KSP1 Computer Building/Buying Megathread

[Puggonaut]

Well colour me happy , them stand off replacements turned up from Corsair two days early so.............

According to Corsair they only fit the Elite Series where as I have the 150i Pro , hmm ok lets fit em and test for the sake of it as i can't see any difference in the Elite Pump setup . Guess what at idle my PC is sitting at 28-31c . so all ok .

Finally got too bed at 6am this morning , jeez this PC building lark is hard work at my age I think I need better glasses .

Anyhow i've added a 980 PRO NVME thingy to my pc so I know have 6TB of space to fill and Windoze 11 ......... jeez this is a pig to set up , working my way through the " Windows has done this for you " er no thanks , i'll set it up myself .

12700K CPU - tested it in Cinebench 23 Single Core speed was up by ...................50% , went from 1242 on my OC 9700K to 1893 on my Non OC 12700K , so i'm happy I may not OC this one ( yer right ) .

Just waiting now on 3 new Fans to replace the stock ones that came with the case as them 140mm ones are a bit loud .

No Pictures it's aPC inside a Case with no Windows or Pretty lights to look at

 

 

[magnemoe]

On 1/16/2022 at 5:18 AM, Nuke said:

ultrawide would be better for games i suppose. but worse for productivity. though im not really that productive these days.

Agree, if ulrawide could be used both as  3 screens for productivity and plenty of gaming. but then changed to an wide monitor for more serious use it would be awesome. 
Also relevant for laptops then you plug in the second screen or an dock with an serious card connected to that screen. 
Added bonuses its easier to place or wall mount than 2-3 monitors. 
And unlike TV who is supposed to be viewable from an range of angles from an distance monitors are for close up and single use so curved displays makes sense. 
Not sure if this has improved or not and not spending $2K to check it out. 

[Nuke]

anyway i looked for the Gigabyte FI32U, realized it was a couple hundred bucks more expensive than what i currently have. but then i found this one:

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16824012042?Item=N82E16824012042

which is almost the same specs, i suspect it has the same exact panel. the only real difference is i dont think it has rgb and the built in audio isnt as good. it still has features i dont currently have (like hdr and 144hz). i still havent made up my mind. but it is the available upgrade.

e: i went ahead and bought it (though from amazon, it was $50 less expensive and free shipping). decided id rather have the thing i could get now and stop pulling my hair out over gpus. mainly after seeing the kind of performance all my stuff has on the new rig. will try again next year. 

Edited January 19, 2022 by Nuke

[Puggonaut]

Bring on KSP 2 , I think my PC is ready

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

On 1/18/2022 at 6:09 PM, Nuke said:

anyway i looked for the Gigabyte FI32U, realized it was a couple hundred bucks more expensive than what i currently have. but then i found this one:

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16824012042?Item=N82E16824012042

which is almost the same specs, i suspect it has the same exact panel. the only real difference is i dont think it has rgb and the built in audio isnt as good. it still has features i dont currently have (like hdr and 144hz). i still havent made up my mind. but it is the available upgrade.

e: i went ahead and bought it (though from amazon, it was $50 less expensive and free shipping). decided id rather have the thing i could get now and stop pulling my hair out over gpus. mainly after seeing the kind of performance all my stuff has on the new rig. will try again next year. 

The M32U is a fantastic monitor:

Quote

The Gigabyte M32U and the Gigabyte AORUS FI32U offer nearly identical performance. The FI32U has a more versatile stand, as you can rotate it to portrait orientation. The FI32U also has a few extra built-in gaming features, including a unique active noise cancelling feature for your microphone. Overall, they perform about the same, but the extra features differ. If your main use is for the office/productivity, the M32U is a better choice. If your main use is gaming, the FI32U is a better choice.

Gigabyte M32U Review - RTINGS.com

When I bought my FI32U, the M32U was barely a whisper.  Now, it is exactly the kind of thing I would have bought (same performance, less money for the cost of a few features)... had it been available.  But I'd been in a two year holding pattern wanting and watching for fast 4k 32.  The one I really wanted, and ultimately decided against, was the ASUS... it just really did not do what I hoped it would do.  Got the Gigabyte and never regretted it.

 

I think you will love the monitor!

Edited January 21, 2022 by JoeSchmuckatelli

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

On 1/18/2022 at 6:09 PM, Nuke said:

(like hdr

FWIW - I've never used the HDR feature.  The implementation isn't great.  Lighting zones tend to be a bit of a rough solution to a fine problem.  That was ultimately what swayed me against the ASUS.  The people who bought it, ended up loving it after a while - but it took some getting used to.  The high number of lighting zones was still centimeter sized 'light pixels' (effectively) and for the price, that wasn't what I wanted.

I honestly wonder whether the industry will put out fast 4k OLED 32s in the next few years, just for the HDR advantage.  (Okay, peak brightness may not be there - but pixel control would be fantastic!) 

[FelixSpaceTime]

Hey! I am thinking of getting KSP on my Computer. These are my specs. Can I download it and get the most out of it?

Processor    Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU 5405U @ 2.30GHz   2.30 GHz
Installed RAM    4.00 GB (3.82 GB usable)
Device ID    6B43D0CA-DBB3-4918-AD2E-452ECE6ADFBB
Product ID    00356-02161-12421-AAOEM
System type    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Edition    Windows 11 Home
Version    21H2
Installed on    ‎09/‎10/‎2021
OS build    22000.434
Serial number    MP1QLAMT
Experience    Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22000.434.0
 

Thanks!

[Vanamonde]

Welcome to our forum, @FelixSpaceTime. Your question is such a common one that we have a master thread them, and your thread has been merged into it.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

1 hour ago, FelixSpaceTime said:

Hey! I am thinking of getting KSP on my Computer. These are my specs. Can I download it and get the most out of it?

Processor    Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU 5405U @ 2.30GHz   2.30 GHz
Installed RAM    4.00 GB (3.82 GB usable)
Device ID    6B43D0CA-DBB3-4918-AD2E-452ECE6ADFBB
Product ID    00356-02161-12421-AAOEM
System type    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Edition    Windows 11 Home
Version    21H2
Installed on    ‎09/‎10/‎2021
OS build    22000.434
Serial number    MP1QLAMT
Experience    Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22000.434.0
 

Thanks!

Why are you running Win 11 on a box with only 4gb of RAM?   2gb is the minimum requirement for Win 10 64 just to run the OS.  Any other programs you use, including some non - OS background apps are going to eat up RAM before you even get to the game.  

RAM is cheap - suggest you upgrade. 

Your CPU is an entry level laptop cpu from a few generations ago - but KSP is quite old, so maybe.  The other problem is the weak onboard GPU.  Again, KSP is old, so with lowered graphics settings - probably.  But all together, it will run slow. 

Don't expect to enjoy KSP2, (pure speculation) with a notebook. ('gaming laptop,' maybe - but generally speaking notebooks can't run modern games) 

Hint: there is a reason gamers buy gaming hardware! 

[Nuke]

i suspect it will run provided you dont push the partcount too high or use too many mods. more ram would be better though. upgrade if you can. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by Nuke

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

@Nuke how do like the new screen? 

[Nuke]

3 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

@Nuke how do like the new screen? 

i dont know. amazon still hasnt shipped it yet. tracking says it will arrive next week. the tracking gives zero indication of where it actually is at.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

7 minutes ago, Nuke said:

i dont know. amazon still hasnt shipped it yet. tracking says it will arrive next week. the tracking gives zero indication of where it actually is at.

Ouch! 

https://media.tenor.com/images/39853c6e1c70c94554be4a1c56f53d20/tenor.gif

[GuessingEveryDay]

On 1/20/2022 at 11:34 AM, Puggonaut said:

Bring on KSP 2 , I think my PC is ready

What are your specs, man? This will probably be my next goal after acquiring a 1060.

[Stewcumber]

Has KSP gone very multithreaded at some point? I ask as I dug out an i7-860 from 2009 with low clock speed but 8 threads. And all 8 threads were in use and getting 75fps with simple planes. I thought KSP was pretty much single threaded and high clockspeed was preferable to lots of threads?

[Elthy]

If i remember correctly KSP uses multiple threads for different things. E.g. sound would run on one thread, backround simulation on another. But physics is still on a single thread, which will be the limiting factor in most cases.

[Puggonaut]

On 2/19/2022 at 3:12 AM, GuessingEveryDay said:

What are your specs, man? This will probably be my next goal after acquiring a 1060.

i7-12700K

32GB Ram

2TB NVME

1080ti

[Nuke]

On 2/18/2022 at 3:38 PM, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Ouch! 

https://media.tenor.com/images/39853c6e1c70c94554be4a1c56f53d20/tenor.gif

amazon finally handed it off to ups. its coming from michigan so it probibly got held up in the freedom convoy.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

 

https://media.tenor.com/images/9af86705308cdaa891ef6201511edc41/tenor.gif https://media.tenor.com/images/d2e386175d4f4a272c282da52a4ce06f/tenor.gif

11 hours ago, Nuke said:

amazon finally handed it off to ups. its coming from michigan so it probibly got held up in the freedom convoy.

 

Edited February 23, 2022 by JoeSchmuckatelli

[Nuke]

finally got it. its bigger than i thought it would be. it looks good. i played some mwo at full settings and got 90 fps. i think i can do better,  as the game is terribly optimized and the default full settings turns on things im better off without (for competitive reasons). but i only had enough time for a couple games. i think its improved my aim a little, i was poptarting erppcs like a boss. i need to install doom eternal now, its probibly the only game i have that stands a chance of pushing it. 

the sound feels a little bit cheap for what i paid for this thing though. the bass is weak and the midranges are downed out by the higher pitch sounds. i was hoping to get the ginormous full range speakers off my desk, but they stay for now.  its funny, i found the speakers on the side of the road and connected them to a $10 chinese no-name amp, and it still sounds better than most modern audio devices. the FI32U supposidly has better sound, but i doubt even that would be as good as my full ranges. 

[Nuke]

and now for something really technical. some months ago our cable company stopped cabling, and so we were forced to go with streaming services. i have an old i5 machine doing media center duty. the problem is, we are getting sick and tired of getting up to turn on the pc when we want to watch tv. try as i might i cant get the thing to wake up via wireless keyboard. 

rummaging through my components ive discovered i have everything i need to make an ir toggled switch. i found a 3.3v arduino pro micro. its a atmega32u4 board, which means i can use it as a usb keyboard/mouse (il connect this to an internal usb header). then i rummaged around for an ir sensor and found one that works. this thing will have a list of bindings on its eeprom to bind remote codes to keys, etc. if it detects the right ir code it will forward the appropriate command to the pc. however the main function will be to turn on the pc from an off state. enter the purple wire.

the purple wire is the 5v standby supply on the psu. this delivers 5v all the time, even when the computer is off. the arduino on the other hand will be wide awake and looking for remote codes. if it finds one it will turn on the pc by bridging the power on pins on the mobo front panel header.

first issue (more of a sanity check really) that i can see is that the board will be connected to both 5v standby by the raw pin and 5v via usb. ground is also sourced from the usb (i think its good practice to source ground in only one place so as not to cause ground loops). i found a schematic of the pro micro and i think this is actually fine.  there is a diode between the 5v on usb and the raw in pin (both go to the 3.3v regulator). i figure because the voltages will both be 5v, the diode wont switch on. also the 5vsb cannot feed back into the usb header. i cant think of a situation where the reverse would happen, unless something was really out of spec. is this correct or am i insane? 

the second is how to go about switching on the pc. i dont have a schematic for my mobo, so im kind of flying blind on this one. my instinct is that the pw+ is active low (pulled up to the standby voltage internally) and that the pw- is really just ground, shorting them starts the pc. if this is the case then i just need to connect a single pin header between the pw+ and an io pin on the arduino and i should be able to start it up by connecting the io pin to ground for a few ms, and then z-state it. alternatively i could bridge the pins with a mosfet and forget about the logic levels of the pins. the latter seems like the safest bet (says the guy always blowing up transistors), but the former would be simpler. if its active high, then im going to have to use a mosfet anyway as i cant switch 5v with 3.3v. 

e: 

i think i was overthinking this. i did a not too exotic dry run with an arduino leonardo. just plugged into the usb port acting as a mouse/keyboard. the tv remote had a number of unused buttons, more after i went through the tv settings and disabled some stuff. ended up with 16 available remote buttons which dont do anything more than put an unobtrusive "not available" box in the corner of the screen . i scanned the remote codes and put them in a switch statement. initial plan was to store bindings on the eeprom, but this solution is simpler. after binding every keyboard command for hulu to every button (with a couple to spare, hulu's player sucks) i realized that what i had made was a convoluted mess. so i ended up just using the mouse library. i got four cursor keys and an enter for scroll and click, ch+/- (which arent used because im on hdmi) controll scrolling.  and a closed caption toggle serves as a probibly not needed mouse 2. i wish i could use the numbers for 8-way control, but they keep changing the channels. moving at a rate of 1 pixel 11.1 times a second is slow. a 90 ms delay was the lowest i could use where the codes were still readable (remote codes are in the 10s of kilohertz and are as far as i can tell 32 bits long). i may have to raise that because the pro micro only runs 8mhz as opposed to 16. so i wrote some acceleration code. i need to tweak the numbers but i like it. dedicating 8 of the available buttons to the mouse seems overkill, but it worked out better than the available keyboard commands. 

im gonna keep a few though, the ff/rw commands for example (left and right arrows on the keeb) and pause (space) are in. mom cant get through an episode of jeopardy without going back at least four times, and she has to pause during final (the cheater). these commands are pretty standard on media players, vlc and youtube at least, idk about disney+, but probibly. a dedicated gtfo command is essential on any ui. the escape key fits the bill and is mapped to eject, which seemed fitting. also i found a way to make the chrome app launch full screen, which eliminates some clicks and makes they guide easier to read. but i needed a way out of it, so alt+f4 is in, bound simply to exit. i still got a play button, a stop button, 2 skip buttons, and an info. probibly do the skips as the up and down arrows, play an enter, and stop as the win key, so i can shut the computer down when im done. info will probibly be the power button for the pc. 

purple wire shenanigans are not needed. apparently my usb ports stay powered when the machine is off. while the bios setting for wake on keeb is enabled, i figure the arduino is too exotic (to much root complex) for that to work. but at least it solves the first issue entirely. some reserch into the second issue seems to validate my suspicions. connecting the pin to ground for a tiny fraction of a second wouldnt hurt it much and it cant do anything in the z-state. this should be a one wire solution. il connect the power button to some io pins and just pass through the start command to the ground strobe. i might also add some indicator lights to the front of the pc, and perhaps an ir-out if i find a better remote. i can bypass the tv entirely, and scan out codes to the tv for power mute and volume, which are the only ones the tv actually needs and bypass the "not available" popup, future upgrade stuff. building my own remote is also an option. 

e again:

i was definitely overthinking it. the 3.3v to 5v conversion was rendered moot when i discovered a solder jumper on the board to make it run 5v right off the usb port. thus eliminated the power problems i was forseeing. also overthought starting the computer. simply setting the pin from input to output and back again was enough to ground the pin and then return it to a high impedance state when i no longer needed it, only needing to run a single wire. internal usb connection required cutting the big end off of a microusb cable, and crimping some dupont connectors to the end. props to the usb standards people for being extremely consistent with wire colors. i also added a pair of wires with some male dupont headers to connect it to the fp power button. the actual build turned out to be very tight, sitting entirely inside the rather shallow front panel. i only had to drill out a hole for the ir sensor. i used a larger drill bit to form a dimple around the ir receiver dome to give it a wider field of view. i was going to epoxy it in place, but electrical tape worked out fine. routed the wires through the cutout where the slim drive would go if i was so inclined to install one (im not). code changes were minimal. i tried to do a watchdog timer, but it wasnt restarting correctly. if the arduino goes wonky il have to restart it by unplugging the computer. a hard reset button would be a nice to have but this case doesnt have one. 

now for the hard part, teaching mom to use 4 arrows and an enter button. so far its not going so well. 

Edited March 11, 2022 by Nuke

[ARS]

Guys, I need some help
So I recently bought a PC for my 3D print design and modeling need (because my laptop are no longer sufficient). It's a mid-end computer, and it did it's job properly, however, there are things that's bugging me since I used it. So, the electricity in my house is kinda unstable (but still sufficient), with the voltage frequently rise and fall erratically. Here's what happen:
1. At first, I plugged the power cable of the PC directly into wall socket. The result is, everytime there's a power fluctuation, the computer just freeze, that is, the cursor disappear, any sound stopped and the screen just freeze in place with no way to recover it, necessitating a hard restart
2. Then I bought a voltage stabilizer to at least make the power flow consistent (that was the only conclusion I can gather). The result is, yeah, everytime there's a power fluctuation, the PC no longer frozen in place, as the stabilizer whirrs to stabilize the voltage. However, now it exhibit an annoying habit: Everytime I worked on it, especially those that involves heavy rendering of 3D objects on screen, or doing something intensive that requires heavy GPU use, the PC frequently start to just turned off (screen goes black) and then restart on it's own (without me touching the buttons), often, such event are accompanied by a soft screech from the voltage regulator (p.s the regulator output is 220v, and my PSU range is between 170-230v)

Should I increase the power voltage in my house? Is it the problem with PSU? Should I bought UPS?
Thanks for the answer, I know this is not a tech support forum, but I'd like to hear your thoughts about it

[monophonic]

4 hours ago, ARS said:

Guys, I need some help
So I recently bought a PC for my 3D print design and modeling need (because my laptop are no longer sufficient). It's a mid-end computer, and it did it's job properly, however, there are things that's bugging me since I used it. So, the electricity in my house is kinda unstable (but still sufficient), with the voltage frequently rise and fall erratically. Here's what happen:
1. At first, I plugged the power cable of the PC directly into wall socket. The result is, everytime there's a power fluctuation, the computer just freeze, that is, the cursor disappear, any sound stopped and the screen just freeze in place with no way to recover it, necessitating a hard restart
2. Then I bought a voltage stabilizer to at least make the power flow consistent (that was the only conclusion I can gather). The result is, yeah, everytime there's a power fluctuation, the PC no longer frozen in place, as the stabilizer whirrs to stabilize the voltage. However, now it exhibit an annoying habit: Everytime I worked on it, especially those that involves heavy rendering of 3D objects on screen, or doing something intensive that requires heavy GPU use, the PC frequently start to just turned off (screen goes black) and then restart on it's own (without me touching the buttons), often, such event are accompanied by a soft screech from the voltage regulator (p.s the regulator output is 220v, and my PSU range is between 170-230v)

Should I increase the power voltage in my house? Is it the problem with PSU? Should I bought UPS?
Thanks for the answer, I know this is not a tech support forum, but I'd like to hear your thoughts about it

If you could post some links and/or information about the equipment in question, especially the voltage stabilizer, we could give better guesses.

Computers can and have been especially sensitive to voltage instability so I believe your first conclusion was correct, the unstable voltage caused the computer to seize. The voltages you mention are well matched, but unfortunately that is only half the story. The second problem then, I guess the voltage regulator is not capable of supplying all of the power your new computer uses during heavy rendering. The output power (in Watts) of the regulator must equal or exceed the power draw (in Watts) of the computer or problems will occur during heavy work. A UPS per se has the exact same requirement, however depending on where you buy from they may be available with higher output power ratings. The power ratings should be written near the voltage values on your regulator and PSU.

[ARS]

26 minutes ago, monophonic said:

If you could post some links and/or information about the equipment in question

Thanks for the response. Here's my spec:

Spoiler

-Processor    : Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.40Ghz - @ 3.90Ghz
-OS        : Windows 7 64-bit
-RAM        : 16GB

-GPU        : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750
-HDD        : Barracuda 1TB + Barracuda 500GB
-PSU        : Nero 225 (max power: 500w, pure power: 225w, high range voltage: 170v-240v)

-Stabilizer    : Matsunaga SVC-1000N (output 110v-220v)

I'm still thinking whether I should:

-Increase house voltage to reduce the margin of power fluctuation

-Buy a voltage stabilizer with higher range of power output

-Buy a UPS (should I use UPS and Stabilizer at the same time?)

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

3 hours ago, ARS said:

Thanks for the response. Here's my spec:

  Hide contents

-Processor    : Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.40Ghz - @ 3.90Ghz
-OS        : Windows 7 64-bit
-RAM        : 16GB

-GPU        : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750
-HDD        : Barracuda 1TB + Barracuda 500GB
-PSU        : Nero 225 (max power: 500w, pure power: 225w, high range voltage: 170v-240v)

-Stabilizer    : Matsunaga SVC-1000N (output 110v-220v)

I'm still thinking whether I should:

-Increase house voltage to reduce the margin of power fluctuation

-Buy a voltage stabilizer with higher range of power output

-Buy a UPS (should I use UPS and Stabilizer at the same time?)

Your PSU is underpowered (opinion).  I'm one of those folks who value a bit of overhead in power supply after having a weak PSU fry my Mobo.  Except fry is the wrong word - the thing would still post but performance became wonky.  Still, 250 watts is serious weaksauce for any gaming or graphics intensive rig. 

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwibqYKisr72AhViDK0GHTHqBn4YABAIGgJwdg&ae=2&sig=AOD64_2kZEpjKYiwLH7GpjLzLz4wd_zDkg&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwic-Pmhsr72AhXyOn0KHSiRD9IQwg96BAgBEC0&adurl=

 

$82 usd for 750 watts 

Also - not an expert, but I feel like higher power PSU's handle fluctuations better (?). 

I have a UPS - but it's weird.  Sometimes when the power goes out, it just keeps humming, and others... It goes out with the power.  Probably user error - but they're not as plugnplay as most computer stuff... So RTFM (which I threw away... So don't be like me!) 

Edited March 11, 2022 by JoeSchmuckatelli