Part count VS PC specs VS looks VS awesomeness?

[Amoun]

Hey everyone

I am trying to figure out a (more or less) efficient way of combining a part number and performance of the game.

I am currently working on a space-station project, scrapping/building sections etc for sake of experimenting with looks, getting more familiar with parts and engines.

Recently I built a core for the station which totaled over 400 parts....needless to say it was rather laggy but I got the thing into orbit (that was an adventure in it self....). Since then I scrapped the design because I figured if it's that bad when I am flying it, how bad will it be if I decide to dock.

Now I know this is a very open ended question and it will depend on many factors like computer specs, moded parts, settings of the game etc etc but is there a "sweet spot" when it comes to a number of parts when building something?

Most of my settings are default, but I have turned off v-sync and AA and the game does not run heavy at all, only when I over-engineer things.

I have the specs for my laptop (will move the game to a PC after, way more power on that) but I have upgraded the RAM to 16 gigs. Although, as far as I understand, game is more dependent on GPU and CPU rather than RAM.

Definitely going to stay will try to stay with as few parts as possible but I really like building huge things and I understand very well that it will come down to me experimenting to find the sweet spot, but wanted to see if anyone had advice on how to maybe make the game more efficient considering I would want to take advantage of docking things to the space station.

TL;DR I go part crazy, what would you recommend, based on the specs, should be the preferred number of parts.

These are the laptop specs if this helps.

http://www.cnet.com/laptops/asus-k55vd-ds71-15/4507-3121_7-35280046.html

EDIT: I rushed, found this topic. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/45979-How-to-stop-Space-Station-Framerate-drop

Thread can be deleted.

-------> k retarded question but how does one mark a thread as answered....

Edited August 16, 2013 by Amoun

[TheDarkStar]

Edit the post and change the topic to start with [ANSWERED!], as far as I know.

[PTNLemay]

Just remember you have to go in Edit post, and then "Go Advanced". You can't change it in the quick edit.

[Amoun]

Got it! Done. Thanks guys

[DMagic]

Go to my CPU performance thread and try out my rocket if you want to see where your computer stacks up against others. The part count for different stages of the rocket is in the 4th or 5th post, so you can see how many parts you can handle at a decent framerate.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/42877-CPU-Performance-Database

[Amoun]

Ty Dmagic

That actually looks pretty awesome. ......thats very freaking awesome.....