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.
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 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!

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.

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.