New Computer Specs

[schooner2 2]

Hello.  I have not played with SC4 Deluxe edition in nearly two years.  However,  I want to get back into playing again and I am going to buy a new computer soon.  I was wondering about the CPUs and graphic card choices that are out there now.  Back when I was playing the game, AMD and Nvidia were the prefered components as they performed better with the game.  Is this still the case?  Any advice on the latest AMD/ Intel chips or the latest ATI/ Nvidia cards will be appreciated!

[jabezscratch 159]

Modern PC games have become less CPU-dependent and rely more on graphic power but SC4 performance remains pretty dependent on the CPU so I'd recommend an Intel i5 or i7 processor along w/ a mimumum of 4G DDR3 RAM (6G if you are running in triple channel).

Also, SC4 can get bogged down by a large Plug In folder so hard drive performance becomes (somewhat) important. You might want to spring for a solid state drive as opposed to a traditional platter hard drive. I just got a solid state drive and SC4 w/ a 3+ Gig Plug In folder loads stupid fast on my system.

[schooner2 2]

Originally posted by: jabezscratch

Modern PC games have become less CPU-dependent and rely more on graphic power but SC4 performance remains pretty dependent on the CPU so I'd recommend an Intel i5 or i7 processor along w/ a mimumum of 4G DDR3 RAM (6G if you are running in triple channel).

Also, SC4 can get bogged down by a large Plug In folder so hard drive performance becomes (somewhat) important. You might want to spring for a solid state drive as opposed to a traditional platter hard drive. I just got a solid state drive and SC4 w/ a 3+ Gig Plug In folder loads stupid fast on my system.

quote>

Thanks for the advice and especially the info about solid state drives.  It is good to know they make the game run much faster.

[jabezscratch 159]

No problem -- good luck!

[SC4BOY 20]

There are some observations on how SC4 works and what "optimizes" its running.. I summarized this in a related post which I will repeat the relevant part of:

 The CPU does almost all the work (GPU only does special effects like explosions and clouds etc). I believe all are agreed that the best computer FOR SC4 ONLY would be a VERY FAST single CPU unit (SC4 is single threaded and has its scheduler built into the code rather than passed off to the CPU scheduliing hardware). The most primitive GPU (video processor) would work fine for SC4 as it was designed for video in approximately 2000, however the MEMORY of the GPU still acts as the "picture window" for SC4 so it would be nice if you had a video card with a large amount (at least 1 Gb) of fast (DDR5 perhaps) memory. Otherwise the video processor plays almost no part in running SC4  Of course as far as I know, no one makes a computer like that .. But the closer you get to that, the better it will run SC4.. Will it be best for the rest of your general computing needs? Probably not.. quote>

[poshbakerloo 186]

There is no point in getting a quad core processor for SC4 as it will only ever use 1! The best performance you could get would be with a 3Ghz Pentium 4, 4Gb RAM, Windows XP and GeForce 5900...

Getting very new hardware can mean that they don't work too well...I struggle to get my game going with a GeForce 8400M GS, the drivers don't seem to like it anymore...

[Plastic Manc 28]

As mentioned a core i5 or i7 will deliver excellent performance. As a slightly cheaper option an E8600 C2D would be a good option as these can overclock well in excess of 4Ghz

[SC4BOY 20]

That core 2 duo can be demonstrably OC'd to 5GHz on air with over 600MHz fsb mem clock .. it is indeed a MONSTER SC4 machine..

[schooner2 2]

Thanks for the information. I'll do some more research on my end. I appreciate all of your input!