Recommend a Rig?

[Zemke]

I am thinking hard about getting a new rig, what would people recommend? I currently have an AMD 3500 at 2.4Ghz and a 6600 V-card, 2 Gig of mem. I want to run the game at the highest video settings and have larger battles. I have a few questions too?

1. Does the game take advantage of dual and quad core processors?

2. I plan on getting an 8800 with 640Mb of memory, but I keep seeing problems with the 8800 series and this game, has that been fixed?

[Sgt Joch]

I just got a 8800 GT 512 mb last week. It runs the game beautifully with no issues whatsoever. I think all the technical issues were linked to VISTA and earlier versions of the game, I run XP.

My current rig is: intel E6750, gigabyte P35-DS3R mb, 8800 GT, 2 gig DDR2 @800, XP pro.

In "Hammertime", with best/best textures, 1280x960, 4xFSAA, I get FPS between 20-50. In "Allah's Fist", my opening FPS is 25, 57 at balanced/balanced.

Keep in mind though that CMSF, like CMBB and CMAK are CPU limited games. The switch from a 7900 GTX to a 8800 GT only gave me a 10-15% boost in CMSF, whereas in other games I am seeing a 50-100% improvement.

[Zemke]

So the faster CPU makes more of a difference? I have read the game DOES NOT take advantage of multi-thread operations, is that true or not?

[Pzman]

It doesn't take advantage of more than one Core or CPU (multi-threading), but high end C2Ds are fast chips period, blowing older, higher clocked CPUs out of the water, even in single core operation.

[bheilbrunn]

Id you want to save money the game runs just fine (escept the bugs) with aN ATHON 5200 2 g ram 800 and 8800 GTX

[bheilbrunn]

Sgt Jocks rig has to have cost $2500

[Sgt Joch]

Originally posted by bheilbrunn:

Sgt Jocks rig has to have cost $2500

A bit less than $700 actually for the CPU, motherboard, RAM & video card, all within the past 2 months. Everything else was recycled from my existing rig.

You could build the same rig from the ground up, including a 24" monitor for less than $1,500.

High end hardware has become ridiculously cheap over the past year, if you choose wisely, which means buying second best which gives you 90% of the performance of the absolute top end for a fraction of the price.

My rig will run any game, including the Crysis demo. It runs all of my preferred games, CMSF, CMBB, CMAK, SH4, F4AF, First Eagles fast and well, even "On to the Volga!" is smooth and playable, so I am good to go for another 12-18 months until the next upgrade.

[Dirtweasle]

Originally posted by Zemke:

So the faster CPU makes more of a difference? I have read the game DOES NOT take advantage of multi-thread operations, is that true or not?

It's a combination of things, fast RAM, mobo, video card, and CPU are all important

Relying on CPU specs while ignoring the rest is not a good idea.

I've got nearly the same exact rig as Sgt Joch, built it myself a few months ago, and aside from an odd sporadic problem where the machine hangs before posting, it runs everything I throw at it incredibly fast.