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multithread processor & DW - 7/1/2010 10:10:43 AM

balenami1291

Posts: 435
Joined: 11/29/2005
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I'm looking for buy a new laptop.

Since I like very much "4X game" and DW is one of the "4x games" more expensive for hardware request, i would like to know:

For a game as DW is better:
-i5 dual core with a higer clock speed (2,40 2,53 Mhz)
or
-i7 quadcore with a lower clock speed (1,60 1,70 Mhz)

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Intek i5 m520 2,5mhz
6 mega ram
Nvidia 525 1 giga ram

Post #: 1

RE: multithread processor & DW - 7/1/2010 1:25:40 PM

Erik Rutins

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From: Vermont, USA
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Both of these have plenty of horsepower for DW, but if you have a choice go with the i7 as the quad core will be helpful for many applications and games. DW is multi-core aware and eventually will be even more so, so the i7 is probably your best choice for the future but both are fine processors. Note also that the clock speed doesn't matter in this instance as the i7 has a "turbo" mode that lets it run at a higher clock speed for apps that just use one core, if I recall correctly.

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Post #: 2

RE: multithread processor & DW - 7/1/2010 3:37:59 PM

Shark7

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From: The Big Nowhere
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I'm running DW on an i7 Quadcore Bloomfield 930 and it does fine. The thing of most importance is RAM. I currently have 12 GB and can play the 1400 star system map with 20 empires and no problems at all.

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Post #: 3

RE: multithread processor & DW - 7/8/2010 1:21:01 AM

the1sean

Posts: 854
Joined: 5/11/2010
From: Texas, USA
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I have a Core2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz, with 6 gigs of DDR3 ram. Distant worlds runs wonderfully for me.

Congrats on the new desktop again, Shark7.

(in reply to Shark7)

Post #: 4

RE: multithread processor & DW - 7/8/2010 5:17:55 PM

Shark7

Posts: 7937
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From: The Big Nowhere
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quote:

ORIGINAL: the1sean

I have a Core2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz, with 6 gigs of DDR3 ram. Distant worlds runs wonderfully for me.

Congrats on the new desktop again, Shark7.

Thanks, I am thoroughly enjoying it, instead of posting about DW, I'm able to play super large games of DW.

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'When in doubt...attack!'

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Post #: 5

RE: multithread processor & DW - 7/9/2010 3:13:56 AM

profanicus

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Joined: 7/10/2008
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Shark7
The thing of most importance is RAM. I currently have 12 GB and can play the 1400 star system map with 20 empires and no problems at all.

As advice on buying a laptop this seems a bit over the top to me, you don't need 12gb RAM to run DW well! :)

Here are my reasons for saying this:

The recommended amount of RAM for Distant Worlds on the Matrix site is 2gb.

Tom's Hardware article "Do You Really Need More than 6gb of RAM?" finds that 4gb is still the "sweet spot" and that modern games show no performance benefit from having more than 3gb.

I have 6gb RAM, and on a 1400 stars/20 empires game do not see much more than 50% total RAM usage in the Resource Monitor.

Addressing mi1291's question on CPU, I have an i7 930 and running the game "full auto" at 4x speed on 1400 stars/20 empires barely uses 15% of the CPU, so I think either choice would be fine for this game.

(in reply to Shark7)

Post #: 6

RE: multithread processor & DW - 7/9/2010 10:02:29 AM

Bartje

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Joined: 4/27/2010
From: Netherlands
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Doesn't the amount of RAM Use possible rely on the operating system?
If I remember correctly 32bit operating systems such as XP and lower can only use 4 gb max, they will never "find" and "use" anything else.
64bit systems are essentially "large adress aware"(?) Allowing the use of additional ram gb's.

< Message edited by Bartje -- 7/9/2010 2:34:44 PM >

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Post #: 7

RE: multithread processor & DW - 7/9/2010 1:35:33 PM

profanicus

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Joined: 7/10/2008
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Yes you are correct, it is pointless having more than 4gb installed if you still use a 32 bit OS.
Most new laptops are shipping with Windows 7 64 bit these days.

(in reply to Bartje)

Post #: 8

RE: multithread processor & DW - 7/9/2010 2:26:54 PM

sbach2o

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Joined: 3/26/2010
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According to the patch notes, the ability for DW to support the larger address space on 64 bit machines was only added with the current 1.0.5x betas. Before that DW was limited to 2 GB on all systems.

I doubt the game was hitting that threshold, even in larger galaxy sizes. 'Out of Memory' exceptions did appear, but that was more likely due to limitations in certain function of the libraries the game is built on. I have monitored the virtual memory use during play in my latest sessions and don't see it ever going over 1 GB in a 1000 stars game. However, I haven't encountered an 'Out of Memory' exception either since I am doing this (still playing 1.0.4.9).

(in reply to profanicus)

Post #: 9

RE: multithread processor & DW - 7/9/2010 3:07:30 PM

Shark7

Posts: 7937
Joined: 7/24/2007
From: The Big Nowhere
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quote:

ORIGINAL: profanicus

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shark7
The thing of most importance is RAM. I currently have 12 GB and can play the 1400 star system map with 20 empires and no problems at all.

As advice on buying a laptop this seems a bit over the top to me, you don't need 12gb RAM to run DW well! :)

Here are my reasons for saying this:

The recommended amount of RAM for Distant Worlds on the Matrix site is 2gb.

Tom's Hardware article "Do You Really Need More than 6gb of RAM?" finds that 4gb is still the "sweet spot" and that modern games show no performance benefit from having more than 3gb.

I have 6gb RAM, and on a 1400 stars/20 empires game do not see much more than 50% total RAM usage in the Resource Monitor.

Addressing mi1291's question on CPU, I have an i7 930 and running the game "full auto" at 4x speed on 1400 stars/20 empires barely uses 15% of the CPU, so I think either choice would be fine for this game.

Where you are going to see a difference with more than 6 GB of RAM is in multi-tasking. For instance, I can easily run 3 instances of a certain MMO on my one computer now, simply alt-tabbing between them with now delay at all. Same goes for running DW, web-browser, and other programs. Sure the games don't need the extra memory, but it is nice to have.

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Distant Worlds Fan

'When in doubt...attack!'

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Post #: 10

RE: multithread processor & DW - 7/9/2010 10:23:03 PM

wagant

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Joined: 7/7/2010
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I've laptop powered with GF 240GT 512MB + T6600 + 3GB RAM game runs fluently on biggest star system but with 11 empires and 90 colonies of my own game getting slower with zooming (in out) - althought this games is fine ass bitches ;) hehe

(in reply to Shark7)

Post #: 11

RE: multithread processor & DW - 7/10/2010 12:17:54 AM

profanicus

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Joined: 7/10/2008
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Shark7
Where you are going to see a difference with more than 6 GB of RAM is in multi-tasking. For instance, I can easily run 3 instances of a certain MMO on my one computer now, simply alt-tabbing between them with now delay at all. Same goes for running DW, web-browser, and other programs. Sure the games don't need the extra memory, but it is nice to have.

Yes I agree, but you would have to be doing a hell of a lot of multitasking! ;)

The ~50% total mem usage figure I gave included Distant Worlds at max galaxy sizes, browser with 10 sites open, 7 PDF files open, MS OneNote running, MSN & Gmail chat windows & a few other little things. So the OS was only using 3gb to do all of that. Now if I was trying to run Photoshop CS4 & 3dsMax/Maya as well that would be a different story I am sure... :)

All I am saying is that DW system requirements are fairly modest and that OP would not need huge amounts of memory to play the game smoothly. That said, memory is cheap and having more is certainly not a negative thing!

(in reply to Shark7)

Post #: 12

RE: multithread processor & DW - 7/10/2010 12:31:09 AM

profanicus

Posts: 60
Joined: 7/10/2008
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: sbach2o

According to the patch notes, the ability for DW to support the larger address space on 64 bit machines was only added with the current 1.0.5x betas. Before that DW was limited to 2 GB on all systems.

I doubt the game was hitting that threshold, even in larger galaxy sizes. 'Out of Memory' exceptions did appear, but that was more likely due to limitations in certain function of the libraries the game is built on. I have monitored the virtual memory use during play in my latest sessions and don't see it ever going over 1 GB in a 1000 stars game. However, I haven't encountered an 'Out of Memory' exception�either since I am doing this (still playing 1.0.4.9).

I am running using the latest beta on Win 7 64bit, so it is free to use as much as it needs.
You are right in that "Out of Memory" exceptions do not necessarily mean that you just need to slot a few more RAM sticks in! :D

(in reply to sbach2o)

Post #: 13