FFXIV Hardware Requirements

[MakinBaconNeked]

oh yeah and my goal is to break into the 3000 range on the benchmark. At stock settings I get 2392.

[alecrast]

ok thanks guys, bear with me!

I had to set up my laptop to stay on the forums since I was trying to post between making adjustments to the BIOS. I have started over at the 2.9 GHz at a 1:2 ratio with 1.5v going to the ram.

Just to clarify my process, I should get the FSB CPU frequency as far as I can and stay stable before adjusting anything else?

Here are my starting settings:
Cool n Quiet - disabled
CPU FSB freq - 200
CPU ratio - x14.5
CPU-NB ratio - x10
Advanced Clock Calibration - All Cores - 2%
FSB/DRAM Ratio - 1:2
DRAM freq - 840
HT Link Speed - x10
HT Link freq - 2000
CPU volt - 1.481
CPU-NB volt - 1.174
DRAM volt - 1.5
NB volt - 1.103
SB volt - 1.196
HT Link volt - 1.214
Speed Spectrum - disabled

840 DRAM frequency with 200FSB and 1:2 ratio... Have you tried turning ACC to auto, disabled, or at least getting rid of the 2%? Also, are you running with the latest BIOS for your board?

[MakinBaconNeked]

I have now set the Advanced Clock Calibration to Auto which was the default setting. I also went to the mobo manufacture site and checked BIOS version and there were no updates for me.

It was actually -2% and I was mistaken ... Dram frequency was 800

[kodos1]

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice, making this much easier on me.

Kodos1, Was your processor overclocked to get those scores or was it 2.4 ghz? Reason I ask is my pc is an HP and I cannot overclock it without a) getting a new motherboard or b) using overclocking software, which im still looking into but it seems far riskier than doing it in the bios, so I think i may just leave it at 2.4.

Also, would upgrading from 4 to 6 gb of ram improve my performance noticeably since im running vista or would it be kinda pointless?

Nothing overclocked, I think I'd be afraid to since I'm not really savvy tech wise and I'm getting peak GPU temps around 80 already when the Gpu's running at 100%..oddly, the fan never seems to go above 60% though, so I may try overriding that or figure out a way to get more airflow into the case. When I get back Sunday night I'll post you some more specifics on proc usage and gpu usage, but everything's set at factory standard clock wise.
For the 4g to 6g RAM... more RAM never hurts but with the benchmark running and no other background programs other then windows it's only using maybe 2g-2.5. The only time I've ever gone above 4 usage is with really large photoshop docs open with multiple layers. (vista 64)

[alecrast]

I have now set the Advanced Clock Calibration to Auto which was the default setting. I also went to the mobo manufacture site and checked BIOS version and there were no updates for me.

It was actually -2% and I was mistaken ... Dram frequency was 800

With everything back at stock, set your memory to 1:3.33 for 1333MHz and run memtest86+ on it to ensure it will actually run at its rated speed without errors. Note that unless your memory supports XMP profiles, you might have to manually set the timings and voltage. Timings for your memory are probably 9-9-9-24-2T. If it passes several runs without any errors, then you can start pushing the FSB back up while making sure to choose a ratio that keeps your memory below 1333.

[MakinBaconNeked]

With everything back at stock, set your memory to 1:3.33 for 1333MHz and run memtest86+ on it to ensure it will actually run at its rated speed without errors. Note that unless your memory supports XMP profiles, you might have to manually set the timings and voltage. Timings for your memory are probably 9-9-9-14-2T. If it passes several runs without any errors, then you can start pushing the FSB back up while making sure to choose a ratio that keeps your memory below 1333.

Thanks Alecrast, I am at work now and thought I would be busy so didn't bring the tower with me today. I will start with this as soon as I get home.

[kkiboo]

Been lurking here for a while, trying to decide how to build a new system, maybe someone can help me out with this last decision, it's giving me a killer headache.

High settings is what I am shooting for here, everything to me is pretty much set except the video card (possibly the mobo). Here are my plans:

i7 930
Corsair Dominator GT 6GB @ 2000
eVGA Classified 710, if it's really worth it, still researching, open to suggestions.
SSD of some kind
hefty power supply to accomodate future SLi or Crossfire
HAF 932 Case (room for extra cards at a later date)


So, about the card: GTX 480 or 5970. I'm going to be playing on my Samsung 23" LED monitor, resolution is 1920 x 1080. As for overclocking, I will definitely be doing it, but how much and if its permanent always depends on performance gain.

Disregarding price, which option seems better, and let's assume that I will not be playing many other PC games other than FFXIV? I've read a lot about "Thermi" problems, and read several benchmarks, but I'm still on the fence.

[sruon]

5970 is a dual card, if you're ready for all the crossfire issues then go with it (you said price wasn't an issue) it will give the best performance assuming CF even works.

[alecrast]

As far as I know, the main differences between the HX and TX series is that the HX is modular while the TX isn't, and the HX has 4 PCIe cables while the TX only has 2 (so if you're planning for SLI/CrossFireX, look for the HX... or probably a PSU with higher wattage too). Aside from that, both are pretty solid power supplies. Don't quote me on this, but I believe they're actually manufactured by SeaSonic, which would explain why they're so dependable.

It varies with model as to what the differences are between the TX and HX power supplies. The HX850, for example, is manufactured by CWT and, in addition to being modular when compared to the TX, it is made with significantly better components for improved performance (decreased ripple for a better chance at overclocking, for example). As a general rule of thumb, the HX supplies are built with better components than the TX line, which isn't to say the TX models are bad PSUs in any way. Odds are good that you'd never notice the difference between them in actual use except (possibly) for extreme overclocking scenarios or places with really bad power. Oh, and if your PSU decides to die, I believe most HX models come with a 7-year warranty.

Been lurking here for a while, trying to decide how to build a new system, maybe someone can help me out with this last decision, it's giving me a killer headache.

High settings is what I am shooting for here, everything to me is pretty much set except the video card (possibly the mobo). Here are my plans:

i7 930
Corsair Dominator GT 6GB @ 2000
eVGA Classified 710, if it's really worth it, still researching, open to suggestions.
SSD of some kind
hefty power supply to accomodate future SLi or Crossfire
HAF 932 Case (room for extra cards at a later date)


So, about the card: GTX 480 or 5970. I'm going to be playing on my Samsung 23" LED monitor, resolution is 1920 x 1080. As for overclocking, I will definitely be doing it, but how much and if its permanent always depends on performance gain.

Disregarding price, which option seems better, and let's assume that I will not be playing many other PC games other than FFXIV? I've read a lot about "Thermi" problems, and read several benchmarks, but I'm still on the fence.

I would take the GTX480 over the 5970 in a heartbeat. If you decide on a 5970 (which is really 2 underclocked 5870s on a single PCB), you might as well get yourself a pair of real 5870s - you'll get better performance and you'll save some money in the process. There is little to no reason to buy a 5970 anymore.

[kkiboo]

I am naturally inclined to stick to nvidia just because they officially support the game and there's chance for optimization, drivers, whatnot.

CF is an unknown on being supported, SLi too? Or is it just assumed due to sponsorship?

[Novadragon-Phoenix]

Windows 7 Home premium 64 bit
Quad 2 Core 2.50 GHZ Q8300
6GB Ram DDR2
NVIDIA Geforce Gt 320
1 TB HDD

HDMI access and wireless connections.

Upgrade the Graphics/Video Card? I only got 1642 on low >__>

[Jojimbo]

Should be fine with upgrading GPU, that is a fairly weak GPU in it currently. Might need to upgrade PSU as well.

[Novadragon-Phoenix]

Yeah I thought so. I should have the cash to get a more powerful GPU but for the PSU I can do later. I can get really powerful one's for like £100 or over.

[Zane]

For any one that's good with Motherboards, I'm currently looking at two different models and would like some advice on what to pick. Here are the links:

MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 870 ATX AMD Motherboard

MSI 870A-G54 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

Currently, I have a Radeon 5830, and AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition processor, so the motherboard must be able to make full use of them.

I'm looking for a cheap motherboard from a reliable company. Obviously must support my GPU and CPU, and I would like it to support DDR3 RAM as well. Unfortunately, I know nothing about Motherboards, so not sure what I'm losing between these two models that I might care about. (I don't know what benefit USB 3.0 has over 2.0, and unless the world is suddenly going to ditch 2.0 for 3.0 I probably don't care.)

For reference, I want this computer to last ~6 years or so. I will not be overclocking, and any upgrades I do in the next 6 years would probably be relatively minor such as a new GPU if I absolutely must have one, or RAM if it turns out somewhere down the line I NEED more than 4 gigs. With what I have lined up to buy, I'm also about $50 over budget and need to trim down in a few areas. My original Mobo Budget was around $100 which is what the second link would fall under. The first link is a cheaper model that would save me $30.

So, in short, is the first one worth it? Should I forget the first one and go for the second link? Or should I try to find something in between as a compromise? What will I be sacrificing, if anything other than what I noted by getting the first model over the second?

[MakinBaconNeked]

So for my Ram timings I have a bunch of options:

CAS
tRCD
tRP
tRAS
tRTP
tRC
tWR
tRRD
tWTR
tRFC0
tRFC1
tRFC2
tRFC3
tRWTTO
tWRRD
tWRWR
tRDRD

I understand that 9-9-9-14 covers CAS, tRCD, tRP, and tRTP. A) should the rest be left at auto? B) tRTP does not go to 14, the lowest number it has is 15 CLK? is that what I should use?

[alecrast]

So for my Ram timings I have a bunch of options:

CAS
tRCD
tRP
tRAS
tRTP
tRC
tWR
tRRD
tWTR
tRFC0
tRFC1
tRFC2
tRFC3
tRWTTO
tWRRD
tWRWR
tRDRD

I understand that 9-9-9-14 covers CAS, tRCD, tRP, and tRTP. A) should the rest be left at auto? B) tRTP does not go to 14, the lowest number it has is 15 CLK? is that what I should use?

9-9-9-24, not 14. I made a typo, apparently. Going to edit the original post to fix the timings.

Somewhere between 24 and 27 is probably where your RAM was meant to operate. Leave everything else at auto. RAM isn't where you're going to bottleneck so squeezing every last ounce of performance out of your RAM isn't going to help you.

For any one that's good with Motherboards, I'm currently looking at two different models and would like some advice on what to pick. Here are the links:

MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 870 ATX AMD Motherboard

MSI 870A-G54 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

Currently, I have a Radeon 5830, and AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition processor, so the motherboard must be able to make full use of them.

I'm looking for a cheap motherboard from a reliable company. Obviously must support my GPU and CPU, and I would like it to support DDR3 RAM as well. Unfortunately, I know nothing about Motherboards, so not sure what I'm losing between these two models that I might care about. (I don't know what benefit USB 3.0 has over 2.0, and unless the world is suddenly going to ditch 2.0 for 3.0 I probably don't care.)

For reference, I want this computer to last ~6 years or so. I will not be overclocking, and any upgrades I do in the next 6 years would probably be relatively minor such as a new GPU if I absolutely must have one, or RAM if it turns out somewhere down the line I NEED more than 4 gigs. With what I have lined up to buy, I'm also about $50 over budget and need to trim down in a few areas. My original Mobo Budget was around $100 which is what the second link would fall under. The first link is a cheaper model that would save me $30.

So, in short, is the first one worth it? Should I forget the first one and go for the second link? Or should I try to find something in between as a compromise? What will I be sacrificing, if anything other than what I noted by getting the first model over the second?

If longevity is a concern, you want the more expensive board. The first board comes with a SB710 southbridge, the newer board comes with a SB850 which is more feature rich, newer, and has a longer life ahead of it on AMD's roadmap. The more expensive board (by virtue of the SB850) supports USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/sec which are on the bleeding edge now but next year will likely be mainstream. If you think there's any chance you'll want an SSD in the next 2 years, get the second board. If there's absolutely positively no way you're going to get an SSD, then you can get by with the first board. Both are AM3, just that the second one is newer and has additional features such as RAID5 which was added in SB750 along with better performance.

[Zane]

If longevity is a concern, you want the more expensive board. The first board comes with a SB710 southbridge, the newer board comes with a SB850 which is more feature rich, newer, and has a longer life ahead of it on AMD's roadmap. The more expensive board (by virtue of the SB850) supports USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/sec which are on the bleeding edge now but next year will likely be mainstream. If you think there's any chance you'll want an SSD in the next 2 years, get the second board. If there's absolutely positively no way you're going to get an SSD, then you can get by with the first board. Both are AM3, just that the second one is newer and has additional features such as RAID5 which was added in SB750 along with better performance.

Thanks, I think I'm going to go with the first board then since I have no interest in USB 3.0 or SSD. When it comes to computers, I mostly only used this one for FF XI, web browsing, and compiling and this next computer is going to be FF XIV, web browsing, and compiling.

I figure I won't need all of the new stuff any time soon, and by the time I'm ready to dip into stuff like SSD and what ever new technology is coming down the pipeline, I'll want to get a new computer at that point.

[MakinBaconNeked]

I am currently running memtest with the timings set to auto and it says they are 9-9-9-24 so for the moment I am not going to worry about stopping the tests and changing it to the same settings it is currently showing. I am on the third pass through the tests and so far both the first tests passed. I have not manually run the 3 hour test number 9.

How many times should I run let this loop through before stopping it?

Should I run the test number 9 after these are done?

On a side note I am thinking about picking these up:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231180

My plan is probably to order them tonight and then when they come in to put them in the first two slots and move the other two to the secondary slots.

[alecrast]

I am currently running memtest with the timings set to auto and it says they are 9-9-9-24 so for the moment I am not going to worry about stopping the tests and changing it to the same settings it is currently showing. I am on the third pass through the tests and so far both the first tests passed. I have not manually run the 3 hour test number 9.

How many times should I run let this loop through before stopping it?

Should I run the test number 9 after these are done?

On a side note I am thinking about picking these up:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231180

My plan is probably to order them tonight and then when they come in to put them in the first two slots and move the other two to the secondary slots.

If you've booted memtest86+ and it's completed 3 passes of all tests (the default settings - usually tests 5 and 7 turn up things if I remember correctly), then you're probably find. I usually let it run overnight just because I've had spurious errors before but it's very very rare.

The memory you linked is out of stock, though it is very good memory. I have about 64GB of Gskill in various systems in my house. It's been my go-to memory for a while now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231189

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231193

are good alternatives. The first link is almost identical to the RAM you linked. Personally, I'd go for the DDR3-1600 over the DDR3-1333 on the off chance that you decide to do something different down the road. The DDR3-1600 will run at 1333 without issue.

Mixing RAM isn't guaranteed to work but it is unlikely you'll have any issues mingling Crucial and GSkill since you're maintaining the same timings and voltage and setting timings manually rather than via a profile.

[shaddix]

I've been a g.skill man for a few years as well