A PC Build that can handle Max graphics?

[Aquanos]

hi

looking to build a pc for pso2 only. this was originally suggested to me by a friend (http://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/wiki/builds#wiki_the_next-gen_crusher).
just looking to get opinions from people who run on max settings w/ smooth gameplay.
umm...I guess my budget is...500ish$ idk. I can go higher, just not in the 1k's

[Maenara]

I have an MSI G60 Leopard and that runs full HD max graphics PSO2 without breaking a sweat. It costs about 850$ though.

[Lumpen Thingy]

that build needs more ram but other then that it should do pretty well on most games

[Horo The Wise Wolf]

AMD processor and GPU will do good in the wintertime as a nice space heater.

[Anduril]

I'm running an old Radeon HD 6870 1GB, 16GB DDR31333, a Phenom II X4 965 @3.4GHz, and a WD Blue 640GB 7200RPM SATA-II drive. The game runs quite well at 1920x1080, 60fps, high resolution textures, with all shaders at max, so I imagine that the build your friend gave you should work well. Heat wise, while playing PSO2 on a warm day, CPU temps hit ~57C and GPU hits ~75C, but I also have a poorly ventilated case. With any AMD CPU, you are definitely going to need to buy a non-stock heatsink.

EDIT: Also, unless you are cloning your current partition over to the new HDD or using your current HDD in the new build, don't forget to throw the price of the OS into the total.

[red1228]

I'm a little surprised that the GeForce 840m (750m equivalent) can handle this game without breaking a sweat. Not trying to argue with you Mae, I am just legitimately surprised, is all.

In regards to the OP's question: Yes, that build you provided should run this game at max graphics, very smoothly.

Your Athlon (CPU) is literally the same as my A10 5800k (yours just has its integrated graphics disabled/removed). And your R9 280 is about 5% stronger than my 270X. I run the game on a "5" with all lighting effects/shaders set to "on or full".
The only time I get any kind of frame drop is in the lobbies when the game is trying to load the 50 or so players I set it to. When actually playing the game (in missions/quests): no amount of Desert Sandstorm weather effects, Technique Explosions or Julius Nykktas going off in a Chain-Photon Blast slows me down... Sure I can't see when all that crap is going on, but its all running very smoothly.

If I may make a suggestion: Try to get 8GB of RAM. 4 is fine for now, but no one is "just playing the game by itself". You're still well under your $500 limit.

[Maenara]

Oh yeah, I can run Chrome, Skype, Steam, even run other games with PSO2 in the background, everything at max setting. Minecraft is the only thing that consistently makes my fan go into overdrive, PSO2 barely makes it come on at all. It's a very nice laptop for the money. I have motion blur turned off not because I can't run it, but because it makes screenshots look ugly, but that's no issue to run with either.

[Vatallus]

This depends on what you mean by max. Do you mean max by ingame standards (which a medium high rig can easily handle) or do you plan to create a PSO2 profile on a graphics card and boost the graphics even more?

Yes, the max ingame settings of graphics isn't this game full potential but without some serious GPU power you would blow up even that GPU. (I'm taking at least 2 high end GPUs)

I'd have to open up nvidia inspector and recheck but I am pretty sure my Geforce 650 Ti Boost doesn't even pass 50% load on everything max and sits at around 55c temp. (Ingame max)

I use to have a nvidia profile for the best possible settings on PSO2 but that left my GPU as 95c and 99% load (it was meant for 2 GPUs) so I had to quickly turn it off.

[musicmf]

About Build;
If it were at all possible, I'd go for 8GB of Ram, a decent SSD boot drive, and possibly a case with Front USB3.0 ports.

4GB of ram is kinda minimal. I'd have to dial back my multitasking/tab hoarding so much if I tried to go with only 4GB.
Once I went SSD, I can never go back to a normal HDD for booting things. Although, I don't really notice a difference in PSO2 performance when installed on my 120GB boot SSD, so I just have it installed on my large 3TB Storage HDD.
While your Motherboard has USB 3.0 ports on the back, it also seems to have USB3.0 headers for Front-Case ports. I like having ports in the front for my USB3.0 items.

Otherwise, I think it looks pretty decent; and it seems to fall beneath your $500~ quoted price point.
(I'm a bit more partial to Intel CPUs and Nvidia though, but that's just preference not performance.)

-------

About Prices;
If your not in a rush to build the PC, you can also wait around for sales (and deal with rebates) on individual parts.

For example, I semi-recently ordered these to build a computer (http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VDw24D) to replace my sister's 8-year-old-computer. (DDR2 Ram, Intel Pro Duo, Windows Vista, etc.)
(Note, I'm not saying to grab these parts, I'm using this as an example for the savings below)

[SPOILER-BOX]After S/H, Tax, and Rebates; what I paid for my parts compared to your link were:
- $12 less on RAM, and I got 8GB (Although, ADATA instead of Crucial) [Mcafee-Bundle Rebates!]
- $8 less on an SSD (Although less space, I have old HDDs I can install for extra storage) [Mcafee-Bundle Rebates!]
- $5 less on the case, and it comes with USB 3.0 Ports

While I haven't tried the CPU yet (It's still in the mail), the CPU+Mobo is $14 cheaper than the link, and supposedly the G3258 is a beast for performance when mildly overclocked (Although, lacking cores... Does PSO2 make use of more than 2 cores?). Then the LG1150 socket allows for possible upgrades to i5/i7 later on if she feels the need to get more power.
I'll just leave CPU at that, I really don't want to go into Intel/AMD, Dual/Quad and such.

The total after Shipping, Tax, and Rebates for the build came to $226~ for me.
Although, it's lacking a video card. I'm shoving my old HD6790 in it, it should do because she isn't a hardcore gamer.
If I wanted to I could buy something like the R9 280 as linked by you which would add $160~ unless I found a sale ($120~ last Black Friday) for that too... but this was more of a budget performer, and not a gaming PC build I made for her.[/SPOILER-BOX]

The problem with waiting for sales? Simply the fact that you have to wait.
I think it's coming up to 2 months so far on how long it's taking to build this PC, lol. At least she still has her terrible one to use atm, and the final piece is being shipped out already.

[Maenara]

This depends on what you mean by max. Do you mean max by ingame standards (which a medium high rig can easily handle) or do you plan to create a PSO2 profile on a graphics card and boost the graphics even more?

Yes, the max ingame settings of graphics isn't this game full potential but without some serious GPU power you would blow up even that GPU. (I'm taking at least 2 high end GPUs)

I'd have to open up nvidia inspector and recheck but I am pretty sure my Geforce 650 Ti Boost doesn't even pass 50% load on everything max and sits at around 55c temp. (Ingame max)

I use to have a nvidia profile for the best possible settings on PSO2 but that left my GPU as 95c and 99% load (it was meant for 2 GPUs) so I had to quickly turn it off.

I don't know how to enable nonstandard stuff. I'd love to be able to make all graphics as good as inside the beauty salon. I tried to enable AO, but that didn't work. Someone said something about newer drivers not working for it, but iunno.

[Vatallus]

Supposedly you need older Nvidia Drivers to use AO. Something about newer drivers no longer using that version of AO and PSO2 uses an outdated engine that doesn't support the new "SSAO". And then the fact that Nvidia calls their version "HBAO".

I think if you are using Nvidia you need driver 314.xx? Maybe 310.xx, wish I could remember. I know a player on Ship 9 that does this but him and I aren't on the best of terms at the moment so I wouldn't even be able to get the info out of him.

Actually this might help: http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205228

Seems there is a way to get HBAO or SSAO to work? Haven't tried it myself.

[Maenara]

Is there a method to force salon-quality textures everywhere?

[Vatallus]

Tried the topic above and didn't work for me. lol Yeah totally need to figure out which series of nvidia drivers is the right one to use after Nvidia changed their AO setup.

[Sizustar]

You don't need a very strong PC to run the default max setting.
If you want to enable AO and other stuff such as SweetFX, then you'll need a Nvidia GPU that support driver version 327.23, as all driver after use HBAO+, which doesn't work as well in PSO2

[schnee4]

AO...hehe
PSO2 is anime graphic no skyrim
:-?

[thehondachef]

The game is playable but chugs a little at max settings on my work laptop, which has a Core i5 3320M (comparable in performance to the 760K) and uses integrated HD4000 video on its 1336x768 screen.

With that video card, the rig you linked could definitely do max in-game settings at 1920x1080, and with most of the extra forced settings the more advanced users are running. A bit low on RAM though. You could go with a cheaper video card and more RAM.

[Aquanos]

You don't need a very strong PC to run the default max setting.
If you want to enable AO and other stuff such as SweetFX, then you'll need a Nvidia GPU that support driver version 327.23, as all driver after use HBAO+, which doesn't work as well in PSO2

Yeah, i'm not looking for anything advance, just within PSO2's general ingame graphic settings.

[Misaki Ki]

You don't need a very strong PC to run the default max setting.
If you want to enable AO and other stuff such as SweetFX, then you'll need a Nvidia GPU that support driver version 327.23, as all driver after use HBAO+, which doesn't work as well in PSO2

Don't forget an older GPU as well. Typically the GTX 770 and under. Cards released after the 770 do not support drivers that old. The 770 is probably the best card for this game, but it's worth keeping in mind what GPUs people need for those drivers.

For just maxing PSO2 though, a fairly weak GPU will do it quite cheaply.

[Sizustar]

Don't forget an older GPU as well. Typically the GTX 770 and under. Cards released after the 770 do not support drivers that old. The 770 is probably the best card for this game, but it's worth keeping in mind what GPUs people need for those drivers.

For just maxing PSO2 though, a fairly weak GPU will do it quite cheaply.

GTX 780 still support the older AO.
GTX 780 TI, you need to do a modded driver

[Misaki Ki]

GTX 780 still support the older AO.
GTX 780 TI, you need to do a modded driver

770 was released after the 780, but I did did say it more like series order - so thanks for that. I honestly forgot about the 780. I didn't know people managed to get a driver to stick with the 780 Ti though, I had trouble with it myself - mind showing me sometime Sizunee?

[Squal_FFVIII]

This game can be weird at times. I heard from people with high end pc's say that the game stutters like crazy or has "weapon switch lag" (ive gotten this before with a GTX670 O.O which is still a decent card by todays standards).

But of course everyone has a different opinion on "smooth" gameplay. To me perfectly buttery smooth gameplay is 60 solid fps, no stutter, no framerate drops/no weapon switch lag/stutter etc etc.

My GTX670 runs this game decently IMO. It does not meet the perfect buttery smooth gameplay that I get in other games.

So take that into account. I say this game is weird because, I can run Skyrim with 7gigs worth of mods including HD 2K textures/lighting mods/(and many more graphical enhancement mods) AAx4 AFx16 and Super sample AAx2 at a rock solid 60fps most of the time. It's almost perfectly buttery smooth. Yet pso2 pales in comparison in graphics quality and runs worse ^^;

That said i've also heard from people with GTX 460's running the game perfectly smooth sooo weird!

[Dephinix]

It will always vary like that, sadly.

[SHiFT-Di3S3L]

i5 680 - oc @ 4.18GHz
8GB RAM - oc @ 160 Mhz
EVGA Nvidia GTX 560 Ti

This setup will be ok for max in-game settings, smooth 60fps, in an unpopulated block.

At the time of the build, my pc cost me somewhere around $2000. Of course, by today's standards this stuff is obsolete, but I get by.

That said, if you can get a GTX 760Ti for cheap today, you will be fine graphically. Set a minimum of 8GB RAM. Going 16GB is up to you, but I don't think you'll see that much in performance gain. Today's Intel cores are not bad, even without an oc. I can't speak for AMD chips, as I've never built a system based on one. When you do decide, make sure to get a good motherboard. A few months ago, I was eyeing Asus' Z97-A board, I thought it seemed kinda decent at $150. Then my timing belt needed replacement. T^T

[Dephinix]

Still using an old i7 920 @ 2.67GHz with an old EVGA GTX 275 here. The game really doesn't ask for too much to be ran on max.

[Squal_FFVIII]

I'm actually hoping to upgrade to a GTX 980 sometime soon, but I need to save more money ._.

[Aquanos]

so my budget got moved to 600 - 700 but everyone's worried about how long it will last vs buying a pre-build one with a warranty

[Aeris]

Prebuild gives you 1 year warranty unless you pay for extending it, computer parts by custom build ranges from 2 years to up to 10 years with the exception of system ram which is lifetime depending on the parts themselves, there is some parts like the XFX graphic cards that give lifetime warranty and thats mostly all i know for now.

[Dephinix]

Pre-built as in pick up at a crap retail store, or a business that sells you custom PCs without you doing the work? Pre-builts are pretty lame PC wise.
Usually more expensive as well in the higher range of 800+. Below that you can find cheaper, but with obviously cheaper crap. Warranty is also
funny to try to deal with. Especially with HP or Dell, lol.

[musicmf]

so my budget got moved to 600 - 700 but everyone's worried about how long it will last vs buying a pre-build one with a warranty

Beyond fcking up royally (bending/snapping off any pins/connectors, shorting the motherboard by not grounding yourself while building the PC), there isn't anything different about a pre built and custom built, durability wise.
And btw, building is pretty much "Insert X part into Y slot on the motherboard" It's not as complicated as people who haven't built a computer believe.

What is different about a custom built computer is;
- Warranty, as stated by Aeris.
- Labor, since you have to spend 20~ minutes putting it together
- Parts, you can choose brands and such instead of being stuck with whatever inferior product is in a prebuilt. (Say, if you didn't like PNY ram, or Seagate HDDs. Or you preferred GIGABYTE motherboards)

- Parts, this lets you pay for performance, instead of paying for a name.
Often times, budget PCs tout high numbers for number of Cores, HDD space, and RAM. It let's average consumers (like my cousin a month ago), see a computer and go "Wow, 6 cores; 3TB space, and 8GB RAM!" and wow them.
Unfortunately, that's all they are getting. The power supply is often bare minimum, so you can't add in any parts. The video card is non-existent, so you'll work with integrated graphics. There might be no more available RAM slots. The case might have only 2 HDD docks. Etc etc.
Then there are the "Gaming PCs" that actually have decent parts in them. The only problem is, that you could probably build the PC yourself for 20~40% off the price at least. More if you wait for sales.

Actually, the more that I think about it. While the durability of the PC may not be different... The knowledge of building your PC could help out in case there are problems.
You'll know where everything in your computer is, so if you have to upgrade or fix (or research) something you'll be more confident around the parts.

I've upgraded the computer I'm using right now so many times, and I've never had a hardware issue with it in 5+ years.

[thehondachef]

I'll vouch for what musicmf said. Especially the part about being confident in your knowledge of the parts you use. Prebuilt systems commonly use parts that are semi-proprietary, or have no good documentation. Customization and repair are usually more difficult because of this.

I'll throw this in, if you're going to shop around for your parts: https://pcpartpicker.com/
Whether you're trying to decide on a part, or just trying to find the best price for a specific one, that's a good resource.

[SHiFT-Di3S3L]

Very true, once you carefully assemble the Lego parts together and fasten them properly, clean gently with compressed air on a regular basis to always allow airflow, you should be ok. My systems typically last about 6-7 years before I feel like replacing or building something new.

Are you just moving your current HDD over?

[Skyly]

so my budget got moved to 600 - 700 but everyone's worried about how long it will last vs buying a pre-build one with a warranty

TBH just go with the link in the OP and upgrade the ram to 8gb.
You OS can be freely obtained
Also you would need a monitor, probably cost ~$120
new mouse and keyboard.
And optical drive. (optional nowadays)

[Squal_FFVIII]

Never EVER buy a prebuilt pc (like from dell/gateway/HP etc etc) always build your own. With 700 bucks you can build something much better than what dell can give you.

If you don't know how to build a pc there are a TON of youtubes videos showing this in full detail.

You should try saving more money to get your budget up to 800/1000. 1000 is the sweet spot IMO. Not only will you get a pc that will run pso2 well but it will run other games very well too.

[NightfallG]

The hardest part about building a PC might be applying TIM properly on your processor. That's really about it. Everything else is tab A slot B.

[FireswordRus]

[spoiler-box]http://puu.sh/g5iJ8.jpg[/spoiler-box]

[SHiFT-Di3S3L]

[spoiler-box]http://puu.sh/g5iJ8.jpg[/spoiler-box]

That's actually kinda overkill. ^^;

[thehondachef]

The hardest part about building a PC might be applying TIM properly on your processor. That's really about it. Everything else is tab A slot B.


Yeah... for the thermal paste part, you should watch a youtube video. Preferably of someone putting on the specific CPU cooler you pick, but any video will give you the right idea.
Here's an install video for my cooler, for reference. Skipped ahead to thermal paste part:
[SPOILER-BOX]How to install a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO on Intel 1150 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47WBQI31eE&feature=youtu.be&t=3m7s)[/SPOILER-BOX]

It might seem like a bit of a hassle, but the value (price vs performance) quality of the end product, and experience gained is well worth it.

[Squal_FFVIII]

There are a ton of debates about thermal paste, but it's actually not something to stress over. It's actually really easy.

I've tested all of the popular methods and they all work. The line method, the spread method, and the "pea" shaped dab in the middle which is the most common and most easy to do. It's also the version that I recomend. Just don't put to much. Less is better when in comes to TIM. Like others have said watch some youtube vids to see how much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rn0BqMyXBM

There you go.

[Lumpen Thingy]

There are a ton of debates about thermal paste, but it's actually not something to stress over. It's actually really easy.

I've tested all of the popular methods and they all work. The line method, the spread method, and the "pea" shaped dab in the middle which is the most common and most easy to do. It's also the version that I recomend. Just don't put to much. Less is better when in comes to TIM. Like others have said watch some youtube vids to see how much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rn0BqMyXBM

There you go.

this is better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnyoJtv9Cx0

[thehondachef]

I saw the toothpaste and
http://i.imgur.com/U1EwMC2.gif

Those are all good videos, though.

[Squal_FFVIII]

You shouldnt show someone who's never built a pc vids like that. Now I know it's common sense that you SHOULDN'T wash your motherboard with water like that, but you never know... ._.

That said I watched a vid last time of a girl building her first gaming pc and she put a ton of thermal paste of her cpu. I bet when she put her fan/heat skin on it, it went down to the sides and onto the motherboard >.<

It's good that Logan at the end of the vid links his REAL educational video though.

JJ say's it best though, "in the end of the day it's not something to stress over" well said WAY too many people stress over applying thermal paste.

[imarm007]

I'm using AMD Athlon II X4 640 with AMD HD 5770 and I got no ploblem running this game.