Hi All Interested in getting the new Elite, but have an aging rig: Intel core 2 quad Q6600 (still at stock speed 2.4Ghz) Asus P5K Premium motherboard 4GB Corsair Dominator RAM Gigabyte 460GTX 1Gb graphics DDR2 Samsung Spinpoint 500GB Hard Disk Windows Vista 64bit Probably due an upgrade, but from what I have read it may be worth me waiting until the Intel Skylake release. I tend to upgrade only when there are games that I'm dying to play, but the rig can't handle, and I'm starting to get to that point Back to the main point of the thread, my rig seems to just about meet the minimum quoted spec for Elite Dangerous, but I sometimes find the official specs unreliable. Would be interested to know if anyone is playing this with a similar spec machine, before i fork out for it. Looks like I would need to upgrade to Windows 7 at least, but I have a copy at home, so not a problem there. So what are my chances??? And what are the thoughts on waiting for the Skylake release, rather than the Haswell or Broadwell chips?
Yes, you can play it, but you won't get a fantastic experience - you'll need to ramp settings downwards. Waiting for Skylake strikes me as silly - what exactly is it about Skylake you're waiting for? It's going to be a year or more until it lands, which is a pretty long time in technology terms. I know there's talk that Skylake might land in H2 2015, but looking at Broadwell, it's easily possible that we won't see desktop components until 2016. Personally, I'd be looking at two options 1) Replace the entire machine now, getting Devil's Canyon Haswell CPU. 2) Wait a few months for Broadwell, but in the interim pick up a new GPU that can be carried over to the new build (namely the GTX 970). I'd recommend option 2. If you're really wanting to wait for Skylake, I'd still go for option 2 and get a GPU upgrade, but with that longer wait I'd try and find another 4GB of RAM as well.
Thanks for the reply. Basically I thought about waiting because despite its age, my rig isn't struggling with any of the games I currently play, the new Elite could be the first. Haswell has been around for a while, and the Broadwell chips are delayed, which has led to a number of articles like this one: http://www.techradar.com/news/compu...ktop-broadwell-processors-irrelevant--1265595 Thoughts?
I sort of tried to address that - Broadwell is 'late', but there's nothing to say Skylake won't be the same. It isn't in Intel's interest to release Broadwell to immediately replace it, so it's likely they will artificially hold back Skylake to allow a recoup of investment on Broadwell. Broadwell's desktop chips are due early 2015 (the Core M mobile parts have been kicking round for months). I can entirely foresee that Intel will release the Skylake mobile parts in late 2015, but hold the desktop parts until Broadwell's desktop parts have been on sale for a year, meaning a 2016 release. So, you can wait if you want to, but I'd plan for a wait of at least a year from now. If you're going to wait for either Broadwell or Skylake, get a GTX 970 to tide you over.
Initially I would of thought along the same lines that they would hold Skylake back to compensate, but both the original article, and this one suggest otherwise: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/new-product/pc-upgrades/3590751/skylake-release-date-specifications/ "Intel has had manufacturing issues with Broadwell, causing the release of the desktop processors to be delayed until 2015. This could possibly delay Skylake - the sixth generation - but analysts suggest this won't happen as Intel won't want to lose any ground to competitors. Currently, the only Broadwell chips you can actually buy are the Core M variants. If this is true and Skylake desktop processors begin to ship in the second half of 2015, many enthusiasts are likely to wait and not bother upgrading to a Broadwell chip in the meantime. Skylake specifications: features and chipsets One of the reasons to wait for Skylake is the sheer number of new features it will bring. Intel says the chips will have the biggest PC innovations for the last 10 years" ===================================================== I just know that if I upgraded and these chips turn up 2H 2015, I would be a tad cheesed off. + Santa could help with the build if I leave it another 12 months
Articles are just supposition, and that's the problem. As I said, Intel could still technically release Skylake 'on time' by only launching mobile processors first, allowing Core M under Broadwell a full year on sale, and follow up with the desktop units later. Buying tech always has the risk of the next thing being better, and you just sometimes have to take the plunge. As I said, if you feel that Skylake's benefits are big enough for you, and you can wait anything from six months to eighteen months, then just get a better GPU to tide you over.
I'm in almost the same boat as you Wozza. And I've been contemplating an upgrade too. But as you feel, the Q6600 doesn't seem to struggle with anything I've thrown at it so far, the GTX660 has helped (I did have a GTX460 previously) and my SSD has also sped things up. I think I've come to the decision that I'll stick with what I've got for now, and see how things develop. If I can get a stonking deal on a second hand Haswell, I might go for that, otherwise I'll just wait for future Intel stuff, maybe Broadwell, maybe Skylake. I'd recommend you get a SSD and Overclock the Q6600 up to about 3GHz, and then get a new graphics card.
If you don't want to spend a lot on getting an upgrade, hit the used market and grab something like an i5-2500k and a 6 or 7 series motherboard and 8GB of ddr3... then put the big splash out on a nice ssd and gtx970 or whatever amd if you want to go there. The biggest new feature that skylake will bring is mainstream ddr4 support... if you're dying for ddr4 then just go big and get into x99 now.
Personally, unless absolutely desperate, I'd wait. The 960 is 'expected' to be released on January 22nd which may shake up the prices a bit. While I appreciate the whole you could wait forever arguement, 20 day is not particularly long.
Why is the 960 going to effect higher end card prices? It's going to impact the mid-range cards it's competing with and the last generation GTX 760 etc. NVIDIA will price it at a point below the 970, and it'll perform below it too.
Depending on the performance/price of the 960 - there's too many rumours around suggesting what it is or is not - it could force the 290s to drop causing a trickle down effect on the entire line ups, or just be close enough to the 970 in performance while being cheaper to not care. It's not out of the realm of possibility, we'll only know when it's launched. Sure the 970 isn't suddenly going to drop £100, but since it's so close is there really any harm in waiting?
