently, but if you see 2133 somewhere, chances are you are in the right place.

I was disappointed to find that my memory only ran at 1333MHZ, but it is 100% correct that it can be overclocked from the UEFI/BIOS with a minimum of trouble, but I wouldn't recommend going above the rated speed, as it can cause some...interesting...issues.

[InterCity]

Hello, guys.

My 4-year old laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad E430 with dual-core I5 3210M @ 2,4 GHz CPU, 8GB RAM and Nvidia GT 630M 2GB graphics card) has recently kicked the bucket (what a shame. It has been my buddy since my university years...), so I'm searching for a replacement. The thing is, Dell XPS 13 is too expensive in my country, the model listed at $899 at NewEgg is more like $1200 here, so I need to look elsewhere. I was thinking about two laptops, one being the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 (http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-13-7347-laptop/pd; would go for the $899 version, retailed at about $1000 here) and the other being the 13 inch MacBook Air 2015 (I5 CPU, listed at about $900 at one of the major retailers in my country).

Now I know that the MacBook is slightly overrated, but I've seen some impressive numbers in reviews. I plan on using the laptop mostly for video playback, some coding and light gaming (StarCraft II and KSP). The biggest concern for me is battery life, since it's forbidden to charge one's own electronics where I work, and I quite often find myself watching movies while waiting for a job in the ready room, especially during night shifts.

Could you please help me?

[briansun1]

Hello, guys.

My 4-year old laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad E430 with dual-core I5 3210M @ 2,4 GHz CPU, 8GB RAM and Nvidia GT 630M 2GB graphics card) has recently kicked the bucket (what a shame. It has been my buddy since my university years...), so I'm searching for a replacement. The thing is, Dell XPS 13 is too expensive in my country, the model listed at $899 at NewEgg is more like $1200 here, so I need to look elsewhere. I was thinking about two laptops, one being the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 (http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-13-7347-laptop/pd; would go for the $899 version, retailed at about $1000 here) and the other being the 13 inch MacBook Air 2015 (I5 CPU, listed at about $900 at one of the major retailers in my country).

Now I know that the MacBook is slightly overrated, but I've seen some impressive numbers in reviews. I plan on using the laptop mostly for video playback, some coding and light gaming (StarCraft II and KSP). The biggest concern for me is battery life, since it's forbidden to charge one's own electronics where I work, and I quite often find myself watching movies while waiting for a job in the ready room, especially during night shifts.

Could you please help me?

Ever thought about one of the Lenovo T4XX? Those are supposed to have pretty long battery lifes and are about the same price as the Dell.

[InterCity]

Ever thought about one of the Lenovo T4XX? Those are supposed to have pretty long battery lifes and are about the same price as the Dell.

Too expensive. They start at price slightly higher than the one of the macbook in my country and offer less battery than the macbook.

Probably the thinkpad helix might be an option, but I am still not impressed with Core-M

Edited October 30, 2015 by InterCity

[Kelderek]

I was disappointed to find that my memory only ran at 1333MHZ, but it is 100% correct that it can be overclocked from the UEFI/BIOS with a minimum of trouble, but I wouldn't recommend going above the rated speed, as it can cause some...interesting...issues.

It turns out I had forgotten to enable XMP in the BIOS. As soon as I did that it immediately defaulted to the DDR4 2400MHz speed I expected.

[ThaZeus]

Hello, I bought my self a new video card recently and now i need a computer to put it in! So I want suggestions. The card is a GTX 650ti, and due to the fact that i want to havest as much as possible from my old computer dddr2 ram slots please

[Camacha]

Hello, I bought my self a new video card recently and now i need a computer to put it in! So I want suggestions. The card is a GTX 650ti, and due to the fact that i want to havest as much as possible from my old computer dddr2 ram slots please

I would not recommend investing in anything with DDR2 slots. That type of memory is getting expensive. Even DDR3 is already on the way out, but you can currently pick that up for bargain prices. Short term and long run you will be much happier.

A little more info would help too. What do you have *exactly* right now that you want to take, which applications do you want to run at what settings, resolution and fps, what is your budget, what are other requirements, et cetera. Without any decent information you will not get a decent system.

[evangs1]

I am building a new PC for some programming/KSP. I have already decided on the processor (E3-1231 v3) and I need help choosing a new video card. My previous system had a Radeon HD 4670, but that wasn't quite cutting it. Would like to be able to play KSP 40-60fps max settings. Any suggestions or comparative PassMark scores?

[DuoDex]

I am building a new PC for some programming/KSP. I have already decided on the processor (E3-1231 v3) and I need help choosing a new video card. My previous system had a Radeon HD 4670, but that wasn't quite cutting it. Would like to be able to play KSP 40-60fps max settings. Any suggestions or comparative PassMark scores?

I'm not quite sure what you say when you say you've decided on an E3-1231 v3, a quick Google doesn't turn much up. Could you give me a link?

[Red Iron Crown]

It's a Xeon. Looks to be equivalent to an i7.

[briansun1]

It's a Xeon. Looks to be equivalent to an i7.

If I remember correctly aren't i7's basicly gimped Xeons?

@OP how much money do you have?

[Red Iron Crown]

There are Xeon equivalents from i5s on up to high end i7s, and then some beyond (more cores, etc). This one is an LGA1150 3.4GHz 4 core with hyperthreading, pretty much like an i7 but for the lack of an onboard GPU, not bad for ~$250.

[cantab]

I am building a new PC for some programming/KSP. I have already decided on the processor (E3-1231 v3) and I need help choosing a new video card. My previous system had a Radeon HD 4670, but that wasn't quite cutting it. Would like to be able to play KSP 40-60fps max settings. Any suggestions or comparative PassMark scores?

If all you care about is KSP, you'd probably be OK with the GT 730 GDDR5. The range is confusing though, with at least three specifications of GPU bearing the same number; look for the model using GDDR5 which will also have 384 CUDA cores.

If other games might be an interest then of course pay more, get more.

[evangs1]

If all you care about is KSP, you'd probably be OK with the GT 730 GDDR5. The range is confusing though, with at least three specifications of GPU bearing the same number; look for the model using GDDR5 which will also have 384 CUDA cores.

If other games might be an interest then of course pay more, get more.

Can the GT 730 get 60fps 1080p ultra? I just don't want to buy and underpowered GPU.

[manaiaK]

Can the GT 730 get 60fps 1080p ultra? I just don't want to buy and underpowered GPU.

Maybe. My machine is Sandybridge i7, GT 730, 1920x1200, Linux with nVidia's latest stable drivers. Most of the time it doesn't get 60 fps, more like 33. I have seen it as high as 80 ... briefly.

I'm contemplating getting a GTX 960.

[Camacha]

If I remember correctly aren't i7's basicly gimped Xeons?

Not really. They are very similar, but know some differences. Mainly locked/unlocked, but some other minor details and technologies too.

[cantab]

Can the GT 730 get 60fps 1080p ultra? I just don't want to buy and underpowered GPU.

Not sure.

KSP is somewhat unusual for performance. The CPU load is dominant and that CPU load depends primarily on what the player does - specifically, how many (and which) parts you put on your spacecraft. That means that the usual targets and metrics of x framerate at y resolution and z detail may not be as meaningful as with most games. Even on top-end hardware, if you go wild and make a thousand-part craft KSP will suffer severely low framerates; conversely if you spend all your time flying simple low-part-count ships the game will run smoothly even on pretty poor computers.

[Camacha]

Can the GT 730 get 60fps 1080p ultra? I just don't want to buy and underpowered GPU.

If ultra means the KSP graphics settings, probably not. KSP is not terribly demanding when it comes to graphics, but that does not mean it runs well on any piece of copper. For the rest I agree with crabtrab, there really is no single answer to that question, even if you defined your parameters reasonably well (hurray for that ).

[briansun1]

So, I recently I bought a logitech 3d pro joystick and I have 2 questions. First do any of you know of a good flight simulator? And right know the stick tend to want to center slighy up on the y axis. do I just need to set the deadzone slightly larger?

[evangs1]

Not sure.

KSP is somewhat unusual for performance. The CPU load is dominant and that CPU load depends primarily on what the player does - specifically, how many (and which) parts you put on your spacecraft. That means that the usual targets and metrics of x framerate at y resolution and z detail may not be as meaningful as with most games. Even on top-end hardware, if you go wild and make a thousand-part craft KSP will suffer severely low framerates; conversely if you spend all your time flying simple low-part-count ships the game will run smoothly even on pretty poor computers.

So it sounds like it is more CPU bound. On my old system, I had an E7600 with a Radeon 4670 and it was getting ~5 fps launching a fair sized rocket with RO and a ton of other mods. However, it was reaching a solid 40 fps while in orbit with a small craft.

So would the 1231 + something like the 750 ti allow me to get 1080p 60fps with max settings?

[Tex Mechs Robot]

So, I recently I bought a logitech 3d pro joystick and I have 2 questions. First do any of you know of a good flight simulator? And right know the stick tend to want to center slighy up on the y axis. do I just need to set the deadzone slightly larger?

FlightSimX and X-Plane are the two answers you're probably going to get most often.

[Camacha]

I would say X-Plane. FSX has done its job and done it well, but is a relic of the past by now.

So would the 1231 + something like the 750 ti allow me to get 1080p 60fps with max settings?

Again, it depends on your ship, but it would certainly run well. The hyper-threading probably does not help much, so a quick i5 is an option too.

[briansun1]

I'll take a look. What about something where you get to shoot things?

[cantab]

I got my new build done and finally ran KSP on it for the first time. Just a brief preliminary test, but things are looking good, approximately double the performance of my old PC. Mind you, that still means barely making double-digit fps with a 600-part rocket.

Case: Fractal Design Core 1100.

CPU: Core i3 6100.

Cooler: Thermaltake Frio Silent 12.

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z170MX-Gaming 5.

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8GB DDR4-2666.

SSD: Crucial MX100 512 GB.

HDD: 3TB Toshiba DT01ACA300.

Graphics card: EVGA GeForce 750 Ti 2GB.

PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W.

I thought I'd give a quick build report here.

The hardware side of things was ... I'll be honest, it was exhausting. It shouldn't have been, for the most part it was straightforward, and yet I ended up with sweat dripping from my brow. I think it was just down to being tense and nervous - it's several hundred pounds of equipment that I really didn't want to break after all. I assembled the motherboard, CPU, cooler, RAM, and PSU on the bench and did a test before installing them in the case. Running prime95 the CPU temperature hit around 50 C and the system was stable. The only actual difficulty I had was getting the motherboard into the case. The fit between the top-right corner of the motherboard and the optical drive cage is really tight, I had to put the motherboard in IO-ports first and squeeze them against the IO shield and it just fit. In my view Fractal Design should have taken maybe 5 mm off the drive cage where it's against the motherboard, it would have made a world of difference. I also noticed the CPU cooler isn't rock-tight, I can twist it a few degrees quite easily (and did inadvertently while handling the motherboard). I'm hoping that's not a problem, it seems to just be a consequence of how it's mounted. The next day I picked up a cable management kit, just some sticky things that you can thread twist or zip ties too, and tidied things up OK. Fiddly work, cable management in a small case is never going to be easy, but I think I got a decent result. I also put a dust filter over the intake fan.

That was the hardware, largely straightforward. The software, on the other hand...

I'll spare you the dead ends I got sent round and cut to the chase. Windows 7 has problems installing from a USB DVD drive or USB memory stick on Skylake systems, because Windows 7 doesn't have USB 3 drivers and Skylake dropped some USB 2 stuff. Even ports on the motherboard that are supposedly USB 2 are affected by this. So much for backward compatibility. Anyway the solution most motherboard manufacturers have provided is a tool that modifies the Windows 7 installation media to have the needed drivers. Gigabyte's one can be had here. The page about the specific motherboard doesn't mention that at all, thanks a lot Gigabyte.

That will suffice to get a BIOS/MBR installation of Windows 7 done, but if you want to be picky and use UEFI/GPT - and you might need to if you have a single large hard drive - there's more fiddling required. Firstly I needed to make sure the USB drive was FAT32 formatted, which required copying all the files the Gigabyte tool had made off it, reformatting, then copying them back on. Then This thread on another forum describes a few tweaks that need making. I'll add that you can get the bootmgfw.efi file by opening install.wim on the Windows DVD/USB stick in 7-zip, and then look in the same place in that .wim file. It can also be worth deleting the bootmgr file to prevent it booting in BIOS mode by mistake.

Eventually I got Windows 7 installed and let it do the mountain of updates. All for an OS I probably won't touch for months. One other thing: I disconnected the hard drive throughout the process, leaving only the SSD. I've known at least some versions of Windows to insist on putting stuff on the wrong drive otherwise.

The Debian installation was straightforward by comparison, but then I'm very familiar with Linux in general and Debian's installer is basically the same as Ubuntu's "alternate installer". The only hitch I had was sound. I updated the linux kernel, the nvidia drivers, and related packages (basically anything with "linux" or "nvidia" in the package name) to the latest versions in jessie-backports, and that did the trick.

Hopefully that will be interesting and/or useful to others.