The OFFICIAL FFXIV Benchmark & Beta Performance Thread

[Liminality]

Have a favor to ask for someone who is obviously much more tech savvy than I.

Would someone be able to give me a rough idea of what I should be looking to get to optimize a gaming PC for XIV spending no more than $800? I have a bit of computer knowledge, but not nearly enough to build one myself from scratch, so I'm having a friend come over and help me order parts and build it. I'd like to give him a rough draft of what I want in the PC since he knows nothing about FF XIV and I'd like something more specifically tailored to optimize XIV rather than a general purpose gaming machine.

I'm also going to need enough to upgrade my current PC/build a second PC, but looking to spend as little as possible while keeping it "playable". So... just a little above minimum specs.

What I have to work with for the second PC:

1 Monitor
600w Power Supply
1.5gigs of RAM
Radeon X1300 Graphics Card
Unless otherwise noted, the rest of the parts are from the 838GM Media Center Gateway desktop. Processor is Intel Pentium 4 Processor 630.

Yes, that PC is from 2005 and I planned on replacing it, but now I need a second PC for my girlfriend to play on until PS3 release in March so I don't want to invest tons of money on this. I also assume this would be easier to upgrade than her current Acer Laptop.

Ok, um... wow. Where to begin?

OS: You'll most likely be wanting Windows 7, if you don't already have it. Windows XP is ok, but I believe XP limits RAM amount to 3GB? (Someone clarify this.) Let's just say low-end W7 will cost you $100 (I think it's $120 on actual site).

CPU: You totally need a new CPU for your old machine! I found a Intel Core2 Duo E7500 Wolfdale 2.93GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor BX80571E7500 on newegg for $118, OR you can go with the AMD Athlon X2 which I found on newegg for ~$51. I'd personally recommend Intel, cause I've had both and I think Intel is the better processor, imo. However, the the CPU is not somewhere you want to skimp by. I'd recommend getting a decent CPU. This is the core of your system. Even if you're on a budget, this is something you need to focus your money on.

Motherboard: Depends entirely on the compatibility of both your CPU and VGA. I'll put down a $150 average for bare minimum.

RAM: Basically, 4GB is the new 2GB. It's up to you what brand you get and what-not. Either way, 4GB of RAM should run about ~$100-$120.

HDD/SSD: HDD vs. SDD is what limits most high-end computers on a WEI score. SSD is the better drive, but still expensive when you compare it to a HDD of much more storage. For HDD, I'd recommend @ least 160GB - 250GB. I mean, it really depends on the user and what you are doing. For FFXIV, you only need like 50GB drive (15GB for FFXIV, 6GB+ for your My Documents for FFXIV, OS space, and random other shit). I'm a big fan of WD. You can get a 160GB WD for like $50 or cheaper. SSD would be much more expensive in this area, and since you're on a budget, probably not something you'd be needing.

Graphics Card: Totally need an upgrade for the old PC as well. I found this Nvidia card on newegg... EVGA 015-P3-N969-LR GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB 192-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card for $65. The ATI Radeon HD (needs to be at least 2900 series w/ VRAM 512 MB or more) ranged a lot. However, the graphics, like the CPU, is not somewhere you want to skimp by. I'd recommend getting a decent graphics card. This is the core for running games. Even if you're on a budget, this is something you need to focus your money on.

DirectX/Sound: Both your sound and your video card need to be able to support DirectX 9.0c or higher. This is another thing to take into consideration when purchasing a sound and video card. Sound cards run pretty cheap if you're not looking for "blow me away" surround sound. I'll just put $40 here.

Screen: FFXIV requires you be able to run the game in 1280x720 or higher w/ 32-bit or higher. Again, monitor prices range GREATLY depending on what you're looking for. Size, resolution, response rate, etc. This is honestly just user preference, but I mention it because it is important.

Mouse/Keyboard/etc: Eh, not really much to say here. You can get a cheapy mouse/keyboard combo for ~$20, even less if you really feel like roughing it.

CD/DVD Drive: No brainer here really. Cheapy will cost ~$20.


To come to a conclusion:

Built PC:
OS = $100
CPU = $50 - $120
Motherboard = Varies (I'll put $150 as an average.)
RAM = $100 - $120
HDD = $50
Graphics card = $65 - ??? (I'd really recommend going beyond the minimum required.)
Sound card = $40
Screen = $120+ (For a really, um... budget friendly screen, found on newegg $120).
Mouse/Keyboard = $20
CD/DVD Drive = $20

*Total = $715+

*Note: This price does NOT include: Cables, Computer Cases, Fans/Heatsinks, Input Devices, Speakers, etc.

I'm sure others would argue with me and say you could build one for cheaper, which I'm sure you can if you REALLY looked around. All of this information is for running @ bare minimum for FFXIV specs or slightly above. Follow the same guidelines for upgrading your older PC. Just upgrade what's needed.

Just to note, SE purposely made this a graphic/CPU intensive game. I don't think they want people years from now going "PS3 Limitations" or "Wow these graphics suck". Honestly, for most general gamers, it will be wise to just get a PS3, unless you're really dieing for a new PC. Just be ready to shell out some money, or bite the bullet.

[Gulkeeva]

WinXP as far as I know can 'address" a max of 4GB.. but! that is eaten by the video card/system I/O addressing . I believe its something like "if you have a 1Gb video card" you will have available ram of like 3.2GB or something.

If your concerned about how "sluggish" your PC can be after playing a "massive MMO" (I'm comparing it to wow atm yes since its "big" also) your PC will be a crawl after playing a few hours. my XP was after wow ;/



also.. FFXIV main focus seems to be cpu+video card other stuff like ram/hardrive probably isn't too crucial considering someone with an SSD wasn't seeing much improvement anyway.

Seeing as you already got a system sort of.. lets see... $800 budger new MB+cpu+ram+win7...!

If you know a friend that can shove stuff into a PC case for you this will be the "cheapest" and most bang for your buck method...!

(if your feeling semi lazy and or your friend thats making it for you)
http://www.portatech.com/catalog/vie...37%2C25363&r=p

using your own power supply, mouse, keyboard, cd/dvd, sound card, monitor

From the above link select... (if not already)
core i7 860
Motherboard "included in price)
Cooling "add 49.95" option
4GB DDR3-1333 PC3-10600
hardrives (none)
case -standard (included in price)
power supply (included in price)
Win7 premium
No cd/dvd drive
ATI Radeon HD5570 1GB
Warrenty , up to you!

that brings it up to.. below $800
looking at the chart.. and if you overclock the cpu/video card you could maybe pulloff 3000 ranges (or stock everything be around 2000's).

it would be cheaper to buy all those parts, but the above is pre-assemble, not too expensive (that and its 3am too late for me to go lookup individual prices!)

If you want though you could always squeeze in more money for a better video card (which will dramatically increase score on that benchmark) but your CPU will be holding it back so.. remember that too if you do!

[Liminality]

Gah, I remember the days when I would scour the web for the cheapest price, lol

I bought my iMac back in March of this year cause I didn't want to go through all of that again and I knew FFXIV was coming out. I just bought the 27" iMac Quad-Core i7 w/ the ATI Radeon HD 4850. Bootcamped Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit (Business version) works pretty well on it; haven't had any problems.

If I'm correct, the video card doesn't draw from system memory in W7, does it? I remember reading a thread about the issue you mentioned in XP. Depending on the VRAM capacity, it would take that much from system RAM. I don't think W7 does that.

[Celeras]

OS: You'll most likely be wanting Windows 7, if you don't already have it. Windows XP is ok, but I believe XP limits RAM amount to 3GB? (Someone clarify this.) Let's just say low-end W7 will cost you $100 (I think it's $120 on actual site).

WinXP as far as I know can 'address" a max of 4GB.. but! that is eaten by the video card/system I/O addressing . I believe its something like "if you have a 1Gb video card" you will have available ram of like 3.2GB or something.

Why do people think that the amount of ram recognized has anything to do with XP? Any 32bit Windows has the same limitation < 4gb, and by that same token 64bit XP can go up to 128gb like all the other 64bit OS's

[Liminality]

Why do people think that the amount of ram recognized has anything to do with XP? Any 32bit Windows has the same limitation < 4gb, and by that same token 64bit XP can go up to 128gb like all the other 64bit OS's

I honestly just don't know enough about XP; i.e. too young. Vista+ was my generation, lol (Which btw, omg I hated Vista with a passion). I just can't be bothered with going back and learning about XP, even though all the computers I work on @ the college are XP-based... colleges don't want to change from XP down here in Louisiana it seems. I know enough to get by xD

[Hatedregret]

I win from the greatness.

Windows Vista Home Basic 6.0 Build 6000

AMD Sempron™ processor 3600+ 2.0 GHz

NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce430

Score: 81.........

Load Time: 62293 ms

That is with maxed ram but not really the issue.

[Liminality]

I win from the greatness.

Windows Vista Home Basic 6.0 Build 6000

AMD Sempron™ processor 3600+ 2.0 GHz

NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce430

Score: 81.........

Load Time: 62293 ms

That is with maxed ram but not really the issue.

'nough said

[Kajii]

I'm sure someone has, but has anyone with an SSD and regular HD run the Benchmark to compare results?

I'm considering buying a SSD to put FFXIV on if it'll be beneficial.

[Celeras]

I'm sure someone has, but has anyone with an SSD and regular HD run the Benchmark to compare results?

I'm considering buying a SSD to put FFXIV on if it'll be beneficial.

It won't effect your score, but your load time will be lower.

[Gruntle]

High:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2...2/Untitled.png

Low:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2.../Untitled2.png

The correct info you need?

[BlackheartX]

So far my Asus 5850 is hitting a brick wall at 5976 on low and 4980 on 1080P high. I hope they allow crossfire.

[Oreth]

On the low settings what would be the lowest score you could expect to run the game confortably without much lag or problems? Same question for the high score?

[Shaard]

On the low settings what would be the lowest score you could expect to run the game confortably without much lag or problems? Same question for the high score?

Don't know if that will really help, but a friend of mine is scoring about 1200 (low) on his computer, and yet has no issue whatsoever running the benchmark and the alpha smoothly (according to him anyway).

[Murureru]

So I'm thinking this for an upgrade in a couple of months?

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5970
Intel Core i7 920
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R
Patriot Viper 6GB DDR3

Current spec is Core 2 Quad @ 3.8GHZ, 4GB DDR2, ABIT IP35 Pro, 8800 GTS 512.

Should I just get 2 5970's in crossfire and a new motherboard as the CPU and memory won't make a massive difference as 2 5970's would?

[BlackheartX]

So I'm thinking this for an upgrade in a couple of months?

Asus ATI Radeon HD 5970
Intel Core i7 920
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R
Patriot Viper 6GB DDR3

Current spec is Core 2 Quad @ 3.8GHZ, 4GB DDR2, ABIT IP35 Pro, 8800 GTS 512.

Should I just get 2 5970's in crossfire and a new motherboard as the CPU and memory won't make a massive difference as 2 5970's would?

I'm not an expert but 2 5970 will get bottle-necked by that cpu. Good for the future if you plan on upgrading your cpu later on. Solid specs for an upgrade tho.

[BlackheartX]

On the low settings what would be the lowest score you could expect to run the game confortably without much lag or problems? Same question for the high score?

3800-4000 w/e IMO (3490-4000 maybe)

[nero81af]

I'm seeing not test with hd 5650 or hd 5730 how do you think an i3 330 would perform with one of those cards? and an i7 720?

[nero81af]

I'm curious to know if a i3 330 with hd 5650 would be able to run it..

and a i7 720 with 5730?

P.s.
sorry for double post

[100percentile]

What kind of FPS do you guys think I would get on high with a setup like this:

Athlon II X3 440
Kingston 4GB DDR3 1333mhz
Radeon 5770 (maybe 5850 if my budget allows it)
Playing at 1680x1050

Think I could get 30fps+ constant?

[Yoli]

On the low settings what would be the lowest score you could expect to run the game confortably without much lag or problems? Same question for the high score?

For this question, I would direct you to SE's site:
http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/media/benchmark/na/

According to them:
<1500 = Insufficient
1500-1999 = Sufficient, but Awful
2000-2499 = Ok, but a bit low
2500-2999 = Standard
3000-4499 = Pretty High
4500-5499 = High Performance
And anything > That is going to be just fine for you.