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But Can It Run Crysis 3?

MojoKid writes with Hot Hardware's summary of what it takes to run the newest Crysis: "We've been tracking Crysis 3 for a while, from the trailer a few months ago to the recent alpha multiplayer preview. The game is available for preorder and it will launch in February. Crytek has now listed the minimum system requirements for Crysis 3 and they're as follows: Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8, DirectX 11 graphics card with 1GB Video RAM, Dual core CPU, 2GB Memory (3GB on Vista). Those aren't particularly stringent parameters by any means, but as we all know, 'minimum requirements' rarely are. Crytek suggests upgrading to a quad-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, with examples of CPU/GPU combinations that include Intel Core i5-750/NVIDIA GTX 560 and AMD Phenom II X4 805/AMD Radeon HD5870."

182 comments

  1. Crysis 3 leaked some time ago by anethema · · Score: 4, Funny

    On private torrent sites at least. Can't find it on TPB.

    Just download it yourself and see if you can run it.

    IF I had pirated it and played about half the campaign already (which I haven't I'm too moral!), I would say it runs perfectly on my system. Quad core i5 2500k and Geforce 670, but that is fairly high end, no idea how it would run on a lower one. Or mine..since I haven't played it.

    --


    It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
    1. Re:Crysis 3 leaked some time ago by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Funny

      Or mine..since I haven't played it.

      So...what are your unopinions? Have you enjoyed not playing it? Could you non-tell us if the storyline is any good?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:Crysis 3 leaked some time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If it's anything like the first one, you kill, in order:

      A bunch of Koreans
      Aliens
      More Koreans
      More Aliens
      A boss
      The second boss, right after the first boss.

    3. Re:Crysis 3 leaked some time ago by Verunks · · Score: 1

      I never heard of a crysis 3 leak, I think you are confusing it with crysis 2, there was an almost open multiplayer alpha(nvidia would give away key to pretty much everyone) at the beginning of november, but the performance was quite awful on my system(3930k @4.4ghz and GTX580), I think it was around 18fps with everything maxed out but I guess it was probably a debug build so it's hard to say how it will run when it gets released

    4. Re:Crysis 3 leaked some time ago by Dunge · · Score: 1

      There's no Crysis 3 leak, you are mistaken.

    5. Re:Crysis 3 leaked some time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There was a Multiplayer Alpha leak for 3 but you needed to have a key. Other than that you are right, there was no Crysis 3 leak.

    6. Re:Crysis 3 leaked some time ago by Nyder · · Score: 1

      On private torrent sites at least. Can't find it on TPB.

      Just download it yourself and see if you can run it.

      IF I had pirated it and played about half the campaign already (which I haven't I'm too moral!), I would say it runs perfectly on my system. Quad core i5 2500k and Geforce 670, but that is fairly high end, no idea how it would run on a lower one. Or mine..since I haven't played it.

      There was NOT a crysis 3 leak.

      There was a multiplayer alpha which I was part of, and the game ran at 60fps highest settings on my i7-920 and a Nvidia GTX460.

      So take that as you will.

      --
      Be seeing you...
    7. Re:Crysis 3 leaked some time ago by anethema · · Score: 1

      Crap I'm a dummy. Committed to writing no less.

      I'm thinking of Farcry 3, not Crysis 3. They shared an engine (Though modified) and I mixed them in my brain.

      I stand by the fact that I haven't played any of them though.

      --


      It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
    8. Re:Crysis 3 leaked some time ago by djnforce9 · · Score: 1

      I should hopefully be good to go too. Haven't pirated it and not going to but if it can max out my system, then that's a pretty nuts games:

      i7 2600k @4.2Ghz
      EVGA GTX 680
      16GB DDR3 RAM @1866Mhz

    9. Re:Crysis 3 leaked some time ago by Dins · · Score: 1

      There was a multiplayer alpha which I was part of, and the game ran at 60fps highest settings on my i7-920 and a Nvidia GTX460.

      So take that as you will.

      Good to hear. I just upgraded my card (7870 2 GB), but my CPU is also an i7 920, which is I guess getting dated as far as 'top of the line' gaming CPUs.

      I just built my son a computer for Christmas with an i5 3570k clocked at 4.5 GHz. Even with my old card in it (6870 1 GB), it smokes my machine. /sigh Depressing.

    10. Re:Crysis 3 leaked some time ago by Grog6 · · Score: 1

      My 920 at 4.3GHz runs everything I play at max; It will be a while before I upgrade again. :)

      --
      Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
    11. Re:Crysis 3 leaked some time ago by Dins · · Score: 1

      I'm at 4.0 Ghz, but my CPU temps are still pretty low. I set it at 4.0 when I built it, checked temps and went with it. I should probably push that a little... ;)

    12. Re:Crysis 3 leaked some time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Crysis 3 and Farcry 3 don't share the same engine. Farcry 2 and 3 run on the Dunia engine which is based on an older version of Cryengine and from what I can gather only uses a small percentage of it's code.

  2. I nominate this thread title by neminem · · Score: 5, Funny

    Best use of Betteridge's Law of Headlines yet.

    1. Re:I nominate this thread title by kdemetter · · Score: 0

      No.

  3. These really aren't much by Dyinobal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    These really aren't much in the way of system requirements. Which just shows how this extended console generation has had an affect on PC graphics development. Though I'm not complaining it saves me money in the long run, and forces programmers to learn how to do more with less hardware which isn't a bad thing for the most part.

    1. Re:These really aren't much by edxwelch · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes it is. Only pretty high end GPUs have 1GB Video RAM. Not sure, but I don't think consoles have that much

    2. Re:These really aren't much by futuresheep · · Score: 4, Informative
    3. Re:These really aren't much by edxwelch · · Score: 1

      right. I was thinking more of old low end GPUs.

    4. Re:These really aren't much by Nemyst · · Score: 1

      The 200 series is 4 generations old. I'd call that fairly old, at least in computer hardware terms.

    5. Re:These really aren't much by Narishma · · Score: 1

      They don't. The PS3 has 256 MB of VRAM, the Xbox 360 has 512 MB shared between system and video RAM.

      --
      Mada mada dane.
    6. Re:These really aren't much by edxwelch · · Score: 1

      This says it only has 512 mb:
      http://www.anandtech.com/show/2939
      "Coupled with the GT218 GPU on the G210 is 512MB of DDR2 RAM, using the customary 64bit memory bus. Interestingly, unlike most other entry-level products, the G210 only comes in 1 memory configuration: 512MB."

    7. Re:These really aren't much by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only pretty high end GPUs have 1GB Video RAM.

      Maybe if this was still 2008.

    8. Re:These really aren't much by LordSkippy · · Score: 1

      If Mechwarrior Online is anything to go by (it uses the Crysis 3 engine), the min-specs aren't going to play the game very well. Dual-core machines end up having both cores hammered, and FPS drops into the singles when up close and personal with more than one other Mech. My machine is about midway between the min-specs and the recommended for MWO, which looks like they took the min-specs straight from Crysis 3, and it plays alright, but not great. It could be due to some of the code the MWO team has bolted on, but I'd say it's a pretty good indicator that the min-specs are more wishful thinking.

      --
      My karma is in a nose dive
    9. Re:These really aren't much by Nyder · · Score: 1

      Yes it is. Only pretty high end GPUs have 1GB Video RAM. Not sure, but I don't think consoles have that much

      no, High End cards have 2gb or more video ram. I've seen some up to 4gb ram
      https://www.google.com/shopping/product/3980372100714694271?q=video%20cards&hl=en&safe=off&sqi=2&bpcl=39580677&biw=1327&bih=874&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&sa=X&ei=PDi-UMaQKeaIiAKev4D4BQ&ved=0CLwBEOUNMAI

      sorry for the long link, but that's what you get when I have to google for you.

      --
      Be seeing you...
    10. Re:These really aren't much by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

      These really aren't much in the way of system requirements. Which just shows how this extended console generation has had an affect on PC graphics development. Though I'm not complaining it saves me money in the long run, and forces programmers to learn how to do more with less hardware which isn't a bad thing for the most part.

      Honestly, I'm disappointed. GPU advances seem to have been driven at least in part by game development. With new big name titles like this coming out with such low end requirements the game certainly won't be driving too many upgrades. This means the only reason AMD or nVidia have to innovate is simply to stay a little ahead of each other.

    11. Re:These really aren't much by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

      This says it only has 512 mb: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2939 "Coupled with the GT218 GPU on the G210 is 512MB of DDR2 RAM, using the customary 64bit memory bus. Interestingly, unlike most other entry-level products, the G210 only comes in 1 memory configuration: 512MB."

      You're looking at an MSI 512MB model, he linked an eVGA 1GB model. Also, the GT210 was low end when it came out - not something you should be expecting a good gaming experience from. Either way, it's an extremely old card. I just bought an evga 620 a few weeks ago to add a few more monitors to my pc for under $50 and it had 1GB. Current high end cards have 2-4GB onboard. Even my (also outdated) gtx 480 from a few years ago had 1.5GB.

    12. Re:These really aren't much by Stalks · · Score: 1

      Newsflash: Specs can change.

    13. Re:These really aren't much by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MWO is a bad stick to measure by. The development team is more interested in slapping on as many processor intensive filters and poorly optimized HUD elements (the 2D HUD is responsible for most of the bad performance, if the dev team can be believed) than actually making a game that looks good and runs good.

    14. Re:These really aren't much by Jeng · · Score: 1

      I bought a low end card as a temporary replacement when my main one went in for warranty work and that low end card had 2 gigs of video ram. In fact I have seen lots of low end cards over the years with over 1 gig of video ram, but it's not as fast as the ram that is on the high end cards.

      --
      Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
    15. Re:These really aren't much by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      LOL wut? Informative? You can get a 5650 with 1 Gb of RAM for less than $40, keep an eye out on the sales it can be had for less than $20. Hell if you don't mind refurbs (and I don't, never had a problem with 'em) you can get a 6850 for $100 and a 6870 for $120, and that's for a 256bit card with GDDR 5. Gaming, even with all the purty, has never been cheaper friend.

      Back in the day you were lucky if a card that cost less than $200 would last you a year, I'm just now getting ready to swap out my 4850 for a 6870 after getting nearly 3 years out of it, the cost? $70 when I bought it, you can get it at Geeks now for around $35.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    16. Re:These really aren't much by grenadeh · · Score: 2

      It has only hurt if that's what you mean, but PC Graphics and abilities are still miles beyond console. All the current video game generation has done is stint and screw over the growth of PC hardware and practically destroyed the entire PC gaming market by only offering terrible, terrible second-hand ports of console games to PC, instead of the game being developed separately like used to be the case. Because of it you get utter crap in the way of customization in most PC ports - you get to "choose" high. There are very few PC intended or PC exclusive games that have driven PC hardware development - maybe Total War, that's about it. Nothing else is actually a PC exclusive - by nothing I mean so few games that who can even name them.

    17. Re:These really aren't much by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're also piss-poor GPUs, memory's cheap, and sticking 1GB of the stuff on a low end card will lead a lot of people to compare it to past generation cards which only had 768MB onboard but performed at least a couple of dozen times better, and probably cost a similar amount second hand now. Entry level cards are junk, especially the likes of the 210.

    18. Re:These really aren't much by asmkm22 · · Score: 1

      The GeForce 210 is an older entry level workstation card. It's there to display lots of excel sheets and maybe a youtube video. Having 1GB of RAM is irrelevant for that card, when it comes to gaming.

    19. Re:These really aren't much by drsquare · · Score: 1

      Most people don't like in America with its ridiculously cheap hardware prices. There's a reason most PC gamers worldwide play MMOs or browser games rather than high end FPSes.

  4. is the game worth it? by alen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    it seems the game consists of walking/running around with only part of your weapon visible on the screen and shooting stuff with the object to save the planet or the galaxy or something else. anything different then all the FPS games over the last 20 some years?

    or are people going to spend close to $1000 upgrading their computers just to be wowed by some extra graphical detail?

    1. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are, just like people have spent far more to move from 525 lines to 720 to 1080 etc etc.

      Nothing like some snarky trivialization of what other people are interested in to start off the morning.

    2. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      anything different then all the FPS games over the last 20 some years?

      I think this one has individually animated mosquitos.

    3. Re:is the game worth it? by egr · · Score: 1

      $1000? Upgrade? I find it hard to find the hardware that does not meet the recommended requirements.

    4. Re:is the game worth it? by greg1104 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's a game where you move around shooting. There's nothing different from all the games in the last 50 years, there's just more graphical detail.

    5. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It only cost me around 600 to upgrade to an Nvidia 660 GTX, asus 990fx sabertooth, an AMD 8350, and 8 gigs of ram. Don't get me wrong, I didn't do it for the game. What I'm saying is, if you know what you're doing, you can build a decent budget system without breaking the bank.

    6. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      "or are people going to spend close to $1000 upgrading their computers just to be wowed by some extra graphical detail?"

      People have been doing just that for many years despite the fact that in terms of gameplay, the FPS genre hasn't moved forward a single inch since the days of Quake.

    7. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're totally missing the point. How else can I justify upgrading if I don't really have any software that needs the power? Then people would realize I just upgrade to show off, and that extra computing power would totally go to waste, too.

    8. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem here is CryEngine. It's an engine that is capable of pulling off details MAYBE 10% "better" (which is admittedly not much of a metric) than the best-of-the-best of other engines out there, yet it takes TWICE the resources to do it.

      Play Rage in WINE. idTech5 uses OpenGL for graphics so all you need is a single XACT audio DLL (easily installed via winetricks) and the binary NVidia/ATI driver and you're all set. Congratulations, you now have a game with 90% of the graphical fidelity of Crysis 3, BETTER gunplay, and an equally bland story.

      If you really want the remaining 10% then you have a problem. I mean fuck this is like idiots with a standard 50" LCD and plain old speakers who want to see ONE SINGLE MOVIE ON BLU-RAY so they go spend $1,000 on a whole home theater upgrade. Just buy the fucking DVD and be happy.

    9. Re:is the game worth it? by tompaulco · · Score: 2

      are people going to spend close to $1000 upgrading their computers just to be wowed by some extra graphical detail? My two year old machine is still better than the higher recommended specs. I just bought a $600 system for my kids that has better specs than the recommended specs. If I can get a whole system for $600, than it shouldn't cost that much.
      Let's check Newegg:
      Intel Core i5-750 - apparently there is no such thing, but the most expensive I5 is $250.
      or
      AMD Phenom II X4 805 - apparently there is no such thing, but the most expensive AMD Phenom II X4 is $85.

      NVIDIA GTX 560 - The most expensive of these is about $250, but they can be had for less than $200.
      AMD Radeon HD5870 - No longer available, but faster cards are available for less than $100.
      4GB Memory? $50, assuming your computer doesn't already have that much RAM. It is not easy to find a computer these days with less than 4 GB.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    10. Re:is the game worth it? by Issarlk · · Score: 0

      No upgrading yet, wait for Crysis 4. It should be running on the PSBox4 and hopefully this will give some freedom to the dev to do something as good looking as Crysis 1.

    11. Re:is the game worth it? by sl4shd0rk · · Score: 2

      are people going to spend close to $1000 upgrading their computers just to be wowed by some extra graphical detail?

      Yes. Because running Crysis 3 is the 13 yr old equivalent of a 40 yr old purchasing a Dodge RAM 2500 Quadcab +Hemi +Dualies +Stacks.

      --
      Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
    12. Re:is the game worth it? by JazzLad · · Score: 2

      If you had said Unreal Tournament, you may have had a point, because UT was quite a bit ahead of Quake (new equipment like translocator & new gameplay options like CTF & a multitude of fan-made maps). Well, then later versions added vehicles, always fun to get a little road-rage out, this is a gameplay advance. Oh, and there are awesome co-op games like L4D, quite a bit ahead of Quake. Come to think of it, you're full of ****. There have been several significant forward movements since Quake, you just got old and didn't like getting your *** handed to you by the kids.


      Disclaimer: I started playing FPS on Wolfenstein 3D and while I have played pretty much everything since then, I too have gotten old and disliked getting p0wned by children that weren't alive when I started playing FPS, but I have gotten over it & typically stick to games with people I know that are old like me.

      --
      "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
    13. Re:is the game worth it? by TheLink · · Score: 1

      Game? It's a benchmarking program. How many times has Crysis been played vs the times its been run as a benchmark?

      As hardware becomes more powerful you need to release updated benchmarks because the older ones become less useful.

      --
    14. Re:is the game worth it? by timeOday · · Score: 2

      Games aren't necessarily about novelty, just as real sports are not.

    15. Re:is the game worth it? by Dunge · · Score: 1

      Immersion/detail/storyline. FPS 20 years ago were running in square rooms with choppy controls. Now you have fully dynamic realistic area the size of cities. To me, it's not the same gameplay style at all.

    16. Re:is the game worth it? by Dunge · · Score: 1

      You never played both game it seems. Rage is a failure, one of the worst commercial FPS released in the past years. Better gunplay? hahaha

    17. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      apparently there is no such thing

      I guess you mean "the store does not have it", but that wording implies "it does not exist".

    18. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must have gotten a GeForce 690.

    19. Re:is the game worth it? by dywolf · · Score: 2

      thats gross oversimplification and you damn well know it. lets take daikatana and half life. based on what you say, theyre the same game....

      but in reality, and to quote a much used and very true phrase, the devil is in the details. lots of little things add up, either to a giant steaming mess or a classic bestselling game.

      Crysis fell into the latter category though combination of storytelling, techinical and graphical wowness, and good gameplay. the tank level is one of those moments in gaming that i'll never forget. the level itself was massive, the largest i'd ever seen (technical points), and the freaking mountain seveal miles off fell apart, with physics, revealing aliens, and you eventually drive up to that SAME mountain that was miles off. the sheer scale of that map was amaing, both from a gaming standpoint, and a technical one. (and why they abandoned the massive outdoor environments for the sequel i dont understand)

      Crysis demanded a lot of a computer. And the experience is vastly different between even a low end machine and mid range.

      Just merely more graphical detail? Please. You dont have a clue.
      That's like saying my kids fingerpainting and the Mona Lisa are the same thing, one's just more detailed than the other. And just as ignorant.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    20. Re:is the game worth it? by Scarred+Intellect · · Score: 1

      But...all 13 year olds have small penises...

    21. Re:is the game worth it? by greg1104 · · Score: 1

      Wait, you can play Crysis? When did that happen?

    22. Re:is the game worth it? by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

      Oh come on, you can dismissively summarize anything like that if you want to sound like some type of elitist (AKA: a douche).

      Super mario brothers? I've heard that game consists of EXTREMELY poor graphics, jumping on stuff, and occasinally breaking bricks with your head, to save a princess or something else. And it's only in 2D!

      Minecraft... that's basically just legos, with exploding cacti. No thanks.

      (Insert your favorite song)? It seems that consists mostly of percussion, guitars, other stringed instruments, and singing about love or something else. Anything different from all the music of the past 30 years?

      Sex? What's fun about mashing genitals together? Are people really spending thousands and thousands of dollars just for a 2 second orgasm?

    23. Re:is the game worth it? by Kelbear · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The Mona Lisa is not highly regarded because it is detailed. There are many similarly detailed paintings, and many far more detailed paintings. A high-resolution photograph of a sitting woman would be far far more detailed than any of those paintings. That's not what adds value.

      There comes a point of diminishing returns where increasing levels of realism adds less to the experience. Artistic touches go a long way in defining a distinctive and memorable look for a game. Battlefield 3, Call of Duty Modern Warfare ___, Medal of Honor, they are all working off the same modern-day source material and have only minor visual details to distinguish one from another. Kane & Lynch 2 : Dog Days, which had terrible reviews (deservingly so), and Splinter cell: Conviction are two other games also set in the modern day but have taken effort to add stylistic touches. KL2: DD for all of it's flaws implemented a distinctive "caught-on-camera" perspective throughout the game, as though the viewer was watching the protagonists by chasing them with a camcorder, shaking as they run, static distortion in the camera when explosions go off, and film bleeding effects for emphasis on the sleazy scraped-from-the gutter atmosphere they sought to achieve. They put thought into the game's visuals, not just time. Splintercell conviction projects objectives, text, and video of events happening elsewhere onto surfaces in the world that the protagonist moves through the environment, and mapped the timing and positioning of each of these to coincide with the player's likely orientation and pacing through that environment. Both games identified a theme to differentiate themselves, even if they only wanted a subtle touch, and made efforts to maintain thematic consistency throughout the game. This is very different than a simplistic dogged adherence to replicating what already exists in the real-world.

      Stepping outside of the realm of modern-day game settings. Katamari Damacy or Okami has a tiny fraction of the budget spent on graphics that these other games do. But both have a far more memorable visual experience. One glance at a screenshot of these games and there's no mistaking what you're looking at. I'd rate the visuals of these 2 games above all others mentioned here, despite less technically complex.

    24. Re:is the game worth it? by Gr33nJ3ll0 · · Score: 1

      About the time that the specs caught up with the hardware available. For Crysis 1, this was somewhere around 2-3 years AFTER it's initial release. If only the Crysis devs had been smart enough to NOT release the debug build as the RTM..... :)

    25. Re:is the game worth it? by HungWeiLo · · Score: 1

      No kidding. I just upgraded my 6-year-old Core 2 Duo box (which was no spring chicken even back then) and am always pleasantly surprised to find that my dollars are going that much further.

      i7 3770k - $250
      8GB RAM - $25
      Motherboard - $100
      3TB hard drive - $89
      Radeon 7700 - $70
      430W power supply - $20

      All for $550.

      --
      There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
    26. Re:is the game worth it? by Cinder6 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, I enjoyed Crysis 2. It was nothing too special, but I got it on a Steam sale for somewhere under $10, so it was worth it. It actually had a decent gameplay mechanism for allowing multiple different kinds of approaches to areas, from stealth to brute force, and the level design facilitated this aspect. I'll get Crysis 3...but not until it's on sale for $20 or less. Given how quickly PC games drop in price, I'm expecting that to be only a couple months after release (or sooner! Some games have steep discounts if you preorder them).

      --
      If you can't convince them, convict them.
    27. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      TL:DR

    28. Re:is the game worth it? by cbhacking · · Score: 1

      This statement implies a mildly concerning degree of knowledge on the subject of 13-year-old penises... ;-)

      --
      There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
    29. Re:is the game worth it? by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

      are people going to spend close to $1000 upgrading their computers just to be wowed by some extra graphical detail? My two year old machine is still better than the higher recommended specs. I just bought a $600 system for my kids that has better specs than the recommended specs. If I can get a whole system for $600, than it shouldn't cost that much. Let's check Newegg: Intel Core i5-750 - apparently there is no such thing, but the most expensive I5 is $250. or AMD Phenom II X4 805 - apparently there is no such thing, but the most expensive AMD Phenom II X4 is $85. NVIDIA GTX 560 - The most expensive of these is about $250, but they can be had for less than $200. AMD Radeon HD5870 - No longer available, but faster cards are available for less than $100. 4GB Memory? $50, assuming your computer doesn't already have that much RAM. It is not easy to find a computer these days with less than 4 GB.

      Acutally 4GB should run you less than $20. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007611%20600006050%20600006066&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20
      or
      http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007611%20600006050%20600006067&IsNodeId=1&name=4GB

      Also, the gt500 series nvidia cards are deprecated, too. The 600's are current generation.

      If the i5-750 doesn't exist, you had better notify Intel pronto: http://ark.intel.com/products/42915/Intel-Core-i5-750-Processor-8M-Cache-2_66-GHz

    30. Re:is the game worth it? by Pubstar · · Score: 1

      Seriously... My overall system cost $1300 and can play anything you throw at it. And $1300 makes it fall in the higher end of midranged boxes. I am planning on going crossfire when I upgrade to a higher resolution monitor (2560x1440 monitor). The only other thing I have to get around to doing is disabling an extra core on each module so I can really crank up my overclock to get better framerates on games that are more CPU bound.

    31. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The more realistic the game then the more realistic (and varied) your strategies and tactics can be.

      Imagine truly destructible environments. Wood being wood. Rock being rock.

      This could be useful in much more than FPS games.

      Puzzle, adventure, RPG games...

      WE still have a long way to go.

    32. Re:is the game worth it? by ProzacPatient · · Score: 1

      Does that include 13 year old girls? :S

    33. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is human stupidity infinite? Yes it is.
      It's new and shiny. Besides it requires a new computer, its destined to be a blockbuster

    34. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      at least its a bit different. Think about those poor chess players who literally play exactly the same game for over 40 years of their life.

    35. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. Because running Crysis 3 is the 13 yr old equivalent of a 40 yr old purchasing a Dodge RAM 2500 Quadcab +Hemi +Dualies +Stacks.

      You are doing it wrong... it's 3500 w/ Cummins w/ Dualies. You're welcome!

    36. Re:is the game worth it? by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Quite right. Though, with a bit of searching and price matching you can drive down the cost a bit more. I just did some upgrades on my gaming rig from a x4 965.

      8GB for $29(G.skill F3-14900CL9D-GBSR) outside of the black friday/cyber monday sales. Though a lot of places are still selling stuff cheap. -- price matched against tigerdirect

      As for the 500/600 series? Meh not a huge difference, I'm using a 560Ti, and I'll probably wait until the 700 series are released before upgrading it. But you can find them as cheaply as $150 with rebates. -- local canuck shop had them that cheaply on monday, canadacomputers not sure if they're still on sale.

      And really if you're partial to CPU upgrades the new AMD FX-6300 Vishera can be snagged for $100-139 depending on the retailer, and a good board for the AM3+ that supports crossfire can bought for $63-$83 from MSI, ASUS or ASR.

      I built my upgrade oh 3 days ago, and it was ranked 3rd overall on futuremark's site in the 560Ti/AMD-6300 category at stock using qualified drivers. Maybe I'll get down to tweaking it this weekend.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    37. Re:is the game worth it? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      The clitoris develops from the same embryonic tissues that would develop into a penis in a male foetus.

      There. I've just ruined cunnilingus from you.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    38. Re:is the game worth it? by TheGoodNamesWereGone · · Score: 1

      I thought the same thing as I read this. *Another* first-person shooter. Yawn.

    39. Re:is the game worth it? by 4pins · · Score: 2

      AMD Radeon HD5870 - No longer available, but faster cards are available for less than $100.

      Oh you poor saps, Apple will still sell me an AMD Radeon HD 5870 for my Mac Pro for $449.00.

      Feel free to cry for me.

      --
      I will not mourn that which I never had to lose. - Unknown
    40. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But...all 13 year olds have small penises...

      That's alarming, I thought only half of them did!

    41. Re:is the game worth it? by Tagged_84 · · Score: 1

      I'm one of the few people who actually enjoyed Daikatana, finished it with minimal issues.... Actually that's a lie, I remember the terrible team AI now, caused a few reloads from their deaths or getting stuck. But I did find that it was a pretty epic game, a heap of weapons and monsters and different time periods. I think the worst visual design was the first part of the game, it got better after that imo.

      cool story right!

    42. Re:is the game worth it? by TheLink · · Score: 1

      Now? Hence the updated benchmark.

      --
    43. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you skip age 13?

    44. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Mona Lisa is not highly regarded because it is detailed.

      It's part of it. If you take a look at typical El Greco paintings, it is quite obvious that the commission specs included number of extremities. Quite the show of hands.

    45. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No kidding. I just upgraded my 6-year-old Core 2 Duo box (which was no spring chicken even back then) and am always pleasantly surprised to find that my dollars are going that much further.

      i7 3770k - $250
      8GB RAM - $25
      Motherboard - $100
      3TB hard drive - $89
      Radeon 7700 - $70
      430W power supply - $20

      All for $550.

      get an SSD, you will thank me for the recommendation

    46. Re:is the game worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where did you manage to find a 3TB hard disk for $89?

      I can't find much sub $150

  5. Bar reaches new low by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This barely qualifies as gossip, it's certainly not news. So when is the rebrand to Sl-ad-dot coming?

    1. Re:Bar reaches new low by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's not 2001 anymore. If you want your linux-centric news site, piss off.

    2. Re:Bar reaches new low by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agree with this. Fed up with nerd loosers posting on here like they own the place.

  6. Wil it run under Wine? by crazyjj · · Score: 1

    Just kidding.

    --
    What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    1. Re:Wil it run under Wine? by jones_supa · · Score: 4, Funny

      Crispy winter night, glass of cabernet sauvignon, and Crysis 3. Ahh...

    2. Re:Wil it run under Wine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      DirectX 11 is just a number right? I doubt much has changed since DirectX 3.

    3. Re:Wil it run under Wine? by Dunge · · Score: 0

      I seriously hope this was sarcastic

    4. Re:Wil it run under Wine? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      Consider. You run the game on Windows. The game makes DirectX calls and the driver puts them into the hardware. The hardware is likely to be highly optimised for DirectX and so is the driver.

      You run the game on Wine. The game makes Direct X calls. Wine turns them into OpenGL calls and calls the driver. If you are using Nouveau you're screwed because there's no hardware acceleration. It's a bit better with the NVidia proprietary driver but even then it's not like NVidia is prioritising work optimising games performance because only 1% of desktops run Linux and most people are not using them to play games. Even if the NVidia spent time and money optimising their Linux driver (and after Linux flipped them off and then Alan Cox told them they couldn't use DMA-BUF why should they bother given Linux's market share), you've still got Wine in the middle of the system. And it's a system that even without Wine requires expensive hardware to run well.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    5. Re:Wil it run under Wine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why is this moderated funny? It should be moderated "insightful"!

  7. recommended? by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Crytek suggests upgrading to a quad-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, with examples of CPU/GPU combinations that include Intel Core i5-750/NVIDIA GTX 560 and AMD Phenom II X4 805/AMD Radeon HD5870.

    Those seems like pretty low recommendations to me. Certainly relative to what was needed for the original Crysis when compared to the hardware at the time. I haven't replaced my entire system (bumped my ram up from 4 GB to 8 GB two years ago) in several years and haven't had any difficulty with games at all, not that I have time to play them often these days. I have a GTX 250 that I put in the system when I originally built it and still haven't had the time (or need actually) to put in the GTX 465; that's been sitting on my desk for close to two years now.

    My guess is that due to the need to run on laptops, most game manufacturers are not pushing the limits of bleeding edge hardware anymore. No one is going to replace their entire laptop every year just to play the latest and greatest game.

    1. Re:recommended? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Crytek suggests upgrading to a quad-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, with examples of CPU/GPU combinations that include Intel Core i5-750/NVIDIA GTX 560 and AMD Phenom II X4 805/AMD Radeon HD5870.

      My guess is that due to the need to run on laptops, most game manufacturers are not pushing the limits of bleeding edge hardware anymore. No one is going to replace their entire laptop every year just to play the latest and greatest game.

      As of 2 years ago, desktop computer hardware performance outstripped pretty much all game requirements. Laptops have also reached this threshold. The only component that can still be a bottleneck, for systems with high res displays (over 1920 x 1200) and laptops, is the GPU.

      Games are, for the most case, no longer driving PC hardware improvements. High-def video processing and editing, on the other hand, is a hog when it comes to disk I/O, GPU, and CPU processing.

  8. Re:Wil it run on the Wii U? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's the next gen console of the moment after all.

  9. No Linux support? by clarkn0va · · Score: 1

    This game is so last year.

    --
    I am literally 3000 tokens away from the chaotic crossbow --Stephen
  10. Hardly sounds demanding, maybe for good reason? by olsonish · · Score: 1

    I was just thinking to myself the other day it used to be every year if not most certainly every other year I found myself dropping anywhere from half to a full grand on upgrades pretty consistently. Its been at least 2 1/2 years now and I'm fairly certain an i7 930, 12g tc ddr3, 2x 6870's, and a SSD blow those recommended specs out of the water. It feels silly posting those specs too as if its some kind of boast, I can only imagine anyone else who builds their own rigs is probably in the same boat. I think the last hardware I'd bought was in 2011 I paid something around $100 for 16gb (4x4) for a spare box, just because it was so cheap. Wild speculation perhaps: While I'm not a game programmer, I have been doing a lot of mobile web interfaces over the last 2 1/2 years. Its been a general observation at least in my area of expertise alone that efficiency is king. I wonder if the explosion of mobile and tablet development has had a similar effect on game programming practices? I base this observation on the near complete death of flash in web interfaces on mobile devices, it wasn't so much about transfer time (as that would be irrelevant here, too) as much as it was about what kind of local resources it took to render the page (flash plugin on mobile/tablets is sluggish at best). The general side effect on desktop versions of web interfaces has been trimmed down markup and much more efficient/optimized CSS/JS (on sites that are properly developed in a mobile first fashion). I can only imagine with all of the recent development of games on the ipad for example have somehow resulted in more efficient practices bleeding into the desktop game development world. Maybe a ./ game developer could chime in?

  11. Optimization favorites? by jones_supa · · Score: 1

    Ok, while we are at it, let's flip this question too.

    Is there any particular game that is your favorite regarding exceptionally good optimization or low system requirements?

    I would pick the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series -- should be playable even on the low-end Radeon APUs, while bringing large outdoor areas and a nice amount of detail.

    1. Re:Optimization favorites? by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      I gotta add Rollercoaster Tycoon, which was programmed in assembly.

    2. Re:Optimization favorites? by Nyder · · Score: 1

      Ok, while we are at it, let's flip this question too.

      Is there any particular game that is your favorite regarding exceptionally good optimization or low system requirements?

      I would pick the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series -- should be playable even on the low-end Radeon APUs, while bringing large outdoor areas and a nice amount of detail.

      Ya, nethack plays fast on whatever computer I put it on.

      My p3 700mhz runs nethack just fine.

      --
      Be seeing you...
  12. There was a Crysis 2? by TheSkepticalOptimist · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yeah, PC gaming ain't dead.

    PC gaming should be using ray-tracing by now, all these 1000 core GPU's and multi-card colutions should be able to process ray tracing calculations, yet there are no ray traced games out showing that there has been little innovation in PC gaming for the last 10 years. Who cares if you can run a game at 300 fps on a 2560 x 1600 screen?

    I would return to PC gaming in a heart-beat if they started using ray-tracing in games and created some truly stunning and realistic graphics. You know, create a platform that game consoles can't touch. We really don't need Linux based Steam boxes playing Diablo clones and HL2 in the living room. I want to be excited about buying a $600 liquid cooled video card again. But when a $300 game console gives mostly the same graphics quality and performance as PC games, meh.

    --
    I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
    1. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      ^This, oh, man, this.

      I am so sick of bad console ports when even my 3-yr old gaming rig is more powerful than any console currently for sale.

    2. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by Baloroth · · Score: 1

      Do you have any idea how much power ray-tracing costs? Obviously not, but the short answer is "a lot more than we have." You can't do it with anything available at the consumer level, not in real time with any decent level of rays or bounces.

      On the other hand, some games really have pushed the PC gaming envelope (I'd say Planetside 2, for example). It's just getting pretty rare, since console level graphics look "good enough."

      --
      "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
    3. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by filthpickle · · Score: 1

      They stand to make way more money just churning out cookie cutter console versions than they do putting the dev time into an uber high end engine that only $1500 PC's can run.

      I have the same i7 dual HD5870's machine I built over 2 years ago...and I don't think I am going to need to upgrade until the next gen consoles come out....and maybe not even then :(

    4. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by ifrag · · Score: 5, Informative

      PC gaming should be using ray-tracing by now, all these 1000 core GPU's and multi-card [solutions] should be able to process ray tracing calculations, yet there are no ray traced games out showing that there has been little innovation in PC gaming for the last 10 years.

      No, wrong, Carmack has explained the issues involved with ray-tracing at least a dozen times. But clearly since you've worked out a better solution, maybe you should sell it and get rich?

      --
      Fear is the mind killer.
    5. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by Dunge · · Score: 1

      Crysis 2 was an awesome game, and there are many reason with RayTracing won't see the day any time soon. Read about it instead of saying stupidities. Also, good PC games DON'T give the same graphic quality and performance as console games.

    6. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "PC gaming should be using ray-tracing by now, all these 1000 core GPU's and multi-card colutions should be able to process ray tracing calculations"

      What the heck is that assertion based on?

      Don't you know that since 2004 we're having diminishing returns due to cooling limitations and approaching the limit of Moore's law?

    7. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by grenadeh · · Score: 1, Redundant

      Are you joking? Do you know how badly ray tracing would godlag the computer and murder your performance? Modern GPUs are not made to handle actual graphical rendering technology like ray-tracing - anyone who regularly uses Maya/3DSMax/Lux/Firefly/3Delight/Carrara is painfully aware of this when it takes 1.5 hours to render 1 frame of 2 raytrace bounces. Video games will literally never use ray-tracing, not without severe limitations - which negates the point of using it. No game uses raytracing. I'm not sure what you're basing this on, honestly. And no, no console gives remotely close graphics to a computer. I think you're missing a massive flaw in your argument - the reason any PC Game does look similar in graphical quality to its console counterpart is entirely irrelevant to the power/ability of the computer. It looks that way because all games are developed for console, and then ported (horribly) to PC. There aren't customized ports like there were in the 90s when an entirely different studio handled porting the game to PC. Games are either made for PC - Age of Empires, Total War, Black and White - or they are made for console; every other game.

    8. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by Kjella · · Score: 1

      I want to be excited about buying a $600 liquid cooled video card again. But when a $300 game console gives mostly the same graphics quality and performance as PC games, meh.

      Yeah because gaming should be all about who has the most badass hardware and has overclocked their CPU/GPU for those extra FPS, not if the game is any good or whether you actually play it well. Yes new hardware isn't that exciting anymore when I already have a quad core with gigs of memory and solid graphics, but I don't miss those not-so-good old days.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    9. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      DX11 is a big step up, it will basically end this gens consoles. You're looking at an order of magnitude more polygons possible with DX11 tessellation. It's like voxels tech in some ways, the closer you get, the more detailed it becomes, up to a point anyway.

    10. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by Issarlk · · Score: 1

      And yet Intel has a demo of a raytraced (or maybe raycasted ?) Wolfenstein game. So ovviously there's a middle ground between raster graphics and OMG 2 hours per frame! Renders.

    11. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by Desler · · Score: 2

      Yes, but it was not running on a consumer PC. It was "cloud rendered" . Maybe you need to have read the whole story?

      Hardware Setup
      For this project four “server” machines have been used to represent the cloud. The relevant components of each machine are:
        Motherboard: Intel® DX58SO (code name Smackover)
        CPU: Intel® CoreTM i7-980x processor (6 cores, 2 threads per core, 3.33 GHz)
        Intel code name Knights Ferry PCIe card (32 cores, 4 threads per core)
        Gigabit Ethernet

      Dumbass...

    12. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The solution already exists. GPU acceleration. a quad core CPU can do a 256x256 render of Quake 4 at 16 FPS.

      We could have at LEAST 1024x768 realtime raytracing if done on the GPU. See, the fun thing is, raytracing can be made embarassingly parallel.

      Carmack talks too much and his words haven't been very relevant since OpenCL and OpenRT.

    13. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by Khyber · · Score: 1

      Hello, Indigo.

      Not SGI one, either.

      Man, do you guys hear about something once then act/speak as if it will never improve?

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    14. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by Khyber · · Score: 1

      "anyone who regularly uses Maya/3DSMax/Lux/Firefly/3Delight/Carrara "

      Would know it's CPU-bound with rudimentary GPU acceleration.

      Try Indigo. Or OpenRT. Right now, OpenRT is doing 256x256 Quake 4 @ ~16FPS raytracing on a quad core CPU - CPU ONLY.

      Raytracing is beyond easy to parallelize. And GPUs just so happen to rock at those sorts of calculations and instruction ordering.

      "No game uses raytracing."

      Stardust on the Amiga does. Be quiet child, real adults are talking.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    15. Re:There was a Crysis 2? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "No game uses raytracing."

      Stardust on the Amiga does. Be quiet child, real adults are talking.

      Prerendered doesn't count.

  13. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They don't support my chosen platform, so they must hate *everyone*!

    drop the fucking theatrics. It's childish. Attitudes like this are why the US congress can't get a damn thing done.

  14. Are you sure it's laptops, or is it consoles? by tepples · · Score: 1

    My guess is that due to the need to run on laptops, most game manufacturers are not pushing the limits of bleeding edge hardware anymore. No

    Are you sure it's laptops, or is it consoles? I imagine that companies with the resources to create assets detailed enough to tax an enthusiast PC also have the resources to qualify to be licensed developers on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

    1. Re:Are you sure it's laptops, or is it consoles? by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 1

      Good point. I never think about consoles as the only one in the house is a Wii and I would never even think about playing a PC game on it. Actually I'd never consider playing a FPS on a console in general.

  15. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by Desler · · Score: 1

    According to the Crysis 3 specs, it won't even launch on this system.

    Where do you get that it won't launch? It'll launch but Crytek is telling you it probably won't run very well.

  16. PS3 by tepples · · Score: 2

    According to Wikipedia, Crysis 3 has a low-res texture mode that only needs 256 MB of VRAM. It's called "the PlayStation 3 version".

  17. Don't discount retro by tepples · · Score: 1

    Is there any particular game that is your favorite regarding exceptionally good optimization or low system requirements?

    How about Streemerz, which only needs 0.00013 GB of storage space, 0.00001 GiB of RAM, and an 0.0018 GHz CPU. Fans of Roc'n Rope or Bionic Commando will love it.

  18. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by Krneki · · Score: 1

    You completely missed the point.

    Some of us also like to play games using the latest hardware. There are still a lot of games using UT3 engine that will run just fine on older hardware. There is no need for the whole game industry to wait for every single Joe to buy new hardware.

    Anyway, it's not like the game will rot or anything, it will still be there when you finally get a new machine and then you can play the game using your new PC at his best.

    --
    Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
  19. I have a PC with by Jafafa+Hots · · Score: 2

    those suggested specs.. not the minimum, but the suggested ones... and I can't even play all the way through Crysis 2.

    Everything bogs down to an eventual halt during the massive alien attack on the aircraft carrier.

    --
    This space available.
    1. Re:I have a PC with by Jafafa+Hots · · Score: 1

      (actually I have 16gb memory though)

      --
      This space available.
    2. Re:I have a PC with by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That level is fucked. Happens to everyone, regardless of system spec.

    3. Re:I have a PC with by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Everything bogs down to an eventual halt during the massive alien attack on the aircraft carrier.

      That's the original Crysis, and yeah there's a bad memory leak for the ending. My godbox returned sub 10 fps the last time I played the ending. Try quitting and restarting the entire game, lower gfx details to low, and load up for the last level again. At least you'll be able to finish the game.

    4. Re:I have a PC with by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      those suggested specs.. not the minimum, but the suggested ones... and I can't even play all the way through Crysis 2.

      Everything bogs down to an eventual halt during the massive alien attack on the aircraft carrier.

      Um, that was Crysis 1 that had the aircraft carrier attack, and it was horrible on my system as well, due to poor coding I suspect. But Crysis 2 ran very well on my Core2 Duo / GTX 460 setup.

    5. Re:I have a PC with by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      Dude its the level, its coded for shit. I have a hexacore with 8gb of RAM and an HD4850 OCed and it'll still bog when it gets to that ONE level, while everything else runs perfectly. Compare this to something like Just Cause II where i can set charges all over a compound and do my own "cool guys don't look at explosions" with smokestacks falling and fuel tanks blowing and fireballs that block out the sky and it still don't chug.

      But go onto any forum and mention the carrier level and watch all the pissed off rants you get, I have yet to see anybody render that thing 100% chug free.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    6. Re:I have a PC with by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's a bug. I got that with DX10. When I changed it back to DX9 I could get through it. The visual quality is almost exactly the same too.

  20. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by gl4ss · · Score: 2

    just buy a graphics card, sheesh.

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  21. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    people use onboard graphics for more than flash-based games? really? then whine that CRYSIS won't play on their box? really?!?!

  22. Who cares... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After the piece of shit that was crysis 2.... i really don't give a damm about anymore of their tech demos with no fun gameplay.

    consolized shit. fuck crysis.

  23. but can it run Nethack? by flyingfsck · · Score: 0

    I wonder what is the minimum system to run Nethack?

    --
    Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
    1. Re:but can it run Nethack? by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 1

      I wonder what is the minimum system to run Nethack?

      The system needs to power up.

  24. I have to question those DX11 minimum requirement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    the XBOX 360 is basically Dx 9.1 with a bit of shader stuff from 10. Why would the heck the minimum requirement be DX11 on PC ? I smell a rat here, as I doubt they will make a new DX11 only engine. i think they simply set it so as to avoid supporting XP or Vista.

  25. 1GB of Video RAM? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My first computer had 1kB of "Video RAM" and it wasn't even dual-ported but multiplexed.

    Sure, people say "PC gaming ain't dead yet", but if one needed one million times the caloric input to get me moving than when I was sixteen, I doubt that the prognosis would be good.

  26. ha by grenadeh · · Score: 1

    Those recommended specs are false adverting. Basically theyre saying anyone with a 3 year old computer can run it, but you know thats not the case - youll be lucky to get 30 fps with those specs. Probably closer to 5.

    1. Re:ha by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Uhh...that's kinda the POINT with Crytek, hence the meme. you buy the game now, play it on low, and then have your mind blown when the tech finally catches up and you can run it maxed out.

      The nice thing about this is it makes their games some of the most awesome looking for years and years, fire up Far Cry 1 on ultra everything and it looks so damned good you want to just sit there for an hour watching the fly by. I personally LOVE this about their games as it gives me that sense of awe like I had the first time I saw the Unreal fly by...anybody remember the first time you saw that? I bet you just sat there in awe watching that thing for ages didn't you? That is what makes Crytek games great, as not only are they fun to play but as your hardware gets better the games look better, year after year.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  27. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by gman003 · · Score: 1

    Integrated graphics. Seriously?

    Starcraft II is hardly the most graphically-challenging game. Neither is R6: Vegas. And the WEI scores are essentially useless.

    The A10 uses a Radeon 7660D which, in "real"-card terms, fits somewhere between 7570 and a 7470. However, the integrated Radeons are known to be extremely memory-bandwidth-bound, enough that they're frequently used in RAM benchmarks. So in practice you're looking at a graphics processor that's already weak, and further crippling it by bottlenecking its memory access.

    Look at the benchmarks. 48 FPS in Crysis: Warhead - at 1366x768. 41 FPS in Metro: 2033, on low, at the same low resolution. 68 FPS in Dirt 3. 58 FPS in Battlefield 3, at low quality. For any game that has a reputation for being GPU-heavy, integrated graphics will not suffice.

    Yes, the Fusions are pretty awesome chips. I almost got one myself. They're excellent for mobile or light gaming usage. I'm not surprised you sell a lot of them. But (at the risk of sounding like a True Scotsman) they're not the kind of thing a real PC gamer uses. And Crysis 3 is definitely trying to target the "real PC gamer".

  28. Games Trailing Hardware by aquabats · · Score: 1

    I remember it was extremely expensive to get the original Crysis to Maximum settings. I reckon I could run this on Ultra for right around $500. Although my current rig will more than handle it as there has been no need to upgrade anything on any gaming rig since SSD became affordable. Games dont seem to be able to catch up with the hardware... If the new MS and PS consoles offered keyboard controller support, i dont think traditional PC gaming would have a leg to stand on. Why upgrade your pc when you get "good enough" on console. Mods and dedicated servers would be the only reason to still game on a desktop.

    1. Re:Games Trailing Hardware by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 1

      I've banged on about this over and over again.

      The PS3 supports keyboard and mouse via usb and bluetooth. The PS3 also supports loading data via USB, and UT3 supports loading mods in from a USB drive.

      So, given all of this, this is laziness on the part of developers. not on the part of Sony.

      --
      Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
  29. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    Just give all my customers and extra $150 and they will. A better PSU and at least a 550TI are around $150 difference.

  30. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    They're saying "bare minimum" is 1GB video memory so if it gets stuck in a dump and load loop because total texture size on minimum is 650MB and I have 512, it will not launch or skin everything and will crash. I think they're lying. I don't know if the APUs can grab more memory on the fly like Intel chips though. They do have an absolutely segregated 512MB that the system can't touch instead of 100% on the fly like Intel so who knows.

  31. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    You do know that they basically took a Radeon graphics card and put the entire GPU into the CPU without changing much, right? So it has 384 cores, direct memory access, and just no GDDR5 (which kinda kills it based on my experience with a GT440 that had DDR3 onboard instead of GDDR5).

    But still, they should have a quick and ugly mode so users can play it on BRAND NEW, gaming-oriented systems like this. They're definitely losing customers, seeing as how this can play basically any other game ever made on minimum settings.

  32. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    APUs are not really integrated graphics. They took a GPU core and put it inside the CPU. It's no different than the actual card itself, except for memory bandwidth and speeds. Those FPSes are not acceptable to me but I just had a customer who was running 20FPS in WoW on a laptop with Intel GMA965 and a core 2 and said it was "fine." To run an older Crysis at 48FPS, this thing definitely has some horsepower so to completely eliminate it from playability seems like a stupid decision to me on the game maker's part.

  33. Ugh. You guys... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1- I dont understand why crysis is still considered some uber powerhouse game that cripples even the mightiest of computers. I guess it started with crysis 1 bringing pcs to their knees but guess what, it wasnt because the engine was so powerful. It was because crytek cant code an engine worth a shit. Crysis 1 had like a 20% improvement in performance with a patch, if the engine was so damn powerful then how could such a big increase happen with a small patch? Or how about the custom config file and optimization patch that was released by some random guy that was unofficial that improved performance by like 45%? The gam ran like butter after that custom patch and still looked just as good on a pc that previously it ran like crap on. Bottom line is crytek cant code engines and have no idea how to optimize them properly. So their games run like shit becase of it and then everyone says "Wow this game looks pretty and it runs like shit so it must be really powerful!". You know else I know that cryteks engines suck? Because no one licenses them, thats why. If their engines are so awesome then why out of 3 versions of the cryengine was the biggest named game to use it was sniper ghost warrior 2? No one uses their engines because they are shit and run like shit. Youd think if it really was as powerful and awesome as everyone thinks it is then more developers would license it, but they dont.

    2- Crytek cant make a good game that is more than mediocre. They never have and they never will. What have they made? Far cry and crysis. Two games that were only noteable for their graphics. They had disposeable characters, stories, settings, controls, gameplay and everything that had been done dozens and dozens of times better by dozen of different developers. Basically crytek is to gaming what nickelback is to music. You can really tell their creative juices in crysis 3 also because 1 had jungle, 2 had a city and now 3 has a jungle in a city...... but oh wait it has a bow and arrow and Im sorry but when you spend so much time talking about a bow and arrow and use it in every publicity shot and focus on it so much there is something wrong.

  34. Too much power needed for GPU these days... by trims · · Score: 3, Informative

    The bad part is the "recommended" graphics card is now the upper level of the mid-range, the Nvidia 560 or 660, and the ATI 5870.

    This is becoming a real big issue for Graphics cards, far more than video RAM or any other part of the system.

    The problem is that the upper-mid-range cards now require *very* significant power. The 560/660 and 5870 above really require TWO 6-pin supplemental power connectors, since they're now pulling 200W under load. The problem there is that this means a 500W+ power supply, and ONLY high-end workstations or custom gaming rigs have those, so you're inherently cutting out the section of the population which games, has a pretty beefy rig, but got a pre-made system from HP/Dell/whomever, none of which have more than a 400W (and usually a 300W) power supply.

    I'm a excellent example: I happen to have a HP Z210 workstation - that's a Xeon E3-1200-class CPU (which kicks the crap out of everything consumer-class, including the i7 series), 16GB of RAM, and an SSD. Yet, it was only designed with a 400W power supply, as it was targeted for mid-level pro graphics. I've been looking, and the absolutely fastest GPU I can use is the Nvidia 650 Ti; everything else draws too much power. Consumer PCs are in an even worse situation, since they might have a high-end i5 Ivy bridge CPU, but they've only got 350W power supplies, which probably can't even drive my 650 Ti, let alone a 660. So, you're looking at having to buy a system for $1500 (sans graphics card) rather than $500 to play these games.

    Realistically, game makers need to target the lower-mid-range cards - at least, they have to be able to play very well at around 1680x1050 or 1440x900 on one of those lower-power-draw cards (e.g. Nvidia 650 or AMD 7850).

    Frankly, I think this is going to be a *big* drag on the PC Gaming industry, since unless they can convince Nvidia/AMD to cut down on the power-draw requirements, or somehow get PC makers to beef up their PS more, new games won't be able to run reasonably on ANYTHING not a custom gaming rig. And that's a *tiny* portion of the market.

    -Erik

    --
    There are always four sides to every story: your side, their side, the truth, and what really happened.
    1. Re:Too much power needed for GPU these days... by Gr33nJ3ll0 · · Score: 1
      Not trolling, but how hard is it to replace the power supply in one of these systems?

      Seems like anybody comfortable enough to upgrade the graphics card should also be able to swap out a power supply as well. Does HP, etc make it such that the power supply cannot be replaced?

    2. Re:Too much power needed for GPU these days... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      half the time you're looking at something which isn't even ATX-sized, then there's a non-trivial chance the motherboard (which is rarely ATX) has a non-standard power connector

    3. Re:Too much power needed for GPU these days... by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

      The bad part is the "recommended" graphics card is now the upper level of the mid-range, the Nvidia 560 or 660, and the ATI 5870.

      This is becoming a real big issue for Graphics cards, far more than video RAM or any other part of the system.

      The problem is that the upper-mid-range cards now require *very* significant power. The 560/660 and 5870 above really require TWO 6-pin supplemental power connectors, since they're now pulling 200W under load. The problem there is that this means a 500W+ power supply, and ONLY high-end workstations or custom gaming rigs have those, so you're inherently cutting out the section of the population which games, has a pretty beefy rig, but got a pre-made system from HP/Dell/whomever, none of which have more than a 400W (and usually a 300W) power supply.

      I'm a excellent example: I happen to have a HP Z210 workstation - that's a Xeon E3-1200-class CPU (which kicks the crap out of everything consumer-class, including the i7 series), 16GB of RAM, and an SSD. Yet, it was only designed with a 400W power supply, as it was targeted for mid-level pro graphics. I've been looking, and the absolutely fastest GPU I can use is the Nvidia 650 Ti; everything else draws too much power. Consumer PCs are in an even worse situation, since they might have a high-end i5 Ivy bridge CPU, but they've only got 350W power supplies, which probably can't even drive my 650 Ti, let alone a 660. So, you're looking at having to buy a system for $1500 (sans graphics card) rather than $500 to play these games.

      Realistically, game makers need to target the lower-mid-range cards - at least, they have to be able to play very well at around 1680x1050 or 1440x900 on one of those lower-power-draw cards (e.g. Nvidia 650 or AMD 7850).

      Frankly, I think this is going to be a *big* drag on the PC Gaming industry, since unless they can convince Nvidia/AMD to cut down on the power-draw requirements, or somehow get PC makers to beef up their PS more, new games won't be able to run reasonably on ANYTHING not a custom gaming rig. And that's a *tiny* portion of the market.

      -Erik

      Seriously, pre-made systems from HP/Dell/Whoever have not been gaming systems EVER. 500w has been a bare minimum for any gaming system for several years now. It's also worth noting that 500w power supplies sell in the $30 price range. Other than the fact that it'll cost you a lot for electricity and contribute to pollution on some level the power requirements for current gen cards are not a big deal. High end cards these days only draw 195 watts (source: http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-3688-KR ); just because HP gave you the shaft on your system's power supply does not mean the cards' power draw is unreasonable.

    4. Re:Too much power needed for GPU these days... by Pubstar · · Score: 1

      I stopped reading at "I happen to have an HP"

      If you've been paying attention, this last round of GPUs are more power efficient than the last generation (nVidia 600/ATi 7000HD series cards).

    5. Re:Too much power needed for GPU these days... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does HP, etc make it such that the power supply cannot be replaced?

      It depends on the unit, but the answer is sometimes yes. In many of the units (especially the lower end units, not so much so on the high-end units), they use non-standard power supply sizes, non-standard motherboard sizes, etc. for the sole purpose of not being able to upgrade your system. They will also do stupid things with the case like give you a PCI-e slot, but put a piece of the chassis in the way so you can only use a half form-factor video card.

    6. Re:Too much power needed for GPU these days... by Doogie5526 · · Score: 2

      at least, they have to be able to play very well at around 1680x1050 or 1440x900 on one of those lower-power-draw cards (e.g. Nvidia 650 or AMD 7850).

      I'm not sure what your desktop resolution is (I'm guessing it's around there). I feel like that's a bit much to expect a computer speced to run a desktop operating system (when using the 3d portion it's only doing basic texturing/compositing) being asked to run modern 3d game at full resolution. Commodity desktop computers have always lagged behind even mainstream modern games. Quake 1 required a floating-point math co-processor I didn't have, then games required 3d cards. There was usually a transition (software rendering mode when 3d cards were needed, PCI 3d cards when AGP started getting popular), but generally they had to be played at a significantly lower resolution and frame rate if they could play at all.

      If this model wasn't profitable, they wouldn't be doing it. While there's obviously a market for games like The Sims and Myst (they're some of the top-selling PC games of all time), that's not the same market Crysis 3 is going after.

    7. Re:Too much power needed for GPU these days... by asmkm22 · · Score: 1

      The problem is, you bought a high-end workstation and expect it to be a gaming machine.

    8. Re:Too much power needed for GPU these days... by drsquare · · Score: 1

      You're expecting people to upgrade several components in the middle of a global depression.

  35. Re:I have to question those DX11 minimum requireme by VGPowerlord · · Score: 1

    the XBOX 360 is basically Dx 9.1 with a bit of shader stuff from 10. Why would the heck the minimum requirement be DX11 on PC ? I smell a rat here, as I doubt they will make a new DX11 only engine. i think they simply set it so as to avoid supporting XP or Vista.

    I assume it requires hardware Tesselation support.

    I just hope they do it better than Arkham City did... enabling Hardware Tesselation brought my framerate down to an inconsistent amount around 40fps on a Core i7 2600K with dual nVidia GTX 570s running in SLI. I'm sure I could have lowered the graphics from the "Ultra" setting to make it work, but isn't that missing the entire point of doing things in hardware?

    --
    GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
  36. Free advertising. by MaWeiTao · · Score: 1

    For a long time I've had the impression that these developers only put marginal effort in optimizing code because the goal is to offer a game that's a resource hog. As long as the game is halfway decent you've given yourself months of free marketing. In an effort to stay relevant publications will immediately include these games in performance testing.

    1. Re:Free advertising. by kwoff · · Score: 1

      Double-edged sword: I've never played Crysis because of the impression that it wouldn't run well. Good luck selling to all those performance testers!

  37. Windows 8? by gtirloni · · Score: 1

    I thought Windows 8 couldn't run any games.

    --
    none
    1. Re:Windows 8? by will_die · · Score: 1

      According to various tests it does just as good as windows 7 for most games, better with some, slightly worst for a few others.

    2. Re:Windows 8? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You thought wrong.

  38. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by Jeng · · Score: 1

    You do know that graphics are usually very constrained by their memory bandwidth and that putting in much faster ram will give you better results, but it still will not compare to an actual dedicated card even if it has the same piece of silicon at its heart because everything else is different.

    --
    Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
  39. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by gman003 · · Score: 1

    Are they integrated into the CPU or chipset? Then it's integrated graphics. And while they may be the best integrated graphics on the market, and can certainly handle light gaming and media playback, they are far from the level a discrete processor is at.

    Yes, the cores on a Fusion processor are essentially identical to those in the discrete card. But they are clocked lower, are heavily memory-constrained, and to put it bluntly, there's just not enough of them. The 7660D in the top-end A10 has 384 shader cores. That sounds like a lot. It isn't. First off, it's based on the old VLIW4 architecture of the Radeon HD 6000 series. The "common" card of that series was the 6770, which had 800 of those cores (with 50MHz higher clock speed, as well). To find comparable discrete cards, you have to go down to the budget section. The $79 6570 has 480 shader cores, while the $55 6450 had 160.

    You seem to fundamentally misunderstand Crytek's marketing position. They deliberately exclude the low end, in order to get better traction with the high end. They sell to the people who are more likely to spend $500 than $50 on a graphics card.

    When the original came out, they bragged that there was not a computer on the planet that could run the game at absolute max settings. The whole reason "can it run Crysis?" is a meme is because the answer was almost universally "NO" for a few years after it came out.

    Let me explain it to you with one of Slashdot's favorite tropes: the car analogy. Can you compete in a F1 race driving a '98 Toyota Camry? No. Can you compete driving a '13 Honda Civic? No. And it would be absolutely ridiculous for you to try. Similarly, trying to play Crysis on an integrated GPU is likely to end poorly.

    That said, I would expect it to at least run. I have found that "minimum requirements" are often higher than they strictly need to be. The game will probably run, it might even be vaguely playable if you can increase the amount of memory and find a low-res texture mod.

  40. Can I run it on my Surace? Surface Pro? by elabs · · Score: 1

    Seems like the Surface Pro aught to work, right?

  41. Those aren't demanding .... by Murdoch5 · · Score: 1

    For recommended specs that is pretty low. None of that hardware is cutting edge, comparatively expensive or impressive.

    1. Re:Those aren't demanding .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I like how the implication here is that anything less than "cutting edge" is "pretty low" i.e. one either has a computer with cutting edge hardware or their systems specs are defined as "pretty low".

  42. Re:I have to question those DX11 minimum requireme by cpm99352 · · Score: 1

    Agreed. Can someone knowledgable chime in on what DX11 provides such that XP is locked out?

    Looking here all it mentions is shader tracing & WDDM? I don't follow computer games all that much, but am curious about the technical reasons for the exclusion of XP.

  43. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by Desler · · Score: 1

    Yes, the minimum for acceptable performance. Not minimum to launch it.

  44. Re:I have to question those DX11 minimum requireme by VGPowerlord · · Score: 1

    The section you're looking at is for DX 11.1, which isn't the same as DX 11. For one, DX 11.1 is only available on Windows 8.

    Also, recall that Windows XP only officially supports DX9 and older... although someone figured out how to get DX 10 working on it.

    --
    GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
  45. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

    And I'll tell you just like I tell MY customers which is "If you wanna game then discrete all the way". Seriously you can get an HD4850 for $35, or an HD6850 for $100, so there really isn't a point in trying to play games on an IGP.

    No matter how you slice it its the shared memory that makes those worthless. You just can't pump enough through bog standard DDR 3 to make a killer gaming system with an IGP, its just not gonna do it. Great for video, fine for casual, sucks balls for modern shooters and the like.

    --
    ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  46. Re:Well that eliminates a popular build by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

    Then your customers shouldn't be wanting to play Crysis 3 now should they? this is like bitching that your new econo car won't keep up with a 911 in the quarter, well no shit, you didn't pay 911 money either!

    They can play tons of games on that rig, just not Crysis 3. If they want to play even more games they can add a cheap discrete, but for Crysis 3 they should be looking at an HD5850 minimum, HD6850 better. BTW why are you being such a cheap bastard when it comes to PSUs? The only things I put less than a 500w in are the office boxes.

    But the planet shouldn't have to wait for you to stop building cheap shit before the numbers go up, sorry. Either keep up or be happy with the tens of thousands of games you can play on those specs, but quit expecting the world to be made around your bottom of the line shit just so you can sell more low end units.

    --
    ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  47. Or how about a geforce 6800 and directx9? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or how about a geforce 6800 and directx9? Seriously... beautiful games and software can be rendered in that, or one one of the better openGL standards.

    Don't need new stinkin hardware, need less bloat and better artists and programmers.

  48. Re:I have to question those DX11 minimum requireme by cpm99352 · · Score: 1

    Ah, you're right. Thanks!

  49. Man, that is a Atom type machine, a netbook by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    No, they don't want you as a customer because if that is all you can afford a normal PC, you can't afford PC games. It is actually a pretty common comment on piracy forums,"I downloaded this but it doesn't run". Turns out some kid is trying to run a bleeding edge game on a decade old dell he got from his daddy.

    That is what consoles are for. And then you get to pay the money you save on your PC on the 10-20 dollar console fee instead.

    Crysis does want customers, it just wants customers who actually got money to spend. Silly of them really, going for a market segment that can actually buy their game and is willing to spend cash on gaming.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  50. You think 20 frames per second in WOW is good? by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    Kid, you are just showing your ignorance. ANYTHING can do 20fps with World of Warcraft. That is one of its strong selling points. If you don't know the difference between WoW and ANY of the Crysis games, then you just don't know what you are talking about. And as I said earlier, you are not in market segment for this game. Go ask your daddy for a raise. Or get a real job and not one that pays in peanuts.

    Seriously, WoW as a graphic benchmark...

    What next, Doom?

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  51. Will your current high end computer be able to... by DiEx-15 · · Score: 1

    ...handle Crysis 3?

    Short answer: No.

    Long answer: Nnnnnnooooooooo.

  52. Dual Core CPU? by badkarmadayaccount · · Score: 1

    Does a dual Atom with integrated graphics and 3GB ram (1 for video) count?

    --
    I know tobacco is bad for you, so I smoke weed with crack.
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