25 réponses à ce sujet

[MokahTGS]

 So my computer is in the shop getting it's cooling system replaced and it got me thinking that I built that computer specifically for NWN2...then I got thinking that I'm still playing and building on that rig and getting ready to upgrade it this coming year.  Kinda cool...

So, if you could build yourself a computer that would still be used for NWN2 building, and playing today, what would you build?  I know I'm not made of money, and niether are you so keep yourself to under $1000, just for fun.

What would you build?  What would the specs be?  And why?

[kamal_]

You need an SSD. The speed increase is amazing when loading maps.

[pkpeachykeen]

What kamal said and a few entirely overpowered video cards, to handle the renderer. 6990s in quad crossfire might be able to handle full shadows.

[Dann-J]

pkpeachykeen wrote...

What kamal said and a few entirely overpowered video cards, to handle the renderer. 6990s in quad crossfire might be able to handle full shadows.

The original graphics card (Nvidia Geforce 8400, 256Mb) in my two-year-old computer started to fail recently, so I decided to get an upgrade. It turns out that some high-end graphics cards are incredibly cheap these days (less than $100, while I was expecting to pay many hundreds).  Of course that's in Australian dollars (worth more than the US dollar these days).

My new 1Gb card (one of the more recent Nvidia GeForce series) allows me to turn all the NWN2 bells and whistles up to 11 (so *that's* what shadows and water reflections look like!), and the game still runs more smoothly than my old card did with all the graphics settings on low.

My Windows 7 'Experience Rating' jumped from 3.6 to 6.2 as soon as I installed the new card. I don't know how I put up with the old one for all those years (I suppose you don't know what you're missing until you experience something different).

[Morbane]

IMO win7 in 32 bit assures compatibility - fewer crashes - plus all the performance I have needed, along with that 2 gig ram - 1 gig video - *wide* monitor, so much fits on screen with the toolset:

[Shallina]

2 priority :

Win 7 64 bit, and a SSD, more than 4 gig or RAM.

NWN2 is demanding for CPU and GPU having something good for both is not to neglect.

Modifié par Shallina, 28 juillet 2011 - 06:52 .

[kamal_]

Widescreen monitors are great (and just about the only thing available), but make sure you get a 16x10 ratio monitor (such as 1680x1050 resolution), not 16x9. Also keep your old monitor for a secondary monitor, and put all the extra toolset tabs on that so you have a nice big picture of what you're working on in the main monitor. Here's my working area, the area and the blueprints are on the main screen, the rest is on the secondary screen.

dl.dropbox.com/u/3879894/desktop.jpg

Modifié par kamal_, 28 juillet 2011 - 11:03 .

[kevL]

DannJ wrote...

My new 1Gb card (one of the more recent Nvidia GeForce series) allows me to turn all the NWN2 bells and whistles up to 11 (so *that's* what shadows and water reflections look like!), and the game still runs more smoothly than my old card did with all the graphics settings on low.

what is it? what is it!?

[kamal_]

^^^ my 570 makes nwn2 run buttery smooth at max settings (see my Crimmor walkthrough vids on my blog to see ingame video of detail level at 1680x1050). Not $100 though, was $200.

I'd get 8 gigs of ram (currently 50 at newegg). AMD vs intel probably doesn't make much difference for NWN2. With my new pc I see the biggest difference from the SSD, vid card, and lots of ram, in that order. The ram mostly helps avoid the time between memory leak crashes in the toolset, and the vid card makes the difference ingame.

[kevL]

wow, Tks k_

i been lookin at the (older) GTX 460s, but i guess only a trip to the shop & look at pricetags'll make my mind up,


neway, keep them suggestions comin n' goin ..

[kamal_]

I don't really have any idea about what makes a vid card better for nwn2. I just decided on my price point and bought one. My previous card was an Ati 4770. That also worked well for me. Ram is cheap, I bought 16 gigs. But I doubt there's any noticeable difference between 8 and 16 (I previously had 2). I also got an Intel I7, but that's also going to go over the $1000 budget set out. I5 or AMD are going to perform basically identically for less $.

I kept my case, hard drive (it's now seconday to the ssd), DVD. Bought everything else:
128 gig ssd

[kamal_]

For some reason that submitted...
128 gig ssd, intel I7 2600k, 16 gigs ram, motherboard, 560gtx video card with 2gb ram, power supply, copy of win 7 (since I was previously xp). $1500, about 6 weeks ago. Overkill for nwn2, I have no problem having 2 copies of the toolset open simultaneously.

[The Fred]

MokahTGS wrote...
I know I'm not made of money, and niether are you

How do you know? One little finger and I could buy a monster of a machine. Hell, I've just had a haircut and that'll leave me with cash in pocket for weeks to come!

[Dann-J]

kevL wrote...

DannJ wrote...

My new 1Gb card (one of the more recent Nvidia GeForce series) allows me to turn all the NWN2 bells and whistles up to 11 (so *that's* what shadows and water reflections look like!), and the game still runs more smoothly than my old card did with all the graphics settings on low.

what is it? what is it!?

It's an Nvidia Geforce GT 430:
http://www.nvidia.co...-gt-430-us.html

I've tried reloading old save games in areas that used to give me frame-rate grief (like the Crossroad Keep courtyard in SoZ), and even with all the graphics features turned up to their maximum there are still no frame-rate hits.

[kevL]

that's really good to know,

i wonder which card TGS is lookin at, thinkin "I want *that* one"

[MokahTGS]

kamal_ wrote...

For some reason that submitted...
128 gig ssd, intel I7 2600k, 16 gigs ram, motherboard, 560gtx video card with 2gb ram, power supply, copy of win 7 (since I was previously xp). $1500, about 6 weeks ago. Overkill for nwn2, I have no problem having 2 copies of the toolset open simultaneously.

Ok, Kamal, give me a full spec run down of that system...plus who did you buy that from?

[The Fred]

...

I made sure I got my laptop specced up with 64-bit Win 7, 4 Gigs of RAM, and so forth, and it still groans under the stress of NWN2 (the toolset drops my battery life to about an 1/8). Seeing the phrase "16 gigs ram" makes me want to cry...

[MokahTGS]

The Fred wrote...

...

I made sure I got my laptop specced up with 64-bit Win 7, 4 Gigs of RAM, and so forth, and it still groans under the stress of NWN2 (the toolset drops my battery life to about an 1/8). Seeing the phrase "16 gigs ram" makes me want to cry...

The key word you are having issues with oh golem of money, is the word "laptop"

Laptops have not been known for thier graphical prowess...unless you spend serious cash...and at that point...just buy a cheaper/more powerful desktop.

Kamal is right in saying that the difference between 16 and 8 gigs of RAM is not gonna matter a whole lot.

[kamal_]

MokahTGS wrote...

kamal_ wrote...

For some reason that submitted...
128 gig ssd, intel I7 2600k, 16 gigs ram, motherboard, 560gtx video card with 2gb ram, power supply, copy of win 7 (since I was previously xp). $1500, about 6 weeks ago. Overkill for nwn2, I have no problem having 2 copies of the toolset open simultaneously.

Ok, Kamal, give me a full spec run down of that system...plus who did you buy that from?

These specifically. I bought from newegg.
EVGA Nvidia GTX 560 with 2 gigs onboard ram.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130662
Intel Core i7 2600k processor
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115070
Asus motherboard
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131729
Corsair ram
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145347
Crucial SSD
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820148348
some cheap DVD-RW (the motherboard is SATA only and my old DVD was IDE.)
Win7 64.
I reused my case, monitors, keyboard, mouse, speakers etc, and kept my old hard drive as my secondary/storage drive (those SSD's fill up fast)
Antec power supply of some sort. I used a supply that was recommended for the power draw of the system, calculating it with an online calculator. 600 watts I think.

Note that this is overkill for nwn2, and well over the $1000 budget you set. As I said, The biggest benefits seem to be SSD, vid card, ram, in that order. I can't imagine there's any real benefit for NWN2 in 16 gigs ram versus 8, or 2 gig video vs 1, or the high end processor/motherboard (Intel i5 should be more than adequate, Peachykeen is using one iirc and says it works great).

[elugreymantle]

NWN2 game engine is not optimized to use more than one CPU core. I'm running a tuned fairly new dual core 3.1GHz Win7 system with an SSD, but the lack of multi-core usage by the game engine is and will always be the bottleneck regardless of how fast your cpu, memory, or storage system are. But yes an SSD does hugely help load speeds, and going back to a system with a conventional HD after using one with an SSD is often unbearably slow.

[casadechrisso]

As a Radeon user and usual friend, I can only recommend NOT getting an AMD Radeon card for NWN2. The above suggestion of a GTX 560 (or 460 or such) would be ideal. NWN2 is one of the "The way it's meant to be played" games that really show their favor for nVidia cards, even modern Radeons show massive slowdowns with high shadow details, and even worse especially for building, they don't render point light shadows. For NWN2 specifically, there's no way around a GeForce. When building, I sometimes even pop my old 8800GT back in to get a proper view of interior lighting...

[foil-]

New AMD cards should be out in december. The are 28nm, so if you can wait that long it should be a significant boost over the current gen cards.
Not sure about the amd problems mentioned above. I've seesawed back and forth between amd and nVidia and don't notice a difference in lighting, but I may not be looking close enough. I don't use the toolset however, but point source lights seemed to work in game on my old amd card. Wouldn't mind some more info/expanation on amd cards and point light shadows and if the newer southern island (7000 series) cards will be affected by it.

[The Fred]

MokahTGS wrote...
The key word you are having issues with oh golem of money, is the word "laptop"

Laptops have not been known for thier graphical prowess...unless you spend serious cash...and at that point...just buy a cheaper/more powerful desktop.

Kamal is right in saying that the difference between 16 and 8 gigs of RAM is not gonna matter a whole lot.

When I get my mobile PC trolley and fuel cell I'll get a desktop, and wheel it around wherever I go. Until then, a laptop it is. Still, it cost less than $1000 and runs NWN2 (and the Toolset) just fine, even if I did have to turn off some of the shadows for Last of the Danaan.

[-Semper-]

casadechrisso wrote...

The above suggestion of a GTX 560

whatever you do, never buy a gtx560! it's the little sister of a gtx560 Ti for almost the same prize tag. in the end you will get slower rendering for an identical amount of cash.

Modifié par -Semper-, 28 septembre 2011 - 01:08 .

[casadechrisso]

foil- wrote...
 I don't use the toolset however, but point source lights seemed to work in game on my old amd card. Wouldn't mind some more info/expanation on amd cards and point light shadows and if the newer southern island (7000 series) cards will be affected by it.

They don't. Try placing some light sources that cast shadows in an interior. No shadows on AMD cards. It's not only my observation as a builder, everyone I talked to on my PW sees no point light shadows. Most people simply don't notice it because they have no idea they're there, only when you show them a screenie taken on a nvidia card they go Oooohhh. 
As long as I can't afford a new card (as mentioned above, the GF 560 Ti would be the one I'd go for, but I need a new comp for it as well), I'm going through the pain of popping my old 8800GT in for building and switch back to the AMD for other games. Major pain in the rump.