Plz Help, my computer SOTA fell down.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Father Guido Sarducci, Aug 29, 2020.

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  1. Scanphor

    Scanphor Avatar

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    I have one PC with a 2080 (2k - even a 2080 isn't what I would consider enough for 4k - maybe the 3080 will be) and one with a 1660Ti (FHD) and in SOTA perf is much the same (neither GPU gets near maxed - CPUs more so). I believe its still the case that (within certain limits of course) the single core CPU performance remains the most appropriate indicator of SOTA performance
     
  2. Father Guido Sarducci

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    There does seem to be a permeating fear within our considerations which points ever upward when speaking of what is needed to play our game, yet with this view that the minimum requirements are not truly enough, we have neglected to look downward to that minimum baseline to explore "what is as cheap possible".

    Can an absolute minimum desktop computer be built and what would something like that possibly cost?

    SOTA "Bare" Minimum Requirements:
    • OS: Windows 7 64 bit or newer
    • Processor: Quad Core 2.4 GHz or faster
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: DirectX 11 Compatible NVIDIA 960 / AMD 560
    • Hard Drive: 22 GB available space
    I think it's important to note* that these minimum requirements have not changed for a long time now.

    When looking at our absolute minimum, of course there are always other things our computers take on that also eat into our minimum requirements, so maybe 8 GB RAM may be too low (for everything+), yet still be required to play our game. I'm sure there's some small wiggle room within that 8 GB RAM and I'm certain it's tight, but that small, simple 8 GB RAM is suppose to get the job done, "even within our most RAM, graphics and processor demanding sota situations".

    "even within our most RAM, graphics and processor demanding sota situations"
    All of what I've read here calls into question if that statement is true or not. "Recommended Requirements" differ, yet "Minimum" to me, says it should still be able to be played without problems, yet with some performance issues.

    Those are really low minimum requirements, so how cheaply can sota be played when it comes to building a desktop and is that truly the minimum?

    I'm a guy who can afford things, yet "adequate, or minimum" hasn't really been talked about. "How cheap can we play sota?"
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2020
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  3. dayero

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    I think that is a very complex and probably mostly useless topic. When you want to decide what new computer to buy, the difference in price will be relatively low + plus all of those small upgrades will be relevant to a lot of other things you do on that computer. Unlike for example when you buy a $1000 gpu which might only ever be fully used on a single application. It's also very subjective depending on how horrible of a performance you can tolerate. I know people who think basially anything below constant 60fps at native monitor resolution + max details is vexing at best and others who play stuff with constant stutter at 720p + lowest detail.
     
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  4. Violation Clauth

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    I would adjust this to 16GB RAM and an i7 processor at 2.8GHz or faster.
     
  5. Father Guido Sarducci

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    That's so very true, yet I still wonder what what that bare minimum may look like.

    It's a national holiday where I live right now and so my local village computer repair service all went to the beach and won't be back until next week, so my hopes of repairing my old computer till they get back are nil. So, just for fun (I'm very easily amused), I loaded up sota on the first computer I ever played sota on, back when the entire world was only the city limits of Owlshead. I wanted to see if it would even render anything from the game.
    • CPU: AMD Dual Core Processor E2-1800
    • VGA: AMD Radeon HD 7340 Graphics
    • LED Panel: 15.6" HD 1366x768 (Glare Type)
    • RAM: DDRIII 4GB
    • HDD 500GB
    After having loaded the program, I tried to log on and it took about a half hour, it did get me to the character selection where I decided to give it a go. After another maybe 15 minutes, it had loaded %50 of the instance before failing. It was enough however, to get the current monthly log on gift of the fishing pole, or that's what it said on the screen anyway.

    "Recommended vs Minimum Requirement", I do wonder how long it's been since we actually tested those parameters. It's been a long while since I last heard you and the development team talk about tech stuff. Your videos were always so informative because you always had all the right questions. I'd really like to see you on a Friday live stream with the team as your input and energy could give those a bit more pep than they currently have. You and @Chris always had great energy together.
     
  6. majoria70

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    Hello Father. Well I did invest in a new computer a few years ago. I have had wonderful luck playing this game. I did go for quite a lot of extra ram. 16 mg is very minimum in this day and age. I got a 3 terabyte hard drive for other games and things. My 500 ssd is just for Sota and it works perfectly. SSDs do not spin like a regular drive. I couldn't afford a larger ssd(solid state Drive) so it is large enough for this graphic intense game. I also have a nvidia 1060 graphics card and 32 gb ram for the future. I can upgrade the card later if needed but it works perfectly for now. I have no problems running this game. My system is an I7. So I just wanted to chime in to say what I have as well. Sota will run best with 16 gb or more of ram imo. I would not go less at all.
     
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  7. Father Guido Sarducci

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    Thank you so much @majoria70 , I can see that those extra "Hail Lord British's" I told you to say after your last sota confessional are really paying off for you.

    I've been looking around and looking around, and looking around one more time at the really cheap ones, but after you get just below the 16 GB RAM range, it doesn't seem to matter much in the price differences. As a general rule, what my local shopping trips have shown to me one thing, that anything below the $1000.00 range won't generally have "all it takes" to run the game. It's really hard for me to find such a "Minimum Requirement" computer that actually meets "all" the minimum requirements and starting around $1200.00, I began finding those computers start to meet all the "Recommended Requirements".

    Shopping has turned out to be a real quest where all the pieces to the puzzle didn't ever seem all in the same place in anything within the cheap section. The lowest "Minimum Requirement" computer I found was about $800.00 and it was on a really lonely looking shelf all by itself. But even that didn't cover the price of a monitor, mouse or anything else, what you see was what you got with that one.

    On the high end of crazy things, that "Marvel Avenger i9" was looking at me while I was trying my hardest not to look at it. It was tempting me so I had to take a peek. What a crock of crap that is! They even had it sitting next to the normal i9 like a cold slap in the face. It was like $40.00 more than the normal i9, had the exact same specs just different packaging. I may get the i9 to replace my old computer's mother'B, but I truly have yet to decide on that.

    I think today, I may go to buy a laptop after everyone gets back from swimming at the beach.

    Now I have a confession to make to you lovely @majoria70 , when you said you played sota on an "SSD" to me the other day, I had absolutely no idea what an SSD was. I thought you were talking about that thing Lord British went on the rocket to go visit in outer space or something.

    This is how I feel right now after two weeks without my sota fix ;)
    [​IMG]
     
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  8. Father Guido Sarducci

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    I purchased the Acer Nitro 5 i7 10th generation (laptop) for just over $1100.00 with 3 year warranty. Not many people have money right now, so it seems that computer prices have come down a bit just the same as the new car market has dropped their prices. Inventories are high while credit is lower than ever. So, it seems that if you got the money or were able to keep your day job through this pandemic, "it's a great buyer's market right now".
     
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  9. dayero

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    i just checked prices of some components. in germany and euro prices, but dollar prices should be comparable or even slightly lower.

    Ryzen 3100 100€
    Cheap Am4 Mainboard 50€
    16gb Ram 50€
    GTX 1650 Super 150€
    1 TB SSD 100€
    500w Power Supply 50€
    Midi Tower 20-50€

    So thats 550€. If I look at complete systems with similar specs, i found some with the somewhat slower gtx 1650 and faster cpu Ryzen 3400 hovering at 800€, including some cheap mouse and keyboard.

    edit: oh, thats pretty much your laptop's specs depending on the edition :)
     
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  10. Father Guido Sarducci

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    That's really good. So for about $650.00 is a really inexpensive system "and still not near the bare minimum requirements" :)
    My old computer didn't have the i7, but had more Ram than this Acer has. The most noticeable differences between them so far, is that my old computer with more RAM but less processor was rendering many more things in sota at a distance, while this new Acer i7 seems to render what is seen more clearly, or more enhanced.
     
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  11. dayero

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    i haven't really followed intel cpu speeds in recent years, but I know that the amd ryzen got A LOT faster in the last few years even with the same amount of cores and similar clock cycles. I suspect intel cpus will be much faster too, so it's a bit suprising that you don't see a a bigger difference. SSD vs old HDD should also have noticable impact, espcially on load times, but probably also on hitching.
    Then again, I never used laptops for gaming, so I don't really know if the increases in performance translate 100% from desktop components or if some are throttled to decrease heat buildup or energy usage.
     
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  12. Scanphor

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    Intel remain slightly in the lead for pure gaming but its getting marginal as AMD have really upped their game in the last few years (and on other tasks AMD chips can be in the lead). For example:

    https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/reviews/intel-core-i7-10700k-cpu-review/6

    I suspect the lack of perceived improvement in performance may be down to higher screen resolution or refresh rate requiring more work - hard to say without knowing the full details. But agreed the newer machine should be doing better.

    And yeah, desktops > laptops. I have a 9th Gen i7 + 1660Ti laptop for travel gaming which is nice, but gets beaten by my 7th Gen i7 powered desktop (or my wife's 8th Gen i5 desktop with the same GFX card). Its also way noisier and runs a LOT hotter ;)
     
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