[coffeesoft]

Hi.

I want to know wich is the best ( more or less ) pc configuration for playing FSO, here some questions...

- I´m not sure wich features of the video cards  are available because the game is using OPENGL and it has many improvements over the years , and really i don´t know exactly wich version of OPENGL is using the game and how it´s affect.

So i think i must look on OPENGL video cards with a good faster GPU ?, there are many difference prices on the Video Cards and many difference betwen the RAM and the Bandwith but i don´t know for example if is better a Single Video Card or a SLI system.

- The game has benefits using SLI configuration cards ?, I saw on the web that OPENGL can be used in SLI mode but i don´t know if the game has any benefit. ( i know the are known problems with the microstuttering but that is other thing )

- Here in the forum, someone told me about the game doesn´t uses MultiCore CPU, so i think is better a fast processor like 3,6 Dual Core than a 2.4 Six Core right ?

- And about the RAM Memory, i´m i bit confused because the game is 32Bits, so i think the game itself never uses more than 3 GB of RAM ?

- If there are some new features planned for the future....


If someone can point me on the right direction, may be is useful for others as well..

Many thanks

[Fury]

You can think it like this:
OpenGL 4 = DirectX 11
OpenGL 3 = DirectX 10
OpenGL 2 = DirectX 9

FSO currently supports OpenGL 2 and 3. Naturally newer GPU's work too. NVIDIA generally has had more robust OpenGL support than AMD. AMD has had more bugs and has been slower to implement OpenGL specs into their drivers. That said, most of the time AMD is fine too.

As for performance, all but perhaps the lowest-tier GPU's (read: cheapest) should be more than fine to run FSO. If it is DirectX 11 capable GPU, I'd strongly suspect even cheapest discrete GPU's can run FSO without too many problems. Usually it's the old pre-DX10 cards that have performance issues and of course integrated GPU's. By integrated I mean those that are either integrated into the motherboard or CPU, in other words no separate video card.

I've never had SLI or CrossFire, but I believe it requires driver level support for a game to work in SLI or CrossFire mode. There might be ways to force it on, but I honestly don't know how well it would work. Most people believe you're better off investing into one good GPU, instead of two mediocre GPU's in SLI/CrossFire. Of course, if you have money to burn then you can get two good GPU's and use SLI/CrossFire where supported.

FSO does have some multi-thread elements but vast majority of the game is still running on single thread, including all the performance intensive parts. This naturally means that FSO favors CPU's with high single-thread performance (read: all Intel Core family CPU's, but AMD is totally fine too).

Memory usage is entirely dependent on how what mods you are running. Vanilla FSO, mediavps, Blue Planet, Diaspora, Wings of Dawn, etc all use different amounts of memory all entirely dependent on their assets. But like you said, FSO is 32-bit application and thus cannot exceed limitations of 2GB. Should application be compiled to be large address aware, it would then support 3GB on 32-bit OS and 4GB on 64-bit OS. I do not know whether FSO has been compiled with that enabled or not.

[The E]

It hasn't, as there is no need to do so at the moment. That being said, while FSO does not gain direct benefit from running on a 64-bit OS, the added memory will make sure that FSO has enough room. There is, at this time, no reason whatsoever to use a 32-bit OS.

[Fury]

There is, at this time, no reason whatsoever to use a 32-bit OS.

According to Steam Hardware Survey (http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey), 71.14% of userbase is using 64-bit version of Windows Vista or newer. 32-bit Windows OSes are fighting tooth and nail for their 21.85% share. Funnily enough 32-bit Windows 7 has bigger share than 32-bit Windows 8, Vista and XP combined.

As you can get 64-bit compiling support in Visual Studio 2010 Express by downloading Windows SDK 7.1 or simply getting Visual Studio 2012 Express or newer, there's no much reason not to build 64-bit FSO executables with SSE3. You can still keep 32-bit SSE2 builds for those with 32-bit OSes. Might already drop support for older CPU's that don't support SSE2, right? SSE2 support has been in Intel CPU's since 2001 and in AMD CPU's since 2003.

There's gotta be some sensible limit how long obsolete hardware is supported.

[The E]

Not as simple as that, I'm afraid. There's a lot of stuff on the Windows side of the code that assumes 32 bit pointers and other data types, those have to be checked and verified and, if necessary, altered.

[coffeesoft]

Thank you all for the fast answers...

When i said play FSO, I mean the best way possible to play any mod at 50-60 FPS.

Sometimes playing i have slowdowns FPS, at the momment i´m using a "decent" pc to run FSO and many of the mods with stable frames, but in others, with backgrounds or surface planets plus more detailed ships, more fire lasers in action...., the FPS goes under 15 and its horrible. I know my graphic card is not to good.   

My system is Core2 Duo 2.6Ghz -   8GB of RAM DDR2 800Mhz-  Nvidia GT240 1GB DDR3   - Win7 64Bits

I want to look for a new computer, and sometimes i´m not sure wich are the limitations of the game itself or the limitations comes from the hardware, if for example the game uses maximum 2GB of RAM, a computer with 4 GB will be enough for the OS and the game, so i can buy 4 GB at the momment and put the rest of the money on the graphic card, the RAM memory can be upgraded after a time more easy.

And if for example the game supports ( or has any benefit ) with a SLI setup, i can buy a motherboard with 2 PCI-E x16 and in the future ( when i have money ) the second card can be added.

May be is a complicated question because there are many points of view, many different possible setups and many different kind of mods, and maybe the answer is more easy... 

" Buy the best PC that money allows you "   

[Veers]

Hardware wise, SLI & Crossfire is more trouble than it is worth

You will get more than enough performance for FSO from a single graphics card

[AV8R]

My current setup:

ASRock B75M Motherboard (Intel B75 Chipset)
Intel G860 3.0Ghz Pentium Processor (Sandy-Bridge)
2GB DDR3 1333 RAM (8-8-8-24-1T timings)
ATI FirePro 3D v4800 Vid Card 1GB of GDDR5
Windows 7 SP1 x86 (32-bit)

With this configuration, FreeSpace Open and every mod I've tried runs flawlessly. High frame rates, amazing detail, no stuttering or hiccups.

Heck, for the longest time I got by with an original Pentium 3 1Ghz Processor with 512MB of PC133 RAM and got decent frame rates - that is until Silent Threat: Reborn's ultra-detailed Hades brought it to its knees (and subsequently put that system out to pasture).

The point is, it doesn't take a super high-end (read: expensive) system to run FreeSpace Open well.