Advice regarding upgrade of PC

[kakemann]

Hi,


After beeing away from the Silent Hunter series for a couple of years I have come to a conclusion that I really miss playing. Now the time has come to try out silent Hunter 5.

But first, I have a old pc which needs an upgrade if I shall be able to play the game. I would be grateful for any advice.

I will only buy parts to be able to play silent hunter 5 at max graphics. i will not play any other games, or use the computer for other tasks than playing this subsim.
I see that there are some recommended system specs on the webpage.
I don't want to pay more than necessary, but I'm also afraid to buy parts that will not be good enough to set all settings to max.

Does anyone have some good advice for me before I start buying parts?

I've put some links to show you what I have been looking at:

2 pieces of this: http://www.netonnet.no/art/data/data...z/139669.4033/

Processor
http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=598343
Or if this is enough? :http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=488305#reviews

one graphic card: http://www.netonnet.no/art/data/data...b/138074.4037/

(and a suitable motherboard like this: http://www.netonnet.no/art/data/data...3/137376.4029/)


Hope to get some advice from people here at Subsim,

Glad to be back!!

[THE_MASK]

Get the best motherboard and power supply you can afford . These are the heart of the system . I only play SH5 and so i bought a 24 inch high definition monitor . What about a 5850 graphics card , how much are they now that the 6 series is out ?

[kakemann]

Hey sober!

Thanks for your quick answer.
Looks like the 5850 is about 4 times the price, but if it's necessary I'll go for it. Anyone running with a HD5550?


What about 2 core - quad core?

[THE_MASK]

I just bought the core i5 750 . Its about the same price as the amd i think , it has speed step and idles on half the power when not used .

[Feuer Frei!]

@kakemann:
why 'limit' yourself to Silent Hunter 5 only?
What i mean to say is, sure, you may only be playing this game on your upgraded rig but what about the future?
I say with that in mind, build/upgrade to something that will be future-proof.
The Mobo is theee most important part of a upgrade that you should be prioritising.
Everything else then will fall into place or take suit.
There are games out there that push a system a lot more than Sh 5 ever will and if i was you i would take it a step up and future-proof yourself, at the very least.
Just a tip, is all.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by kakemann

What about 2 core - quad core?

I just have rebuild a new system. I was thinking about something like a dual core since I thought I do not need more, an i5 661 2x3.33 was my target mark.

But in the shop I learned that meanwhile the latest quad cores are out and for the same price (well, 10 bucks more) like the above I could get an i5 2500 4x3.33 for boards with the new socket. If there is software demand, the cores overclock automatically to up to 4x 4.8 GHz at max, they said in the shop.

4 superior cores for the price of 2 inferior cores - that's a no-brainer, isn't it!?

Check CPU reviews. The i5 2500 is new and gets extremely good reviews, it can compete with higher cores from the i7 range in many regards, for many purposes and titles it is almost as fast, but costs much less. Many tag the price-tip label onto it, and declare it the current bang-for-a-buck winner.

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by kakemann

Hi,


After beeing away from the Silent Hunter series for a couple of years I have come to a conclusion that I really miss playing. Now the time has come to try out silent Hunter 5.

But first, I have a old pc which needs an upgrade if I shall be able to play the game. I would be grateful for any advice.

I will only buy parts to be able to play silent hunter 5 at max graphics. i will not play any other games, or use the computer for other tasks than playing this subsim.
I see that there are some recommended system specs on the webpage.
I don't want to pay more than necessary, but I'm also afraid to buy parts that will not be good enough to set all settings to max.

Does anyone have some good advice for me before I start buying parts?

I've put some links to show you what I have been looking at:

2 pieces of this: http://www.netonnet.no/art/data/data...z/139669.4033/

Processor
http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=598343
Or if this is enough? :http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=488305#reviews

one graphic card: http://www.netonnet.no/art/data/data...b/138074.4037/

(and a suitable motherboard like this: http://www.netonnet.no/art/data/data...3/137376.4029/)


Hope to get some advice from people here at Subsim,

Glad to be back!!

Many good prices you presented here on RAM, and graphics card,

[kakemann]

Hey guys!
Thanks for useful information will check out the i5

What would you suggest regarding graphic cards?
4 gig ram ok?

[Skybird]

I learned that Win 7 likes more RAM, although it runs with 4 GB. I took 8, since it is cheap. You can get it for 20 bucks per 2 GB.

GFX board - don't buy the latest and newest - it is overpriced by 200%, and one year later you see it in the shops for a third of the former price, and then enjoy the rest of the day . If you spend 550 bucks for just GFX, then nobody can help you Look for a good offer in the 100-150 Euro range. For example the GTX460 gives you nice performance, and the 512, 768 and 1024 MB versions cover that price range (I personally prefer nVidia due to bad experience with ATI and its drivers some years ago).

Avoid MSI mainboards, my research showed not really favourable reviews, but many problems with instabile BIOS. An older system of mine also had an MSI board, and yes, already ten years ago MSI was known for having not the best BIOS. Asus is a good choice. My new board will be Asus, my old one is Asus as well - having run for many years now. It and the Pentium on it are the only two things that in my old system have not been changed at least once in that time.

[Arclight]

Originally Posted by Skybird

If there is software demand, the cores overclock automatically to up to 4x 4.8 GHz at max, they said in the shop.

Not exactly; the i5 can shut down unused cores and boost others untill it reaches its TDP again. It will not overclock all cores at once.

Very nice feature though, and indeed considering the price you really should go for quads now.


*4GB RAM is fine, never ran out yet. Maybe if you run 2 demanding games at once, but I wouldn't advise that if you're actually planning on playing either one.

[Skybird]

Honestly I would prefer them to not overclock at all. More heat = shorter lifespan. I seriously doubt that I need those reserves created from that temporary overclocking, so I assume it will not happen anyway.

[Fincuan]

One more vote to GTX460's bang for the buck factor and pure performance. Anything that can run Arma2 on high/very high can't be a bad choice

[Arclight]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Honestly I would prefer them to not overclock at all. More heat = shorter lifespan. I seriously doubt that I need those reserves created from that temporary overclocking, so I assume it will not happen anyway.

No, that's the point why it shuts down cores: the CPU is always within its TDP envelope, so it's never getting any hotter.

Perhaps there would be increased wear on individual cores though, but I can't imagine.

If you don't like it, turn it off. Sure there's a setting in BIOS.