Graphics Worries

[Corbs]

Originally Posted by Grim_Reaper

Imma have a 360 Elite so im not even worried about graphics

Haven't read the specifications, but doesn't the Elite version of the 360 has the same graphic card as its predecessors?

[R4GE]

I have a Dx10 card and a 6000+amd and 2 gigs of ram. I think I will be fine when huxley comes out.

[TheVermin23]

Originally Posted by Grim_Reaper

Imma have a 360 Elite so im not even worried about graphics

a bigger hard drive doesn't get you better graphics.

[Berserker]

I have no clue about anything with cards or computers or anything... Heres what my graphics card box says... Radeon 9559 AGO 256MB. Is that good? Bad? All I know is Huxley looks awesome and I want to play it.

[zeekgenateer]

I don't know much about ATI, but 256 mb isn't going to get you to play Huxley.

[Berserker]

What will? What kind of graphics card would I need, and if possible, how much would it cost me?

[Arxinal]

As far as ram and vid cards i dont mind investing more. Kinda worried about my processor though. Its an AMD 64 bit 3400+ never tested it cause i play mostly older games so i still have 512 ram and propietary vid. I would upgrade for huxely if possible but i dont want to if my proccesor is crap. Anyone got any idea?

[omg]

i have a 8800gts 320mb so no worries 4 me lol

[Vital Factor]

Originally Posted by Arxinal

As far as ram and vid cards i dont mind investing more. Kinda worried about my processor though. Its an AMD 64 bit 3400+ never tested it cause i play mostly older games so i still have 512 ram and propietary vid. I would upgrade for huxely if possible but i dont want to if my proccesor is crap. Anyone got any idea?

Just make sure you have a dual (or quad) core processor by the time huxley comes out....

[metalageddon]

Dual Geforce7950Gx2
2gig Kingston Extreme low latency heat spreader
AMD 64 X2 5000+ (oc'd)
2x 10krpm Raptors "Raided for speed"
Soundblaster Xfi-extreme fatality pro

You do not need my system to play huxley. Looking realistically at Gears of war and the Xbox's hardware, any machine running a dedicated 7000+ Geforce card will be perfectly fine running at around 1024x768 between medium and high. The big thing you'll need to worry about is ram. RAM RAM RAM RAM RAM. We're talking up to 200people in a battlefield? O_o yeah. Memory, have 2gigs, if you wanna push it to the maximum, then you should be fine. In addition you should try to be running a dual core processor, "i'd reccomend AMD but i suppose thats largely preference" although you'll find many core gamers prefer AMD because of its shorter pipeing. Something Pentium has yet to do. -_- "they just don't learn" However if this still doesn't convince you, lets look at it realistically from past experience.
UNREAL: required low power to run at a reasonable level. With higher power you could really make it shine.
UT2k3/4: Same deal. Low end machines could run it at a playable level np. With higher power, you can make it shine.
GOW: although an Xbox game, its requirements are comperable to a Geforce8800 360mgbt card. or a 7900 card. There are nearly no skips, and everything is on high. In comparison, a computer with more dedicated ram and a proccessor capable of being overclocked should be able to put up a nice fight on "medium" settings, with around a geforce 7000 or even high end 6000 card, 512-1gig of ram, and a nice dual core 2.5 gigahurtz processor "keep in mind i'm talking an AMD processor, if you want pentium you'll have to look that up, as lower clock athalons out perform higher clock pentiums as a very very strict rule". If you want to "make it shine" you should probably concider building something like mine. But i'm a psychopath who just buys the best. -_- pitiful considering i don't even game much. -_-

[Corbs]

While this might of been true 2 years ago, it is unfortunately no longer the case. Intel Core 2 Duo outperforms any equivalent AMD X2 processors.

For example, the E6300 (dual core @ 1.86ghz) outperforms the X2 3800+ (dual core @ 2.0ghz) and probably* the X2 4000+.1

Also, imo, you simply cannot use the XBox 360 specifications as a base for Huxley requirements. As we know, the 360 games (especially GOW) have been optimized to utilize its components at their full capacity. In no way should it reflect a game optimized for PC. Take for instance R6 Las Vegas, running it at 1280x1024 on highest quality makes it a very demanding game even for the newest hardware. FYI, Rainbow Six Las Vegas runs off the lastest U3 Engine.2

Originally Posted by Vital Factor

Just make sure you have a dual (or quad) core processor by the time huxley comes out....

As of yet, quad core gives no advantage over dual core in gaming. Nevertheless, if Huxley is optimized for multi-processing, this could change the outcome.


1 Benchmarks - Core 2 Duo vs AMD X2
2 Rainbow Six Las Vegas benchmark
* Hypothesis

P.S.: Pentium is a trademark of Intel.

[Kenbark]

Don't forget that the 360 is a beast of a machine... It has a triple core 3.2 ghz CPU. The graphics card is equivilant to some of the newer $500 cards as well. Dont underestimate the power of the system. It most likely has more CPU and GPU power than your PC has. Thats what it was built for. Games, and makeing them look beautiful.

On another thought. I was reading an article about UT3 and its production. The lead producer of the project stated that(for this game anyway, which is likely to be very similar to Huxley) that the maximum graphics for PC, PS3, and xbox where all being made to the xbox standards. Meaning that the best graphics that a PC or PS3 could get would be that of the 360s graphics. So it may be a good idea to try and match the power of the 360... but get 4xs the RAM. PCs arent made to balance the RAM like consoles are you need alot more to do the same things.

[connnnn]

It's difficult to easily compare PC and console hardware specs since the platforms are reasonably different.

From another recent interview:

"Also, the 360 work we did resulted in an engine that also runs well on low-end and mid-range PCs. This is very important for games today; the high-end PC gaming market alone is not big enough to support next-generation games with budgets in the $10-20M range. You need to run on ordinary mass-market PCs as well. In reading PC gaming websites, one might get the impression that everyone owns a dual-core PC with a pair of $600 GPUs in SLI configuration, but the reality is very different. More than 80% of PCs sold today are still single-core, and have very low-end DirectX9 graphics capabilities. Unreal Engine 3 supports those configurations well."

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/?article_id=602522 is the whole article. I was surprised to hear UT3 is supporting SM2.0 cards :o since no other U3 engine game has so far. I guess I'll get to try out the demo on this radeon 9800 pro after all...

[Slimjim]

I have a PCI Nvidia 6600 512MB DDR2 enhanced with BFG I got a year back (around 200 dollars), 2 gigs of ram, and a AMD Athlon 64 processor 3800+.

I figure I'll need a stronger video card (by how much). Duel core processors? Or a very good one to play that game on mediumish to a little high settings. Or should I just stop messing around and buy a godly alienware? Please help a computer impaired person and give me some advice :D

[Guyver]

LOL I have a "godly" alienware laptop. Got it in january. Dual 7900 GS 256mb, 2 gig RAM, 2.0Ghz AMD Turion.

It can play Doom3 on high detail at 110 fps.
Costed me 3000 bucks, but it was worth it!
Beleive it or not- last night- me and Sixon researched laptop prices ranging from dell, voodoo, HP, Gateway, Northwest, and alienware. Alienware was the cheapest and has the best hardware. The only thing the other laptops had were dual cores, but they also only allowed one video card.
Nvidia announced that 8800's will be coming out this summer for laptops. How awesome is THAT!

As for your problem slimjim, if I remember correctly, there will be a wide range of detail options on Huxley. So you may not have to upgrade at all, if you're lucky.

If you're into desktops, Alienware has great options. My friend, Joshua, paid 3000 or so on a desktop that came with 2 gigs RAM and Dual 8800GS's, liquid cooling and a 2.13Ghz Intel dual core. Great deal!

Of course- alienware being the baddest is personal opinion-

*Update*
8800 for laptops article:
http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40032

[Slimjim]

Hmm I dont really want to play it at these options though, I want to atleast reach medium, play it some what close to what the vids are showing. Is there any way you can change a processor in a computer? Should I just get a way better video card, or get like a 2000$ alienware.

[connnnn]

The honest truth is that NO pre-built PC seller isn't overpriced. They all have to mark things up to make a profit, since they buy their parts from others... you can always put one together yourself for less money, and typically in less time, and you still have the factory warranties for the parts.

If you have the money, and don't mind paying a premium to save some effort, you can go with Alienware or (my personal favorite of the 2 altho I can't afford either) Falcon Northwest, but if you are on a budget it's always more cost-effective to build yourself. Of course, if you're talking about strictly laptops, you don't really have much choice ;\ which is why they're advertising those much more than desktops...

[Corbs]

Originally Posted by connnnn

The honest truth is that NO pre-built PC seller isn't overpriced. They all have to mark things up to make a profit, since they buy their parts from others... you can always put one together yourself for less money, and typically in less time, and you still have the factory warranties for the parts.

If you have the money, and don't mind paying a premium to save some effort, you can go with Alienware or (my personal favorite of the 2 altho I can't afford either) Falcon Northwest, but if you are on a budget it's always more cost-effective to build yourself. Of course, if you're talking about strictly laptops, you don't really have much choice ;\ which is why they're advertising those much more than desktops...

If only they had more choices for barebone laptops, I might would consider building it. Disadvantage is that you can't choose the video card nor the motherboard.