Best builds under $1,500 to play Star Citizen in 2018

Shadowmarine

Captain
Dec 14, 2017
12
27
200
RSI Handle
Aiden Stenwulf
Hello Ladies and Gents

So i am in the process of trying to build a new PC. however i know almost nothing about what is good gear or cheep. also add to the fact that money is an issue for me and i am sitting in a world of hut trying to decide what to buy.

so far i have the following in my future build plan also i hope that this build will last me the next few years

CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid 240 66.7 CFM Liquid
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Gaming 5 (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1151
Ram: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming
Storage: Seagate FireCuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid, [URL='https://pcpartpicker.com/product/FrH48d/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e500bam']Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" SSD[/URL]
Box: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower
Power supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX
Fan: Corsair ML120 PRO RGB (3 pack w/Lighting Node PRO) 47.3 CFM 120mm

all of this adds up to $1424.07 if anyone has any advice i would love to hear it. What should i be focusing my money on that would help most in playing SC.
 
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a naked dead guy

Commander
Oct 20, 2017
7
40
100
RSI Handle
a naked dead guy
everything you have there looks great.

i personally would change the liquid cooler for a large static heatsink with multiply fans and invest in more ram. might upgrade the psu too, i don't like using under 750w psu myself. the heatsink and psu are just personal opinion though. a lot of people will say to keep the liquid cooler but as a guy that runs a pc repair shop i have seen many bust over the years and people having to replace almost all of their internal parts after that.
 
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Bambooza

Space Marshal
Donor
Sep 25, 2017
5,682
17,881
2,875
RSI Handle
MrBambooza
Hello Ladies and Gents

So i am in the process of trying to build a new PC. however i know almost nothing about what is good gear or cheep. also add to the fact that money is an issue for me and i am sitting in a world of hut trying to decide what to buy.

so far i have the following in my future build plan also i hope that this build will last me the next few years

CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid 240 66.7 CFM Liquid
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Gaming 5 (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1151
Ram: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming
Storage: Seagate FireCuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid, Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" SSD
Box: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower
Power supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX
Fan: Corsair ML120 PRO RGB (3 pack w/Lighting Node PRO) 47.3 CFM 120mm

all of this adds up to $1424.07 if anyone has any advice i would love to hear it. What should i be focusing my money on that would help most in playing SC.

Looks good the only thing I would double check would be the power supply with the load your attempting to put on it might not be enough.
 

LTGenFalcon

Captain
Nov 17, 2016
13
29
200
RSI Handle
Lt.GenFALCON
Hi there,

well not exactly below the given budget, but for sure you can build with the most important components a nice systemconfig around that budget ;-)

  • CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K 1151V2 BOX 6-Core 5.2 Ghz OC
  • CPU Cooler: CooMaster MasterAir Maker 8
  • Motherboard: Asus ROG MAXIMUS X HERO Z370 1151
  • Ram: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB 2x 16GB DDR4-3000
  • Video Card: ZOTAC GeForce D5X GTX 1080 Ti AMP Extr. Core 11GB
  • Storage1: Optane 900P 280 SSD for OS
  • Storage2: Optane 900P 480 SSD for Star Citizen only
  • Storage3: Samsung 850 EVO Basic 2 TB 600 MBps
  • Box: Thermaltake P5 Wallmounted
  • Power supply: Aerocool Strike-X 1100W ATX Red
  • Fan: Simple but effective fans. Don't like liquid cooling ;-)

I'm using 4x ipad3's for my Power Grid. Picca below 2x ipad's where confiscated by my son lol, Voice Attack for extra support ingame instead of keybinds.

Webcam for streaming is a Logitech C922 1080 Full HD, headset Logitech G933, keyboard Logitech G19s, mouse Roccat Tyon, joystick Thrustmaster T16000m FCS HOTAS.

Speakers: Logitech Z906 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System - THX, Dolby Digital and DTS Digital

Screens, are 4x IIyama ProLite B2791HSU-B1 27" Full HD, not the newest but still working perfectly and doing there jobs great until now

So, this is a bit my setup and the only products that are on schedule, is a gaming keypad but i don't know yet witch its gonna be. But this will be for later ;-)


For more info: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLpuPx4DTocoQg53ziX-WIw
Or find me on the nice photo from CitizenCon2017, this handsome man with this cool jacked and BIG smile ;-)

o7, citizens!

 
Last edited:

dubbzy

Admiral
Dec 23, 2014
396
251
800
RSI Handle
dubbzy104
I recently built a new computer (upgrading from an old one). I spent about the same, but with a couple key differences (and a bunch of minor ones):
  • I got 32GB of ram instead of 16. You could probably live with 16 for now, and buy 2 more stick later to upgrade to 32. Also, unle
  • I would get an M2 SSD if your motherboard supports it. They aren't that much more than regular SSDs. Although, I did pull the old SSDs from my old computer for extra storage
  • The biggest difference: I'm using my old GTX 970. I was looking at getting a 1070ti or 1080, but its too hard to find them at "normal" prices. I'm hoping I can wait until the 1100-series comes out. If you are only going to play at 1080p resolution, You might be able to save some money by getting a 1070ti instead of a 1080. But really, just go with what's available
I was playing star citizen 3.0 on high graphic settings (at 1080p), and the limiter was still server-side lag. I do have a Oculus Rift, and while the 970 works with that, I do have to turn the graphics down when I play Elite: Dangerous. For 1080p though, the card works fine with everything
 

SullyQuindarius

Admiral
Dec 24, 2017
951
3,625
700
RSI Handle
SullyQuindarius
Yeah, I'm trying to come up with a good build too. So far I've got this:

Intel i7-8700k
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Ti (where the heck do I buy this? Can I not get the "normal" version? All I can find are the modified ASUS, etc versions on Newegg... If all I can get are the different versions, which one should I get that's closest to the supposed price of $450?)
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 16GB RAM
Asus Z370P motherboard
Samsung 960 EVO M.2 250GB (It's cheap and quick. I'll probably add an Optane drive eventually but for now I don't want to add $400 to my build)

Is this good?
 
Last edited:

Shadowmarine

Captain
Dec 14, 2017
12
27
200
RSI Handle
Aiden Stenwulf
So, this is a bit my setup and the only products that are on schedule, is a gaming keypad but i don't know yet witch its gonna be. But this will be for later ;-)

For more info: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLpuPx4DTocoQg53ziX-WIw
Or find me on the nice photo from CitizenCon2017, this handsome man with this cool jacked and BIG smile ;-)

o7, citizens!

Dude that rig looks like it would put NASA to shame! love it
 
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dubbzy

Admiral
Dec 23, 2014
396
251
800
RSI Handle
dubbzy104
Yeah, I'm trying to come up with a good build too. So far I've got this:

Intel i7-8700k
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Ti (where the heck do I buy this? Can I not get the "normal" version? All I can find are the modified ASUS, etc versions on Newegg... If all I can get are the different versions, which one should I get that's closest to the supposed price of $450?)
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 16GB RAM
Asus Z370P motherboard
Samsung 960 EVO M.2 250GB (It's cheap and quick. I'll probably add an Optane drive eventually but for now I don't want to add $400 to my build)

Is this good?
Yeah that's good, but you won't be able to find 1070 TIs anywhere. Nvidia sells a few reference cards, but the vast majority are sold out to other companies (Asus, evga, etc). But there's a huge GPU shortage out there, so even if you do find a 1070 ti in stock, it probably won't be under $600
 
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Shadowmarine

Captain
Dec 14, 2017
12
27
200
RSI Handle
Aiden Stenwulf
Yeah that's good, but you won't be able to find 1070 TIs anywhere. Nvidia sells a few reference cards, but the vast majority are sold out to other companies (Asus, evga, etc). But there's a huge GPU shortage out there, so even if you do find a 1070 ti in stock, it probably won't be under $600
That' due to the Entire overclocking thing right. Has Something to do with Renting out your System for data use or something Like that For bit coins
 
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