Equipment for Star Citizen includes various tools and gear designed to enhance gameplay.
Equipment for Star Citizen includes various tools and gear designed to enhance gameplay.
Currently SATA 3 SSDs are quite similar, mainly limited by the SATA port. For the first quarter: it doesn't really matter. For the second quarter: only if you're focused on content creation. Even with a 4-way SLI configuration, a 5930K suffices; a 5820K is needed only for 2-way SLI, which you should use since running SC is challenging now. Most 2011-3 motherboards fit all these setups. To run Star Citizen in UHD, you'll likely need dual GTX 980 or AMD R9 290x, or even triple GTX970 to achieve acceptable frame rates. If you're playing for the team red, I'd wait for the R9 390 and observe its performance (it probably still requires two units).
I’d like to stress this again: if you plan to set up a 4K rig for Star Citizen, go ahead and do it—enjoy the experience! But if your goal is specifically for Star Citizen, it might not be worth it right now. The game is still about two years away, so you’d be better waiting. In two years, graphics cards will have evolved significantly; what’s high-end today could become mid-range soon. Processors like Skylake and its later versions will bring changes that go beyond what we’ve seen before (some hints in the comments). Still, Napper is right. The i7 might be overkill for a gaming rig unless you’re planning long-term upgrades. If you do upgrade often, an i5 would be more practical now. Right now, 8 cores aren’t offering much advantage in gaming, and prices on high-end platforms are rising sharply. We’re only just reaching the point where 4 cores are needed (even then), and it won’t be until later that developers focus heavily on more than four cores due to market demands.
@ Grrizz The timing for considering an upgrade depends on your current setup (in sig). They should match what I thought when I got a 970—possibly for future needs—but I was leaning more toward a mid-range card at the time. Buying a 980 feels like a step up, but the brand and model details weren’t as obvious then.
Sure, you could go with a 4790k and a suitable motherboard, then allocate the rest for two GTX980s. I’d hold off on the 3xx series GPUs unless Star Citizen is released, as they’re not available yet.
Personally, I'm holding off on a significant upgrade until Skylake and Pascal arrive. Those might represent the next big leap in technology, though I wouldn't rush into it just yet. For anyone planning to build a "Star Citizen" computer, I'd wait until the public release—preferably just before or after. My goal is to stay ahead of the curve; if Skylake and Pascal come out around then, they’d be perfect. In later updates, second-generation models often fix issues that first versions missed, making them smoother. While the biggest boost comes from the initial releases, the second ones usually address architectural or driver problems. Of course, I’m currently leaning toward Intel and Nvidia, but if AMD offers something compelling, I’d consider it too. Right now, I’m more focused on roadmaps than specific brands, except for APUs. AMD’s long-term plans remain unclear, especially with their GPUs in the 300 series still puzzling me. The past five to eight years have also made my perspective a bit more cautious. Upgrading for other reasons is fine, but I won’t switch to Star Citizen just yet—there’s always another opportunity ahead.
More likely you're looking at the PC part picker link provided. The 5820K overclocked setup works well for this project and offers better value. For even lower costs, consider an i5-4690K paired with a Z97 motherboard—PCIe lanes don’t significantly affect performance, and budget-friendly boards with good features are available.
No need for a 1500W power supply unless you're building a high-end system; a 1000W unit is sufficient for future upgrades and will last longer.
A 1TB SSD might seem excessive, but it only adds cost without much benefit. Your choice depends on your budget and needs.
For gaming, 32GB RAM is excessive—8GB is adequate, and DDR4 16GB is the minimum. As mentioned earlier, purchasing a PC for Star Citizen now isn’t wise because development is still early, and many changes are expected before its 2016 release. Ultimately, it’s your decision based on what you value most.
It links to a product page on pcpartpicker.com for PC components.