System Requirements for HoI3

[Chaingun]

If that is true then why do Paradox require 1GB extra memory for Vista users?

Applications compiled for a native 64 bit OS take twice as much memory for a lot of their variables compared to 32 bit. 64/32 in this context refers the "word length" in bits of the OS; addresses and non-downsized integers usually take a word to store, and consequently memory requirements are higher for an OS with larger word lengths (given the same application).

 

[HarkovAdm]

yeah the specs are nothing much for a desktop, however many people have laptops with integrated graphics... and I am not sure how those are gonna perform. I'm surprised the cpu isn't mentioned. I'm actually a bit disappointed it isn't considering how much cpu power is available these days for cheap.

 

[Jamie550]

Applications compiled for a native 64 bit OS take twice as much memory for a lot of their variables compared to 32 bit. 64/32 in this context refers the "word length" in bits of the OS; addresses and non-downsized integers usually take a word to store, and consequently memory requirements are higher for an OS with larger word lengths (given the same application).

Which, of course, has nothing to do with with Vista, which, like XP, comes in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors.

yeah the specs are nothing much for a desktop, however many people have laptops with integrated graphics... and I am not sure how those are gonna perform. I'm surprised the cpu isn't mentioned. I'm actually a bit disappointed it isn't considering how much cpu power is available these days for cheap.

Integrated graphics -> major pain. My (integrated graphics) computer phailed the EU3 demo, and only runs Rome very messily. Though that certainly has at least something to do with my limited memory - 1 GB.

 

[TheGhost]

yeah the specs are nothing much for a desktop, however many people have laptops with integrated graphics... and I am not sure how those are gonna perform. I'm surprised the cpu isn't mentioned. I'm actually a bit disappointed it isn't considering how much cpu power is available these days for cheap.

if only they made a netbook/server mobo

 

[unmerged(94026)]

256MB is nothing today. Even the cheapest cards have at least that, probably more.

Vista required TWICE as much RAM

In China we call Vista as "喂死它", which has rather similar pronunciation and the meaning of "feed it to death"

 

[ulrichomega]

I find it greatly amusing that my desktop computer that we bought 5 years ago cannot play this.

It was a piece of crap then,too. It only has .5 gb memory (that my parents refuse to upgrade for reasons unknown to sanity), only a PCI video-card slot (not PCIe) which means it cannot even install cards that EUIII supports. It also can't support anything that works the CPU, which make it overload and shut down due to heat (I think), which means that late-game HOI II will randomly shut down the computer.

The processor isn't bad though...

 

[HarkovAdm]

I find it greatly amusing that my desktop computer that we bought 5 years ago cannot play this.

It was a piece of crap then,too. It only has .5 gb memory (that my parents refuse to upgrade for reasons unknown to sanity), only a PCI video-card slot (not PCIe) which means it cannot even install cards that EUIII supports. It also can't support anything that works the CPU, which make it overload and shut down due to heat (I think), which means that late-game HOI II will randomly shut down the computer.

The processor isn't bad though...

512mb of ram wasn't that bad for 2004. I remember I had the option for 256 or 512 for my laptop I bought in late 2003 and I felt a bit luxurious picking the latter.

Have you considered purchasing new hardware, installing it in your old pc case, and attributing the performance increase to a spyware scan/disk defrag so your parents never know the difference? You'd have to spend some money and be a bit sneaky (you could use your current machine's hard drive but you might need to reinstall windows) but it's definitely possible

 

[Kodos666]

most hardware is easily obtained from a computer store/electronic market (i've no idea how they're called in the USA, in Germany we have "Mediamarkt" and stuff) and when you do a complete "transplantation" of your PCs inner parts, you will have an excuse like this: "Windows was so awfully slow, i killed the harddrive and installed it new, and look how fast it is now."
I can good remember how i did such hardware black-ops when i was younger

 

[TheGhost]

Just spend the $1000 on a decent gaming PC, you counld probably go low end for about $400, but don't expect to be playing HOI4 (in another 4 years) without an upgrade, then again if you go by the trend 5 years (HOI-HOI2 =3 years HOI2-HOI3=4 years HOI3-HOI4=5?)

 

[TRP]

I meet the required, but with specs like that I can already feel the lag.

 

[unmerged(63310)]

Just spend the $1000 on a decent gaming PC, you counld probably go low end for about $400, but don't expect to be playing HOI4 (in another 4 years) without an upgrade, then again if you go by the trend 5 years (HOI-HOI2 =3 years HOI2-HOI3=4 years HOI3-HOI4=5?)

I think these days you can go way under $1000 and get a decent rig in every respect except the GPU which is the hardest part to choose for sure. There are decent bare bones that are 2 or 4 core cpu and 500watt ps for under $250 add $50 for dvd drive and cables etc and 100-200 for some OS and you are about $500 then add GPU of your choice if you want only to play Hoi3 games or something more the cost is less or more.

If you built something for only Hoi3 you could probably do so for $400-500 US and if you are careful only need to upgrade GPU in 4 years unless games really starts to take advantage of 4 cores which I don't see happening though 4 years is long way off and could change by then.

 

[unmerged(64390)]

I just bought an 896mb GeForce GTX Core 216 for $160. That is a pretty strong card and even has room for overclock potential to achieve GTX 275 performance. I would be highly surprised if it wouldn't rape HOI 3 with a $150 modern dual or quad core CPU and even old DDR2 800mhz memory.

The performance per dollar on hardware these days is at an all time high. There is just no excuse to not rape this game.

 

[Chaingun]

Which, of course, has nothing to do with with Vista, which, like XP, comes in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors.

XP is more or less associated with the 32 bit version, the 64 bit version is quite uncommon AFAIK. I'm not sure which version of Vista is more popular (other than that the 64 bit version is increasing in popularity as memory amounts go above the addressing limit). Thus I interpret the syst req as a worst case description for Vista.

The syst reqs are probably also influenced by Vista using more memory by itself than XP, for the same bit version.

Just spend the $1000 on a decent gaming PC, you counld probably go low end for about $400, but don't expect to be playing HOI4 (in another 4 years) without an upgrade, then again if you go by the trend 5 years (HOI-HOI2 =3 years HOI2-HOI3=4 years HOI3-HOI4=5?)

The problem is that if you spend 1000 USD on a PC, it will be worth 500-600 in a year from now, and below 400 in two years from now. Save yourself some money and replace your system cheaply every 2-3 years instead. (Although I personally think 400 USD is probably too little for a decent gaming PC, 500-600 (in the US) is probably what you want to go for.)

 

[ulrichomega]

We're thinking of purchasing a new computer from HP for around $400.

It's an a6700z with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e dual-core 2.5GHz (I've never been clear on this, that means two cores, each running at 2.5 gHz, right?), Vista Home Premium (64 bit), 2 gb of memory (which I'll be upgrading myself, they're asking for $80 for 4 gb), a 250 gb HD, and an integrated video card (also going to upgrade).

It'll run HOI3, when I get a better video card and memory, and should last us for the next 5 years.



I, on the other hand, and saving my money for a gaming rig for next year when I head off to college, and an HP mini for note taking, which together should run me about $1,500.

 

[unmerged(64390)]

We're thinking of purchasing a new computer from HP for around $400.

It's an a6700z with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e dual-core 2.5GHz (I've never been clear on this, that means two cores, each running at 2.5 gHz, right?), Vista Home Premium (64 bit), 2 gb of memory (which I'll be upgrading myself, they're asking for $80 for 4 gb), a 250 gb HD, and an integrated video card (also going to upgrade).

It'll run HOI3, when I get a better video card and memory, and should last us for the next 5 years.

I don't know about that. That is really outdated by today's standards. You should throw in an extra $500 and build your own that will provide 10 times the performance of those specs. If it includes a nice monitor, then maybe it would be worth it.

 

[HarkovAdm]

well you're doing the right thing to upgrade the ram yourself. That's an easy way to save money. Just make sure that whatever motherboard you get has a proper pci-express x16 slot for a graphics card.

The 2.5ghz athlon isn't terrible but (I'm guessing) probably worth about $25 these days. Unfortunately when you buy from a company like HP they overcharge you, that's how they profit. But for $400 total it's not like you're throwing a ton of money away.

Personally I would see if I could find an intel core 2 package for around that price and show it to your parents, because although no one is saying it I get the feeling that HOI3 will have a moderate cpu strain. But I would by no means spend "$500" more for HOI3. Paying more than double is not going to provide "ten times" the performance of the athlon, don't listen to that guy.

 

[Sirveri]

The only thing it's really not worth building yourself is a laptop. Desktops you should always build yourself, since it will cost 1/3-1/2 the price and generally be twice as good as anything you can purchase. Assuming you shop ONLINE ONLY. Brick and mortar prices are for suckers when it comes to computer parts.

 

[unmerged(64390)]

Paying more than double is not going to provide "ten times" the performance of the athlon, don't listen to that guy.

It amazes me when people will talk about things as if they knew what they were talking about when they have no clue. I also meant to say throw in $100 to make the total $500 for your purchase. If you had $1,000, well you could completely destroy that $400 HP system.

Anyone who has a $500 budget (not including monitor, OS, or peripherals since I am talking about an upgrade) should check out this thread at Toms Hardware.

Building with a $500 budget

Compared to that HP system with on-board graphics, to a C2D 2.6ghz with a motherboard and 4gb of memory that will allow you to over clock your system to 3.0 without even trying, on a stock heat sink no less. All paired with a 512mb Radeon 4850 and I would say that I severely underestimated the performance gain, especially when you consider you can't even start most modern games with almost every integrated video solution available.

On top of all this you get an Antec 300 case which is badass and will hold massive cards like the GTX 260 (barely), and you get 120 more gb of storage, and a quality power supply that will last you for years without problems, which is probably the most important part in your entire system. It doesn't matter how much it costs if it doesn't run or suddenly turns off because you have a cheap power supply.

Here is another guide using $500, but they went with 2gb of ram to be able to use a Radeon 4870. It plays Crysis at 40 fps! If you paired a 4870 with the Athlon 4850e at non hi def resolutions, it would be bottle necked, so you would need to upgrade both the card and the processor.

If you need instructions on how to build your computer, there are a ton of guides online, just search google. It is so easy as long as you find a good guide to tell you the precautions you should take and walks you through each step.

For benchmarks on all the equipment I talked about, you can go to Anandtech or Tomshardware. They are immensely useful due to the daily deals on most websites selling this hardware. One day you might get $40 off of a combo and you need to quick see how well the part bench marked. And yeah, the combo deals. Newegg (for people in the states) has tons of combo deals on all kinds of parts. If you look out for those, you can save $50-100 on most full system builds.

 

[HarkovAdm]

It amazes me when people will talk about things as if they knew what they were talking about when they have no clue. I also meant to say throw in $100 to make the total $500 for your purchase. If you had $1,000, well you could completely destroy that $400 HP system.

Oh well gosh I'm sorry I had no clue you made a mistake when you told him to spend 500 dollars more, that must mean I have no idea what I'm talking about

You don't need a gtx260 (or a "badass" case) to play HOI3, no idea why this poster even mentions those or crysis (for a family computer no less), which is a completely different kind of game which will tax the GPU which HOI3 won't. Even finding a good deal for the 260 would be a waste of money. Especially since he's going to buy an expensive desktop for his main system in a year anyhow.

You're pretty much on target with your original plan to upgrade the ram and GPU. If you do wind up building a system for HOI3 and your parents, great! But don't get caught up in this idea that you need a specific case or faster ram or anything. The cpu and *quantity* of ram is all I would consider upgrading. This way you might not even have to spend $500 if you build, which is more important than having a cool graphics card for mom and pop.

Also tomshardware is mostly just an ad site and the newegg combo deals are rarely worth looking at, but hey like that guy said I don't know what I'm talking about.

 

[Wulf145]

I find it greatly amusing that my desktop computer that we bought 5 years ago cannot play this.

It was a piece of crap then,too. It only has .5 gb memory (that my parents refuse to upgrade for reasons unknown to sanity), only a PCI video-card slot (not PCIe) which means it cannot even install cards that EUIII supports. It also can't support anything that works the CPU, which make it overload and shut down due to heat (I think), which means that late-game HOI II will randomly shut down the computer.

The processor isn't bad though...

Heat problems - have you tried cleaning the CPU fan and renewing the Heatsink paste/tab?
only 512MB RAM, if you have XP SP2 or higher installed it must run like a dog - if you invest in some RAM (your parents need never know) you will see how much faster your system will be.