Building a PC-thinking of Fallout 4.

[misterhamtastic]

So I'm building a desktop in February, and I want it to play Fallout 4 with about the same ease as this laptop handles Diablo 2. (Laptops fairly new, but only 2 cores, 2Ghz, with 4Gbs ram. Diablo 2 flies on it, though. )

 

 

 

Any chance someone could post some specs to work with, some possible specs for what FO4 will require? How about avoiding known issues with past products? Do I need 32 Gbs of Ram from day one, or could I start with 8 and probably be ok? Do I go with the I5 Ivy Bridge and spend some extra on a higher quality GPU, or go ahead and get an I7 and get what I can?

[Humanoid]

Generally speaking, trying to futureproof/anticipate future requirements isn't a reliable science, and whenever possible it's best to just wait for the time you actually need the upgrade to do the upgrade - the best value outcome is almost invariably from going down that path. However if you must get something around now, it's simple enough: i5, 8/16GB, and one of 7950/7970/670/680. Given the ubiquity of loading screens in prior Bethesda games, I'd guess an SSD would be very helpful too.

 

As for what's coming, there's been no announcement yet from either of the GPU vendors about timelines for their next product. Intel's next-gen Haswell CPU arrives mid-year and is expected to deliver fairly modest gains in CPU performance, but while of no interest to serious gamers just yet, the biggest leap it makes is likely to be in its integrated graphics.

[misterhamtastic]

I think we may be approaching the "upper limit" as far as processor capabilities in their current form, physically. (I SO want a quantum based desktop. :D )

 

Thank you for the advice. It really helps narrow things for me. I have a budget of 1750$ us-including shipping and warrantees and case mods if I do any, all that. I think you're right-so I'll shoot for a higher end mobo-an ivy bridge i5(can upgrade to i7 later), 16 gb ram(32 isn't that big a reach, although memory speed and all that confuses me). I'm hoping that between some programming changes(tell it to keep track of everything in a less memory intensive way or something) and getting my memory numbers high enough, I'll avoid the choppy times when I get to high play time numbers.

 

Any thoughts on SLI? I have 3 8800GTS (I think that's what they are. They were awesome in 2009. :D ), and I'm thinking that I should have this functionality in order to expand with technology without breaking the bank. Even if I start with one decent GPU-it might be cheaper to get a second in 6 months than upgrade to a whole new one to try to keep up.

 

I really am looking forward to FO4 (don't rush, guys. I can keep messing with New Vegas for awhile), and just want to be able to play it from day one and not wonder,"Is this an issue that needs patching, or my system unable to keep up?"

[LadyCrimson]

Isn't it possible FO4 would be made using the same "new" Gamebryo engine as Skyrim? I'd consider that fairly likely. I think the Three Dog voice actor recently stated (this month) there might be more of his chr. which would indicate the wait for FO4 won't be 5 more years or something.

 

My old fart 1st gen i7 rig built a few years ago could/can still run Skyrim max (and pretty much anything else I've tossed at it) with no issues so I'm having a hard time imagining any high-end rig built today having trouble with a game that (might be) out in 2-3 years.

[Humanoid]

Yeah, even in the "worst" case scenario (in terms of power demands) if FO4 ends up on the next gen consoles instead of the current competitors, it's doubtful there'd be any big leap in requirements.

 

Additional notes:

- A high-end motherboard doesn't really give the average gamer anything - make sure you actually need the extra features they provide. Mid-range boards are usually a better bet, what they have over the entry level is usually better power circuitry and SLI support (the cheaper models usually only support Crossfire).

- Memory speed is largely irrelevant, latencies especially so - while memory frequency only makes a real impact when using integrated graphics. That said, the price gap up to DDR1866 is usually pretty small as well.

- The primary cons of SLI/Crossfire, aside from cost, are initial compatibility issues with new release games and the phenomenon known as microstutter, where some people who are more sensitive may notice fluctuating time between consecutive frames. I'd say avoid it until it becomes necessary due to unsatisfactory current performance.

[Bokishi]

I think SLI is way overrated, driver profile complications, limitations (no windowed or remote-desktop support), and compatibility problems with many game engines (sometimes causing unintended lag). A single fast card is good enough these days. I used SLI for 5 years straight, and I swear half of that time was spent with it disabled because of some bs with a new game not working right with it

Edited January 11, 2013 by Bokishi

[WDeranged]

If Fallout 4 is going to use the rebranded Gamebryo (which is will) then clockspeed will be more important than how many cores you have, an overclocked quad core at 5ghz will be a better choice than a hex core running at 3.8ghz, RAM also won't be a huge issue, you won't need more than 4GB unless Bethesda finally produce a 64bit executable, even then I would bet that you'll only need extreme amounts of RAM if you're going to use a silly amount of mods.

[Zeckul]

If you can wait for Haswell (due by June 2013), do it, otherwise the obvious choice is the i5 3570K (Ivy Bridge). As for memory, 4-8GB, an SSD if possible, and for the GPU, prices fluctuate all the time so check our a comparison like this (updated every month) by the time you buy. Don't go overboard with the GPU, it's better to buy in the value sweet spot and upgrade more often than putting a lot of money into some power-hungry heat monster that'll be just as outdated as anything else in 2 years.

Edited January 11, 2013 by Zeckul

[misterhamtastic]

Wow, so much good info. This has helped more than hours of research on tom's and similar sites.

 

Let me ask you one more thing. Cooling-I am terrified of of overclocking my processor, only to not get it cooled enough to survive, not to mention that I've had 2 mobos die from what looks like overheating causing swollen capacitors. How do I find the right level of cooling? How important is cooling to the FSB, GPU, memory, etc? If it is important-how do I know if I have the right power setup for it? The case I'm going to use is an AZZA Solano 1000-a full tower with 6 fans to start with.

 

Or... am I better off settling for a little less capability in trade for a warranty and perhaps some overclocking done at a professional builder? I'm talking micronpc or something, there's no way I'll afford Falcon Northwest or something wild like that.

[Humanoid]

I'd go with a tower cooler if overclocking the CPU, generally an easy job. For GPUs is a bit more fiddly, but personally I can't stand the blower-style stock coolers. RAM cooling is usually irrelevant, my memory of choice would be the Samsung 1.25V "magic" RAM, which doesn't even have a heatspreader - but regardless, try to avoid the tall heatsinks on memory because they tend to block installation of CPU coolers.

[AGX-17]

If Fallout 4 is going to use the rebranded Gamebryo (which is will) then clockspeed will be more important than how many cores you have, an overclocked quad core at 5ghz will be a better choice than a hex core running at 3.8ghz, RAM also won't be a huge issue, you won't need more than 4GB unless Bethesda finally produce a 64bit executable, even then I would bet that you'll only need extreme amounts of RAM if you're going to use a silly amount of mods.

 

RAM is'nt a big concern as far as mods go, unless they're some kind of huge multi-gigabyte mods (of which I am aware of none.) You're likely not going to need more than 8gb. The Skyrim process only takes about 1.2gb of RAM, tops. CPU bottlenecks and Bus speed are going to be a bigger influence than RAM.

 

All the freezing and crashing that happens when using mods is due to load order problems, mod incompatibilities, scripting errors, etc. I feel safe in saying that if you can play Skyrim on "high" or better settings without problems, you're going to be able to play Fallout 4 without problems. Of course, Bethesda's games are plenty capable of freezing and crashing without mods, too.

 

Bethesda games are not known for taking advantage of the latest and greatest hardware capabilities. F3's visuals were significantly inferior to your run-of-the-mill Unreal Engine game when it came out (aside from UE's texture pop-in.) Bioshock, for example, came out in the same month and had dramatically better visual effects. And of course there was Crysis. When F4 comes out it's going to look as dated compared to the competition as F3 did when it came out.

Edited January 12, 2013 by AGX-17

[Zeckul]

Let me ask you one more thing. Cooling-I am terrified of of overclocking my processor, only to not get it cooled enough to survive, not to mention that I've had 2 mobos die from what looks like overheating causing swollen capacitors. How do I find the right level of cooling? How important is cooling to the FSB, GPU, memory, etc? If it is important-how do I know if I have the right power setup for it? The case I'm going to use is an AZZA Solano 1000-a full tower with 6 fans to start with.

Swollen capacitors are not caused by overheating. They're caused by being crappy regular capacitors instead of solid ones. If possible go with an all-solid capacitor motherboard.

 

The stock cooler on Intel CPUs is abysmal but does the job if you're not overclocking. What you can at the very least do is remove the pre-applied thermal paste (using cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol) and apply some quality one yourself. Here are some very detailed (probably too much) instructions.

 

If you want to overclock at all, which is kinda the whole point of buying a K-series CPU, you'll need a better CPU cooler. The one I personally recommend is the Cooler Master Hyper 212+, it's 30$ and works about as well as any other including much more expensive ones.

Edited January 19, 2013 by Zeckul