Guessing the system requirements

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 8:21 am

LOL! Rookierookie's a bit short there, but he's absolutely right. Your CPU and RAM specs should considerably exceed whatever any game requires (or even recommends) for the next year or two. Can't speak to your card, and the Sony DVD doesn't include enough info to make a judgment. What's its read/DVD, write/CD and read/CD speeds? Typically, those three speeds will be listed in */*/* format when you buy the drive. The only really important one for Oblivion is the read/CD speed, in any case.

Rookierookie · Post by **Rookierookie** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 8:38 am

The read speed will affect almost nothing, since most of the game data are accessed on the hard disk, and the CD-drive is usually used for copy-protection purposes.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 9:04 am

[QUOTE=Rookierookie]The read speed will affect almost nothing, since most of the game data are accessed on the hard disk, and the CD-drive is usually used for copy-protection purposes.[/QUOTE]

Not necessarily, and we don't know how much regular disk access there will be in an as-yet unreleased game. But you do raise a good point, Rookierookier: that a "hidden" requirements spec is the actual speed/memory available to access a game, as opposed to the optimal CPU/RAM. So I may show as having 500 MB RAM or even 1 GB, but I'll actually have a lot less available if 1) I have a lot of WinXP services and visual effects turned on, and 2) I'm running TSRs (terminate stay resident) programs in the background, like realtime virus checkers, spyware checkers, contact managers/calendars, etc. If a player has the knowhow, it's a good thing to create an XP gaming profile that you can load which turns off services not needed when just playing. This can actually free up a ton of memory, if it's needed.

pun15h3r · Post by **pun15h3r** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:19 pm

[QUOTE=Gauda]I think that it's very likely that it will atleast need a: 2ghz prosessor, 1 gig ddr and 9800XT or equivalent.[/QUOTE]

NOTHING needs 1 gig of RAM, 1 gig is overkill, its great to have but dont go selling good stuff for it, 512 is all you need, i have 1 gig and my freind has 2 gig, there is a huge leep in performance in 256 to 512 but from there on its tiny bounds, trust me on this one it will have a min 512, pref. 724, and it will take at least 5 gigs hard drive space, probably more like 6 or 7, considering the vast world, hundreds of npc's, and all the B E A UTIFUL graphics.

Denethorn · Post by **Denethorn** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 4:29 pm

1 is not overkill. 1 gig is about the sweetspot for modern PCs these days. Memory articles over at tomshardware.com will tell you that even 2GB isn't necessarily overkill.

Just to solve the riddle of this thread: [url="http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivion_faq.htm"]http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivion_faq.htm[/url]
The minimum PC requirements were released today. For the lazy among you:

Recommended:

* 3 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
* 1 GB System RAM
* ATI X800 series, Nvidia GeForce 6800 series, or higher video card

Minimum System Requirements:

* Windows XP
* 512MB System RAM
* 2 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
* 128MB Direct3D compatible video card
* and DirectX 9.0 compatible driver;
* 8x DVD-ROM drive
* 4.6 GB free hard disk space
* DirectX 9.0c (included)
* DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
* Keyboard, Mouse

Supported Video Card Chipsets:

* ATI X1800 series
* ATI X1300 series
* ATI X850 series
* ATI x800 series
* ATI x700 series
* ATI x600 series
* ATI Radeon 9800 series
* ATI Radeon 9700 series
* ATI Radeon 9600 series
* ATI Radeon 9500 series
* ATI Radeon 9000 series
* NVIDIA Geforce 7800 series
* NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series
* NVIDIA GeForce FX series

Monolith · Post by **Monolith** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 5:01 pm

I meet something between the recommended and the minimum requirements. Should work fine with some tolerance towards low details and low framerate.

Rookierookie · Post by **Rookierookie** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 9:46 pm

NOTHING needs 1 gig of RAM, 1 gig is overkill, its great to have but dont go selling good stuff for it, 512 is all you need, i have 1 gig and my freind has 2 gig, there is a huge leep in performance in 256 to 512 but from there on its tiny bounds, trust me on this one it will have a min 512, pref. 724, and it will take at least 5 gigs hard drive space, probably more like 6 or 7, considering the vast world, hundreds of npc's, and all the B E A UTIFUL graphics.

Offhand I could think of several: BF2, Doom 3, Quake 4, FEAR, etc.

My CPU and graphics card are right between minimum and recommended. Wondering if I should get a 7800GS or save up for a new computer.

JCDenton · Post by **JCDenton** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 3:38 am

Why are everybody making so much noise about the system requirements. If your graphics card is too slow, just buy a new one

Rookierookie · Post by **Rookierookie** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:20 am

Geforce 7800GS + Pentium II + 64MB RAM?

Yay.

Vicsun · Post by **Vicsun** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 7:25 am

[QUOTE=JCDenton]Why are everybody making so much noise about the system requirements. If your graphics card is too slow, just buy a new one

[/QUOTE]
Some people aren't made out of money.

aceface123 · Post by **aceface123** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 1:48 pm

New Comp

Hey guys, I am getting ready to buy a new computer. I have $800 to spend. What should I get? Keep in mind I want to run Oblivion at the highest settings possible for my new computer. Let me know what you guys think, I am not really up on all the next gen PC's so I need help. Thanks.

Denethorn · Post by **Denethorn** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 11:13 am

Build it yourself? Or a Dell etc. - if you're buying a pre-made computer just buy the best one you can for $800

aceface123 · Post by **aceface123** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 2:46 pm

I can get this comp for about $1000. Is this a good computer or not? I have heard that Athon is way better than Pentium but I don't know a whole lot about it. If this is a good system, will it run oblivion well?

AMD® Athlon-64 4000+ CPU w/ Hyper Transport Technology

eVGA nForce-4 SLI Chipset Dual DDR w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E MB

1024 MB [512MB X2] DDR-400 PC3200 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand

PCI-Express 16x] Nvidia Geforce 7800GT 256MB w/DVI + TV Out Video

80 GB HARD DRIVE

Denethorn · Post by **Denethorn** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:36 am

That system is a sound choice for Oblivion, can't really fault it. More modern PCs usually have higher capacity harddrives but I've managed with 80GB for the past 3 years

.

aceface123 · Post by **aceface123** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 9:03 am

New Computer

I finally got my new computer!

Processor- Athlon 64 X2 4200+ CPU with Hyper Transport Technology

Graphics Card- GeForce 6600

Memory- 1 GB

Motherboard- eVGA nForce-4 SLI chipset w/7.1 surround sound Dual PCI-E

Hard Drive- 80 GB

I only had so much money to work with so I opted to get as fast a processor as I could afford and was only able to get the GeForce 6600 but since I have a motherboard that will support 2 video cards I thought this would be the wisest choice. That way when I have the extra cash I can get a super high-end graphics card and use the 6600 as a slave instead of getting a slower processor that would be outdated sooner so I could afford a higher quality graphics card. What do you guys think? Will this run Oblivion well? I am not looking for highest settings on everything, but I do want a good quality gaming experience.

Rookierookie · Post by **Rookierookie** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 9:18 am

Congratulations, your $1000 just went way down the drain.

For your information, the 6600 has only basic SLI support, two 6600s in SLI is slower than a 6600GT in SLI because it lacks the discreet SLI bridge.

If you had to use a dual-core CPU, you could have opted for an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ instead, saving you a full $60 USD, which would buy you a Geforce 6600GT without increasing the budget one dollar.

Also, SLI requires two identical graphics cards, so your plan of buying a high-end card and using the 6600 as a slave would not work.

The Geforce 6600 might be able to manage medium at 1024x768, and I'm talking MIGHT. High quality and resolutions above 1280x1024 are out of the question.

And, as far as gaming PCs are concerned, the display card weighs much heavier than the CPU. A Sempron 2500+ with a Geforce 7800GTX would run faster in games than your system, although loading times might be longer.

aceface123 · Post by **aceface123** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 1:51 pm

It's true that the 6600 is only a mid-range card, but Bethesda states in their forum from their official website that card will allow me to fully enjoy Oblivion. I know that doesn't mean that I will have all settings on high, but your assumption that I will be lucky if I can run the game on medium is incorrect. If that were the case then Bethesda would have placed the 6600 in the low-end graphics card category. I meet the recommended specs on everything but the card. I am not very worried. It may not be perfect, but it will definitely run it well. Also, don't know if I mentioned it but the 6600 I bought has 256 mb of ram not 128. Also, this system kicks the crap out of my old computer. It was:

P4 2.8 ghz processor
Geforce fx 5500

So I don't really think I flushed my money down the crapper. This was a big upgrade for me.

aceface123 · Post by **aceface123** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 3:01 pm

I took your advice and upgraded to a 6800 GS. It was only $100 more and definitly worth it. It think the 6600 would have run it well, but this is a better choice. Thanks for the input.

Ikarus · Post by **Ikarus** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 4:44 pm

hi ^^
i played morrowind some weeks, and the game is really nice
now i downloaded some oblivion trailers, and it looks soooo great...
but i dont know if my pc is good enough for it
800x600 and low details is enuff for me

even then it will look good^^
so.. my computer:

windows xp..

1g ram
2,2ghz amd-a
radeon 9600 ( 128 mb dingsbums )
most important things right ?!

good enough for "minimum system requirements" but after i read some threads about that, im not so sure...experts help me

will i be able to play the game ?