Building new PC - possible to use 2 different cards with SC, 1660 and 2070?

[vahadar]

This IS the annoying part ! I've got all the parts to rebuild a mini-itx machine except the processor.

Well, that will give me time to choose ;) I am still not 100% convinced by the Ryzen 7 5800X vs the Ryzen 5 5600X, the gain in fps on the various benchmark i saw is not that big compared to the price/value of the 5600X.

But it has been a longtime i haven't built any PC. And i am wondering if the 5600X will allow my GPU (Gigabyte RTX 3070 Gaming OC 8G) to work at 100%. I guess it will since the difference is not that big with the 5800X, and most test i saw were made with a RTX 3080 or RTX 2080Ti for the GPU.

The choice for the CPU will mostly depend on what is required by Star Citizen in its current state to use my GPU at 100% and to deliver max graphics in 1440p. I am building this machine for SC firstly, and gaming in general, no other use. So if a 5600X is enough, because i read that having multiple core does not help with SC(?), then it will be a 5600X. But that i do not know.

I can also wait and see if AMD will release a Ryzen 7 5700X.

 

[Kaus_Borealis]

Well, that will give me time to choose ;) I am still not 100% convinced by the Ryzen 7 5800X vs the Ryzen 5 5600X, the gain in fps on the various benchmark i saw is not that big compared to the price/value of the 5600X.

But it has been a longtime i haven't built any PC. And i am wondering if the 5600X will allow my GPU (Gigabyte RTX 3070 Gaming OC 8G) to work at 100%. I guess it will since the difference is not that big with the 5800X, and most test i saw were made with a RTX 3080 or RTX 2080Ti for the GPU.

The choice for the CPU will mostly depend on what is required by Star Citizen in its current state to use my GPU at 100% and to deliver max graphics in 1440p. I am building this machine for SC firstly, and gaming in general, no other use. So if a 5600X is enough, because i read that having multiple core does not help with SC(?), then it will be a 5600X. But that i do not know.

I can also wait and see if AMD will release a Ryzen 7 5700X.

The less cores your CPU has the more OC you can reach. If price/value is on your side pick the 5600X with no worries.

Probably in a couple of years will come DDR5 RAM and you're going to change again your rig, so the less you invest on, the more money you can save.

 

[vahadar]

@Kaus_Borealis So the less core the better for Star Citizen?

 

[Deroth]

The 1660 is overkill to use as a dedicated physx card and putting them in SLI would both reduce the capabilities of the 2070 and is poorly supported by most games to include SC.

Good SSD(s) are something to definitely not overlook, they make an huge difference in the performance for SC in the current state.

 

[Kaus_Borealis]

@Kaus_Borealis So the less core the better for Star Citizen?

Nowadays six cores is enough. And as far as a single CPU thread has the most output performance running the game, you need the more GHZ and IPC you can reach for that.

IPC depends on CPU Architecture so AMD 5000 series is the right option for gaming, and a bit of OC will pump up more the performance. OC increases temperature, and more cores increases it too...so less cores gives you more room for OC.

Chris Roberts had promised that SC would use all cores with balanced output performance, but no evidence of that ATM probably when they release final gold Star Citizen.

 

[Lorddarthvik]

@Kaus_Borealis So the less core the better for Star Citizen?

No, and yes.
Basically there is a tipping point where having more cores doesn't bring as much performance gain as having a higher clock rate on less cores, because the application cannot take advantage of more cores. (one of the reasons I'm still gonna go with Intel on my build)
Most applications including games are designed to take full advantage of 4 cores and some can make use of 8 efficiently. Efficient use of more cores in a single application is very rare, and it's going to stay that way for a while yet.
As the majority of the market is still mostly running 4-6 cores (8-12 threads), it's going to take quiet a while for applications to make efficient use of more. On the other hand, programmers don't need to account for higher clock rates the same way, as it always gives benefits and also the general range of clock speeds hasn't changed for like 15 years. There are more elaborate explanations as to why this is, but it's not important.

tldr.: what @Kaus_Borealis said. SC should run fine on the ryzen 5 with less money burnt

Also what @Deroth said, a good SSD can make a huge difference in the current state of SC!
For example friend hopped into SC free fly from a HDD cos he has this belief that you should never install games on an SSD .lol
He couldn't play, the game kept crashing after literal 5 minutes of loading. Then he tried his really old SATA SSD, took him quiet a while to load and 3 out of 5 times it crashed on loading. Then I finally convinced his stupid ass that playing games like SC won't instantly break his precious M.2 SSD (cos write cycles blah blah), and hey presto, it worked like a charm! It took half days worth of faffing about and an immeasurable amount of patience on my end, but it was worth it. He became a convert!

tldr2.: SC likes a fast SSD, get a good one!

 

[Kaus_Borealis]

As far as you'll have large sesions of Star citizen, pick a good B550 mobo with good VRM and mosfets that fits with your wallet capacity.

B550 VRM DB sheet

docs.google.com

 

[Kaus_Borealis]

tldr.: what @Kaus_Borealis said. SC should run fine on the ryzen 5 with less money burnt

Yes, but be careful. Ryzen 5 doesn't mean 5000 series by default. There are a wide range of ryzen 5 of older architectures (1000, 2000, and 3000) not recommended today.

 

[vahadar]

Thank you all for the good tips and explanations ! I will go for a Ryzen 5 5600X then. No point buying a Ryzen 7 5800X if the game is not going to use it fully before release. And by then there will be newer CPU.

As far as you'll have large sesions of Star citizen, pick a good B550 mobo with good VRM and mosfets that fits with your wallet capacity.

I already ordered a MSI MAG B550 Thomahawk. I read decent reviews about it.

Al
so what @Deroth said, a good SSD can make a huge difference in the current state of SC!

@Deroth @Lorddarthvik I picked a Samsung Evo 970 plus. It is not the fastest around, but for the budget and the capacity (2tb), it is a compromise. I bought some extra EKWB heatsink for the SSD, to get slightly better performance at cheaper cost.

 

[vahadar]

The 5600X and 5800X are nowhere to be found, except overpriced shops. Even the legit big names here in France have inflated the price for both compared to last week, but nothing in stock. 420€ for a 5600X and 630€ for a 5800X... I see some stock in Denmark at regular public price but i can not buy from there since it ships only in DK and its overseas :) I guess i need to wait for January, better luck i hope.
I received everything else now, even the RTX 3070 OC.

 

[vahadar]

I finally decided to return the RTX 2070 Super and took a Gigabyte RTX 3070 instead, with a 650 Corsair gold PSU, a MSI motherboard B550 Thomahawk MAG, and some LPX Corsair vengeance ram 32gb@3600. I have everything for my new PC except the processor heh.

I'll also take the new CPU gen from AMD. But the Ryzen 5 5600X and the Ryzen 7 5800X are all out of stock in major online retailers in Europe (at least in France, UK or Germany) and I don't want to buy them overpriced on smaller unknown shops...

So i will wait for new CPU stock, I'll go for the 5800X.

I have taken a Ryzen 5 3500X for my wife on a MSI B450 motherboard, with my previous PSU Gigabyte PW400 with 16gb Corsair vengeance ram@3000mhz and my Gigabyte GTX 1660 OC GPU.

I am still wondering if the PSU is enough for her, should I get a 450W or more? She has a 500gb Samsung 970 Evo SSD and a 2TB Seagate barracuda HDD. Nothing else plugged beside the screen, a 31,5" AOC Q3279VWF.

Those setup will last us a few years, probably untill the release of SC for me and more for my wife.

Thanks all for the tips!

edit : B550 mb typo, it is a MAG, not Max

After 1 month of patience i managed to gets my hands on a new pair of T16000 FCS with the throttle system also, that makes 3 T16 sticks just in case one broke, since i'll go dual stick ;) Thrusmaster stocks are nearly all depleted it is crazy.

But my PC is now complete since late december, finally took a 5600X, only one from the 5600-5800 in stock, a bit overpriced but stocks are close to zero everywhere, havent tried Star Citizen yet with it as i am stuck atm with Cyberpunk hehe (thus my absence from the game and forums^^).

Took myself a K70 RGB MK2 Low Profile corsair keyboard, this is a real change compared to my gaming laptop very low profile keys, still need to get used to it as it is very much sensitive.

And the wife's PC is also complete, running on a 3500X with 16GB ram, SSD + HDD and the Gygabyte1660 OC, a bit overpowered for what she is using it for heh.

 

[BUTUZ]

Nice I got a 5600x too great CPU. It's as fast as my 3700X was in multicore and significantly faster in single core and games. Boosts waaay higher than the old one.