FFXIV Hardware Requirements

[Heatsink]

I was thinking of doing a system upgrade for XIV, since I only have a dual-core processor. However, I was seeing some reports in the beta forums that the game doesn't use more than two cores anyway. I managed to get my hands on a friend's new quad core system, an AthlonII X4-640, so I was able to verify the behavior of the client on windows XP SP3 (32bit).

In order to make sure my graphics card (GTS250) would not be a bottleneck, I changed all graphics settings to their minimum. During testing the card's load never got above 40% according to GPU-Z.

Using those lowest settings with my dual core system (e8400 @ 4.2GHz), the framerate would drop to 32-36 with around 20 characters onscreen. CPU usage was at 95-100% during this time -- both cores fully in use. Using Process Explorer I saw that 2 threads were using the majority of the CPU time.

I migrated the windows install to the new Athlon system (new drivers, etc) and placed the same video card inside it. In the same conditions as with my e8400, I was only getting 17-24 FPS! Processor usage total was only 50 to 55%, and I saw that with Process Explorer the same two threads were using the majority of the CPU time. Once I installed the support pack for AMD's Cool'N'Quiet (adjusts clock speed depending on CPU load), the framerate was even lower -- 14 to 16 fps.

Looks like the client currently really doesn't use more than 2 cores, so I'll skip the upgrade for now! Still need a $400 video card though, the GTS250 is just too weak.

[shaddix]

I was thinking of doing a system upgrade for XIV...

The beta runs 6+ threads, it just doesn't balance the load between them very well right now(PS3 cpu architecture). This should improve though as they optimize the engine for PC. If you play 1080p+ I agree you should upgrade your gpu first. Lower resolutions, you might want to wait before deciding on a gpu upgrade over cpu.

[Heatsink]

The beta runs 6+ threads, it just doesn't balance the load between them very well right now. This should improve though. If you play 1080p+ I agree you should upgrade your gpu first. Lower resolutions, you might want to wait before deciding on a gpu upgrade over cpu.

It has quite a lot of threads, but most of them are almost always asleep. Besides the 2 main graphics threads, there's one thread for UI that's usually using less than 10% of a core. On the 4-core I tested with, the other 3 running graphics threads were all using less than 5%. If you are running on vista or 7, there are threads visible from the graphics driver but they seem to share time with the game's graphics threads. Anyone here familiar with how Microsoft changed Direct3D's threading compared to XP?

Anyway, I hope they improve this situation, it's still in beta after all.

[shaddix]

Surely they won't leave it running like ass for no reason. But then again this is SE.
Also FWIW, my [email protected](dual core intel) + gtx460@910mhz scored 2970 on the benchmark on high, while my new [email protected](hexacore amd) + Gtx460@890mhz scores 3266 on high.

I never tested low since I don't care for playing at that resolution, but obviously the difference will be even greater there since the majority of the time on high it's gpu bottlenecked.

[shaddix]

Since multithreading is the topic of discussion:
http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/showp...postcount=3096

[Superpsych]

I just bought this computer a couple weeks ago and just waiting to recieve it in an order.

Just wondering if ya'll think it would be able to handle FFXIV, here's the specs.

* • Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
* • Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-980X six-core Extreme Edition [3.33GHz, 1.5MB L2 + 12MB shared L3 cache]
* • 12GB DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM [6 DIMMs]
* • 2TB RAID 0 (2 x 1TB SATA HDDs) - performance
* • 1.8GB NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 [2 DVI, HDMI and VGA adapters]

[Gentaro]

Seeing your CPU choice I can't understand why you buy a GTX260

Get 8 Gigs of RAM and a 460 instead, or a 5850

[HumsterMKII]

Seeing your CPU choice I can't understand why you buy a GTX260

Get 8 Gigs of RAM and a 460 instead, or a 5850

Uh... Actually 6GB, so to enable to run on triple channel mode.

[HumsterMKII]

I just bought this computer a couple weeks ago and just waiting to recieve it in an order.

Just wondering if ya'll think it would be able to handle FFXIV, here's the specs.

* • Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
* • Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-980X six-core Extreme Edition [3.33GHz, 1.5MB L2 + 12MB shared L3 cache]
* • 12GB DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM [6 DIMMs]
* • 2TB RAID 0 (2 x 1TB SATA HDDs) - performance
* • 1.8GB NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 [2 DVI, HDMI and VGA adapters]

(>....<

Dude why you got yourself a GTX260?

[Gentaro]

Uh... Actually 6GB, so to enable to run on triple channel mode.

true,my fault

anyways,get rid of the 260 >_>

[Superpsych]

Yeah, was planning on upgrading the video card, tbh that's actually the card that came standard with the machine and gonna upgrade when i actually recieve the desktop lol

I was looking at the GTX 460, any good reviews for that one?

[shaddix]

Yeah, was planning on upgrading the video card, tbh that's actually the card that came standard with the machine and gonna upgrade when i actually recieve the desktop lol

I was looking at the GTX 460, any good reviews for that one?

What do you need the 980x for? that's extreme overkill for a gaming machine. You will get far better performance with an i7-930 + gtx 480 than a 980x and a 460.

[TStupified]

I was looking at the GTX 460, any good reviews for that one?

Yeah, GTX460 has received good reviews pretty much everywhere and not many disagree for it being one of the best value (performance) for money cards atm. I'd personally recommend Gigabytes or EVGAs Overclocked 1gb versions of the GTX460 if you decide to buy one.

[Zane]

So, my girlfriend's laptop I didn't think could run XIV at all, since it scored a measly 121 in the benchmark actually runs XIV.

Granted, it's like doing Dynamis with all effects on a low range computer, and walking any where is a chore, let alone waiting for enemies to appear on the radar. While I know most of that problem is her computer, I'm wondering how much of it is also lag.

She's running this on an Acer 5532. It has Radeon HD 3200 on board graphics, and an AMD TF-20 processor. (Single Core, 1.6ghz.) When I asked earlier, the general consensus was there was nothing that could be done to get this laptop to run XIV at a playable state. (I would consider an upgrade in the ability to walk department going from full effects Dynamis to full effects Whitegate playable.) Would upgrading the processor to a dual core 1.8Ghz model help bring that up to playable? I understand that's below the minimum specs, but then again, so is her computer. Also, for those unfamiliar with my previous post, this is not something she will be gaming on for the rest of time, it's a mobile option, and a patch up until PS3 version comes out.

[Unleaded]

I'm sure upgrading the processor would help. Although probably not terribly much.

[Heatsink]

Since multithreading is the topic of discussion:
http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/showp...postcount=3096

Your results made me curious about XP possibly limiting the threading performance compared to w7 with quadcore+ processors. Did a fresh install of w7-32bit with latest directx update and tested with 2 driver versions. Using the AthlonII X4-640 with all settings at minimum, standing around Bearded Rock with 16-20 characters visible:
v197.45 cpu typ 60% cpu max 80% gpu typ 50% fps 31
v258.96 cpu typ 65% cpu max 75% gpu typ 55% fps 30

These results are much better! Finally a good reason to upgrade from XP to 7. Maybe someday they will use directx11.....

[Elites]

Ran my benchmark with new rig,
http://img713.imageshack.us/f/ffxivscore.jpg/
on Low, it seems to be bottle necked by something when i compare specs with other's results.

-AMD phenom II x4 965 @3.4ghz
-Galaxy GTX 460 super oc edition
-1tb hd
-Windows 7 x64
-4 gigs ripjaw series ddr3
-785g-E53 MSI AM3 Board
-OCZ 600w

[shaddix]

Ran my benchmark with new rig,
http://img713.imageshack.us/f/ffxivscore.jpg/
on Low, it seems to be bottle necked by something when i compare specs with other's results.

-AMD phenom II x4 965 @3.4ghz
-Galaxy GTX 460 super oc edition
-1tb hd
-Windows 7 x64
-4 gigs ripjaw series ddr3
-785g-E53 MSI AM3 Board
-OCZ 600w

I think the benchmark hates nvidia cards. What clock speed are you running your gtx 460? I will use the same on mine and run the bench on low with 4 cores at 3.4ghz

[TStupified]

Ran my benchmark with new rig,
http://img713.imageshack.us/f/ffxivscore.jpg/
on Low, it seems to be bottle necked by something when i compare specs with other's results.

That score is definitely surprisingly low.. I have pretty much exactly the same build ready tomorrow probably, so we'll see if I get the same results as you did. And for the sake of weirdness, there's a guy in youtube who has posted some FFXIV videos and he has the following in his info on his channel:

Computer Specs:

3.0 Quad Core AMD Phenom II
250 GTS GeForce
8GB Ram
650wattz
Windows 7

Benchmark
4400 Low
3300 High

..Now if he is speaking the truth it wouldn't make any sense because the GTX460 is quite a bit better than his GPU, unless the game really hates the GTX4xx series atm.

[Elites]

I think the benchmark hates nvidia cards. What clock speed are you running your gtx 460? I will use the same on mine and run the bench on low with 4 cores at 3.4ghz

My card is at 810 mhz core clock, shaders at 1620, 2000 memory. Yeah i was expecting a little higher but oh well, not sure if it's just the benchmark.