EVE General Discussion

Just wondering if someone could recommend a decent PC build from 200-300 ,dollars. Windows not included Just want something to run eve at either medium or higher settings with good fps. Old PC died and thank god.

Oh I wouldn't be buying all new parts. Used parts as well.

A build I was thinking of doing was buyimg a used fujitsu desktop that comes with windows installed for about 130$ or so. Then will be upgrading the GPU you in it to a gtx 770 I belive. Used of course and the ram upgraded to 8 GB of 1333mhz ram. About 80$ there.

You will hate that HDD. Awfully slow.

Or forego an SSD that artifacts after a month and get Black Series HDD, just a fast as SSD but without the hardware death in a year.

I'd want to avoid micro ATX mainboard and casing, they're horrible to fit stuff in/on and to expand later on.

- get an ATX midi tower
- change the mainboard to an ASRock FM2A88X PRO3+ ATX FM2+
- Change the HDD to a 500GB 7200rpm WD Caviar Blue, price difference is $5 but it'll perform so much better.
- memory wise 1600 tends to be cheaper than 1333 so pick any 8GB DDR3 -1600
- An R7 370 is 30-50% faster and costs some $50-70 more, up to you

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/build-8-core-gaming-pc-cheap-server-parts/
That sounds like a fun project as an alternative to buying new parts, especially if you don't pay for your electricity.

For playing EVE on one client (and for almost all games, really) your most important component by far is the graphics card. I'm using an HD5770 and I only get 25 FPS on maximum settings, so you'll need something a bit better than that for max settings. It would probably be OK for medium.

I'd also recommend stretching the budget for even a small SSD. They have stopped getting cheaper and they are not getting better, so you might as well buy one now. They make using the computer so much less unpleasant.

You should try to re-use parts from your old PC if you can such as your case and PSU, and most likely your HDD too (depending on size and interface, if it's IDE and 50GB then don't, if it's SATA 2 and 250GB then probably yes).

As for CPU/Mobo, I would go for this CPU and whatever mobo suits it:
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/fKCwrH/intel-cpu-bx80646g3258
Because of the socket 1150, it will give you an upgrade path to a nice used quadcore for not much money in a few years time. With AMD you are stuck with bad CPUs forever. Also, G3258 apparently overclocks extremely well.

Just out of interest what were the specs of your old PC?

I've never lost a ssd so far and started using them exclusively in feb 2011. Haven't even looked at a hd since.

Well that's not entirely true. I use external ones for backup purposes and safekeeping of old, not regularly needed data.

For cheap I would suggest getting a good base motherboard. 4 RAM slots, dual video card slots but still around $100. Then look at the CPU list and at how much RAM it can upgrade to in the future. The more the better.

Use the case, PSU, RAM, HDD and just replace to the new mobo and upgrade your video card.


Then later on simply add parts to this. RAM will be about $50 or so a shot and because you now have more RAM slots you can just drop in new stuff. This is a VERY simple plug and play and anyone can do it. As for CPU it is the same thing but depending on how much cash you got upgrading to the next level is about a $200-300 upgrade and is very dependent on the board slot type. 1150s are good low end choices. I got burned as I didnt check the mobos on a few older computers (1151 slot) a while back but I still have a 775 thats still running Eve right now. For those that dont know this is a 10 year old mobo. Then also video cards the same.

This style of upgrading can spread out your costs extremely over the years instead of a single upgrade all at once in a lump sum. Its basically leapfrogging your parts and getting the best base so you can do this. Its rather cool doing the upgrades yourself and realizing how easy it is especially when you do it with cheap parts. Early on I never spent more than $50 on a part so if I screwed up something I wasnt out a huge wad of cash.

@OP Id still go to your university's IT dept and ask them when they are going to upgrade the universities office computers and see if one of those good used ones is available to buy. They will upgrade their entire systems all at once and there might be 10-20 good used computers when they do depending on how big your uni is.

They destroy them? WTF. I bet you live in Murrica.

Here they sell them for little money. I bought 8 monitors from them and sold 6 again for a little profit^^ I kept 2 of them for my 2nd PC.