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Hardware requirements
Aelraz
Member UncommonPosts: 168
Maybe similar threads have ben around before, but I haven't so here's my own hardware related thread.
My current (outdated) setup is:
amd XP 1800+, 512mb ram, radeon 9600XT 128mb
Without spending too much money (without the need to switch motherboard) I can get:
amd XP 3000+ Barton, 1gb ram, radeon 9600XT 128mb
Obviously the game I want to play is EQ2. And since recommendations given by game companies are full of it, I need some feedback from some regular players. Im pretty sure the setup mentioned above can run this game but the question is how good? I dont really need all the flashy details but I still want the game to look rather good without sacrificing framerate. Anyone playing the game with a similar setup?
So whatcha think? Will this do or do I need to throw out everything and buy a new comp?
Comments
You should be fine, though I'd buy a Barton 2500+ and just OverClock it. I have mine running at 3200+ speeds with a slightly better than stock heatsink/fan. I'm running with said 3200+, 1GB RAM, and a FX5600U 128MB at "balanced" setting (with shadows off) and it looks great.
amd XP 3000+ Barton, 1gb ram, radeon 9600XT 128mb
would be more than enought to my knowledge considering I run EQ2 at 1.6ghz 512ddr ram and my geforce fx 5200
Hey Aelraz, good idea for a thread
I believe Nihilanth, who also contributes to this EQ2 board, runs with a somewhat similar system to what you would be running it with. I can't really remember what thread it was in (might be a couple of pages back), but he had posted some screenshots of the game with his system, and the game looked quite nice.
On another note, I have a question of my own to add:
Does anyone play EQ2 with a 6600gt (agp)? I know that EQ2 was specifically tweaked for Nvidia cards, but I've also heard that in many cases, ATI cards outperform Nvidia ones. I don't have a ton of jack to spend on a card right now, but would like to get either a 6600gt or something near that ATI-wise (like a 9800) before I tread the EQ2 waters.
EDIT: Fixed a couple of stupid grammatical errors *I'm a dork*
I run it on two very different systems, basically my low end and high end systems for reviewing games etc:
System 1 (Low End):
AMD XP 1800+
1gb pc2700 Ram
Nvidia Geforce 4200 Ti (128 MB)
System 2 (High End):
AMD 64 3400+
2gb pc3200 Kingston HyperX Low Latency Ram
Nvidia 6800 Ultra
I tend to leave the first system on the "Extreme Performance" settings with a couple tweaks thrown in here and there. It'll run on higher settings but I usually just craft or go into Merchant mode on that account so no biggie on how the graphics look over there.
The 2nd system I run maxxed out, "Extreme Graphics" settings, but with a couple tweaks. Couple things turned off because they bug me, not because of performance issues, like the Flora for example. I've also successfully run 3 instances of the game at once on this system quite fine actually, with the settings knocked down of course.
As for Nvidia vs. ATI, mostly it comes down to a matter of opinion, I love Nvidia cards, always have. The latest wave of cards are so close in performance you can find any number of reviews and comparrisons between the 2 out there stating whichever one you want to be better is better.
Richard J. Cox
"There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust."
ROFL
Thanks all for answers, seems it will work fine so thats one more problem off my shoulders (now I only need to find some place to live and get a real internet connection).
Thanks for the tip darquenblade, Im gonna go search for that old thread. To bad I cant help you with your gfx question though, since my only experience with nvidia is my old geforce GTS 32mb
My new "hot" computer:
dual athlon 2ghz, 2GB ram, 800xt and a nice serial at disk
Runs most software like a dream
Watercooled cpu for silence, the 800xt use stock air cooler and is near silent out of the box. Eq2 plays high/balanced on this computer. Havent really taken the time to tweak settings in the Eq2 tough, too busy trying other software 
My "old" system.
1.2ghz old athlon, 1gb ram, 4600ti and regular 133 disk
Served me well the last 3 years
Started to show its age last year, but still run Eq2 smooth on extreme performance 
I've seen worse performance in other games at "high performance" too. The gfx diffrence in Eq2 is largest from extreme perf to high perf. Above that its mostly texture resolution and eye candy thats diffrent.
Aelraz. If you can afford it, get some extra ram. Its most certainly worth it. No matter what you use your computer for. Its the real bottleneck in your system. With the 3k cpu you'll have a pretty hot system. Monitor your memory a little tough and consider a bit more if you see hd trashing when you zone in game.
Getting a completely new system might be worth it tough, having a second computer is really usefull at times
And the new system will take advantage in faster ram and faster design of a new motherboard.
Yes, getting a whole new comp would be the best, but Im afraid I dont have that much money to spend on computer stuff. Im currently unemployed and soon to be student so Im gonna be on a rather tight budget the next couple of years.
But I think getting a little extra ram is possible, at least getting it up to 1,5gb. Or maybe I'll win the lottery
The 2 system is similar to what I have. Dont get the 6800gt or ultra if you want to play Eq2. Although very playable, the performance is crapy for what you should get for the money. The series 6 cards also have shuttering issues with EQ2.
Man Kunou your highend system is amazing, I wish I had it hehe.
The 2 system is similar to what I have. Dont get the 6800gt or ultra if you want to play Eq2. Although very playable, the performance is crapy for what you should get for the money. The series 6 cards also have shuttering issues with EQ2.
Funny, my 6800 Ultra runs EQ2 amazingly well and has never once stuttered... I personally know SEVERAL people (I built their computers for them or suggested the parts) who have 6600gts or 6800gts and none of them have any stuttering problems...
Richard J. Cox
"There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust."
he must be an ATI fanboy to be saying that :-P
I currently have:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
1 GIG Mushkin pc 3500 DDR
geForce 5900XT
76 GIG, 7200 RPM SATA HDD
2-way cable
I run the graphics on "balanced". I'm good most of the time, but get more than 5 or 6 other players near me in a city zone or a trade guild, and I lag horribly. It's more forgiving out in the open. I've tried tweaking the settings, but balanced seems to be the best for me most of the time...I just can't play during prime-time hours.
edit: typo on processor
I had like high textures with mine and everything else low and my game ran pretty good
Actually, if you look on the oficial EQ2 boards, you only get issues with a 6600/6800 if it is a PCI-Express card. For some reason, the drivers behave strangely with that version. Most people are probably using an AGP version, which has no issues.
Well I have a AMD Sempron 2500+ with 512mb ram, Radeon 9550 256mb. The only thing I'm worried about is the proccessor. Will it play on this?
------------------------------
World of Warcraft-Retired
(Blair 60 Warlock-Daggerspine)
RF Online-Downloading
Guild Wars-Retired
(Amazonsfinest 20 Warrior/Monk)
Yes ram is most important, you should have at least 1 gig...
There is a sticky post about display settings on the 'technical' EQ 2 forum, i adjusted my display settings to that guide and the game looks wonderful and no lag, if you play EQ2 you should give that a try, i recommended to all my friends and they all said the same: splendid guide!
Ram.. Ram.. Oh Well,
Here is the config on wich I have tested EQII... and I was disapointed..
GA-K8NXP-SLI-GIGABYTE 8Σ Series Socket 939 Athlon64 FX/ 64
AMD ATHLON64 FX55 939 PIN
2 Gig Crossair (don't ask the model don't know)
74 GB 10KPM Raptor SATA (From Western Digital and it did make a weird noise
2 PCIe RADEON X800XT 256MB, PCI EXPRESS (From ATI but hard to find these days)
Yup still dispointed.. Well EQII requires a lot of fuel.. and I mean a lot.. but even with this configuration I was hopping for a little bit more.. Don't get me wrong the games look great.. I just have serious doubt about their 3d engine (anyones knows on wich engine they are building EQII ???
) ..
Like I have said in an other post.. I've seen better gfx on UT2004 with my old pc!! (With my old machine I had to play at "Extreme performance" My god it look crapy ... ) So I put my two pc side by side.. UT2004 On my old pc vs EQII on the test machine) Well either EQII does not take advantage of the new technology or it's core is badly design.. .. Maybe I miss something..
Oh.. by the way regardless of what I have said.. It's an amaizing game..
Cheers
Orkhan