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Going from Xbox to PC, questions

Nick Farrell

Active Member
Messages
161
I have a quad core i5 @3.1 Ghz, 16Gb ram, Motherboard has built in HDMI, will i run Sim Settlements okay?
 
The only thing I can think of is the built in motherboard graphics - never had good results with those except in low detail play... otherwise, 4 core with 16gb is good I think. An SDD will be a godsend if you plan on doing a lot of downloads and installs...

Also, starting off fresh I cannot recommend

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23556

enough... fresh install of everything, setup with the better textures - I had a potatoe and this help was incredible... but alas, I had to get a new computer. And still use it!
 
I dont mind bad graphics, I just dont want to crash running through a settlement and I want to use city plans like you built Phil and maybe try to compete myself, I have coding experience and am interested in becoming more involved in the community :)
 
Would this graphics card work?
 

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Im half way homeless over here haha to broke for that 1, i was gonna sell my xbox one and get a graphics card for $100 or less :/
 
awh man i feel rly dumb i been looking for ddr3 gpu haha when i can use a ddr5 gpu even though my mother board is ddr3
 
Im half way homeless over here haha to broke for that 1, i was gonna sell my xbox one and get a graphics card for $100 or less :/
The best bet would be if it's possible to save up for a time then do a custom build depending on how much can reasonably be saved in what you would consider to be a reasonable timeframe. I would keep the Xbox in the meantime while saving up. X1 has limitations but is nice to have for while waiting. I moved from Xbox One to PC and I think I saved up for 6 months or maybe a bit more then sold the Xbox at the end to get the last thing a bit sooner which was a monitor. After playing Sim Settlements on the Xbox for maybe 1 or 2 months I'd decided I was 100% definitely building a PC for it.

For low budget I would probably recommend going AMD on both GPU & CPU. Ryzen 3000 series is coming out soon and also Navi which is rumored to have a GTX 1080/RTX 2070 equivalent for cheaper, whatever the successor to RX 580/RX 590 seems like it'd be a good bet. They are expected to release during the summer. I would get whatever replaces the Ryzen 5 2400G/2500X so that could be hopefully like $150-$200 plus another advantage they have is the stock cooler they come with is pretty good and will be enough. I'd make sure to get an SSD since the load times on FO4 are incredibly long, at least 200GB. 16GB RAM since 8GB will be limiting. Check Power Supply Tier Lists on Linus Tech Tips & Tom's hardware forums to avoid poor quality/dangerous PSUs(the worst PSUs of the bunch are noted as being prone to starting on fire or exploding).

A build like this hopefully could be under $1000 with a well rounded selection going with the GPU & CPU.

A couple of example builds, since prices should be similar for the next generation stuff:
https://pcpartpicker.com/b/gsNQzy
  • This one is pretty solid though probably don't strictly need an aftermarket cooler.
https://pcpartpicker.com/b/tmzYcf
  • A cheaper one. Though with this one I wouldn't go that cheap for the SSD & Power Supply. PNY isn't a brand I am familiar with and 120GB is much too small, my Fallout 4 install alone is like 130GB or more(haven't looked in a while). For PSU typically I'd get a Bronze or better, on the tier lists the White/Standard tend to be lower since they tend to be the cheapest options available. Not the greatest list but shows a cheaper build is possible.
For higher budget I'd recommend:
  • An i7 like i7-8700k/i7-9700k(sadly the i7-9700k lacks hyperthreading but it might be fine since it's 8 core) or the upcoming Ryzen 7 3700X. i9-9900k if willing to spend a lot..
  • GPU side it matters which resolution. I feel GTX 1080ti is the probable sweet spot for high end & 4K but I found they're really hard to come by anymore since not in production anymore. RTX 2080ti works but the price is much higher. I think RTX 2060 or RTX 2070 could be decent for 1440p.
  • Intel stock cooler is really bad so probably will want an aftermarket cooler like a Noctua or maybe a water cooling AIO, may want one for a Ryzen also if wanting to heavily overclock. High end Intel CPUs like i9-9900k literally don't even come with their Intel stock cooler since it'd be useless for them. I use Corsair H55 and planning to get H115i.
  • SSD is pretty much a must, I'd go for 1TB or more if SATA & 500GB/1TB or more on NVMe. 2TB SSD is nice to have if you play a lot of games that are load-intensive like Fallout 4/Skyrim.
  • I'd get at least 4TB of HDD space for backups. You may want more than that if you play a lot of the Bethesda games to keep proper backups.
  • Either 16 or 32GB RAM. And if buying a high end Ryzen you will want higher speed RAM, 3000mhz or more are commonly recommended for systems using those.
I would like to write a guide for this exact subject though my information is a bit limited for the low end since I'd researched and it became clear to me that I'd need high end components to be satisfied. I had tried Sim Settlements on the Xbox One and I knew I wanted to go with way bigger settlements plus higher graphics/heavy mod list. The dream for me is having like 50+ settlers, I really want extreme settlements and I learned how to make custom settlement locations so I can have a huge area to work with for this plus how to make new plots for Sim Settlements so I can have big urban style buildings.

I hope more people will make the jump to playing Fallout 4 with Sim Settlements on PC!

Personally, for myself, I wouldn't go less than 8gb (I run ultra 1080ti and with full sims will still take a fps hit)... Phil @Phil_T_Casual may have a better handle... 2gb is too low in my opinion...

John
I second this. On GTX 1080 I still can run out of VRAM. Depending on how complex the Sim Settlements city plans in use, even on lower graphics settings you might experience FPS drops/crashes. I'm actually currently planning an upgrade.

I would not recommend a GT710 (or a GT1030 for that matter) to anyone for any usage case other than office, light media, zero gaming. I would have to give it some thought for what would be the lowest I can reasonably recommend, I'd say RX 480 8GB, GTX 1660ti or equivalent are reasonable safe choices.

PC Hardware can be pretty complicated so I definitely recommend to ask questions and for build advice for when the time comes.

The only thing I can think of is the built in motherboard graphics - never had good results with those except in low detail play... otherwise, 4 core with 16gb is good I think. An SDD will be a godsend if you plan on doing a lot of downloads and installs...

Also, starting off fresh I cannot recommend

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23556

enough... fresh install of everything, setup with the better textures - I had a potatoe and this help was incredible... but alas, I had to get a new computer. And still use it!
This is what I use, it is incredible!

This is my onboard specs
It most likely will not be able to run the game. I googled "i5 @ 3.1Ghz" and it gave me i5 2400 so I'm reasonably sure that is what it is. The latest Intel integrated graphics that come with the i7s like 8700k/9700k is just able to get 25/30fps with lowered settings on 720p with no mods.
 
pulled the hard drive outta a laptop i garbage picked went in through the back door factory reset it and upgraded to windows 10 :) and I have a 40" 1080p tv as my monitor, 16g 1600hz ram, the cpu is i5-3470. Looks like my power supply is the only thing I don't need but everything's from 2012.
 

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Keeping my power supply and mother board because its 1155 socket and I can upgrade the cpu and cooling fan later and getting the GTX 1050ti $200 (No desire for 4k res) and 1Tb ssd $115 (dedicated only to fallout) on Tuesday, keeping my small hard drive for school. First I feel I'll be able to get some real world coding experience out of this trip, Second I want to compete in contests and check out others building plans w/o crashing, Third and lastly better resolution. :D
 
dxdiag from Start Menu / (Ctrl + R) can more easily list specs though this did inform a lot.

Pretty much you would need to buy new system. Hard drive is 250GB which is super small like personally I won't even buy less than 1TB even for SSD anymore, for an HDD I'd go for like 4TB or 6TB. Never heard of DiabloTek and what I read from google sounds really bad, I'd always just stick to EVGA/Corsair/Seasonic/etc. I found DiabloTek listed under Worst on this tier list from Reddit:
tgrbCnr.jpg

I would not recommend using the PSU anymore, from multiple sources I'm reading it be called a fire hazard.

mother board because its 1155 socket
The problem with that is that the CPU manufacturers lock the CPUs to specific motherboards so you would only be able to have Intel 2000 series, maybe 3000 series too but those are quite old. The LGA1155 is physical compatibility but there is also chipset compatibility and memory compatibility to taken into account. This site explains a little bit more about it: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/tell-cpu-work-motherboard-61664.html

For instance for 8th generation Intel you need either Z370 or B370(cheaper one/no overclock ability and RAM will be speed limited). For 9th gen it's Z390 or B390. Ryzen I believe uses X470.

The RAM would otherwise be good to go but the newer motherboards require DDR4 while that is DDR3.

GTX 1050ti $200 (No desire for 4k res) and 1Tb ssd $115 (dedicated only to fallout) on Tuesday
A GTX1050ti could be alright, I would at least ensure it's the 4GB model and not the 2GB one. You might also want to wait since the CPU is likely inadequate for FO4.

A 1TB SSD will be fantastic for Fallout, I'd make sure it's a reputable brand. I prefer Samsung but I think Intel/Adata/Kingston/WD are good as well.
 
WD Ssd for sure and thanks more info keeps helping and its the 4gb gpu, i was watching videos and if I keep medium res settings i should be okay, they were running i5 with it too which was pretty cool to watch all diff res and fps. Low was at 120 fps, medium was at 90 fps, with each core running about 60%.
 
I see now my motherboard is only compatible up to i7-3770, but ill buy the motherboard cpu combo and new ram when I can, and my gpu should be able to cross over, the 1050ti is the 2nd best gpu my motherboard can support, never thought of checking specs thank you bro fr. :)
 
I made a build list consisting of Parametric Filters, this means that it takes the criteria I set on each category and will show the cheapest result. One caveat is the motherboard will depend on what CPU you get, this includes the valid choices for Intel 8000 series, Intel 9000 series, AMD Ryzen 5/Ryzen 7 2000 series. I omitted i3 & Ryzen 3 since they're often for non gaming.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pzmMzY

You can select "Edit This Part List" to use this as a starting point.

WD Ssd for sure and thanks more info keeps helping and its the 4gb gpu, i was watching videos and if I keep medium res settings i should be okay, they were running i5 with it too which was pretty cool to watch all diff res and fps. Low was at 120 fps, medium was at 90 fps, with each core running about 60%.
Which games for the 120fps/90fps? I would assume Fallout 4 but normally we can't really run Fallout 4 above 60fps due to the physics being tied to FPS, unless there is a Havok Fix made for Fallout 4 similar to the Havok Fix for Skyrim Special Edition.

WD is a good brand so I'm certain the 1TB SSD will be great. Regarding the Graphics Card here's a couple of useful sites:
The Compare on userbenchmark is pretty useful for getting a general sense of how GPUs stack up.
  • https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti-vs-AMD-RX-570/3649vs3924
  • I'd also check GPU reviews, especially if they have benchmark charts showing the results obtained from a large list of GPUs. Sometimes a GPU might be better on paper than another but worse in game due to drivers or the game just being more suited on either AMD/Nvidia than the other, this is very much a case by case thing.
 
A new range of gpus is coming out this summer. Most of them will be mid to high end cards that won't come into a tight budget but considering many people will be upgrading, you might be able to grab a good deal on a great value second-hand card if you're willing to wait. I'm still running on a GTX970, which you can find second-hand around 80 to 110 euros, even less. They were still beasts when F4 came out and run the game comfortably on high settings (mine does in Quad HD resolution, double what most people use). The vast majority of games run on high settings with it. If you want to have a look at the graphics quality of such a card, check the pics/video taken with it on this page: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/38425

What has been said earlier regarding PSUs is extremely relevant. Shitty power supplies can either break early (at best), ruin your PC or alternatively burn your whole house down.
 
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im gonna get a new psu but mines logged a lot of hours over the last 8 years haha im gonna blow my house up o.O, thanks for the info ill check that out too.
 
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, i think medium res and 10-20 settlers per outpost. I dont plan on having more mods than maybe 5 or 10. :)
 
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