Crysis Warhead - Not as Demanding

[CSN NewsBot]

Let's face it, the requirements to run Crysis were a little on the steep side. Fortunately, Crytek is making some drastic improvements to the CryEngine 2 technology to the point that it should be able to run at 30+ FPS on a rig that costs around $620.

Cevat goes on to say that the performance tweaks included in Warhead can eventually be applied to Crysis via patches, but don't go digging out that sad little game disc just yet. The profound changes won't be easy to implement, and Crytek is dedicating their resources to completing the follow-up before any tweaks to the original are addressed.

If you'd like to read the original news story, in its original German, then head on over to PCGames.de.

[LMN8R]

Considering that, at the time of Crysis' release, you could build an entire machine from scratch for under $900 that could run Crysis on High at around 30fps, this isn't surprising at all.



This is only "news" to the legions of console fanboys who don't know the first thing when it comes to computer hardware, yet feel that they can comment on the industry as a whole.

[Zips]

There's very few machines that you could build/buy under $900 that could run that game with everything on high at the time. Even now, you'd be hard pressed.

[LMN8R]

I put together such a configuration back in December:



$105 - Windows Vista Home Premium

$55 - Highly-rated 550W Power Supply

$30 - Highly-rated case

$190 - 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo E6750

$95 - Fantastic Gigabyte P35 motherboard

$50 - 2GB Ram (only 800MHz, but highly-rated)

$270 - 8800GT (in and out of stock so often, you'll eventually find one)

$50 - 160GB SATA hard drive

$32 - DVD-RW drive



Total - $877



I created that build on December 4th, merely two weeks after Crysis came out. It's more than capable of running Crysis on High detail and 1680x1050, considering that my much slower computer - an opteron 165 with 2GB of PC2700 ram - could do so throughout the majority of the game.



Crytek themselves did it a month later:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=228249

[-:Nighthawk:-]

Edited by [user="26841"] @ [time="1213974147"]

...assuming you are upgrading (not starting from scratch) and already own a mouse, keyboard, CRT or LCD panel, speakers and/or headphones. Even a dirt-cheap generic 20" widescreen LCD capable of 1680x1050 will run you roughly another $200 above the quoted price.



We generally assume most people already have a monitor though (much as we tend to not add in the cost of a TV for a console system) so it just depends on how you're looking at the problem.



[edit] One more thought though. The bigger issue, in my opinion, is that many people aren't willing to drop that much cash on a brand new system when their existing system plays most games reasonably well. I'm still running a 6600GT in my system (and have to drop details down low on Crysis to make it playable). Certainly not the sweet gaming rig it was when I built it, but for those of us with bills to pay, the cost:payoff ratio isn't always worth it to spend more than a couple hundred every few years on computer gear.

[LMN8R]

The only significant purchase you have left is your monitor, as you mention. The other purchases - mouse, keyboard, speakers/headphones are simple purchases that, if you don't already have some sitting around, could be easily had for under $50.



But of course, the fact that most people wouldn't build brand new systems only *adds* to my argument. For those people, it would cost even less to upgrade your system, going against the claims that console fanboys love to make about Crysis needing $3000+ beasts to run it.