PeterPan's Unofficial System Requirements Guide

[PeterPan]

War unofficial system requirements guide

To see my guide on building a cheap WAR PC follow this link:
http://www.warhammeralliance.com/for...932#post659932

Updated 8-11-2008
UPDATE:
Official system requirements for this game were released nearly 2 weeks ago, the thread has been revised twice since then, 8-2-08 then 8-11-08


Official System Requirements From Mythic

For Windows XP
2.5 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
1 Gigabyte RAM
A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
At least 15 GB of hard drive space

For Windows VISTA
2.5 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
2 Gigabyte RAM
A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
At least 15 GB of hard drive space

Officially supported video cards:
Note: This does NOT mean these are the only cards that will work. It means they are the only cards they offer tech support for. Off brand card's like S3 should have no problems running this game.

Supported Video Cards:

ATI Radeon(TM) series

· 9500, 9600, 9800
· X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
· X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950
· 2400, 2600, 2900,
· 3650, 3850, 3870
· 4850, 4870

NVIDIA GeForce series

· FX 5900, FX 5950
· 6600, 6800,
· 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
· 8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
· 9400, 9500, 9600, 9800
· GTX 260, GTX 280

Intel(R) Extreme Graphics

· GMA X4500

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I will start this guide by first introducing its purpose. The purpose of this guide is to educate the average PC user on 3D graphics cards, their purpose and what you need to play Warhammer Online

Official vendor websites:

ATI: http://ati.amd.com/products/index.html

Nvidia: http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.html

S3 Graphics: http://chromezone.s3graphics.com/

Intel: www.intel.com

The first thing you need to understand when buying a video card is,

1)Can my pc use this graphics card?
2)Does my power supply have enough electrical output to support this graphics card
3)Can I afford this graphics card?

To decide these things for yourself, please scroll to the bottom and read the Q&A

For the sake of the casual PC user I will break cards down into sectors of power and class. One common mis-conception on graphics cards is that “a high number means it is better” sometimes it can be quite the opposite.

Take in mind screen resolution is also a factor on game speed. A game running 1024x768 will run much faster than a game running 1440x900. The stats for these games have been based off a middle ground resolution such as 1280x1024

Class 1 Cards, The Super Heroes: Class 1 Cards will rock your world, you will be able to play everything on max settings on almost any modern PC game with these bad boys of gaming. Expect 70+ fps (as long as the rest of your system is up to par)

Nvidia Geforce 9800 Series - (All Versions) DX10 PCI-E

Nvidia Geforce 8800 Series - (All Versions) DX10 PCI-E

Nvidia Geforce 9600 Series - (All Versions) DX10 PCI-E

ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series - (All versions) DX10 PCI-E or AGP

ATI Radeon HD 2900 Series - (All versions) DX10 PCI-E

Nvidia Geforce GTX 260, GTX 280 Series - (All versions) PCI-E

ATI Radeon 4850, 4870 Series - (All versions) PCI-E


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Class 2 Cards, The Tough Guys: With these tough guys you will be able to run on max, or at least very high and your probably not going to be lagging much either on the newest games Expect 40-60fps. (as long as the rest of your system is up to par)

ATI Radeon HD 3650 Series (All versions) DX10 PCI-E - Slightly cheaper than the Geforce 8600, and more powerful in general.

Nvidia Geforce 8600 Series - (All Versions) DX10 PCI-E If your getting this card, I recommend the XFX Fatal1ty version.

ATI Radeon HD 2600 Series - (All versions) DX10 AGP and PCI-E

Nvidia Geforce 7800/7900 Series - (All versions) DX9 AGP and PCI-E

Radeon X1900/X1950 Series (All versions) DX9 AGP and PCI-E

Nvidia Geforce 7600 Series (All versions) DX9 AGP and PCI-E Old, but still strong.

ATI Radeon X1600/1650 Series (All versions) DX9 AGP and PCI-E Old, but still strong.

ATI Radeon X800 Series (All versions) DX9 AGP and PCI-E Old, but still strong.

S3 Chrome 440 Series - (All versions) DX10 PCI-E

ATI Radeon HD 3450 Series (All versions) DX10 PCI-E Should get you by on medium.

Nvidia Geforce 8500 Series - (All Versions) PCI-E About the same as the above card.
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Class 3 Cards, The Average Guys These are the average guys, they can probably handle medium settings and medium resolution, you might have to turn a few settings down on low. Tweaked properly these could probably maintain a 30ish fps on most modern games. (as long as the rest of your system is up to par)


Nvidia Geforce 8400 Series (All versions) DX10 PCI-E Should get you by on medium.

S3 Chrome 430 Series - (All versions) DX10 PCI-E Should get you by on medium.

ATI Radeon HD 2400 Series (All versions) DX10 PCI-E

Nvidia Geforce 6800 Series (All versions) DX9 AGP and PCI-E

Intel GMA X4500 Integrated Graphics

S3 Chrome S27 (All versions) (DX9) PCI-E If you can actually find one of these rare cards I think it would do alright on the game.

ATI Radeon X1300 Series (All versions) DX9 AGP and PCI-E

Radeon X1550 Series (All versions) DX9 PCI, PCI-E and AGP

Nvidia Geforce FX5900/5950 Series (All versions) DX9 AGP and PCI-E

ATI Radeon 9800 Series (All versions) DX9 AGP

ATI Radeon X700 Series (All versions) (DX9) AGP and PCI-E

Nvidia Geforce FX5800 Series (All versions) DX9 AGP This card is as low as I would go and still expect general playability on lower medium.

Nvidia Geforce 6600 Series (All versions) DX9 AGP and PCI-E This card is as low as I would go and still expect general playability on lower medium.
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Class 4 Cards, The Weak Guys
These guys are a little to weak for Warhammer online, but may get you by on World of Warcraft.

ATI Radeon 9600/9700 Series (All versions) DX9 AGP

Geforce FX5600/5700 Series (All versions) DX9 AGP

Nvidia Geforce 7200/7300 Series (All versions) DX9 [b]AGP and PCI-E

Nvidia Geforce 7100 Series Integrated

Intel GMA X3000 Integrated

S3 GammaChrome S18 Series (All versions) DX9 AGP
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Class 5 Cards, The Deceased
The dead guys... these cards either won't run any modern game very well or will probably get you unplayable FPS. No amount of tweaking is going to same these death bed ridden and sickly old men.

Intel GMA 900-950 (Integrated graphics) (DX9) Integrated

Nvidia Geforce 6100 (Integrated Graphics) (DX9) Integrated

ATI Radeon 9500 (All versions) (DX9) AGP

Nvidia Geforce FX5200/FX5500 Series (All versions) DX9 PCI and AGP

S3 DeltaChrome S8 Series (All versions) DX9 PCI-E

Nvidia Geforce 6200/6400 Series (All versions) DX9 PCI, PCI-E and AGP

ATI Radeon X600 - X550 Series (All versions) DX9 AGP

ATI Radeon X1050 Series (All versions) DX9 PCI-E

Intel GMA 800-850 (Integrated Graphics) DX8/DX9

S3 Delta Chrome S4 (Only one version) DX9

S3 Chrome 9 (Integrated Graphics) DX9

ATI Radeon 9200 Series (All versions) DX9

Geforce 2,3 and 4 Series (All versions) DX7/DX8

Voodoo Graphics (All versions) DX6/DX7

ATI Rage (All versions) DX7

S3 Savage/Virge/Trio (All versions) DX6/DX7

Commonly asked questions:

What is a video card?

A video card, (also referred to as a graphics accelerator card, display adapter, graphics card, and numerous other terms), is an item of personal computer hardware whose function is to generate and output images to a display.

The term is usually used to refer to a separate, dedicated expansion card that is plugged into a slot on the computer's motherboard, as opposed to a graphics controller integrated into the motherboard chipset.

What is Video memory?

If the video card is integrated in the motherboard, it will use the computer RAM memory (lower throughput). If it is not integrated, the video card will have its own video memory which is called Video RAM or VRAM. The VRAM capacity of most modern video cards range from 128 to 1024 MB (workstation graphics cards). In 2006, the VRAM was based on DDR technology, standing out DDR2, GDDR3 and GDDR4. The memory clock rate is between 400 MHz and 1.6 GHz. A very important element of the video memory is the Z-buffer, which manages the depth coordinates in 3D graphics.


What is PCI-E

PCI Express, officially abbreviated as PCI-E or PCIe is a computer expansion card interface format. It was designed as a much faster interface to replace PCI, PCI-X (abbreviated from PCI eXtended) for interface cards as well as AGP interfaces for graphics cards. In recent years it has become the standard slowly phasing out AGP.


What is AGP?

The Accelerated Graphics Port (also called Advanced Graphics Port, often shortened to AGP) is a high-speed point-to-point channel for attaching a graphics card to a computer's motherboard, primarily to assist in the acceleration of 3D computer graphics. AGP is becoming an extinct format, but do not fear! Both Nvidia and ATI have confirmed Direct X 10 cards are on there way for this format. They will probably be the last however.

Can I run a PCI-E card in an AGP slot or vice versa?

No

What is video ram?

Video ram comes in 2 flavors ddr2(older) and ddr3(newer). Todays games typically demand the minimum of 256mb ddr2, with 512mb ddr3 recommended.

What is bus width?

Bus width comes in 3 flavors, 64 bit (cheap), 128 bit (useable/average), and 256bit (recommended for hardcore gamer). The higher the bus width the faster your pc can transfer 3D game data.

Can my power supply handle this graphics card?

If you have an expensive graphics card, and a budget power supply the answer might be "no". You should compair the power output of your power supply to the graphics card your buying if you feel unsure. Typically the more powerful the graphics card the more power it requires. If your graphics card doesn't have the proper socket type you can easily buy a power adapter at websites such as newegg.

Please feel free to add any additional questions to this thread and I will be happy to answer them.

[DaddysGirl]

Wow, thank you soooo much!!

I never knew exactly how good my video card was (nvidia 7600) until your post. Now I know I will be ok!

thanks again

EDIT: Oh and I forgot to ask, when I ran dxdiag.exe, and looked at the display tab where the graphics card was shown; under Approx Total Memory it says 256.0 MB and i heard that was pretty low. Is there any way to change it higher under some setting?

Maybe you have the answer?

[Rowhin]

I would tend to set the RAM bar higher...make it 1 GB minimum, 2 recommended. That is what MMOs rely most heavily on. WoW got laggy already with 512 mb sometimes, and the battles I'd like to see in WAR will probably require a good bit more of RAM.

[PeterPan]

Originally Posted by Rowhin

I would tend to set the RAM bar higher...make it 1 GB minimum, 2 recommended. That is what MMOs rely most heavily on. WoW got laggy already with 512 mb sometimes, and the battles I'd like to see in WAR will probably require a good bit more of RAM.

Well yes, but I believe they are aiming for a 512 minimum, I will change it when I get more information on the final system requirements.

EDIT: I have updated and listed Vista and XP requirements differently.

[Dyst]

I'm not so sure on that RAM Rowhin, I got 1k but at highest settings I never ever lagged in WoW, at all.

I doubt I will have any problems with lag in WAR either, at least not cuz of RAM.. I seriously doubt 2k is "recommended", I can figure sometimes 1k can make it slightly laggy in huge battles but really not worth setting recommended over.

[Brolly]

Originally Posted by PeterPan

It is true that no one knows the OFFICIAL system requirements for this game. But judging by what ive been told of the beta, what ive seen of the game, and when I played it briefly an e3. Combining that with my advanced knowledge of computers (im a microcomputer repair technician, and have a degree from LTC).

You seem to have put a lot of work in that post, but still, breaking the NDA (even if you are not in the Beta) is a nono.

[PeterPan]

I believe it will be recommended for Vista (not xp) because Vista is such a resource hog.

EDIT: No violations of the NDA were violated, I do not own a beta account. These are simpaly very detailed estimations made with my own knolwedge and general public information of the game.

I have updated and edited the introduction text to clarify this.

[Quickfoot]

Thanks for this. Especially the video card part. I figured out I have a "weak guy" of a video card and hopefully will be able to upgrade to "tough guy". Other than that my computer should be safe. Haven't even had it for a year yet.

[The Disciple]

Nice thread and personally I think nice estimates on what the games requirements will be.

I agree both with yourself and Rowhin. WAR might advertise on release the games minimum RAM will be 512mb but with the Open Warfare element I think it should be advised that a 1GB ram would be minimum.

Altogether tho a nice thread for anyone who wants a rough idea on what they should expect the gaming reguirments to be (I myself am classed as a 'tough guy' with my 7600GT graphics card lol, altho I personally hope to upgrade before the games release..never know sp1 might make vista viable OS for gaming).

[Tools2Basic]

I don't really have much to ad. Well written and (probably) accurate specs, i do believe that 1GB RAM is more fit as a min but 512 will probably be playable in less populated areas.

[Taurth]

Originally Posted by PeterPan

...

Would you be able to recommend the best Motherboard/Processor combo?

I'm gonna get one of those top graphics cards but I'll have to upgrade pretty much all my PC.

Thanks by the way, that write-up helps alot.

EDIT: I'm not gonna be upgrading my PC, I'm just gonna buy all the best parts and put a new one together.

EDIT 2: Is vista worth getting?

[linuxnacrot]

Awesome guide, even though its just speculation I'm assuming they req's will be somewhere close to what you estimate. I got a quesiton tho. My computers crap right now but i can easily upgrade my RAM and Video card, what about the processor? can i replace that too or do i have to get a new comp?

[Dagoth]

I´ll have to update my good ol Radeon 9600 it seems.

PD: You linked to AMD instead of ATI

[peacman]

I didnt know that WAR would support DX10. Thanks! (Kinda anoying since i have a XP)
Anyways, I got a 8600 GTS 512 ram, i can run timeshift on highest graphics, Crysis on medium/high graphics, dont you think i will be able to pull the highest graphics off in WAR aswell? (Please say yes)

[Ashanor]

You seem to have put a lot of work in that post, but still, breaking the NDA (even if you are not in the Beta) is a nono.

If you went to a game show to play you are allowed to speak freely about whatever you want. People go to the shows and write reviews all the time, are they breaking the NDA?

Personally I think the NDA should be removed anyway, when I was waiting on WoW to release and I hadn't got in beta yet (prior to march 04) it was a hell of a lot more fun being on the outside than it is with WAR because people were constantly talking on boards with beta testers and they were allowed to say whatever they wanted, whether it was good or bad.