The Computer Advice Thread

Ironsoul

I'm making this thread because I can. I'll get straight to the point: it is to contain advice on upgrades, new builds, examples of performance using video footage showcasing the game.

There's been a lot of complaints about bad performance in NS2... I say, nuts to that, here's a little story to keep you interested:
It is my opinion that a windows based laptop is roughly 3 times as expensive than a windows based desktop. So a $3000 laptop is equivalent to a $1000 desktop. A $900 laptop is equivalent to a $300 desktop... I'm unsure whether I should include the operating system as those are funny things, so let's stick to hardware and ignore the fact that most laptops come with an operating system.

SO.. my $900 laptop of 9 months ago has the following speceroonies:
CPU: Core i7 3610QM 2.3ghz
RAM: 8GB DDR3 at 1333mhz
GPU: Nvidia Geforce GT 630M 2GB (renamed 540M version)

In order to play ns2 at 720p, I have to turn everything to low. I get between 25fps and 50fps depending on the level and what's going on. This is okay, but I lowered my resolution a bit further to 1024x768 and I was getting between 40fps and 60fps.

Let's do a desktop equivalent by looking at charts and whatnot. I will only be using new parts in my local availability pricing which is Australia, those of you in America will be paying LESS.
CPU: Core i3 3220 - $119 (difficult to figure out equivalent)
RAM: Kingston ValueRAM KVR1333D3N9/8G 8GB - $45
GPU: No equivalent available, going to next higher one possible: Galaxy GeForce GT 630 2GB - $59
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-DGS Motherboard - $59
Case and PSU: CoolerMaster Elite 341 with 420W - $59
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB ST500DM002 - $60
Monitor(optional): Samsung S20B300B 20in Widescreen LED Monitor - $119
Keyboard,Mouse,MousePad $45: Gigabyte GM-M6880 Laser Gaming Mouse ($15) | SteelSeries Cataclysm Goblin QcK Cloth Mousepad ($5) | Gigabyte Force K3 Gaming Keyboard Matte Black ($25) (Optional)
Operating System(Optional): Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit $95
No DVD drive, if you don't have one already, you can get noe for $19 (not including in price), but you can also install windows via usb stick, I assume if you're reading this you have access to the internet and a computer with usb capabilities.

Total Without Optional: $401
Total with optional: $660

On top of this, there's every chance that if you're on such a budget, you can buy things second hand:
GTX 260 can handle the game (I know because I have a 295 which is two 260s in SLI). - You can find them for $40 in Aus second hand
GTX 460 is still a good card and can be found for $70 in Aus second hand.
You can opt for a pentium G2120 or less which will offer decent performance in ns2 (I was running ns2 at 40fps on a pentium e5300 back in beta days). $75 ( or less for the lower end ones).
You can use a TV for a monitor or get a second hand one for cheap.

Now let's get back to business, the point is if you're experiencing poor performance in ns2, you have two options: turn your settings down, or upgrade. Upgrading does not mean you have to spend large amounts of money.

Finally, and to sum up(read this if you can't be bothered reading all that):
If you want some advice on hardware upgrades, or you are wondering what to get to play ns2, ask in this very thread and I'll try to answer to the best of my knowledge. Keep your questions to this theme:
"I want to play natural selection 2 without lag and I'm willing to turn the settings down a bit, what should I get?" (also if you want advice on what to upgrade, post your current specs. or:
"I want to play natural selection 2 without lag at 1080p and I don't have a budget, what the heck should I get that doesn't go overboard?" or:
"I want to just beast it out, $5000 budget, what the heck should I get?"

The key thing here is: what do you want to do? Budget affects things a bit but it's less of an issue than you would think.

deathmonger

An i3 processor paired with a GT 630? I highly doubt that's going to play most games very well. Certainly not NS2.

Ironsoul

it depends on the settings. There's this misconception out there that in order to play a game you need a beast computer. I'm less interested in what will max the game out at 1080p, and more interested in getting people running the game at whatever settings with decent framerates. If they want better pretties, then they need better hardware.

To respond to your post, the i3 is an excellent gaming cpu, it's significantly better than my old pentium e5300 cpu and if that could run ns2 decently, then I don't see why an i3 couldn't.

kk20

my £400 5560g laptop plays NS2 at medium settings with >30fps at 1366x7whatever just fine. It has a 7670M GPU and a llano processor. I chose it purely for gaming. It crossfires between integrated low power and dedicated for gaming. If you search for laptops with a decent GPU then start finding a CPU to match. There are bargains about. Venerable dell XPS15 have i5 CPUs and GT540M GPUs. These can also play NS2 at medium settings and go for about £500-£600

You need a better gfx than a 630 though (which is almost garbage for gaming). Look at saving money for a month or two and get a better card. i3's are fine not that many games take quad cores into account so a faster clocked dual may well be a better option.

Ironsoul

I uh, I'm not asking for advice, I'm just pointing out that you don't need excellent components to play ns2. I'm also offering advice to those who want more than basic graphics but aren't sure what to get.

I'll post up a recommendation to run ns2 at 1080p max settings with enjoyable performance:
GPU: 7850 : HIS Radeon HD7850 2GB - $199
Rest: Everything same as previous suggestions...
Total Without Optional: $541
Total With Optional: $800

As you can see, this points out a very interesting issue of value for money. If you try to go too cheap, you're not going to save as much money as you think. Some times it's better to spend a little more time saving and get that better graphics card. Of course a 7770 can also handle the game nicely and I would recommend that if you want to save some money over the 630. As the 7770 will run ns2 at 1080p with some settings reduced as needed.

As some people have pointed out, an i5 would be better... but isn't that obvious? Why would a superior, more expensive product be inferior? Once you have the base components selected. You then choose better ones as budget allows. I would start off by getting a better case, and a better power supply. If you get a really good case now, like the Fractal Design R4 for $150 or some other good case for less money than that(I'm a bit low on time here, if you want some specific case suggestions, just ask and post what you want out of it(looks, performance, noise, watercooling etc), then you won't have to rebuy the case in the future. Then I would get a decent power supply, such as the silverstone strider plus 600 which is fully modular and has 600 watts which is completely fine for a system with a 7970 in it.

ScardyBob

What computer hardware you should get is really dependent on what kind of framerate you want (or if you planning on doing anything like screen capturing or streaming). The most common factor is that NS2 is very CPU intensive, so the putting more money into your CPU (or overclocking) is the best option for squeezing more NS2 performance per dollar.

My more specific advice would be

A: <30 FPS on average
- Anything better than high-end hardware from five years ago (basically, the min requirements)

B: 30-60 FPS on average
- You'll want the consumer-grade hardware from the past two years (think i3/i5 or Athlon/Phenom X3)

C: >60 FPS on average
- Performance-level hardware from the past two years (think i5/i7 or Phenom X4/FX) would be preferred, but overclocking consumer-grade hardware can also work

Screen capture (think FRAPs/Dxtory/MSI Afterburner/etc)
- Basically, just go with the above recommendations for either the B or C situations (you'll lose roughly 25-50% fps depending on the situation and the program you use while recording)

E: Streaming
- Go as high-performance as you can afford. Streaming is hardware intensive so Sandy/Ivy i7's or Bulldozer/Piledriver FX's (think 81XX's or 83XX's) is highly recommended for 720p or higher streams of NS2. You can get away with less hardware if you use a capture card or do a dual PC streaming setup (i.e. one computer runs NS2 which exports to a streaming computer), but it can be more of a hassle to setup.

Ironsoul

I'd say ns2 is no more cpu intensive than it is gpu intensive. But your advice still holds true. I have a 2 year old i5 in my main computer: i5 2500. It handles the game just fine, I get about 60+fps except for high ping servers and tonnes of garbage(usually during a garbage game anyway so whatever). My graphics card Is excellent and I don't turn my settings down one bit at 1080p.