[mikachuuu]

Ps3 is in the corner collecting dust until XIV comes out for it ^^. This PC is basiclly used for the missus to play WoW later on. I was looking into the pieces you said just wanted to make sure . Thanks for your help and will look around to find what i need to make it run a bit better.
Quite surprised it even runs tbh lol.

[rambus]

anyone have experence whats needed to have top fps on what settings they use for ther comp spic?

anyone able to run max settings yet?

[FFandDB]

I have a really big problem in running FFXIV.

My pc spec is : Intel core i3 2.93 proccesor, 4gb ram (1333 MHz), Ati Radeon 5830 (1gb), got plenty of hard disk space, all drivers are up to date and i am using Windows 7 (64-bit).

I cant get higher scores than 1000 in the benchmark in both high and low resolution.
And game doesnt run smoothly also. Very low fps.

My screen resolution is 1920 x 1080 on 24" wide screen. I cant lower my screen resolution though cause else it becomes blur.

[Levian]

rambus, on 02 October 2010 - 11:05 PM, said:

anyone have experence whats needed to have top fps on what settings they use for ther comp spic?

anyone able to run max settings yet?

I'm pretty sure I'm running FFXIV with maxed graphics at a decent rate. I didn't really screw with the settings, but when I glanced at them everything was on and up all the way from the looks of it. Can't login to double check though.

My build is custom,probably not top fps, but it isn't laggy or choppy either. and as follows:

Motherboard: ASUS M4A89TD
CPU: AMD Phenom II 1090T 3.2 gig. Not overclocked, but all cores unlocked.
Ram: 8 Gigs (2x 4 gig sticks) of Geil Ultra Plus running at 1600 mhz
Video Card: Asus made Radeon 5830 1 gig
HDD: Western Digital 7200 rpm 6.0 Gb/s SATA
Power supply: Silverstone 1200W. Might step down if I feel there's no need to get a second card...
Case: Raidmax Scorpio (as if it mattered)
Optical: Cheapo lite on 24x dvd drive.

Still contemplating some tweaking, but for the here and now that's what Im running, and it hasn't disappointed me.

[FFandDB]

FFandDB, on 03 October 2010 - 07:21 AM, said:

I have a really big problem in running FFXIV.

My pc spec is : Intel core i3 2.93 proccesor, 4gb ram (1333 MHz), Ati Radeon 5830 (1gb), got plenty of hard disk space, all drivers are up to date and i am using Windows 7 (64-bit).

I cant get higher scores than 1000 in the benchmark in both high and low resolution.
And game doesnt run smoothly also. Very low fps.

My screen resolution is 1920 x 1080 on 24" wide screen. I cant lower my screen resolution though cause else it becomes blur.

bump.... still no solution for me :S

[octoberasian]

FFandDB, on 03 October 2010 - 07:21 AM, said:

I have a really big problem in running FFXIV.

My pc spec is : Intel core i3 2.93 proccesor, 4gb ram (1333 MHz), Ati Radeon 5830 (1gb), got plenty of hard disk space, all drivers are up to date and i am using Windows 7 (64-bit).

I cant get higher scores than 1000 in the benchmark in both high and low resolution.
And game doesnt run smoothly also. Very low fps.

My screen resolution is 1920 x 1080 on 24" wide screen. I cant lower my screen resolution though cause else it becomes blur.

Can you tell me all the settings you have under Video Settings and Graphics?

Also, give me any detailed specs about your PC. Make and model if name brand? Motherboard model and video card maker if hand built?

[Avarghaladion]

Didn't see detailed information regarding your in game settings or driver configuration so here are some suggestions:

In Game Settings:

- Turn Ambient Occlusion and Depth of Field off, both of these are very hard on resources.

Catalyst Control Center Settings:

Set 3D settings to default, then turn VSync to max and make sure Catalyst A.I. is on.

[octoberasian]

Avarghaladion, on 03 October 2010 - 10:55 AM, said:

Didn't see detailed information regarding your in game settings or driver configuration so here are some suggestions:

In Game Settings:

- Turn Ambient Occlusion and Depth of Field off, both of these are very hard on resources.

Catalyst Control Center Settings:

Set 3D settings to default, then turn VSync to max and make sure Catalyst A.I. is on.

Almost always it's Ambient Occlusion. Same problem with someone I know with a Radeon 5850. I wouldn't even recommend turning it on if you plan to play at 1920x1080 resolution unless you bother to get a high-end Nvidia card (GTX 480) or high-end Radeon card (5970), or Crossfire or SLI two video cards.

Also, as Avar mentioned, in CCC, set the 3D settings to default, or "Let the application decide."

[Avarghaladion]

octoberasian, on 03 October 2010 - 11:03 AM, said:

Almost always it's Ambient Occlusion. Same problem with someone I know with a Radeon 5850. I wouldn't even recommend turning it on if you plan to play at 1920x1080 resolution unless you bother to get a high-end Nvidia card (GTX 480) or high-end Radeon card (5970), or Crossfire or SLI two video cards.

Also, as Avar mentioned, in CCC, set the 3D settings to default, or "Let the application decide."

Aye. Unfortunately though, it really doesn't matter what card you're running right now, the Ambient Occlusion in FFXIV is poorly coded and just -pwns- your system. I'm running, i7, 2xRadeon 5970 in Crossfire, water cooling, 12gb ram, etc. and it still can't handle AO. I'm hoping they patch this in the future as there's no reason for a top of the line system to be unable to handle it

[octoberasian]

Avarghaladion, on 03 October 2010 - 11:30 AM, said:

Aye. Unfortunately though, it really doesn't matter what card you're running right now, the Ambient Occlusion in FFXIV is poorly coded and just -pwns- your system. I'm running, i7, 2xRadeon 5970 in Crossfire, water cooling, 12gb ram, etc. and it still can't handle AO. I'm hoping they patch this in the future as there's no reason for a top of the line system to be unable to handle it

That's pretty much what I'm thinking-- the graphics engine is probably poorly coded and unoptimized. The game right now is probably Open Beta 2 for all intents and purposes. <.<

Your system alone should be able to handle the game with AO turned on, and there shouldn't be any reason for it to be running poorly with that on. Not surprisingly, it reminds me of FF11's graphics engine being poorly optimized for video cards. The fonts are from giant textures. The textures are low resolution and stretched. There is no option for in-game AA, etc., etc. It would have been nice to have two separate development paths for PC and console for FFXI, but I guess it would have been too costly for SE to do.

I hope that with Crystal Tools this would not be a problem and that the engine itself can scale down to lower-spec systems like a PS3 and scale up to higher-spec systems like yours.

It doesn't seem like that's the case.

[Avarghaladion]

Agreed. Was uber pissed when my rig didn't crush the settings. It can do everything except for AO and DoF maxed, with Resolution Buffer set to "Double" and run near max framerate but it chugs (which it shouldn't at all ever) during cutscenes sometimes (due to forced DoF) and if there's a lot going on, so I'm currently playing on "Resolution" setting, which is nice enough looking but I am looking forward to some patches to optimize graphics coding or something, or for better cards I expect that within a year though that we'll be able to complete max spec it and I'm ok with the way it is now... Double + Ao is just... so... pretty... /drool. Looks more movie than game with them on lol. Resolution is close, but I can still see pixels occasionally.

Edit: DirectX update would also be nice

This post has been edited by Avarghaladion: 03 October 2010 - 02:11 PM

[FFandDB]

Ok here is all the rest u need to know.

PC spec : Intel Core i3 530 - 2.93 GHz - 4 MB
Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2H-micro ATX - iH55
Sapphire RADEON HD 5830 Full Edition (1gb)
PSU iMEMORY - 600 watt
G.Skill F3-10666CL9D-4GBECO- 4 GB ( 2 x 2 GB ) - DIMM 240-pin - DDR3
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS - Σκληρός Δίσκος - 1 TB - SATA-300 - 7200 rpm
COOLERMASTER CENTURION 590
Windows 7 - 64 bit

DirectX 11 is full updated also.

And the game in-game setting i am using are these : Devices - \\.\DISPLAY1 Display Mode- Fullscreen Window size - 1920x1080 Multisampling - NO AA Buffer size - Resolution Shadow detal - lowest
Ambient Oclusion - off Depth of field - off Texture quality - standard Texture quality filter - high

Also the ACC setting were like u suggested.

Since i get very low (about 1000) benchmark scores also , i reallly dont think my problem is from in game settings. Though i know that benchmark is unreliable sometimes.
Anyway, thanx for response and waiting for even more help guys

[octoberasian]

3

FFandDB, on 03 October 2010 - 05:27 PM, said:

Ok here is all the rest u need to know.

PC spec : Intel Core i3 530 - 2.93 GHz - 4 MB
Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2H-micro ATX - iH55
Sapphire RADEON HD 5830 Full Edition (1gb)
PSU iMEMORY - 600 watt
G.Skill F3-10666CL9D-4GBECO- 4 GB ( 2 x 2 GB ) - DIMM 240-pin - DDR3
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS - Σκληρός Δίσκος - 1 TB - SATA-300 - 7200 rpm
COOLERMASTER CENTURION 590
Windows 7 - 64 bit

DirectX 11 is full updated also.

And the game in-game setting i am using are these : Devices - \\.\DISPLAY1 Display Mode- Fullscreen Window size - 1920x1080 Multisampling - NO AA Buffer size - Resolution Shadow detal - lowest
Ambient Oclusion - off Depth of field - off Texture quality - standard Texture quality filter - high

Also the ACC setting were like u suggested.

Since i get very low (about 1000) benchmark scores also , i reallly dont think my problem is from in game settings. Though i know that benchmark is unreliable sometimes.
Anyway, thanx for response and waiting for even more help guys

Seeing that you have a Core i3 530, this CPU has an on-die Intel IGP (Intel integrated GPU).

Check your PM, and also you may want to see if this GPU is disabled and not drawing any system RAM.

Integrated graphics use both the same data bus and memory paths that the CPU uses. Think of it as a four lane highway with the graphics data being 18-wheelers and the computer data as the cars on that same highway. When you have both of them running on the same path, there will eventually be slowdowns and traffic. Now, it'd be near impossible for the IGP to take up the bandwidth or cap the bandwidth of the same system bus, but you have the memory controller handling BOTH the graphics data and system data on that same path. This can bring problems to system performance overall.

If you look to Levian's system above who has the same Radeon 5830 but no integrated graphics chip anywhere, means that the system bus isn't going to be shared with the graphics data. So, his/her performance will run very well as he/she states her/himself.

Therefore, I need you to see if there is an option to disable the on-die graphics chip from Intel in the BIOS settings. I haven't checked the manual for your board yet, but the option is usually under Advanced BIOS Settings (on certain motherboards) and called Integrated graphics or similar.

Have you thought about getting a different Socket 1156 CPU that doesn't have integrated graphics?

[Uragirimono]

I found out how to install CPUs! Hooray! Thanks Aselin~

But, alas, more Q's. Looking at your "Build your own" on the first page, I took out what I didn't need and am left with 3 choices to purchase from NewEgg.com.

CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 945 3.0 GHz
MOBO: Biostar TA890FXE (hooray, so many PCIE slots, I can fit two radeons in there~)
CASE: CoolerMaster RC-690

I have the RAM already, GPU will be a Radeon HD 5750 1gb(2 soon), HDD, sound blaster audio, modem, etc.

Maybe I just missed it, but what sort of heatsink fan will work with this setting to go over the CPU? Would this work? CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series CWCH50-1 120mm High Performance CPU Cooler

Keep in mind the three items I listed cost ~ $366, and I have only about $450 to spend. The second GPU is from a different fund.


At the end it's going to look like this:

CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 945 3.0 GHz
MOBO: Biostar TA890FXE (hooray, so many PCIE slots, I can fit two radeons in there~)
CASE: CoolerMaster RC-690
RAM: 8gb
PSU: Corsair 750tx
GPU: Radeon HD 5750 (Will be two around christmas, maybe)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD4000KS 400GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s (lol, has windows Vista~)

Critique that however you please, but understand I have $450 to spend, and that already is $366.

A final question: Will that PSU be enough to power everything, plus a 2nd HD 5750 in xfire? Don't tell me I need to upgrade that bulky 750w. It takes an industrial crane to life that thing as heavy as it is. I'd hate to imagine a larger one.

This post has been edited by Uragirimono: 04 October 2010 - 09:00 PM

[Saiko/Lauren]

octoberasian, on 02 October 2010 - 04:53 AM, said:

You're welcome Ura. ^^

I could probably put up a guide in the Tech Help forum on how to do installations. I'm sure there are a countless number of guides on the Internet if you google them.

I know the latest issue of MaximumPC (October 2010 issue I think) had a guide on building a gaming PC, but didn't really detail how to do motherboard installations.




First thing...

have you tried the latest driver from Nvidia to resolve any issue with the GT 240? There was a recent driver update that fixed issues with slowdown in FFXI if using a 400-series Nvidia card. Now, I haven't checked but I think it also provided a fix for FF14 too. (Don't take my word for it since I haven't read the release notes yet.)

Second thing...

a 9800 GT and 240 GT should be able to run on a 500W or 550W PSU, maybe a 450W one. Have you checked the voltages for your PSU? There are software to check it for you such as HWinfo (http://www.hwinfo.com/). You want to be sure that the +12V is reading within +11.5 to +12.5V or close to +12V. Anything lower than +12 or even lower than +11V then you may want to try to test a new PSU and see if the power and system is stable. Typically power instability or insufficient power can damage computer components. For video cards, you either don't get anything displayed; corrupted screens; incorrect colors displayed; or constant crashing. Have you noticed those issues in other games besides FF14?

This also applies to the same symptoms as poor power or insufficient power, but overheating can exhibit similar symptoms. You want to be sure that your video card isn't above 85C to 90C when under LOAD (aka a 3D game is running) and somewhere in the mid-50C to mid-70C during IDLE (when it's doing nothing, now this depends on what kind of GPU you have).

Third thing...

the DirectX issue may be a problem with DirectX. See if updating DirectX (this is for DirectX 9.0) will fix it: Download here. Also, run a DirectX diagnostics. Go to "Run..." and type in "dxdiag" (without the quotes) and press Enter. Check to see if under Display (and possibly Network if you have WinXP) there are any problems mentioned.

Now, though the recommended CPU for FF14 is a Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz (for Intel) CPU or higher, a Pentium D (D for dual-core) should suffice even if it is a couple generations lower than the Core 2 Duo. There might be an issue with the GTX 460 where you may be what's called "CPU-limited." CPU-limited means the CPU is too slow to feed the GPU and is incapable of feeding it enough data fast enough. This typical leads to lower framerates OR capped framerates at a certain resolution, typically at high resolutions where the framerate would just flatline. If you have FF14 installed and are playing it, you will want to run something like FRAPS with the framerate counter enabled. See what your framerate is at 1280x720, 1440x900, 1680x1050 and then 1920x1080. See if the framerate remains the same or lowers.

If the framerate is not constant or is low, consider upgrading the CPU if you can. If you can't, try lowering certain graphics-intensive settings like Resolution option, texture quality, antiliasing, or turning off Ambient occlusion and/or depth of field.

Only do this if you believe the CPU you have is limiting the performance of the video card. As of right now, it should be fine. I wouldn't say it'll be great but it should be sufficient.




Your CPU meets the minimally required specs for FF14 for an AMD CPU-- Athlon X2. It isn't a great-performing CPU, but it should suffice for FF14. And, the best CPU your PC can get installed is an Athlon X2 6000+, if you can find it for sale. Your motherboard will not accept any AM2+ or AM3 CPUs, keep that in mind.

Now, as for video card, I'd recommend getting a something better but something to tide you over until the PS3 release. Something like a Radeon 4850 or Radeon 5750 should work and shouldn't have problems of being limited by the CPU. That'll cost about $100 to $130 for you. I'd also recommend getting a slightly faster CPU like a 5000+ X2 or 6000+ and shouldn't be more than $60 right there. However, if you can only afford ONE of the two but not both, go with the video card.

In all honesty, an AM2 motherboard and CPU is about two or three generations behind the current Phenom II/Athlon II socket AM3 CPUs. That's about four or five years right there, and in computer technology, that's pretty old seeing how fast technology advances. It would be better to save for parts for a newer system than upgrade an older computer. But, for someone on a small budget, a minimal upgrade could be better in the short run until you can afford or save up for something better. Then, while doing that, save up for a new computer (or parts) or the PS3.

However, don't spend more than $299 (price of a PS3) if upgrading an older system, or you may as well end up buying a PS3 instead if you are waiting for the PS3 version. Keep things simple to hold you over until the PS3 version is released. If you cannot wait until PS3 release and want better performance until then, go with both the CPU and video card, or one of the two.

Thanks for the help Octoberasian. I might just consider buying a new CPU and MOBO and just overhaul the whole thing. This system only costed me $300, so I figured it would be worth it to buy a better CPU and MOBO to go along with the new PSU and GPU. I appreciate your help though on helping me figure out what would happen if I did buy the game. Till then, I guess I will just have to wait to play =/

[Shizoku]

After reading the thread I'm still kind of confused. I am wondering if a graphics card upgrade will allow me to run FF14 and FF11 more smoothly. On the first page it says GeForce M210 won't work and it isn't even have it listed for FF11 (to be honest I do notice some low frame rates in crowded areas). Is this card the same as GeForce G210? When I ran the FF14 benchmark it took up a LOT of memory and had around 7-12 FPS. I was able to run the Alpha version at around 7-15 FPS and the beta around 15-20 FPS (higher if I changed the window size option making it very pixelated).

How much better of a card do I need to run FF14 and FF11 (If I don't like FF14 I'd like to at least run FF11 better)? From the list posted on the first page I was looking at the Radeon HD 4670. Would this be able to run FF14 well or would it just be passable? My budget is pretty strict and I'd like to stay in the $50-80 range. Is that just too cheap? : P Thanks for your help.

Here's my other specs:
Windows 7 Home Premium
AMD Athlon II X4 2.6 GHz
NVIDIA GeForce G210 512MB
3 GB RAM

Edit: I ended up getting a GTS 250. Now I need to upgrade my power supply...

This post has been edited by Shizoku: 21 October 2010 - 03:30 AM

[Konakana]

Has anyone tried running FFXIV on Alienware M15x? I've just order it for this game and StarCraft 2.

Intel® Core i7-740QM Processor (1.73GHz, 4Core/8Threads, turbo boost up to 2.93Ghz, 6M cache)
8GB (4GBx2) 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
640GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
15.6 " Full HD (1080p) WLED (1920 x 1080) Display with TrueLife(TM )
1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit DVD Media (ANW)

Will this spec be able to run FFXIV in all max or near-max setting?

I've seen some posts saying the FFXIV won't start because the CPU is only 1.73GHz which can be fixed by enabling the dynamic overclock in the BIOS. Anyone has experience with Alienware M15x could let me know?

[railt]

Hi there another pc noob. Used the requirement guide to try to piece this together dont know if i should go with better stuff thouh. How do you think this will hold up against FFIV.


CPU: AMD Phenom™II X4 945 Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
Motherboard: ASUS M4A77T/USB3 AMD 770 Chipset Hardware Core Unlocker DDR3 Socket AM3 ATX w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB 3.0, SATA-II, RAID, 1 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1, & 3 PCI
Memory: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 16X PCIe Video Card (Major Brand Powered by ATI)
Multiple Video Card Settings: Xtreme Performance in SLI/CrossFireX Gaming Mode Supports Single Monitor
Power Supply Upgrade: 600 Watts - XtremeGear Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready
Hard Drive: 1TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Hard Drive)

[Fredjan]

I'm looking to get FFXIV and after reading this thread and checking my CPU statistics, I just want to know if I'm on the right track:

What I know I need to upgrade:
My video card (nvidia geforce 6150SE nForce 430) - A bit outdated so I know this is a given to replace.
My RAM

As is Benchmark won't even show anything but the FFXIV logo and copyright, and naturally, shows a score of 0 after a short time (on the bottom left which I find interesting..).
Edit: It finishes, score of 77 on Low. 85000+ MS

At first I thought it was related to my graphics driver but I updated it and tried again, same thing.

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3 GHz (meets requirements I think)
Memory: 3GB (4GB would be ideal)
I run 32-bit Windows Vista SP2
I have plenty of hard drive space (500GB HD which is more than enough)
Not sure about my power supply but will look into that. EDIT: Blah, 300W

This post has been edited by Fredjan: 29 October 2010 - 11:08 PM

[Casketman]

Ive got to say that although I have not gone over all the posts in this thread. I love the info that is here!! Great job by all that have put in the work to give us the items and tips needed so we can enjoy the game!
After reading most of the posts. It pushes me to build my own for the first time(although I will have outside support if needed).
But also seeing that I can go to best buy and find their close out areas and see PCs that are cheap and would do the job just as good as the one I build. That does make picking somewhat hard for me. I have looked at bestbuy.com and found this:
http://www.bestbuy.c...5&skuId=2918387
and I would guess that the graphics card needs to be changed out which isnt a big deal. But Im somewhat torn. Look to find a refurbished PC or build my own? I already have a case(and it glows red!). Could upgrade the HD. Power supply as well just to be safe. But Ive already saved money with those items.

Either way I go,Im sure I will get something that will do the job and leave me with some happy,smooth game play. Its just making that final choice thats going to be a pain in the ass.....