New PC Component Choices

[Tchoup]

Pricing new PC to enter the 2nd decade of our new century. 

CM is the MOST taxing game I play from a hardware perspective. I've got no other recreational or work needs for powerful hardware. And I've read on and on about CMx2's particular reliance on CPU over GPU.

So looking at putting money in the i5 10600 CPU (4.1 to 4.8 Ghz) and going with a comparatively tame GTX 1660 Super GPU. Along with 16g RAM and a SSD for fast loading. 

Thoughts on whether I am putting more money in the right place with the CPU,

[Thewood1]

If you are never playing any game but CM, that is probably a very good balance between performance and price.  the i5 has better single core performance than more "powerful" i7/i9s.  I have a 1660 on my backup laptop and I see almost no fps difference between it and the 2080 on my main laptop for CM.  You can even skimp n the RAM as I don't think CM uses more than 4Gb.  A fast SSD is probably the one thing that might make a difference in loading times and the stuttering you might get when quickly changing views.

[Lucky_Strike]

29 minutes ago, Tchoup said:

Pricing new PC to enter the 2nd decade of our new century. 

CM is the MOST taxing game I play from a hardware perspective. I've got no other recreational or work needs for powerful hardware. And I've read on and on about CMx2's particular reliance on CPU over GPU.

So looking at putting money in the i5 10600 CPU (4.1 to 4.8 Ghz) and going with a comparatively tame GTX 1660 Super GPU. Along with 16g RAM and a SSD for fast loading. 

Thoughts on whether I am putting more money in the right place with the CPU,

If you are certain that the rig is only going to be used for CM then your setup should do well enough. Couple of things to think about, what size screen will you be hooking up to the GPU now AND maybe in the future? The 1660 is no power house, I have the same in my solely for CM gaming PC and it’s served me well running at 2K resolution, and, although it’s capable of 4K, I rarely use it at that res, would probably look elsewhere if that was my preferred resolution. Having said that the in-game GUI is not optimised for 4K so there are other issues if you go down the 4K route. It might be worth your while looking at a second hand, older, but higher end GPU. Remember CM is based on an oldish engine so in terms of GPU - newest ain’t always necessarily best.

16GB of RAM is more than enough. SSD does help with loading times, and it’s generally helpful in the OS so, yes to that, but make sure you have a backup drive of some sort, and also somewhere to store all those lovely mods ...

If you’re happy to stick with Intel then the CPU will be fine. I don’t know about AMD CPU’s someone else will likely come along to advise about those as a possibility.

Really don’t need to go overboard speccing a rig just for CM, and as you rightly point out the CPU is really what determines how fast the game computes stuff.

Good luck

[Artkin]

I would opt for a "k" version of the i5's. CM sees an improvement in fps when you overclock the **** out of your cpu. Probably because it doesnt really use multicore as much as single cores

[Tchoup]

20 minutes ago, Artkin said:

I would opt for a "k" version of the i5's. CM sees an improvement in fps when you overclock the **** out of your cpu. Probably because it doesnt really use multicore as much as single cores

That's the one I'm looking at the 10600k

[Tchoup]

22 minutes ago, Lucky_Strike said:

If you are certain that the rig is only going to be used for CM then your setup should do well enough. Couple of things to think about, what size screen will you be hooking up to the GPU now AND maybe in the future? The 1660 is no power house, I have the same in my solely for CM gaming PC and it’s served me well running at 2K resolution, and, although it’s capable of 4K, I rarely use it at that res, would probably look elsewhere if that was my preferred resolution. Having said that the in-game GUI is not optimised for 4K so there are other issues if you go down the 4K route. It might be worth your while looking at a second hand, older, but higher end GPU. Remember CM is based on an oldish engine so in terms of GPU - newest ain’t always necessarily best.

16GB of RAM is more than enough. SSD does help with loading times, and it’s generally helpful in the OS so, yes to that, but make sure you have a backup drive of some sort, and also somewhere to store all those lovely mods ...

If you’re happy to stick with Intel then the CPU will be fine. I don’t know about AMD CPU’s someone else will likely come along to advise about those as a possibility.

Really don’t need to go overboard speccing a rig just for CM, and as you rightly point out the CPU is really what determines how fast the game computes stuff.

Good luck

I'm not looking, or have the time for 4k stuff. I'm fine with my 1080p HD resolution that I currently run CM at. I'm coming from CM on an ultrabook with an i5 7200 (2.8ghz) and no dedicated GPU . I can run the game, it ain't pretty nor is it smooth. I'm just looking for a rig to enjoy those pretty mods and as smooth as my now fading memory of CMx1.

[Lucky_Strike]

3 hours ago, Tchoup said:

I'm not looking, or have the time for 4k stuff. I'm fine with my 1080p HD resolution that I currently run CM at. I'm coming from CM on an ultrabook with an i5 7200 (2.8ghz) and no dedicated GPU . I can run the game, it ain't pretty nor is it smooth. I'm just looking for a rig to enjoy those pretty mods and as smooth as my now fading memory of CMx1.

The GTX 1660 should be fine on 1080, and give you head room if you do go up to 2K in the future. Couple with your choice of CPU you should be good to go.

[Lethaface]

9 hours ago, Lucky_Strike said:

If you are certain that the rig is only going to be used for CM then your setup should do well enough. Couple of things to think about, what size screen will you be hooking up to the GPU now AND maybe in the future? The 1660 is no power house, I have the same in my solely for CM gaming PC and it’s served me well running at 2K resolution, and, although it’s capable of 4K, I rarely use it at that res, would probably look elsewhere if that was my preferred resolution. Having said that the in-game GUI is not optimised for 4K so there are other issues if you go down the 4K route. It might be worth your while looking at a second hand, older, but higher end GPU. Remember CM is based on an oldish engine so in terms of GPU - newest ain’t always necessarily best.

16GB of RAM is more than enough. SSD does help with loading times, and it’s generally helpful in the OS so, yes to that, but make sure you have a backup drive of some sort, and also somewhere to store all those lovely mods ...

If you’re happy to stick with Intel then the CPU will be fine. I don’t know about AMD CPU’s someone else will likely come along to advise about those as a possibility.

Really don’t need to go overboard speccing a rig just for CM, and as you rightly point out the CPU is really what determines how fast the game computes stuff.

Good luck

Solid advice I think.
Don't know about the 1660 performance but my previous GPU (1080 GTX) was more than powerful enough for CMx2. But AFAIK older higher end cards like that are not available anymore and or still expensive because the coin minerz.

Regarding AMD: although I've always bought Intel CPU's, AMD seems to have Intel beat lately. Although that also means that they aren't as cheap anymore. The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 seems like a great choice for price/performance. Plus the AM4 socket is the same for newer generation CPUs, so in theory you could upgrade to a better CPU in the future (depends on Mobo support though, but with Bios update that can often be fixed).

Edit: although since CM mainly relies on single core performance, that will probably matter more compared to overall performance so could be that the i5 is a better choice for CM.

Edited January 28, 2021 by Lethaface

[Thewood1]

14 hours ago, Thewood1 said:

I have a 1660 on my backup laptop and I see almost no fps difference between it and the 2080 on my main laptop for CM.

As I said above.

[landser]

I advise a 1660 Ti over the 1660. Same Turing architecture, but the Ti version uses faster memory, GDDR6 vs GDDR5 and has more cores.

It may not make much difference in Combat Mission, but for a small premium you'll get a better card. For what it's worth I have a 1660Ti in my box and it plays everything I throw at it at 1080 on top settings, and this includes many of the more recent AAA titles. Great bang for the buck, but be aware it has no ray tracing. Not an issue if CM is all you'll play.

[Dirtweasle]

Motherboard throughput / data transfer is just as important as top end cards, SSDs and ram.

You can only process data as fast as the slowest piece in the system.

 

Tom's Hardware used to be a good source for matching components.  Might want to nose around over there if you haven't already.

[Lethaface]

38 minutes ago, Dirtweasle said:

Motherboard throughput / data transfer is just as important as top end cards, SSDs and ram.

You can only process data as fast as the slowest piece in the system.

 

Tom's Hardware used to be a good source for matching components.  Might want to nose around over there if you haven't already.

True, but as long as everything is compatible you generally won't hit a bottleneck. Where you will hit those bottlenecks is if you combine a old X with a new Y, or choose a budget Mobo for a high end cpu.
There are some other important things, like not getting only 1 stick of RAM (always choose at least 2; so for example 2x8).

And indeed Toms Hardware is still quite a good source imo, but there are various other sites nowadays. Google is your friend.

[Thewood1]

2 hours ago, Lethaface said:

Google is your friend.

Except with CM sometimes.  CM does require a slightly different set of recommendations.  Unless you are fairly steeped in the PC build world, common sense would say that the most powerful CPUs are the newest ones.  If your value decision based on only CM, coming here is probably a good place to start.

[Lethaface]

16 minutes ago, Thewood1 said:

Except with CM sometimes.  CM does require a slightly different set of recommendations.  Unless you are fairly steeped in the PC build world, common sense would say that the most powerful CPUs are the newest ones.  If your value decision based on only CM, coming here is probably a good place to start.

Indeed, as this is the CM forum :-).

No disagreement though, however it's not like there will be a night vs day difference if the CPU you happen to choose has a slightly lower single core clock speed. Perhaps it will cost you 2-5 fps.

Edited January 28, 2021 by Lethaface

[rocketman]

3 hours ago, Lethaface said:

[snip]
There are some other important things, like not getting only 1 stick of RAM (always choose at least 2; so for example 2x8).
[snip]

Please enlighten me - I have a new custom built rig arriving in March and have tried to max it for CM as well as other stuff and it has two sticks of 16GB - in which way would it make a difference to just having one stick of 32GB (if possible)?

[Sgt.Squarehead]

If one stick fails your replacement costs are lower. 

[Tchoup]

7 hours ago, landser said:

I advise a 1660 Ti over the 1660. Same Turing architecture, but the Ti version uses faster memory, GDDR6 vs GDDR5 and has more cores.

It may not make much difference in Combat Mission, but for a small premium you'll get a better card. For what it's worth I have a 1660Ti in my box and it plays everything I throw at it at 1080 on top settings, and this includes many of the more recent AAA titles. Great bang for the buck, but be aware it has no ray tracing. Not an issue if CM is all you'll play.

I'm not seeing that .. I see the all the GTX on offer having GDDR6 memory

• GTX 1650 at 4GB
• GTX 1660 Super at 6GB
• GTX 1660 Ti at 8GB

I'm only seeing $90 spread across those 3 cards.

[Lethaface]

4 hours ago, rocketman said:

Please enlighten me - I have a new custom built rig arriving in March and have tried to max it for CM as well as other stuff and it has two sticks of 16GB - in which way would it make a difference to just having one stick of 32GB (if possible)?

Higher bandwidth, double channel (check the specs of your mobo and install the sticks in the correct slots for it to work properly).

Edited January 29, 2021 by Lethaface

[Artkin]

18 hours ago, landser said:

I advise a 1660 Ti over the 1660. Same Turing architecture, but the Ti version uses faster memory, GDDR6 vs GDDR5 and has more cores.

It may not make much difference in Combat Mission, but for a small premium you'll get a better card. For what it's worth I have a 1660Ti in my box and it plays everything I throw at it at 1080 on top settings, and this includes many of the more recent AAA titles. Great bang for the buck, but be aware it has no ray tracing. Not an issue if CM is all you'll play.

a 60 Ti is the minimum I would ever consider on a graphics card purchase. As stated - any cheaper and you're missing some pretty significant performance features

[chuckdyke]

Here are the specs of my PC. I never looked back, if there was a custom PC for CM this is it. It is an HP, and I am not on their payroll. 

[Artkin]

Lmao its all good HP doesnt make parts anyway.

They just guys with some cash buying parts in bulk for low and reselling at high

[landser]

13 hours ago, Tchoup said:

I'm not seeing that .. I see the all the GTX on offer having GDDR6 memory

• GTX 1650 at 4GB
• GTX 1660 Super at 6GB
• GTX 1660 Ti at 8GB

I'm only seeing $90 spread across those 3 cards.

Yes, you are correct. I am wrong.

The 1660 uses GDDR5, but they went with GDDR6 on the Super version (which I somehow missed in the OP, my mistake). This places the Super in between the 1660 and the 1660Ti, and I reckon makes it the best solution between the three if budget is a factor. If it isn't, the Ti is still the (slightly) better card. But the difference is so minor it probably wouldn't be noticed, and especially in a game like Combat Mission.  You could save a few bones and get similar performance with the Super.

Edited January 29, 2021 by landser

[Thewood1]

My question is back to the OP's focus on CM.  Will a difference between a 1660, 1660 Super, and 1660 Ti make a difference in CM's performance.  I buy a new laptop every year.  I have gone from a 1050, 1060, 1080, 1660, and now a 2080 Super.  All are mobile.  The only measurable difference I saw with CM was the move from a 1050 to a 1060.  The change in FPS was immeasurable.  Loading times seemed to improve along the way, but not execution.

[Artkin]

I have looked at OpenGL benchmarks, but as far as I know CM doesn't use the newest version, so it would be hard to get actual benchmarks.

GFXbench you can narrow the filter down to Desktop, Windows OpenGL, x86, and median score. This seems to be the most relevant result

https://gfxbench.com/result.jsp

https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/basemarkgpu-benchmark-review-with-20-gpus,3.html

etc.

I wonder if these cards perform any better or worse in terms of bogging down in heavy scenes, and loading bigger/more complex maps faster/smoother.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Artkin

[Bulletpoint]

CM is held back by an inefficient engine which means single-core CPU performance is key. And since CPU's are hardly getting better in that respect any more, it doesn't really help to upgrade your system.