Dragon Age : Recommended requirements QUAD CORE am I ruined with a Dual Core?

I have a dual core E5200 clocked at 3.3GHz - will I have problems with the game considering its been optimised for quads?

I have a 4850 so hopefully this makes up for it as well as having a fairly high clocked cpu?

Windows Vista Minimum Specifications

• OS: Windows Vista with SP1
• CPU: Intel Core 2 (or equivalent) running at 1.6Ghz or greater
• AMD X2 (or equivalent) running at 2.2GHZ or greater
• RAM: 1.5 GB or more
• Video: ATI Radeon X1550 256MB or greater
• NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256MB or greater
• DVD ROM (Physical copy)
• 20 GB HD space

Recommended Specifications

• CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent
• RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP)
• Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
• NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
• DVD ROM (Physical copy)
• 20 GB HD space

wow requirements are getting rediculous. No game should require a core 2 quad @ 2.4ghz.

wow requirements are getting rediculous. No game should require a core 2 quad @ 2.4ghz.

simardbrad

I was wondering the exact same thing! I have an E6600 at stock frequency, and yes I know it is already damn old. My graphics card is decent I think (GTX 260) and I am eager to see how the game is going to run.

Far from ruined... The onyl game that is hard to play with Core 2 Duo is GTA IV... The rest plays just fine on maximum settings.

well if the dual core is overclocked high enough it may give similar performance to a lower clocked quad core but you can only increase clock speed so much. The future will be with having more cores to improve performance not keeping only 2 cores and increasing the clock speed.johnny27

I think I'm going to be maxing this game out! Can't wait.

I was wondering the exact same thing! I have an E6600 at stock frequency, and yes I know it is already damn old. My graphics card is decent I think (GTX 260) and I am eager to see how the game is going to run.

dinuattila

Doesnt a procesor that old limit what the card can do?

Not at all. In fact i read an interview with the dev and he said those specs published were OVERKILL.

You should upgrade to Windows 7 though, it's far better then Vista, i just upgraded and can't believe the difference

finally, i can get some use out of that q6600 i got a couple years back

That's the question I'm waiting to be answered, otherwise I'd have pre-ordered it already. The only other game I've played that "recommends" a 2.4Ghz Quad-core is GTA4, and that does not run well on dual-cores, so I'm sceptical.

On the other hand I'm ready to lower my graphic settings as needed, but often they don't do much when CPU is the culprit. If anyone knows any other games with similar CPU recommendations that still run well on dual-core I'd be interested to know.

Didn't somebody from Bioware say in an interview that they went overkill with their reccommended specs?

I don't have a problem with these requirments....And thats coming from some one with an E3110 (E8400 in disguise) 4gig of DDR2 800mhz and a GTX260 (192SP).

The recommened specs are high because if your running the game 1900x1200 at highest settings it will strain any currently existing computer. Its quite obvious and nothing new.

Welcome to PC gaming.

If you're not satisfied with your OC'ed CPU you can compensate by buying more ram that have higher clock rate. If you're using DDR2 ram see if you can upgrade your 667/800mhz ram to 1066mhz and try to max it out to 4gb's or even 6 if you're inclined. XP can still calculate up to 3.5gb of ram even if you put 4gb's in, the performance gain is rather significant.

I cant remember where i heard this, and it may be total nonsense, but i've heard that a an Intel Core2Duo clocked past 3ghz will give you similar performance in gaming to a low end quad core (i guess this means the q6600), or better depending on if the game has quad core support or not.

I played GTA IV on a OC'd e7200 and got it running pretty well on med/high settings, i think as long as your computer isn't running 6 different kinds of third party software in the background most people should be ok with moderate to high end dual cores. So far the only game to me any significant trouble is Red Faction: Guerrilla when stuff really starts coming down, but things have to get pretty crazy before my framrate drops below a playable level.

I also think it depends on the resolution you are playing at.

A recent review I read claimed it may be played on a Core 2 Duo @ 1.6GHz, so I do guess they're an overkill. Do expect this trend of recommended quad core games to occur quite soon. A fast Core 2 still has some life left though.

Like any game cross-developed for consoles, you should be able to find a decent looking setting to run it on that'll play acceptibly on any even semi-modern gaming rig.

-Byshop

It is about time developers started taking advantage of >2 cores. Given that most software runs hundreds of threads, it was just laziness until now they didn't. Can't wait to see how this runs on my Quad.

Will it run on XP or not.Making games run only on vista and windows 7 might result in low sales.

I'm pretty sure recommended requirements are generally meant to be what is needed to come close to maxing a title, or maybe that's just my misperception.

Will it run on XP or not.Making games run only on vista and windows 7 might result in low sales.

sandeep410

I can bet my left pinky it doesn't,even when maxed.As always though a C2D should be overclocked these days.Easy peasy to do and you should get an *alright* one even with crappy stock coolers.

[QUOTE="dinuattila"]

I was wondering the exact same thing! I have an E6600 at stock frequency, and yes I know it is already damn old. My graphics card is decent I think (GTX 260) and I am eager to see how the game is going to run.

rzepak

Doesnt a procesor that old limit what the card can do?

What res do you play at? higher you go the more the gpu takes over(depending on the game) RTS for example like cpu.You will notice with a decent overclock that the min fps increases by quite alot.

[QUOTE="rzepak"]

[QUOTE="dinuattila"]

I was wondering the exact same thing! I have an E6600 at stock frequency, and yes I know it is already damn old. My graphics card is decent I think (GTX 260) and I am eager to see how the game is going to run.

dinuattila

Doesnt a procesor that old limit what the card can do?

Like other people said it depends on the game, if you oc it like i did my E6600 there are very few games that are seriously bottlenecking your graphics card unless you have sli, crossfire or even better.

RECOMMENDED requirements do not mean mandatory requirements.

2 cores are fine.

Your videocard will do most of the work anyway.

You can run it, but you might have to trim your graphics settings down some to avoid CPU bottlenecks.

One thing gamers might want to consider is that the doors are now opened for 64-bit games. Devil May Cry 4 is optimized for 64-bit Windows.

this just makes me think i should have gone with the athlon 620 rather than phenom 550 :(killa4lyfe

Not at all. In fact i read an interview with the dev and he said those specs published were OVERKILL.

You should upgrade to Windows 7 though, it's far better then Vista, i just upgraded and can't believe the difference

Stats_

Aye, this be true. Theres even a developer qoute on the official Bioware Dragon Age forums (specifically the stickied pc requirements thread) stating that even a single core processor will run it well as long as its 2ghz +.

a dual core should be fine. but as i said before, DA:O has no business asking for a quad to max the setting, and i can't help but thinking that it may turn out to less optimised than it should be.

Like I said, cross developed for consoles so of course it'll run on even an older box ok.

-Byshop

[QUOTE="sandeep410"]

Will it run on XP or not.Making games run only on vista and windows 7 might result in low sales.

SinfulPotato

[QUOTE="SinfulPotato"][QUOTE="sandeep410"]

Will it run on XP or not.Making games run only on vista and windows 7 might result in low sales.

sandeep410

wow requirements are getting rediculous. No game should require a core 2 quad @ 2.4ghz.

simardbrad

those are exaggerated, with those graphics I seriously doubt it.