Red_Breast on 19/1/2014 at 20:47
My Windows box is OK apart from the graphics card I think. I need to check it but I think it's a Geforce GT 640.
When I got it last year I had blown all my cash on the other parts that make up the PC. I went for a cheap graphics card because I only planned on using the PC for old games. Doom 3 was the last* PC game I bought, in the week of it's release in a 3xCD edition. The Dark Mod looks great with it.
*edit- I forgot I did buy Broken Sword 5 just before Xmas.
Not knowing much about the modern PC game can I ask TTLGers - are PC games these days generally scalable?
According to Eidos' my card isn't even good enough for the minimum spec.
Now years ago min. spec. to me meant you'd still be able to get the game running after some playing about with the game's settings.
Is it still generally the same? I have other things which I would prefer to spend my cash on over a new graphics card.
I very much doubt I will be buying the game before it hits the sales anyway. I will read lots of reviews and check what TTLGers have to say about it first. Maybe if I wait for the game in the sales I can pick up a "Recommended" for nuThief gfx card cheaper at the same time!
Edit,
Just thought I'd add that I did read about that AMD deal with a free copy of the game.
Another edit.
I read that the specs had been released via Blues News who linked to Eidos' site.
It says something about a booster pack for the Master Pack version of the game. This could be old news for the rest of the forum but I wasn't sure.
Quote:
You can also preorder the Master Thief Edition on Steam or your favorite digital download service. Created especially for the PC, it includes a bunch of digital bonuses - comic book, art book, soundtrack and a booster pack of items to speed up your progress in the game.
EvaUnit02 on 20/1/2014 at 02:40
It only uses Unreal Engine 3.0, albeit with "8th gen console" quality assets. I predict that it will probably run really well on several rigs with high graphical settings, similar to the likes of Bioshock Infinite (like a bat out of hell on Ultra settings @ 1080p on my 2008 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale and 2011 GTX 560Ti 1GB).
Quote Posted by Red_Breast
Another edit.
I read that the specs had been released via Blues News who linked to Eidos' site.
It says something about a booster pack for the Master Pack version of the game. This could be old news for the rest of the forum but I wasn't sure.
No need to jump to irrational angry man conclusions, bro. The "booster" items are entirely optional.
Gaestle on 20/1/2014 at 10:08
There are different ways to scale a game on PC. Resolution is one but also detail levels and several special "eye-candy-gimmicks".
Because the menu for graphics seems to look considerably the game could be very scalable.
But I guess for "full-eye-candy-mode" with anti aliasing in higher resolutions it will need a little more than a GT 640.
But it will run on lower specs.
Maybe the game will use DirectX10 as minimum. If this comes true it would be not the best message for WinXP-users.
I'm curious about the CPU use and the (multi-)threading of the game. And true audio of course.
It would be nice to see a comparison between TrueAudio on/off and CMSS3D.
Still 4-5 weeks to wait....
Red_Breast on 20/1/2014 at 11:18
Thanks for those replies.
I've been away from gaming for some years. I've only purchased Broken Sword 5 since I've returned. Probably not the best game to get a sense of the 640's power, or lack of it!
I know how games are scalable. Fall backs to earlier DX versions as well.
I have been meaning to buy the last Deus Ex and Dishonored. I'm always too late for the Steam sales. I think they will give me a better understanding of the 640.
Lootleach on 20/1/2014 at 12:52
Red_Breast, (
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7032/amds-richland-vs-intels-haswell-gpu-on-the-desktop-radeon-hd-8670d-hd-4600/2) in most games the GT 640 is twice as fast as intel integrated graphics, but the budget Radeon HD 7750 is twice as fast!!!! Looks like you can play Bioshock Infinite @1600x900 - 30fps with very high quality.
What CPU do you have? When I had to play Dishonored on my old Core2Duo (instead of my 3570K), my framerate was cut in half on the same graphics card!!!
Most games are very scalable. To make things playable on a weak card such as the 640, lower the following settings first: Ambient Occlusion, Shadow Quality, Resolution, MSAA Anti Aliasing (Although the FXAA on most Unreal Engine 3 games is not very "expensive")
I think the Thief recommended CPU specs are a bit weird. An i7? Why? I doubt any i5 bought in the past 3 years (Sandy, Ivy, Haswell) will have any trouble running an UE3 game!
The 20GB install and 660/7850 recommended GPU (2GB cards) suggest the game will have high resolution textures, just like Bioshock Infinite! Yay!
MoroseTroll on 20/1/2014 at 13:54
Quote Posted by Lootleach
The 20GB install and 660/7850 recommended GPU (2GB cards) suggest the game will have high resolution textures, just like Bioshock Infinite! Yay!
Or 5-10 GB of kewl prerendered FMV:ebil:.
Red_Breast on 20/1/2014 at 14:10
I have an i5 3570. It's not the one you can overclock. I did try to get the version that you can overclock but had trouble sourcing one at the time.
The computer has 8GB of DDR3. The GT640 has 2GB DDR3.
The mobo is a Gigabyte Z77 D3H.
If Looking Glass got back together and were making the latest Thief I'd be seriously thinking about buying a better card although I'd probably have to go on beans on toast for a couple of weeks.
Lootleach on 20/1/2014 at 14:22
Quote Posted by Red_Breast
I have an i5 3570. It's not the one you can overclock. I did try to get the version that you can overclock but had trouble sourcing one at the time.
The computer has 8GB of DDR3. The GT640 has 2GB DDR3.
The mobo is a Gigabyte Z77 D3H.
If Looking Glass got back together and were making the latest Thief I'd be seriously thinking about buying a better card although I'd probably have to go on beans on toast for a couple of weeks.
You have a z77 mobo, so you CAN overclock the 3570's Turbo-clocks by 400Mhz if it is able to do that. Just go into the bios and increase the multipliers, you'll see. But with a 640 there's no point to be honest. What a strange CPU/GPU combination.
Toast and beans? A secondhand 560-Ti is pretty cheap nowadays. (although you'll only have 1GB VRAM then)
Gaestle on 20/1/2014 at 14:33
Quote Posted by Red_Breast
I know how games are scalable. Fall backs to earlier DX versions as well.
If (!) they port it for DX10 and above, there is no fall back to DX9.
Then it becomes not easy for WinXP-Users.
Minimum OS is Vista with DX10. Min speced Nvidia GTS 250 / Radeon 4830 are superslow but have DX10 feature set in hardware.
But DeusEx:HumaRevolution was said to be DX10-only at first but was later on made DX9-available too.
And the Coretech of UnrealEngine3 should be based on DX9-Tech. No idea how much Montreal modified the engine.