KSP1 Computer Building/Buying Megathread

[hotmailcompany52]

It should be able to run KSP on medium settings I believe.

[Leonov]

It should be able to run KSP on medium settings I believe.

Too answer your question about what if something DOAs and wont work.

Many times when people build a computer they have parts that arrive Dead. This is a fact of computer building, the probability of it happening and you not being able to complete a build is rather low, the list of parts we have recommended is nothing short of quality parts. Components most likely to arrive DOA are things like the HDD, Ram, and probably the GPU. The Hard drive could have bad sectors but the company will RMA it and send you an equal or better product to replace it. Mushkin has a good RMA policy and i dont read about their products arriving to people dead so you will be fine, GPUs can go wrong for a multitude of reasons but that one doesn't seem to be ruining peoples builds. If your HDD goes bad, use your SSD until Seagate RMAs it. I had to do this with my build because my WD Caviar Blue arrived DOA. 120 is plenty for the OS, plenty of programs, and a couple games depending on size. If your GPU goes bad the inegrated GPU on the intel chip is plenty to keep doing day to day things, i don't recommend gaming on it but it seems to be reasonable at it. If your RAM DOAs you will be out of luck as you need that fro a system to post, i doubt this will happen but it is a possibility.

[Leonov]

Anybody can comment on this? I'm no computer wizard so I need some help determining if this is good.. My computer is terrible, though I made it a while with KSP before the updates became too much for it to bare.

iBuyPower Revolt

Edit: Building a computer is most likely out of the question.

Building a computer is Very Easy. If you can operate a screwdriver, you can build a computer.

There is plenty of info in the OP that can help you when it comes to building a computer.

For about the same money you can build this which performs better than the ibuypower prebuilt at nearly the same price point.

Edited October 19, 2013 by Leonov

[hotmailcompany52]

Thanks Leonov, you guys don't know how much I am thankful for all of your help.

[Sylon00]

Right now I have a prebuilt Dell PC, running Intel i5 3330. It has Intel integrated graphics with an open PCI Express slot for expansion, 8GB of RAM. Right now I have to play KSP on the lowest settings and yet I still get some stuttering. I was thinking about getting a new graphics card, how much would that improve things? Was looking at the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650Ti. I'm not all that computer hardware savvy.

[joppiesaus]

Right now I have a prebuilt Dell PC, running Intel i5 3330. It has Intel integrated graphics with an open PCI Express slot for expansion, 8GB of RAM. Right now I have to play KSP on the lowest settings and yet I still get some stuttering. I was thinking about getting a new graphics card, how much would that improve things? Was looking at the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650Ti. I'm not all that computer hardware savvy.

I have a € 80 graphics card, and everything runs awsome. You don't need a that good graphics card, but at least something. CPU integrated graphics card is never good.

[Sylon00]

I have a € 80 graphics card, and everything runs awsome. You don't need a that good graphics card, but at least something. CPU integrated graphics card is never good.

Thanks, I went with a cheaper card, picked up the PNY GeForce GT610. However I am running into issues. I followed the instructions to a T, yet nothing seems to be working right.

I installed the card, plugged everything back in, including the HDMI cable (then the VGA cable after the first few failed attempts) into the new card. Power the rig up and get no display. Monitor isn't detecting a signal. Shut it down, tried plugging the display cable (either the HDMI or VGA) into the old ports, power it up, still nothing.

Supposedly the PC automatically changes the graphics BIOS when a PCI Express graphics card is installed, however I don't know if it's working or something. Could it be the card itself? The fan is running on the card, so I know it's getting power. I can't see the computer screen to install the drivers, and the drivers won't install if the card is not installed in the computer. I don't understand, it's just not working.

[jfx]

A GT610? Bro ... sorry to tell you but that's not much of an upgrade to your office/youtube level intel igp.

As a rule of thumb: If you buy an ATI / nvidia graphic card for gaming, make sure the second digit of its gpu designation is > 5. The more the better. For example: You can easily max out KSP on a nVidia 460 or even 260. But a gt610 does not much more than put a signal out.

Anyways. Check your bios for an option called "init display first" or similar and change that to "peg" or "pcie"

Edited October 19, 2013 by jfx

[Sylon00]

A GT610? Bro ... sorry to tell you but that's not much of an upgrade to your office/youtube level intel igp.

As a rule of thumb: If you buy an ATI / nvidia graphic card for gaming, make sure the second digit of its gpu designation is > 5. The more the better. For example: You can easily max out KSP on a nVidia 460 or even 260. But a gt610 does not much more than put a signal out.

Anyways. Check your bios for an option called "init display first" or similar and change that to "peg" or "pcie"

Thanks for the tip. I don't have a whole lot of space in this casing and I think I can only use a single width card.

As for changing the BIOS, I would love to. But I can't even get that to display with the card installed. Without it installed, no such option exists.

[Bekiekutmoar]

Right now I have this system:

Pentium i3 - 3,4Ghz

8 GB RAM

1 TB HDD

Windows 7 - 64-bit

Integrated Graphics HD2500

KSP is playable on low resolution (800 x 600) but looking at oceans causes significant lag. This is obviously because of the limited grahical capacities of my current system and I haven't played KSP since this discovery to spare the integrated GPU. I'm looking for a dedicated videocard that will make smooth gameplay possible, even when looking at oceans and with terrain scatter on. Cards like GT610 and GT620 aren't likely to offer much improvement I think. Maybe GT640 or GTX650, or spend some more money and go for a GTX660 or GTX760 ... ?

Another question; will the CPU, RAM and other specs cause some form of bottleneck when running KSP ... ?

[Mr. Scruffy]

Hey, I'm having a very weird and very very annoying problem with my computer.

sometime , my computer start to stop responding at random interval. For example, when I got my computer out of sleep about 10 minutes ago, I tried to put a .txt file in the bin, but my whole computer froze. Sometime, even the mouse freeze in the screen. While this happen, I lose all control over my computer, leaving me no choice to wait for about 5 minutes or restart the computer. What could be causing this?

my specs :

i7 2600

gtx 770

8gb ram (It came with the computer)

500gb hard drive (It came with the computer)

ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Motherboard (It came with the computer)

PS : It happened about 4 times while I was trying to type this message, it is VERY frustrating!

First guess: Check your SATA cable (the one running from your HD to your mainboard.

[Sylon00]

Took the GeForce GT610 back claiming it was defective, bought the GeForce GTX650 and an upgraded power supply for it. I took a chance because I didn't think the GTX650 would fit, but to my surprise, it did! However, the power supply was a no-go because it was missing one of the needed connections my computer has. So, gonna have to try again tomorrow.

I still have no idea if the new 650 will even work with my computer. I may end up having the same problems as I did with the 610.

[Noname115]

Sooooo. I just looked on Google and just blatantly looked up "Is HP Touchsmart good for gaming?". What came up next was, rather annoying. It said that it was NOT suitable for ANY sort of gaming. Which is kinda frustrating, I remember him saying it would be good. Turns out that wasn't true. So I guess I will have to search for a new and better computer. Which won't be an easy task. Considering that they cost over 100-150$ (I may be exaterating but this is just a rough estimate). Thanks for the help you guys gave me, but I guess it doesn't matter now since I have to get a new one. Maybe. I'm not entirely sure on what I have do right now.

[hotmailcompany52]

Ugh, Im really sad that I cant get my pc until January because I cant sell my macbook pro till I can get my build working... D: Having parents sucks.

[Sylon00]

Just tried powering everything up with the new GTX650 card installed, STILL having the same issues I had with the other card. Nothing is displayed on the screen. Really hard to install drivers or change the BIOS if I can't see anything.

[hotmailcompany52]

Try with out it?

[Moustachauve]

plug your graphic card on, but plug your monitor on the motherboard if you can

[Sylon00]

Try with out it?

Tried that, it'll say no compatible hardware detected.

plug your graphic card on, but plug your monitor on the motherboard if you can

Tried that too, nothing is displayed. The PC is supposed to automatically switch video output to the new card, but nothing is displayed on the screen. In fact, the monitor just goes to sleep because it isn't detecting a signal, kinda like if the computer has gone to sleep or something.

[Moustachauve]

Make sure that you have at least each of those components plugged in to your computer motherboard :

some RAM, a processor, a hard drive, power from the power supply for the motherboard, cpu and harddrive

[Sylon00]

Make sure that you have at least each of those components plugged in to your computer motherboard :

some RAM, a processor, a hard drive, power from the power supply for the motherboard, cpu and harddrive

Everything is connected, computer runs just fine without the graphics card installed. With the card installed, the 6-pin cable is connected, the card is seated firmly in the slot, fan on the card is spinning.

Also tried installing the drivers from NVidia's website, still no luck. It needs the card installed to work, yet with the card installed I can't see anything on the screen. Pretty damn frustrating.

[Moustachauve]

What exactly is your motherboard?

[Leonov]

Do you have it installed in the correct PCIe Slot?

[Bekiekutmoar]

Right now I have this system:

Pentium i3 - 3,4Ghz

8 GB RAM

1 TB HDD

Windows 7 - 64-bit

Integrated Graphics HD2500

KSP is playable on low resolution (800 x 600) but looking at oceans causes significant lag. This is obviously because of the limited grahical capacities of my current system and I haven't played KSP since this discovery to spare the integrated GPU. I'm looking for a dedicated videocard that will make smooth gameplay possible, even when looking at oceans and with terrain scatter on. Cards like GT610 and GT620 aren't likely to offer much improvement I think. Maybe GT640 or GTX650, or spend some more money and go for a GTX660 or GTX760 ... ?

Another question; will the CPU, RAM and other specs cause some form of bottleneck when running KSP ... ?

Or simplier put: is -for example- a GTX650 sufficient for at least KSP? My previous system had a GT8800 video card that performed flawless, and a new GPU should perform at least as good. Too bad the motherboard also took out the GT8800 when it died.

[Sylon00]

What exactly is your motherboard?

No idea.

Do you have it installed in the correct PCIe Slot?

I have it installed in the only PCIe slot.

[Leonov]

No idea.

I have it installed in the only PCIe slot.

Can you post any pictures?