Need computer part recommendations

[Ava_Bugg]

Hey, i need a new computer and was hoping for any recommendations on parts i should get to run the game smoothly. Any help is welcome as i know basically nothing about computers, thanks!

[Chindraba]

A computer designed to do super well with Factorio is going to have different specifications than one designed to run most games well.
To avoid grief, and possible mistakes, it's probably a good idea to mention what else the computer is for - unless of course you want one just for Factorio.

[Ava_Bugg]

Good point, i mostly play Factorio, Rimworld, and i want to play Noita, part of why i need the new computer, and Starbound.
Thanks :)

[Katitoff]

A potato, this game will run on a potato.
The question is if you want to play anything else, like anything released after 2015 as well.

[RiO]

Originally posted by Katitoff:

A potato, this game will run on a potato.

That's not the case with Space Age anymore. It needs significantly better graphics hardware. If you were on a lower-end system before, you really need to set video quality to low across the board to avoid e.g. running out of VRAM. As another user recently has experienced.

[königplatzen]

This game can get quite heavy on CPU and RAM. But that's mainly, when you start megabasing and get very big. The more things are moving simultaneously, the more UPS (updates per second) tanks. You will notice, when the game runs slower than 60 UPS/FPS. It still works, but can get annoying

the AMD X3D processors are very good for factorio, like the 7800X3D, because of the huge L3 cache. And they are also good for other games. They are less good for apps with lots of parallel threads, but you rarely need that for private usage.
Fast RAM will also help.
A fast SSD will be nice for starting times and load/save/autosave performance.
GPU is not super important, but I would take something, with 4+ GB RAM. Esp. modpacks add big additional graphics and might need it.

BTW: That are the recommend specs from store page:
Recommended:
OS: Windows 11, 10
Processor: Quad core 4Ghz+ from 2020 or newer
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: DirectX 11 capable GPU with 4 GB VRAM - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, Radeon RX 570, Intel Arc
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 10 GB available space
Additional Notes: High sprite resolution, High quality compression

[PunCrathod]

Originally posted by Ava_Bugg:

Good point, i mostly play Factorio, Rimworld, and i want to play Noita, part of why i need the new computer, and Starbound.
Thanks :)

For that list of games I would also recommend an amd X3D cpu. Except that one model where the chip was split in two in a weird way that tanked performance. I think the 3D cache was only available to half of the cpu or something in that one. And get two sticks(for dual channel operation) of the fastest ram the cpu/motherboard/your budget allows, 16GB or 32GB if you are planning on multitasking a lot(for example a bunch of tabs on your browser open while playing etc). Fast ram and the big cache X3D cpus have is going to bring you the most performance for factorio megabases and the rest of the games on the list should also somewhat benefit from those.

For the GPU I would just take whatever has 8gb vram and a sale going that can still fit the budget. 4GB vram can run out with big modpacks. I actually managed to make a modpack for rimworld that used up 12GB of vram if full resolution sprites were on.

https://factoriobox.1au.us/results would have had nice comparison charts for different cpu/ram combos but the database seems to be down at the time I'm posting this.

[jamiechi]

My 'Potato' works fine in this game. Probably helps by running in 1920x1080 resolution.

OS Name         Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 22H2
Motherboard     ROG CROSSHAIR VIII HERO - Southbridge X570 r51
Processor       AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 8-Core Processor
                Overclocked to 4200 Mhz
Total Memory    64 GB -- 3200
Video Card      NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, 8 GB memory
Video Display   60hz 4K LED Monitor (Am using 1080p mode)
NVIDIA version  551.61-desktop-win10-win11-64bit-international-dch-whql

[Whispdragoon62]

I know another factory game that scales to 8 cores.

I think the game can get compute heavy. So 32GB ram and a modern 8 core.

GPU doesn't matter. Anything mid-range that supports DX12. Something like an RX 6600 or RTX 3060 is fine. Anything better is great. Try an Arc B570, why not.

This game is small enough I run it on a HDD no issues.

Microcenter bundles are good. Maybe a 12700k, something like that reliable from Intel.

Maybe a Ryzen 9700X or 9800 X3D if you got money.

A Ryzen 7600X is probably sufficient for mega bases. I'm not sure what its limits are exactly.

[Khaylain]

Originally posted by jamiechi:

My 'Potato' works fine in this game. Probably helps by running in 1920x1080 resolution.

OS Name         Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 22H2
Motherboard     ROG CROSSHAIR VIII HERO - Southbridge X570 r51
Processor       AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 8-Core Processor
                Overclocked to 4200 Mhz
Total Memory    64 GB -- 3200
Video Card      NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, 8 GB memory
Video Display   60hz 4K LED Monitor (Am using 1080p mode)
NVIDIA version  551.61-desktop-win10-win11-64bit-international-dch-whql

Yeah, that doesn't really look like a potato. That's a decent rig, IMO.
I ran a GTX 770 until it didn't want to push pixels any more, and it worked perfectly fine in 2021, and I would've continued using that even longer if it hadn't died.

[Chindraba]

It's never going to make a megabase, but for working on prints even the 'potato' at work can handle Space Age (with a bit of lag with too many browser tabs open, of course).

OS: Windows 11 Pro x86_64
Kernel: WIN32_NT 10.0.22631.3880 (23H2)
Display (ASUS VS229): 1920x1080 @ 60 Hz in 21" [External]
Display (ASUS VS228): 1920x1080 @ 60 Hz in 22" [External] *
WM: Desktop Window Manager 10.0.22621.3672
CPU: Intel(R) N100 (4) @ 0.81 GHz
GPU: Intel(R) UHD Graphics (128.00 MiB) [Integrated]
Memory: 5.67 GiB / 7.75 GiB (73%)

I haven't tried running even as far as blue science, and that's probably just about the limit.

If gaming is the target, and it's mostly easy graphics and heavy compute, like Factorio, the AMD X3D chips are the way to go. Intel may be better for some things, productivity for work and such, but the ink on the Intel chips is just too expensive if you don't need the performance.

As said above, the most, fasted RAM you can get in your budget. Do watch out, however, for over-stuffed RAM. Two sticks of 16 GB is going to be faster than four sticks of 16 GB in the same machine.

If you're getting an off-the-shelf system, most 'gamer' computers are going to have graphics cards way beyond what you need. Probably better to find a 'home' computer and just get higher RAM specs. (If you want to play shooters and video-intense games, then that's a different case.)

It's nice to have, and certainly makes the rest of the system 'faster', but for Factorio you don't even need to go with SSD, or NVME disks. The load time will be slower, but if you don't do a bunch of save scumming you'll not really be affected by a few extra seconds for the game to start. (You can improve that by using the options to cache prototype data and the sprite atlas.)

[Defektiv]

Still runs great on my i7/3070 with 32g ddr4.

[closedferret2938]

It depends how big you want to build. Usually a potato/low end PC can run the game pretty smoothly.
But if you want build a megabase with 1.000.000.000.000.000 SPM in a 5GB save game file, maybe you'll want an AMD Ryzen™ 7 9800X3D, is literally the best CPU for the game. But that's is only needed for extreme cases.

[Fletch]

My "potato" is running 2015-era tech and was considered "mid-range" a decade ago. It runs Factorio perfectly fine. Now, Win-11 considers my box to be so bad that Win-11 is incapable of even being installed on it. If you are designing a new system, suggest you find a far more demanding (ie: poorly optimized) game to base your requirements on -- Factorio is heavily optimized and runs great on old tech.

[Ava_Bugg]

Thanks for the help everyone! I appreciate all the recommendations and advice, this is a wonderful starting point!

[crazy]

For starters you could give your budget and I can give you an efficient list of parts (i build gaming pc's and sell them for a hobby)