Computer for SC4

[Whte_rbt 1,431]

7 minutes ago, Morgan R said:

Sadly, I have not yet been able to build a new, more powerful machine to host my principles in-game

Have you got anything in mind hardware-wise yet?

[rsc204 21,806]

8 hours ago, Morgan R said:

Sadly, I have not yet been able to build a new, more powerful machine to host my principles in-game

Do bear in mind, unless your current system is very old or very low end, you are unlikely to get any performance gains that justify the cost of a new machine. SC4 was finished in 2003, and in theory runs on a Pentium III 500 with very little RAM and a hideously basic GPU. It has no multi-core support, doesn't support the latest CPU optimisation technologies and has very meagre GPU requirements.

Today with all we throw at the game, you'll need better than the original specification, but the following system works great:

• Core2Duo or newer Processor
  Some older Celeron, Atom and equivalent chips may not be very good at all with SC4. Dual core is better than Quad core, because we can only use one core, faster single core performance is therefore preferable to more cores. That said, this is probably not true of everything else you might want the system to run. You can go nuts and throw a ridiculous CPU at the problem, the game will make use of your CPU. But if you think that means spending hundreds more will give you massively noticeable improvements, it won't. I know for an absolute fact (my own systems), my very fast Core i7 4790K machine, is only marginally more capable than a Core2 Duo P7550 one. On paper it should be more than twice as fast, but as usual, it just doesn't work like that in the real world.
• 4GB RAM + 64-Bit OS
  SC4 is a 32-bit Application and even under optimal settings (64-bit OS, using the 4GB Patch), can only ever itself use 2GB of system memory. Anything else is purely for your other needs and would be wasted on SC4.
• 256-512MB VRAM GPU with decent DirectX 9.0c hardware support
  Roll the dice on this one. Generally speaking NVidia or ATI cards from 2005 onwards all work just as well as each other. SC4 will not work any better because you have a very expensive or modern GPU. In fact, the newer the card, the higher the likelihood of compatibility problems.
• Our best friend, a nice quick SSD
  And the #1 performance gain for SC4, is the same as for your computer overall. Did you know, for many years, spinning-disk type HDDs have been the bottleneck in all PCs. No matter how fast everything else was, data being shuffled around would be limited by how fast it could be read/written. Not forgetting the rule of diminishing returns however, a solid 500 Mb/s read SSD, is about as good as you need here. Neither RAM Disks nor NVMe flash drives make any discernible difference. Given a Crucial BX-500 with 240GB storage runs about 25-30 ($/€/£) these days, it's a total no brainer.

[CorinaMarie 29,574]

@Whte_rbt

I've split off the question you asked @Morgan R as well as @rsc204's detailed reply so we don't sidetrack the other topic.

[Haljackey 17,267]

Hmm I would vouch for 6-8GB of RAM. This would allow SC4 to utilize the full 4GB with the 4GB patch, with the remaining RAM being utilized for your background processes like your operating system and whatever other apps/programs you have running in the background.

[rsc204 21,806]

2 hours ago, Haljackey said:

This would allow SC4 to utilize the full 4GB with the 4GB patch, with the remaining RAM being utilized for your background

But the 4GB patch doesn’t actually give SC4 (or other 32-Bit apps) 4GB to play with. By setting the LAA flag, it allows the OS to move system functions from the same 2GB pool as the app, to it’s own dedicated pool of 2GB. Hence the name 4GB patch, 32-bit apps still have a 2GB limit regardless, only now they can truly use all 2GB. I seriously doubt most people’s games run close to that. Given the size of your Plugins, it would be interesting to know what actual RAM usage SC4 has on your machine.

Yes, I wouldn’t have bought a PC 6 years ago with only 4GB RAM, but that part of the system doesn’t concern those who are only bothered about playing SC4. If you do more than that, high-end components may well be worth the extra, but my overall point is it’d be a waste of money if SC4 performance was your only motivation. 

[City_Slider 2,716]

I shoot an Desk PC few Day ago. 8GB RAM, 3,2GHz with 4 CPU´s, a Fujitsu Monitor, Keyboard and a Mouse for 80€. This Maschine works 100% with SimCity Deluxe... and only for this ;-)