The $900 (or cheaper) PC Crysis experiment

[VG Aficionado]

The Experiment

Over Christmas we took the time for a little in-house experiment. With only a limited budget of around US $900 we wanted to set up a brand new machine that can handle Crysis on High settings. We should note that Very High settings are reserved to keep Crysis future-proofed, just like Ultra was in Far Cry.

Together with EA we looked in shops around the world and bought the hardware parts to put together our machine starting from scratch. While we had a budget in mind, we wanted to still make sure this machine would have top-notch hardware such as a multicore processor or a DirectX10 graphics card.


The Videos

As you’ll see from the 8 minutes of video we recorded, Crysis looks absolute fabulous on High settings with this configuration and runs very smoothly on a 1280x720 resolution. They show different locations from the Crysis Singleplayer Campaign with everything set to High.

- Download – Video 1 (inCrysis mirror) (http://www6.incrysis.com/incrysis_dot_com_hw_experiment_video1.zip)
- Download – Video 2 (inCrysis mirror) (http://www6.incrysis.com/incrysis_dot_com_hw_experiment_video2.zip)
- Download – Video 3 (inCrysis mirror) (http://www6.incrysis.com/incrysis_dot_com_hw_experiment_video3.zip)
- Download – Video 4 (inCrysis mirror) (http://www6.incrysis.com/incrysis_dot_com_hw_experiment_video4.zip)


The Configuration

Below you find a rough list of parts we purchased so you can see and check for yourself about the total costs of such a high-end computer. The prices may vary from country to country, but overall the costs should be within the same range (shipping included).

CPU Intel Core2Duo E6750
GPU GeForce 8800GT 512MB
Motherboard NVIDIA nForce 650i Socket 775
PSU 600W ATX12V
RAM 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
HDD SATA 250GB 7200RPM
DVD 20x DVD±R Burner
Case ATX Midi Tower Computer Case
OS Microsoft Windows XP Home with SP2


The Message

With this experiment we have shown that Crysis runs smoothly and provides and amazing, unparalleled performance on High settings and on an affordable machine that is readily available today.

We know most of you already have a great base to work with, so compare your current hardware with the setup mentioned above and consider an affordable upgrade – you do not have to purchase a new machine. Crysis is very scalable and looks great on Medium settings compared to current next-gen games.Note that it doesn't include a monitor or mouse & keyboard, but depending on what you're aiming for, you should be able to build an even cheaper PC that runs Crysis more than fine at that resolution or even higher, since the 8800 GT shouldn't choke at a bit more than that. I guess many people could save some money on the last 4 parts if they currently own a decent PC.

[TheGreenElf]

That's quite impressive...

[belgarn]

They probably could have saved a fair amount of money on the PSU, a good 350W PSU could run that with ease.

[VG Aficionado]

With ease? The CPU and GPU alone could very well require 300+ watts in full load. Anything below 450W probably would fail from time to time.

[woundingchaney]

The performance verse cost ratio is incredible these days in the pc world and anyone looking to upgrade could easily build a quality gaming rig for a reasonable budget (much as Vg and the article is saying).

I honestly wouldnt try to "cheap" out on the psu. A good psu is very important for system stability and life expectancy (hell I currently run a 1000w coolermaster). It also nice to have a good cushion in psu resources if one is looking to upgrade down the line.

Hell I just seen a deal for 2 gigs of 6400 DDR2 (4-4-4-12) for 40 usd on the newegg newsletter.

Also for those interested the price of 24" monitors is hitting mainstream, I believe in one looks hard enough they can be found for about 300-350 usd.

There is some things I would change in the list that would add a bit to the overall cost but would be well worth it, such as a fulltower case and an upgraded cpu cooler for more overclocking potential.

Crysis is an excellent game (imo), and I still play it from time to time (I usually only play games once). It is the best fps I have played in years.

[belgarn]

With ease? The CPU and GPU alone could very well require 300+ watts in full load. Anything below 450W probably would fail from time to time.

I have a system that have about the same power draw as the one they built. And that and I haven't peaked over 308W yet, and that is with a crappy noname 400W PSU which probably has a efficiency at about 75% Which puts the system load @ ~235W.

I found this test, to prove my point:
All power consumption tests were run on the following hardware:

* Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (3GHz)
* Asus P5E-N SLI (NVIDIA 650i chipset)
* 4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-1067 memory
* PC Power and Cooling 750W PSU
* Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit)
http://media.arstechnica.com/journals/hardware.media/nvidia1.jpg
Source (http://arstechnica.com/journals/hardware.ars/2007/11/28/revisiting-the-power-consumption-of-the-ati-radeon-hd-3800-series)

So I see no problem running this on a good quality 350W PSU if you are on a tight budget. I would personally buy a 450W(Since corsair have a quality one which is quite cheap) so I could put in some more hard drives and such. And remember that 350W is calculated with the effiency loss, so a quality 350W PSU can draw ~420W from the plug.

[VG Aficionado]

I see, thanks for the explanation. I'll take that into account when I build myself a new PC. And wow at the XFX 8800 GT drawing up to 245 watts, although XFX ones are overclocked.

[<3frosty]

That is amazing. Im really looking at building a new computer, and i might take these exact specs.

[belgarn]

I see, thanks for the explanation. I'll take that into account when I build myself a new PC. And wow at the XFX 8800 GT drawing up to 245 watts, although XFX ones are overclocked.

Np. Remember that it is the whole system, a 8800GT alone will probably draw around 130-140W.

[VG Aficionado]

I was under the assumption the GPU alone required that much rather than the entire system. I have a 450W PSU, so I guess I could keep it for a good while yet.

[belgarn]

I was under the assumption the GPU alone required that much rather than the entire system. I have a 450W PSU, so I guess I could keep it for a good while yet.

Nah the only cards that probably breaks the 200W wall is the 2900XT and 8800Ultra. People often buy way to powerful PSU just to be "safe", when they probably wont even use a third of the capacity. Overkill is a good way to describe it, but it keeps the manufactures happy.;)

[woundingchaney]

Nah the only cards that probably breaks the 200W wall is the 2900XT and 8800Ultra. People often buy way to powerful PSU just to be "safe", when they probably wont even use a third of the capacity. Overkill is a good way to describe it, but it keeps the manufactures happy.;)

Depends primarily upon what you are running in addition to the processing hardware. Overkill may be a bit high on many rigs but running a max draw of approx. 340 on a 400 or even a 450 psu is going to shorten the life span of ones psu. Psu power leaks, power dumping, or abnormal draws can also lead to system instability/spikes and component failure. But overall yeah I agree that people do have a tendency to "overkill" with psu, but its also a "peace of mind" scenario.

Also it is important to note that often lower wattage power supplies may not have quality rails in them and may not be enough to sufficiently power the more demanding dedicated hardware.

[belgarn]

Yeah I totally agree, you have to be a bit picky while choosing a PSU. Can't be fun finding out that your PSU can't feed the GPU with a good enough 12V rail. But I still believe a good quality 350W can run that, mostly since I seen people run similar systems with a 350W fine. But I would recommend a 450W if you are not on a tight budget.

[woundingchaney]

Yeah I totally agree, you have to be a bit picky while choosing a PSU. Can't be fun finding out that your PSU can't feed the GPU with a good enough 12V rail. But I still believe a good quality 350W can run that, mostly since I seen people run similar systems with a 350W fine. But I would recommend a 450W if you are not on a tight budget.

Oh yeah I agree. I personally feel though that the psu is probably the component that consumers know the least about (and this is in part due to manufacturers). Its as if everyone looks at recommended wattage and bases their purchase off of that and often times wattage isnt necessarily the biggest concern.


But yeah given their specs I agree that a "quality" 350w psu could push it.