Megagoth1702 wrote:PR does not need a super computer. A 3,2GHz dual core, 2-3 GB of ram and a ATI HD4850/4870 will do super nicely. Perhaps a creative Xtreme Music for EAX and 5.1 sound and CMSS3D, without those I would not play anymore. The whole thing should not cost more than 400-500?.
The system I just "drew" up there would run PR nicely
What's your definition of nicely? Mine is all settings maxed (AA >= 8x) @ 1680x1050 | 1920x1080 @ >= 60fps.
Your proposed setup would not fulfill those requirements on Muttrah, Fallujah, Burning Sands and a couple of other of those 'frame killer' maps. How do I know? My system with a significantly higher amount of grunt wasn't able to consistently pull it off [see profile computer for specs].
But I agree with the sentiment that it's 2011... If you wanna game *smoothly/nicely* in 2011 games, then you should have mid range 2011 hardware equivalents (high end 2007-8, mid-high end 2009-10) or face the facts that as time progresses the computational requirements of software (including games) increases, generally not at a linear rate, and you're going to suffer poor performance.
I now have a laptop with no graphics card & a Core i3 processor (intel HD graphics as such) - I don't feel that I have any right to complain that Fallujah west hardly breaks higher than 20fps at any area @ all settings low, no AA, 800x600 windowed mode. It's not a computer fit for purpose, so if I want to play PR, I need to purchase appropriate hardware.
I would like to have a few systems as a testbed so we can create a "minimum & recommended requirements" section for the manual. Unfortunately the minimum would be pushed quite high by the likes of Fallujah and co.