CPU Requirements for the future

[DKlein]

I've tried to get this answered a couple of times before, but I'll try again. How much processing power is going to be required to run the next line of games (D3, STALKER, etc) with decent frame rates (45-60)?

 

[ja83]

Probably at least 1.66GHz AMD wise.

 

[JeffCY]

I think it's more than just your CPU... if you want to play Doom 3 at those frame rates you probably need the newest cards out right now as well (x800 or 6800).

 

[jrphoenix]

Hello,

It depends on what resolutions and details settings etc.... you will want to run your system at. Here is info from an article in Maximum PC that I posted about: Requirements

Please note this is for maximum quality settings!

P.S. Don't forget to pickup Rome Total War... won E3 game of show from IGN & Firing Squad!

 

[Jeff7181]

Depends on what kind of performance you're happy with. Personally, I'm not happy with an XP2500 at it's stock speed. For me right now, the lowest I would consider is an XP3200 (or any Barton overclocked to 2.2 Ghz at least)

As far as Intel... again, for me, 2.8C is the lowest I would go... or, a 2.4 or 2.6 overclocked to at least 2.8 GHz

 

[Lyfer]

I'd say 20GHZ should be fine.

 

[Hans5849]

damn, 2Gigs of ram, 3+Ghz, and a 9700. Well thank god i OC or i'd never make it

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Hans5849
damn, 2Gigs of ram, 3+Ghz, and a 9700. Well thank god i OC or i'd never make it

Who said 2 GB of RAM?

 

[Badjokesben]

The guy in the link said 2GB of Ram for Doom 3 at max settings.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Badjokesben
The guy in the link said 2GB of Ram for Doom 3 at max settings.

A year ago people were saying 1 GB of RAM for BF1942. But not EVERYBODY has 1 GB of RAM... nor is 1 GB absolutely necessary. I've had 1 GB of RAM for over 2 years now, but that's because I never want to be low on RAM... I'd rather have too much for 90% of the stuff I do than not enough for 10% of the stuff I do... by the end of the year I may have 2 GB... but that doesn't mean I NEED it.

 

[RussianSensation]

It is NEVER fast enough..hehhee

Here is the rig:

Athlon 64 3400+ CPU (2.20GHz, 1MB L1 cache);
ASUS K8V Deluxe mainboard;
OCZ PC-3200 Platinum EB DDR SDRAM (2x512MB, CL2.5-3-2-8);
Seagate 7200.7 HDD (SerialATA-150, 8MB buffer);
Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 audio card;
Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP1, DirectX 9.0b;
Drivers: NVIDIA ForceWare 60.72, ATI CATALYST BETA 6.14.10.6444

Preliminary Benches:

HL2
STALKER

As you can tell, STALKER isn't even an intensive game period as 9800xt gets 70+ frames at 1600x1200 4AA/16AF

With future games, the videocard speed will matter A LOT more than CPU speed. Also 1 gig will be a must by the end of the year I imagine.

 

[SneakyStuff]

I hope my 2800+ Barton holds out 🙂

 

[DKlein]

I'm assuming that the gigahertz are intel standards. For the video card I'm probably getting a 6800U/X800XT, so no problem there. I'm thinking about a 2600+ XP-M overclocked to around 2.5-6GHz - what it looks like a lot of people are getting on here. I would hope that would be more than enough for any new games, but you never know...

2GB RAM? Maybe I'll go 1.5 if I don't have to get a new motherboard or 64-bit processor.

Edit: New rig possibly:
Abit NF7-S r2 (current motherboard)
XP-M 2600+
6800 Ultra (or the X800... not sure)
1GB PC3200 CAS2
120GB Seagate SATA 7200RPM

Currently I have:
the Abit
a 2500+ that gets 2.2GHz at most
1GB PC2700 ValueRAM
GeForce3 Ti 200
80GB Maxtor

 

[RussianSensation]

Your old rig @ 2.2ghz will serve you JUST fine for the next 1-2 years. The only component that really needs upgrading is your videocard. It seems that if you wanted to get a mobile, you'll need to get 1.5 gigs of new ram as you have mentioned. Now the amount of money spent on new ram, new cpu at 2.5-2.6gigs hardly justifies the performance increase you would get. If you really wanted to replace the cpu, since you need to replace the ram, you might as well consider A64 rig for gaming. Otherwise, right now i'd only upgrade your videocard.