REAL System Requirements

[*Buzzsaw*]

Salute

We have the 'Official' system requirements, but in fact, the info there is misleading.

To run the game well with the quality of graphics which really reflect what the game is capable of, players actually need much better systems.

From a lot of reading of the boards, chatting with others, and my own experience here are my suggestions for 'minimum' and 'recommended' system requirements.

Minimum system requirements:

CPU

First and most important in this game is having a Quad core CPU. The game is now optimized to use a core for the textures. When you add in Windows system requirements, and the rest of the game's requirements, you are looking at minimum 3 cores to be at a decent level of performance. Dual core machines, even fast ones, are going to be seriously handicapped. It is expected we will see more optimization for 4 core CPU's.

Minimum CPU: Core 2 Quad, preferably 2.66 ghz or higher, OR AMD Phenom II X 4 955 Black edition 3.4 ghz or higher.

Video Card

Right after the CPU, the video card is the key to running this game well. The game requires a minimum of 1 gig of Video memory, but more is better. There doesn't seem to be a huge difference between ATI cards and NVidia, there are some artifacts present with the ATI cards, but countering that, it is possible to get 2 Gig cards for less from ATI, key if you want to run higher resolution.

Minimum Card: GTX 470, GTX 560 Ti, HD 5850, HD 6870

Memory: 4 gb is the minimum required, but in fact, it is probably better to have 8 gb, although this is unclear at this point. The game uses close to 3 gb by itself, when you factor in the operating system and any other dormant programs, it's pretty close to going over 4 gb, so 8 is the safe way to go. Obviously, DDR3 is the best choice. Slower memory is not going to give you the same performance.

Minimum Memory: 4 gb DDR3 1333

Hard Drive: Players with 10,000 rpm drives or multiple 7200 rpm drives in RAID config are getting best results. Have heard mixed reviews of SSD drives.

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Recommended System Requirements

CPU: Intel Core i7-860 2.8 ghz or higher OR AMD Phenom II X6 1100T (Thuban 6c) 3.3 GHz
Video Card: GTX-560 ti 2 gig, GTX-570 OR ATI 6950, ATI 6970
Memory: Two X 4 gb DDR3 1600
Hard Drive: Same as minimum

****

Obviously there are a lot of options to vary the components. I have been reading very carefully the reports by various players, and it seems to me the optimum system based on a price/performance tradeoff is as follows:

Optimum Price/Performance system

Intel Core I5 2500k overclocked to 4.0 or higher (the game reacts very well to faster CPU's)
Nvidia GTX-560ti 2 gig or ATI 6950
8 gb DDR3 1600
2 X WD Caviar Black 500 mg 7200rpm in RAID 0 + backup WD Caviar Green 1 TB

This will run the game extremely well. Make sure you get a motherboard which is SLI or Crossfire capable for when the game is optimized to use multiple cards. That will allow an easy upgrade.

***

If price is no object, the very best systems are those built around the Core I7 2600k CPU, the higher you overclock the CPU better performance you will get, the 2600k can be easily overclocked to 4.3 ghz without liquid cooling being required. Best video card seems to be the GTX-580. Memory and HD's same as above.

***

EDIT: Operating system should be Windows 7, and 64 bit is probably a good idea, since they are talking about enabling DX-11 sometime in the future. Windows XP has serious problems running the game, and there have been quite a few reports by people who have Vista having odd problems.

Crossfire and SLI: Right now the game is not optimized to use dual cards, Luthier has said Crossfire will be enabled within about a month, and SLI will be coming after the next NVidia driver update. When these are enabled, the potential for running the game at max resolutions will really come to the fore. In fact, for those who already have a single video card system which meets my recommended standards, and who have a motherboard which is SLI/Crossfire capable might think about adding an extra card which matches their existing one. So for example someone who already has a single ATI 5770, could add a second one and see really big improvements for a small pricetag.

[jibo]

i agree and last but not least the OS, Win7 is mandatory,
also having more than 4gig is useful

[*Buzzsaw*]

Originally Posted by jibo

i agree and last but not least the OS, Win7 is mandatory,
also having more than 4gig is useful

Yes, my mistake, the operating system should be Windows 7, and 64 bit is probably a good idea, since they are talking about enabling DX-11 sometime in the future.

[Vengeanze]

Harddrive is not important. A SSD Vertex 3 won't give more frames over a regular 7200.
Harddrive speed shortens the loading time for the game though.

4 GB of RAM is good enough for any game as of today. 8 GB is overkill.
Try it yourself. No framegain with 8.

Would be interesting if anyone has any input on speed of ram. Dual channel versus triple channel and 1600Mhz versus 1066Mhz etc. What does CL-level do for the game?



Forgot; thanks buzzsaw for the compilation. Agree on the Optimum Price/Performance system. Those specs would allow for 30+ low flying over London in a >100 pilots game.

[Phazon]

I agree that a quad core and a current-gen videocard are a must. 4GB of ram is ok for the game as it is today but it will grow more ram hungry as we get more and more aircraft made available to fly with and against.

Having a fast HDD will definately help. It helps reduce stuttering as the game streams textures in for terrain and objects. CloD has a reasonably quick loadtime when you load up a mission but this comes at the cost of the game streaming textures in, as I'm sure alot of you notice when you load into a plane on an airfield and watch the textures load in on the cockpit and terrain around you.

[Feathered_IV]

Very useful information. Thanks!

[Vengeanze]

Originally Posted by Phazon

I agree that a quad core and a current-gen videocard are a must. 4GB of ram is ok for the game as it is today but it will grow more ram hungry as we get more and more aircraft made available to fly with and against.

Having a fast HDD will definately help. It helps reduce stuttering as the game streams textures in for terrain and objects. CloD has a reasonably quick loadtime when you load up a mission but this comes at the cost of the game streaming textures in, as I'm sure alot of you notice when you load into a plane on an airfield and watch the textures load in on the cockpit and terrain around you.

My and many other gamers experience is that the performance of the HDD in games has no significant relation to framerate. However I can't A/B CloD so perhaps they programmed it different.
Might be stutter when running CloD with a 512MB g-card but shouldn't be any on a >1,5GB g-card.

[MadTommy]

Originally Posted by Feathered_IV

Very useful information. Thanks!

Just a shame it is inaccurate and misleading.

Running Windows 7 (x64), trackir, fraps, teamspeak & CoD i have never maxed out my 4 GB of RAM. Suggesting 8 GB is needed is inaccurate.

Also saying FSB speed of 1333 is a minimum requirement is untrue.

Also quad core might be desirable, but it is not essential by any means. My dual core E8400 running at 3.6Ghz does just fine.. neither core gets utilised more than 60%.

The only thing roughly right is the graphic card section. But here there are also mistakes. The GTX 480 gets higher benchmarks than the GTX 570, so saying the 570 is optimum is inaccurate.. the 580 & 590 are the optimum cards, but the 480 & 570 will still run the game on High settings. (i known nothing about ATI cards)

You just need tons of VRAM and a well setup BIOS/PC to get smooth gameplay.

[Doc_uk]

You forgot to mention to run 8gig of memory you need a 64bit machine
regards
Doc

[Mattius]

Hopefully, further optimizations will reduce these specs.....