You may want to upgrade your OS if you want to play DICE's future games on the PC.
Are you part of the shrinking minority of gamers still using a 32-bit operating system? Well you'd best upgrade, Mr. Flintstone, because the future is coming. And the future hates mildly outdated operating systems. According to a tweet from DICE's rendering Architect, Johan Andersson, some Frostbite 2 Engine games released in 2013 will require a 64-bit system to run. There's a legitimate technical rationale for the decision: a 64-bit OS can access a system's full complement of RAM, while 32-bit systems can only use four gigs at most.
Most modern systems have been shipping with 64-bit processors for quite a while, but many users held off making the switch to a 64-bit OS because the benefits didn't outweigh the extra hassle of finding compatible drivers and software. The release of Windows 7 made the change more palatable: According to Steam's most recent hardware survey, 53.86% of users use Windows 7 64-bit, while only 6.28% and less than 1% use the 64-bit versions of Vista and XP respectively. If you already own Windows 7 you don't have to upgrade, as each version of the OS - with the exception of Home Basic - comes with both 32 and 64-bit versions.
I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<
FargoDog: I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<
Gah, Vista is a terrible OS, but finding DDR2 memory and installing it is fairly straightforward.
The percentage of people with 64-bit operating systems and a minimum of 4GB of RAM is becoming seemingly higher. If games do require 64-bit OSes in the next couple of years then most people won't be too inconvenienced by it. But I guarantee that there will still be complaints about it.
Looking forward to this. So far the only 64-bit application I run is photoshop. Great to actually get some use out of all that RAM I got. However, not sure how this will clash with their console releases. The 360 and PS3s respective 512MB each could prove difficult if DICE develop their games with 64-bit memory in mind.
A bit silly to say the least, as the consoles aint 64bit ( at least the 360 isnt ), and DICE ( or more to the point , EA ) wont develop a PC only title. Seems more like the Vista issue, artificially increasing the requirements to push newer OS on customers rather than a geniune use for higher end technology. We do remember what happened with Gears of War PC ( needed Vista for Dx10 and... AA support ), or Crysis 1 and how it needed Dx10 until a user made a config file that forced many of the so called Dx10 only functions to be enabled, on XP. PC games, or rather ports of console games barely manage to get the keyboard and mouse working, lack basic tweaking ( like FoV ) and many options that used to be standard...
... so what the hell are they going to do with the 64 bit OS ?
Add more glare ? Add more perks / streaks ? Add more DLC ? Copy Activision and CoD:MW more ?
FargoDog: I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<
Gah, Vista is a terrible OS, but finding DDR2 memory and installing it is fairly straightforward.
Oh it'd be no problem to buy some (even if it does cost like three times more than DDR3) and installing it. I'm just not sure it's worth bumping up my DDR2 or going all out and putting in a new motherboard with DDR3.
FargoDog: I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<
Gah, Vista is a terrible OS, but finding DDR2 memory and installing it is fairly straightforward.
Oh it'd be no problem to buy some (even if it does cost like three times more than DDR3) and installing it. I'm just not sure it's worth bumping up my DDR2 or going all out and putting in a new motherboard with DDR3.
If you an Intel person, it would be well worth the upgrade to 1155. I don't think Bulldozer was particularly stellar though.
ASnogarD: A bit silly to say the least, as the consoles aint 64bit ( at least the 360 isnt ), and DICE ( or more to the point , EA ) wont develop a PC only title. Seems more like the Vista issue, artificially increasing the requirements to push newer OS on customers rather than a geniune use for higher end technology. We do remember what happened with Gears of War PC ( needed Vista for Dx10 and... AA support ), or Crysis 1 and how it needed Dx10 until a user made a config file that forced many of the so called Dx10 only functions to be enabled, on XP. PC games, or rather ports of console games barely manage to get the keyboard and mouse working, lack basic tweaking ( like FoV ) and many options that used to be standard...
... so what the hell are they going to do with the 64 bit OS ?
Add more glare ? Add more perks / streaks ? Add more DLC ? Copy Activision and CoD:MW more ?
Load more shit into memory so it runs smoother? At least, that'll be the start of it. People already hack games (Fallout 3/NV, I think Oblivion too) to make them at least large address aware. I think Skyrim has it right out of the box.
ASnogarD: A bit silly to say the least, as the consoles aint 64bit ( at least the 360 isnt ), and DICE ( or more to the point , EA ) wont develop a PC only title.
I could be wrong, but I was under the impression both the 360 and the original Xbox have 64-bit processors.
you mean they're gonna make my 6 year old Dell laptop with 4 gigs of RAM and 32bit XP outdated!?
Spoiler: Click to ViewPHA+PGltZyBzcmM9Imh0dHA6Ly9wb25pYm9vcnUuNDEzY2hhbi5uZXQvX2ltYWdlcy81ZDlmNjg4NjJjNjFjZDMzOWExZWNhZjZjYWE0ZGI2Yy8zMTA5NyUyMC0lMjBsaWx5JTIwdGhlX2hvcnJvci5wbmciIGFsdD0iaW1hZ2UiLz48L3A+
I'm surprised theres even a 32bit version of windows 7 if i'm honest, i don't know any processor which hasn't shipped with 64bit compatability in years and years and years, hell i've been running 64bit for well over 6 years now (xp64 and 7 64) with no issues what so ever and that wasn't even with more than 4GB RAM (up until a couple of month ago i still had 4gb, now on 16gb.)
I've never really had any compatiabilty issues, all games are compatiable with 64bit, all drivers now a days (and have done for some time) come in both 32 and 64, I haven't run into any software which doesn't run in 64bit. Hell when 128bit comes out i'll probably be one of the first adopters provided my new CPU is old enough to warrant an upgrade.
I don't see it being a problem for any PC gamer, Console Gamers will more than likely suffer till the next gen is out due to the lack of memory (one of the biggest reasons for the 64bit push is the fact that 64 allows programs to use more than 2GB of RAM each, not to mention it's faster than 32bit as it handles twice the amount of data at a time).
FargoDog: I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<
Eeeeew...I had 8gb of DDR3, upgraded it to 16GB for giggles haha. Only cost me like $70. Its definably worth the step up though, load times go soooo much faster. Skyrim loads in like..10 seconds for me.
ASnogarD: A bit silly to say the least, as the consoles aint 64bit ( at least the 360 isnt ), and DICE ( or more to the point , EA ) wont develop a PC only title.
I just checked up...and yes the 360 does use a 64 bit CPU ( my bad, sorry ), which is unusual as the console only has 512MB of RAM, so what is the 64 bit CPU doing ? I thought the only difference between 32 and 64 bit was memory limits ?
None the less I still stand by my point that the requirement is odd as only the PC could make use of the extra RAM and even the 32 bit OS can use 4 gigs of RAM ( if its set to be aware of the higher address range ) while the 360 has 512MB RAM and the PS3 sits with 256MB RAM.
I am cynical of most announcements of this type as there is no business reason to need to force the requirement as the PC already has more capability than both consoles ( if properly coded ). FYI I am already using a 64 bit system with 8 gigs of RAM so its not like I am complaining I would have to upgrade, just very sceptical. I see the issue of the hardware side of the business, hardware demands increase when the software makes more demands for performance, but as the current software is mostly forcused on platforms with hardware that is several years old and already outclassed by todays standard units... how can one justify the requirement for higher tech on the one platform that is already way ahead of the other platforms, and isnt properly utilised anyways. The only way to fully utilise the PC hardware is by making a PC only title, which cant be justified as it would be too expensive to develop with too much risk the investment would not see any returns due to the diminished marketbase.
The only reason I can see this requirement making sense is to push up hardware sales via artificially increasing the requirements. The next gen consoles are still at least 1 year away, and even those wouldnt have a lot of RAM ( costs too much, so its unlikely ) so why the need for the PC platform ?
EDIT: I forgot about that game , but as it only comes out in 2013 I wouldnt be all too suprised to see a 360, and even a PS3 version announced nearer release date ( RA3 had 360 versions IIRC ). Its also a RTS so while it will be like CoH in that it has great visuals and destruction, it wont be fully utilising a PC capability ( except maybe Dx11 tesselation and some other effects that I barely notice in current Dx11 games ( like Shogun 2 or Crysis 2 ) )
FargoDog: I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<
Gah, Vista is a terrible OS, but finding DDR2 memory and installing it is fairly straightforward.
Oh it'd be no problem to buy some (even if it does cost like three times more than DDR3) and installing it. I'm just not sure it's worth bumping up my DDR2 or going all out and putting in a new motherboard with DDR3.
That would require a CPU upgrade, but if you're going from Core 2 to 2nd Gen Core Processors then the upgrade is worth it.
ASnogarD: I just checked up...and yes the 360 does use a 64 bit CPU ( my bad, sorry ), which is unusual as the console only has 512MB of RAM, so what is the 64 bit CPU doing ? I thought the only difference between 32 and 64 bit was memory limits ?
Many computations algorithms can take huge advantage of 64 bit programming. The original Crysis, which came with both 32 and 64 bit executables, would typically run with 5-10% more FPS on the 64 bit one.
Computer chess is the field where 64 bit programming is the most advantageous. The speed gain (how fast the computer thinks) is 100% on a 64 bit computer chess engine compared to 32 bit. If you make use of some other 64-bit only features (including Large Pages), the speed gain will typically hit 120%. Every modern chess engine comes with both 32 and 64 bit applications for this reason.
ASnogarD: A bit silly to say the least, as the consoles aint 64bit ( at least the 360 isnt ), and DICE ( or more to the point , EA ) wont develop a PC only title.
That's not really proof. C&C has been more or less a PC only thing and given the fact that games from DICE have developed on mutiplatorms with a console based audiance despite Crysis 1 being a PC exclusive for a while.
Still, I wouldn't hold my breath too long for C&C:gen 2 being a PC exclusive.
FargoDog: I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<
Eeeeew...I had 8gb of DDR3, upgraded it to 16GB for giggles haha. Only cost me like $70. Its definably worth the step up though, load times go soooo much faster. Skyrim loads in like..10 seconds for me.
More RAM won't improve loading times, you seem to be under the placebo effect if I may say so.
Why not get an SSD if you want fast loading times? Prices are crashing.
I'll believe it when I see it. The issue has never been the user base. The issue with 64-bit games has been a lot of legacy code Casts(converts) 64bit addresses into 32bit integers. Basically making it so any number that is over 31/32 bits converts to negative to to 0. If they've finally got their act together and cleaned up their bad coding habits then they should have 64bit apps available. It's been embarrassing that the Downloadable games don't have two version. One 64bit and one 32bit but If you code poorly then you can't do that. 64bit can give you a 20% performance boost, not just added ram capacity.
FargoDog: I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<
Eeeeew...I had 8gb of DDR3, upgraded it to 16GB for giggles haha. Only cost me like $70. Its definably worth the step up though, load times go soooo much faster. Skyrim loads in like..10 seconds for me.
More RAM won't improve loading times, you seem to be under the placebo effect if I may say so.
Why not get an SSD if you want fast loading times? Prices are crashing.
Says the person who doesn't know how to make a ram disk ;P
You're right though about Doom-Slayer. Going from 8gigs to 16gigs will have ZERO effect on Skyrim. One version has a 2 Gig limit because it is a 32 bit app using a signed integer to keep track of memory, and the other has a 4 Gig limit because it is a 32 bit app using an Unsigned integer to keep track of memory. There is no 64 bit version.
However, for anyone who has had their game improve performance, I have some 60$ gold platted HDMI cables that will improve your digital audio quality. Your Mp3's will sound 100x better ;p
ASnogarD: A bit silly to say the least, as the consoles aint 64bit ( at least the 360 isnt ), and DICE ( or more to the point , EA ) wont develop a PC only title.
That's not really proof. C&C has been more or less a PC only thing and given the fact that games from DICE have developed on mutiplatorms with a console based audiance despite Crysis 1 being a PC exclusive for a while.
Still, I wouldn't hold my breath too long for C&C:gen 2 being a PC exclusive.
At least they've said that Generals 2 will be PC exclusive. I'm glad most sane game developers have realized that RTS will just never work on consoles - unless Kinect voice commands get a lot better.
So we arent about to see a repeat of the PS3 version of Red Alert 3.
ASnogarD: A bit silly to say the least, as the consoles aint 64bit ( at least the 360 isnt ), and DICE ( or more to the point , EA ) wont develop a PC only title.
Also, almost all current CPU's for sale today (even some of the higher end atom processors) are 64bit CPUs, that does not mean that the operating system or the games are (or need to be) 64 bit, it just means the CPU could support them if they were.
lol, good thing i upgraded my pc last month. but i still will not get any DICE games because it has a €A logo on it. and i stay far away from any games that have €A written on it.
FargoDog: I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<
Gah, Vista is a terrible OS, but finding DDR2 memory and installing it is fairly straightforward.
Oh it'd be no problem to buy some (even if it does cost like three times more than DDR3) and installing it. I'm just not sure it's worth bumping up my DDR2 or going all out and putting in a new motherboard with DDR3.
It'd be more cost-effective in the long run to make the leap now. RAM is piss cheap right now too, I got 8GB of DDR3 for £40 recently.
64-bit OS upgrades are the new DVD-Rom drive. People bitched and moaned when developers finally started putting games on a single DVD instead of 4-6 CDs, and the publishers pretty much had to say "Hi! We are sending this message from the 21st century. Please join us if you would like to continue playing games!"
FargoDog: I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<
Eeeeew...I had 8gb of DDR3, upgraded it to 16GB for giggles haha. Only cost me like $70. Its definably worth the step up though, load times go soooo much faster. Skyrim loads in like..10 seconds for me.
More RAM won't improve loading times, you seem to be under the placebo effect if I may say so.
Why not get an SSD if you want fast loading times? Prices are crashing.
More RAM can certainly speed up load times if you have enough to set up a RAM disk. But that's probably not what he's talking about.
FargoDog: I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<
Eeeeew...I had 8gb of DDR3, upgraded it to 16GB for giggles haha. Only cost me like $70. Its definably worth the step up though, load times go soooo much faster. Skyrim loads in like..10 seconds for me.
I only have 6 GB of RAM and Skyrim loads that fast for me. I don't think you needed that extra 8 GB of RAM. I don't think Skyrim even uses more than 4 GB and that's after the patch that let it use more than 2 GB.
Dice: Games That Require a 64-bit OS are Incoming
You may want to upgrade your OS if you want to play DICE's future games on the PC.
Are you part of the shrinking minority of gamers still using a 32-bit operating system? Well you'd best upgrade, Mr. Flintstone, because the future is coming. And the future hates mildly outdated operating systems. According to a tweet from DICE's rendering Architect, Johan Andersson, some Frostbite 2 Engine games released in 2013 will require a 64-bit system to run. There's a legitimate technical rationale for the decision: a 64-bit OS can access a system's full complement of RAM, while 32-bit systems can only use four gigs at most.
Most modern systems have been shipping with 64-bit processors for quite a while, but many users held off making the switch to a 64-bit OS because the benefits didn't outweigh the extra hassle of finding compatible drivers and software. The release of Windows 7 made the change more palatable: According to Steam's most recent hardware survey, 53.86% of users use Windows 7 64-bit, while only 6.28% and less than 1% use the 64-bit versions of Vista and XP respectively. If you already own Windows 7 you don't have to upgrade, as each version of the OS - with the exception of Home Basic - comes with both 32 and 64-bit versions.
Source: Twitter
Permalink