New Rig

Hi All,

I am building a new computer (parts ship today) and I just wanted to hear if anyone had any advice on making sure that I get good performance in CoH with my system set up.

Here are the basic specs:

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit (comes with free Windows 7 upgrade)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 @ 2.33 GHz
Memory: 4 GB DDR2
GPU: ATI Radeon 4850 512 MB

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check out the ati guides here - I have to turn water effects off or it is just goofy (refelections of everything in water) on my 4870x2 your performance will depend on the resolution you play at with the 4850

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Does 64bit vista still have that issue where it only shows/uses a maximum of 3GB RAM even when it has 4GB? only seemed to happen wit 64bit on quadcore machines as well. if thats sorted then i think your setup looks pretty tasty so far. as long as you got a nice flashy monitor and speakers to go with it.

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To be honest. I have sound turned off the majority of the time I play due to outside influences :-(

I thought that happened with the 32-bit vista not recognizing 4GBs...which is why it is suggested you use 64-bit Vista?

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64bit Vista will recognize just about as much ram as any home board can take these days.

The limit is with the 32bit.

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Actually, it depends on which version of 64-bit Vista you have.

Home Basic supports up to 8GB RAM
Home Premium supports up to 16 GB RAM
Business supports up to 128 GB RAM
Enterprise supports up to 128 GB RAM
Ultimate supports up to 128 GB RAM

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If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.

Black Pebble is my new hero.

Asking if you made good choices, after you already made it makes no sense. Would have been more prudent to ask before you actually made them.

Anyhow, with that said, on to your questions!

1. "ok" OS, personally I would have just used whatever OS you are currently using now and then when W7 is released, get the full version. Upgrade versions are and have always been dodgy. It's best to install full versions of operating systems.

2. If the majority of this rigs use will be for gaming, a quad core is overkill, and will actually get less performance than from a comparable Core 2 Duo. The reason is few games even use 2 cores, let alone 4. I believe there is currently only 2 games that use 4 cores. However, if you plan on multi-tasking a lot, then you may get your moneys worth.

3. Memory - 4gb is fine, but with prices as low as they are, i would just get 8gb and be future proof. 4gb is becoming the new standard now.

4. *this will cause endless debates, but here is my opinion* Should have gone with nVidia, especially since you play CoH. ATI cards aren't bad, when you can get them to work reliably. However, many current games are designed and tested using nVidia products to get the most performance and best experience. That is not to say that ATI cards don't work, and sometimes work well, but they are not usually the focus of the initial design. I will NOT be responding to any arguments as they will only derail this thread. This is my opinion that I have based on 20 years of experience working in the video game industry in testing and design.

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No debate there. If your main game is City of Heroes then nVidia is your only real choice. Otherwise you have to pick between fancy detail and anti-aliasing. Ugh. (Of course, if you only play a bit of CoH and mostly play other games, then the debate can get hot. )

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Does 64bit vista still have that issue where it only shows/uses a maximum of 3GB RAM even when it has 4GB?

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CoH is a 32-bit program so it shouldn't use more than 2 gig (or maybe 3 gig if you get tricky). It hardly matters, though, as I don't think this game uses even two gig.

I'm not sure what you are talking about wrt showing more than 3 gig of ram. That sounds more like a 32-bit OS problem.

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[ QUOTE ]
Does 64bit vista still have that issue where it only shows/uses a maximum of 3GB RAM even when it has 4GB?

[/ QUOTE ] CoH is a 32-bit program so it shouldn't use more than 2 gig (or maybe 3 gig if you get tricky). It hardly matters, though, as I don't think this game uses even two gig.

[/ QUOTE ] Agreed. While 32-bit Operating systems are limited to 4GB total memory allocation, the 32-bit applications themselves are normally limited to 2GB of usage. I've never seen CoH get dangerously close to 2GB myself, but it gets to 1.5GB fairly easily. I'm wondering if we'll all start having memory problems after the next few issue releases. lol

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I'm not sure what you are talking about wrt showing more than 3 gig of ram. That sounds more like a 32-bit OS problem.

[/ QUOTE ] The only thing I found in reference to this was that apparently there were some earlier versions of Vista released and labeled as 64-bit, but were actually the 32-bit version... and/or many people assumed that Vista was automatically a 64-bit, and didn't realize there was a 32-bit version with the same memory limitation, and complained about it not working correctly.

Either way.. I would have hoped the miscommunication and misconception has long been cleared up by now. lol

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To be honest. I have sound turned off the majority of the time I play due to outside influences :-(



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Have you considered using a headset or headphones?

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1. "ok" OS, personally I would have just used whatever OS you are currently using now and then when W7 is released, get the full version. Upgrade versions are and have always been dodgy. It's best to install full versions of operating systems.

[/ QUOTE ]You're wasting a huge amount of money doing it that way. Unless Microsoft changed things recently, you can do a full install using an upgrade version of the OS just by putting the previous OS's CD into the drive at the appropriate time during the installation.

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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
1. "ok" OS, personally I would have just used whatever OS you are currently using now and then when W7 is released, get the full version. Upgrade versions are and have always been dodgy. It's best to install full versions of operating systems.

[/ QUOTE ]You're wasting a huge amount of money doing it that way. Unless Microsoft changed things recently, you can do a full install using an upgrade version of the OS just by putting the previous OS's CD into the drive at the appropriate time during the installation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, it has been changed in Windows 7.
*snip*
In order to install the upgrade version of Windows 7, you must have a qualifying Windows operating system installed and activated. You cannot install an upgrade version of Windows 7 on a blank hard drive. The installation procedure does not ask you to insert a Windows disc in the drive for verification, the actual qualifying operating system must be installed.
*snip*

So no, he is actually SAVING money doing it this way. Why purchase a copy of vista only to upgrade it a few months later? Better to use whatever current operating system he has and then upgrade later if he wants to. I still recommend the full version over the upgrade.

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So no, he is actually SAVING money doing it this way. Why purchase a copy of vista only to upgrade it a few months later? Better to use whatever current operating system he has and then upgrade later if he wants to.

[/ QUOTE ]Unless he just happens to have an extra, unused copy of Windows sitting around, he'd be stuck with having no OS until Windows 7 is released. Not to mention, it's far more work to do a clean installation than just doing an upgrade.

You're also assuming that he wants to switch to Windows 7... there's been loads of UI changes, and like normal there's going to be many broken applications.

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[ QUOTE ]
So no, he is actually SAVING money doing it this way. Why purchase a copy of vista only to upgrade it a few months later? Better to use whatever current operating system he has and then upgrade later if he wants to.

[/ QUOTE ]Unless he just happens to have an extra, unused copy of Windows sitting around, he'd be stuck with having no OS until Windows 7 is released. Not to mention, it's far more work to do a clean installation than just doing an upgrade.

You're also assuming that he wants to switch to Windows 7... there's been loads of UI changes, and like normal there's going to be many broken applications.

[/ QUOTE ]

More work, maybe but most definitely worth it. The odds of an upgrade working perfectly over a used install of a previous OS are not very good, not to mention installing an OS over another is NEVER better than doing a full install on a clean drive. It never has been and never will be, unless the upgrade process does an fdisk and starts from scratch.

1. He already has a computer, obviously, since he is posting this. That computer has an OS on it, obviously, so I would assume he would re-use that OS. It does not have to be unused as you say, since I have re-used my current XP Pro on my last 3 rebuilds, and no it is not pirated, cracked or hacked. It is a fully licensed installation.

2. your last statement makes no sense. The OS he stated in the OP says it comes with a Win7 upgrade, so I am not assuming anything. He did plan to upgrade to Win7. the UI of an operating system has very little to do with the breaking of applications other than possible skinning issues which are easily fixed and would exist in ANY os.

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More work, maybe but most definitely worth it.

[/ QUOTE ]That's incredible subjective.

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The odds of an upgrade working perfectly over a used install of a previous OS are not very good, not to mention installing an OS over another is NEVER better than doing a full install on a clean drive.

[/ QUOTE ]The Fedora people told me the same thing (hell, they even said you couldn't). And I showed them by upgrading multiple times

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It does not have to be unused as you say, since I have re-used my current XP Pro on my last 3 rebuilds, and no it is not pirated, cracked or hacked. It is a fully licensed installation.

[/ QUOTE ]You can fanangle it to install on another machine, but the EULA forbids it. It's allowed by the installer in case you've changed the hardware in the machine a good bit.

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The OS he stated in the OP says it comes with a Win7 upgrade, so I am not assuming anything.

[/ QUOTE ]You're assuming he wants to switch. Him mentioning the free upgrade doesn't means he'll want to use it, it just means that pretty much everything now includes a free upgrade to Windows 7.

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the UI of an operating system has very little to do with the breaking of applications other than possible skinning issues which are easily fixed and would exist in ANY os.

[/ QUOTE ]Read what I wrote again, I wasn't saying one would cause the other. Ever single new Windows release has had trouble running a lot of applications written for the previous release, it's only natural that it's damn hard maintaining ABI and API compatibility on such a large scale that subtle things change and breakage occurs... and a lot of the time it isn't even Microsoft's fault, a lot of application developers develop their software to depend on undefined behavior in the Windows API.

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Reminds me of this:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...77907195969915

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August 31, 2012. A Day that will Live in Infamy. Or Information. Possibly Influence. Well, Inf, anyway. Thank you, Paragon Studios, for what you did, and the enjoyment and camaraderie you brought.
This is houtex, aka Mike, signing off the forums. G'night all. - 10/26/2012
Well... perhaps I was premature about that whole 'signing off' thing... - 11-9-2012

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Reminds me of this:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...77907195969915

[/ QUOTE ]No it doesn't!

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Yes it does!

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I'm telling you you did not!

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More work, maybe but most definitely worth it.

[/ QUOTE ]That's incredible subjective.

[ QUOTE ]
The odds of an upgrade working perfectly over a used install of a previous OS are not very good, not to mention installing an OS over another is NEVER better than doing a full install on a clean drive.

[/ QUOTE ]The Fedora people told me the same thing (hell, they even said you couldn't). And I showed them by upgrading multiple times

[ QUOTE ]
It does not have to be unused as you say, since I have re-used my current XP Pro on my last 3 rebuilds, and no it is not pirated, cracked or hacked. It is a fully licensed installation.

[/ QUOTE ]You can fanangle it to install on another machine, but the EULA forbids it. It's allowed by the installer in case you've changed the hardware in the machine a good bit.

[ QUOTE ]
The OS he stated in the OP says it comes with a Win7 upgrade, so I am not assuming anything.

[/ QUOTE ]You're assuming he wants to switch. Him mentioning the free upgrade doesn't means he'll want to use it, it just means that pretty much everything now includes a free upgrade to Windows 7.

[ QUOTE ]
the UI of an operating system has very little to do with the breaking of applications other than possible skinning issues which are easily fixed and would exist in ANY os.

[/ QUOTE ]Read what I wrote again, I wasn't saying one would cause the other. Ever single new Windows release has had trouble running a lot of applications written for the previous release, it's only natural that it's damn hard maintaining ABI and API compatibility on such a large scale that subtle things change and breakage occurs... and a lot of the time it isn't even Microsoft's fault, a lot of application developers develop their software to depend on undefined behavior in the Windows API.

[/ QUOTE ]

1. Not subjective at all, but pure fact.

2. I did not say you couldnt upgrade, but that the odds of it working perfectly are much lower than a fresh install, and the fact remains that an upgrade will never be as good or as clean as a full install.

3. There was no finagling about it, I just put the disc in and reinstalled. The finagling would be trying to install an upgrade to an OS that was not installed in the first place. Clearly not what it was intended for.

4. now this is just silly, you are arguing for the sake of arguing.

5. Quote: "...there has been loads of UI changes, and like normal there is going to be many broken applications" This implied that because of the UI changes there would be broken apps. BTW, there will be very few "broken" apps, if any since W7 is basically a tweaked Vista. For those that might not work, there is "XP Mode" Looking at it again, I can see what you may have meant, but the wording was ambiguous so it is possible i misread it.

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