Kotaku: system requirements

Star Trek Online: The System Requirements

Mike Fahey — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:00 MST

You have until February 2nd to make sure your PC is tough enough to run Cryptic's Star Trek Online. What kind of system will that take?

Star Trek Online is Cryptic's massively multiplayer stab at the Star Trek franchise, but it won't take a system from 400 years in the future to run it. A PC with 1GB of RAM, an Intel Core 2 Duo of 1.8Ghz or higher, and a NVIDIA GeForce 7950 or ATI Radeon X1800 or better should do nicely. Those are pretty modest, all things considered. Hell, my toaster requires 2GB of RAM to burn a piece of bread, so this is downright child's play.

Of course, if you want the game to look good you'll have to step up from System Requirements to Recommended Specs, in which case you'll want a faster Core 2 Duo, enough RAM to power my toaster, and a beefier video card, but I'm sure you'll make due.

Check out the full specs below, and be sure to read AJ's preview to see how she felt about the game's mix of ground-based and ship combat.

System Requirements

OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista / Windows 7 (32 or 64-bit)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 Ghz or AMD Athlon X2 3800+
Memory: 1GB RAM
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 7950 / ATI Radeon X1800 / Intel HD Graphics
Sound: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Soundcard
DirectX: Version 9.0c or Higher
HDD: 8GB Free Disk Space
Network: Internet Broadband Connection Required
Disc: 6X DVD-ROM
Recommended System Configuration

OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista / Windows 7 (32 or 64-bit)
CPU: Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon X2 5600+
Memory: 2GB RAM+
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 / ATI Radeon HD 3850+
Sound: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Soundcard
DirectX: Version 9.0c or Higher
HDD: 8GB Free Disk Space
Network: Internet Broadband Connection Required
Disc: 6X DVD-ROM

Champions Online Versus Your Computer

Mike Fahey — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:40:00 MDT

It's an all-out battle between your computer and the forces of system requirements, as Cryptic reveals the stats your PC needs to roll to run Champions Online.

Judging from the game's simplistic, stylized look, you wouldn't think you'd need a powerful machine to run it, and you'd be correct in that thinking. Champions will run just barely on a 2.5GHz single core CPU with 1GB of RAM and a GeForce 7800, and if you are a PC gamer who doesn't have at least that, then you've received this post through a time portal at least two years in the past.

Now to make it really sing you'll need a 2GHz dual core, 2GB of RAM, and either a GeForce 8800 or ATI Radeon HD3850 or better...which are oddly enough the two video cards I have in the PCs in my home. Yes, I know. The need to upgrade is strong in this one. Check out the full requirements below, while I surf PriceWatch for video card upgrades.

Minimum System Requirements

* OS:Windows XP/Vista
* CPU:2.5GHz Single Core or 1.8GHz Dual Core
* Memory:1GB RAM
* Video:NVIDIA GeForce 7800 / ATI Radeon X700 or HD / Intel Graphics with Dual Core
* Sound:DirectX Compatible Soundcard
* HDD:5GB Free Disk Space
* Network:ADSL / Cable Modem
* Disc:DVD-ROM
* Driver:DirectX 9.0c

Recommended System Configuration

* OS:Windows XP/Vista
* CPU:2GHz Dual Core or Better
* Memory:2GB RAM or Better
* Video:NVIDIA GeForce 8800 or Better / ATI Radeon HD3850 or Better
* Sound:DirectX Compatible Soundcard
* HDD:5GB Free Disk Space
* Network:ADSL / Cable Modem or Better
* Disc:DVD-ROM
* Driver:DirectX 9.0c

System Specs Revealed! [Champions Online - Thanks Macy!]

How Well Will Your PC Run Street Fighter IV?

Mike Fahey — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:20:00 MDT

Interested to see how your PC will run Street Fighter IV? Capcom has released a benchmark program ahead of the game's release next month, giving you ample time to find out for yourself.

System requirements are nice, but there's nothing quite like having a good old, resource hogging benchmark program at your fingertips. Depending on where you download it from, the official Street Fighter IV benchmark program comes in the form of a 397MB zip file, which unzips into a 416MB executable, which then uncompresses itself before installing, which I suppose might be one way to make sure you have enough space on your hard disk to run Street Fighter IV. Once you've got it installed, the benchmark lets you adjust graphics settings and resolutions, and then tests everything by running through a match pitting Ryu against Sakura.

Maxing everything but leaving the resolution to 1024 x 768, the frame rate stuck around 60-ish throughout the entire test, which would be quite heartening, if I had any plans to play the game on my PC.

Check out the link below to put your PC through its Street Fighter IV paces.

Street Fighter IV Benchmark [4Gamer.Net - Thanks Craig!]

Here Are Your Sims 3 System Requirements

Mike Fahey — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:20:00 MST

Pay close attention Sims fans, and learn how much you'll need to upgrade your computer in order to play The Sims 3 as EA delivers the official minimum system requirements for laptops and PCs.

Things aren't looking too-too bad considering today's gaming standards, with Pentium IV and Athalon XP+ processors the order of the day. Memory-wise we're looking at 1GB for PCs running XP Service Pack 2, 1.5GB for PCs running Vista or laptops with XP, or 2GB for laptops running Vista. All of this and a 128MB video card is your key to entering the world of The Sims 3.

As I said, relatively tame by today's standards, with nary a multi-core processor in sight. Still, these are minimums, so expect silky smoothness to require something a bit more powerful. The full system specifications follow.

The Sims 3 System Requirements:

THE SIMS 3 MINIMUM HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

FOR WINDOWS XP
* Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
* 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
* 1 GB RAM
* At least 6.5 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content
* 128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0

FOR WINDOWS VISTA
* Windows Vista (Service Pack 1)
* 2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
* 1.5 GB RAM
* At least 6.5 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content
* 128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0

For computers using built-in graphics chipsets, the game requires at least:
* Intel Integrated Chipset, GMA X3000 or above.
* 2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent
* 0.5 GB additional RAM

SUPPORTED VIDEO CARDS
NVIDIA GeForce series
FX 5900, FX 5950
6200, 6500, 6600, 6800,
7200, 7300, 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
9600, 9800, GTX 260, GTX 280

ATI Radeon™ series
9500, 9600, 9800
X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950
2400, 2600, 2900
3450, 3650, 3850, 3870,
4850, 4870
Intel® Extreme Graphics
GMA X3x00 series

Sims 3 Requirements Announced [Infinite Sims]

Fallout 3 - The System Requirements

Mike Fahey — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:30:00 MDT

Do you have a PC and a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360? What system are you planning on buying Bethesda's Fallout 3 for? Would the PC system requirements help any? Right before the most hectic weekend in Kotaku history kicked in, Bethesda released the official system requirements for the PC version of Fallout 3, and they are relatively modest, all things considered. The minimum requirements only call for 1GB of RAM and a 2.4 GHZ Pentium 4, meaning I could very well run the game on my laptop.

Of course required and recommended are two different animals, so I think I'll stick to my desktop, which clears the 2GB of RAM and Core 2 Duo processor requirements with plenty of room to spare. Hit the jump for the full specs, including a list of supported ATI and NVIDIA graphic processing devices.

Minimum System Requirements:

Windows XP/Vista
1GB System RAM (XP)/ 2GB System RAM (Vista)
2.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 256MB RAM (NVIDIA 6800 or better/ATI X850 or better)

Recommended System Requirements:

Intel Core 2 Duo processor
2 GB System RAM
Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA 8800 series, ATI 3800 series)

Supported Video Card Chipsets:

NVIDIA GeForce 200 series
NVIDIA Geforce 9800 series
NVIDIA Geforce 9600 series
NVIDIA Geforce 8800 series
NVIDIA Geforce 8600 series
NVIDIA Geforce 8500 series
NVIDIA Geforce 8400 series
NVIDIA Geforce 7900 series
NVIDIA Geforce 7800 series
NVIDIA Geforce 7600 series
NVIDIA Geforce 7300 series
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series
ATI HD 4800 series
ATI HD 4600 series
ATI HD 3800 series
ATI HD 3600 series
ATI HD 3400 series
ATI HD 2900 series
ATI HD 2600 series
ATI HD 2400 series
ATI X1900 series
ATI X1800 series
ATI X1600 series
ATI X1300 series
ATI X850 series

Crysis Warhead Performance Put To The Test

Mike Fahey — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:20:00 MDT

We know Crysis Warhead has some odd nomenclature for graphic settings, but how well do those graphics settings actually performed. After all of the complaints about the original game's outrageous system requirements, developer Crytek promised that this side story would be tweaked to run well on a much more affordable computer, but did they deliver? The guys over at TechSpot have gone in-depth to analyze the game's performance, providing benchmarks for 14 different video cards at each of the game's three quality levels, and the results aren't too spectacular. What they basically discovered is that said tweaks are negligible, and only a very high-end video card is capable of breaking past 32 frames per second at the lowest resolution they tested, 1440x900.

Hit the link for the full report on Crysis Warhead's performance, including more comparison shots of the three levels of graphical detail.

Crysis Warhead performance in-depth [TechSpot]

Far Cry 2 PC Specs Revealed

Brian Crecente — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:00:00 MDT

Ubisoft just unleashed the Far Cry 2 requirements for the PC version of the open-world shooter and the minimum requirements actually aren't that bad. The recommended requirements? Don't ask, I'm still trying to get over the realization that my one-year old computer is now officially out-dated.

Minimum requirements
CPU: Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz, Pentium D 2.66 Ghz, AMD Athlon 64 3500+ or better
RAM: 1 GB
Video card: NVidia 6800 or ATI X1650 or better, Shader Model 3 required, 256 Mb of graphic memory
Media reader: DVD-ROM
Hard drive space: ~12 Gig or HD space. (tbd)

Recommended
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo Family, AMD 64 X2 5200+, AMD Phenom or better
RAM: 2 GB
Video card: NVidia 8600 GTS or better, ATI X1900 or better, 512 Mb of graphic memory
Sound: 5.1 sound card recommended
Supported Video cards:
NVidia 6800, NVidia 7000 series, 8000 series, 9000 series, 200 series. 8800M and 8700M supported for laptops. ATI X1650 – 1950 series , HD2000 series , HD3000 series , HD4000 series .

Who here has the PC muscle-power to run Far Cry 2 at full optimization? I'm just shy with an AMD Athlon Dual Core 4600+ processor.

FC2 PC SPECS REVEALED! [Ubisoft]