New comp

[Snarky]

I am getting a new tower because I can. Do not want to overspend but want to make sure I can crank every graphic setting and get through a Ritki raid with no lag.  I am just like that

 

i am looking at something like cyberpower pc gamer extreme vr. Is there any hardware  floors I should make sure I get?   I am a truck driver not a computer builder. Thanks

[drdread]

Well, CoH is a pretty old game. Most modern PCs with a descent CPU and memory should run it without an issue. For video cards, you don't need to break the bank. The big selling point of the newest nVidia cards is RTX, which CoH doesn't support. So an nVidia 1660 will do fine. If you get an AMD processor, some have a built-in Radeon graphics capabilites which would work too, but it will require more system memory.

 

The biggest bottleneck might be your internet speed.

 

Hope that helps.

[Abraxus]

2 minutes ago, drdread said:

Well, CoH is a pretty old game. Most modern PCs with a descent CPU and memory should run it without an issue. For video cards, you don't need to break the bank. The big selling point of the newest nVidia cards is RTX, which CoH doesn't support. So an nVidia 1660 will do fine. If you get an AMD processor, some have a built-in Radeon graphics capabilites which would work too, but it will require more system memory.

 

The biggest bottleneck might be your internet speed.

 

Hope that helps.

All very true!  If you go by these guidelines, you will have a system that is great for playing CoH.  Though, I would recommend using an SSD based hard drive, as opposed to the traditional spin type drives.  SSDs are infinitely faster on reads/writes, and that makes a difference in anything you do with it.  Outside of that, I would only go higher on the specs if I planned on playing other, more graphics intensive games. 

[drdread]

1 minute ago, Abraxus said:

Though, I would recommend using an SSD based hard drive, as opposed to the traditional spin type drives.

I agree 100% on this. The game won't play faster, but zones and missions will load way faster.

[Abraxus]

14 minutes ago, drdread said:

I agree 100% on this. The game won't play faster, but zones and missions will load way faster.

Aye!  When I first switched to SSD, just prior to the shut-down, it made an incredible difference in zoning!  Mind you, these were some of the early generations of SSDs, when they weren't as fast as they are now.  But, it made a more perceptible difference back then, than moving to the next incremental update of a video card.  Don't get me wrong, the video card is important to a point.  But, for CoH, the requirements aren't that high by today's standards.  Memory, a decent processor, and a faster internet connection will combine to make the real differences in this scenario IMHO.

[Cutter]

36 minutes ago, drdread said:

Well, CoH is a pretty old game. Most modern PCs with a descent CPU and memory should run it without an issue. For video cards, you don't need to break the bank. The big selling point of the newest nVidia cards is RTX, which CoH doesn't support. So an nVidia 1660 will do fine. If you get an AMD processor, some have a built-in Radeon graphics capabilites which would work too, but it will require more system memory.

 

The biggest bottleneck might be your internet speed.

 

Hope that helps.

Adding a question to this reply... I'm looking to upgrade my video card, and was looking at the new RTX line. If COH doesn't support them, what happens? Does the game "recognize" them as GTX or whatever equivalent? For reference I have a 1060 3GB right now, and my goal is to reduce the MSR/raid slideshow. Should I be looking at going up the 10xx tier instead of moving into the 20xx cards?

[Rathulfr]

If CoH is your only/primary game, then don't overspend on a "gaming" computer.  Those are usually overloaded and overpriced merely for bragging rights.  You should be able to get a decent Windows computer for around $750.  Don't spend more than $1,000 or less than $500.

 

Reasonable specs for that price would include an Intel i3 or i5 CPU (or AMD equivalent), 4 to 8 GB RAM, 256 to 512 GB SSD, and a nVidia or AMD video graphics card with 2 to 4 GB RAM.

 

(edit) To clarify: you can buy a new computer that will run CoH for less than $500, but it might not necessarily perform optimally.  For example, I bought a cheap AMD laptop for $350 that ran CoH just fine, but it only performed well at the lowest graphics settings.  I was able to bump up the graphics to medium, but then the frame rates started to suffer.  This was only because the integrated video chip set was very basic (AMD Vega 3).  The CPU and SSD performed perfectly well under load -- only the video wasn't quite up to snuff.  So you can get a cheap computer for CoH if you really want to.

 

(edit #2) I neglected to mention that I bought a used desktop computer for $500 that runs CoH flawlessly.  It's an HP Z230 Workstation that came with an Intel i5 CPU, 8GB RAM, a 256GB SDD, and a nVidia GTX 1050 Ti with 2GB vRAM.  I run CoH graphics all the way up on Ultra, and have no trouble with anything except MSR and Hami.

Edited November 5, 2019 by Rathulfr
Clarification

[Rathulfr]

3 minutes ago, Cutter said:

Adding a question to this reply... I'm looking to upgrade my video card, and was looking at the new RTX line. If COH doesn't support them, what happens? Does the game "recognize" them as GTX or whatever equivalent? For reference I have a 1060 3GB right now, and my goal is to reduce the MSR/raid slideshow. Should I be looking at going up the 10xx tier instead of moving into the 20xx cards?

The GTX 1060 is way more powerful than anyone ever dreamed was possible back in the early 2000s.  The MSR slideshow problem isn't your video card: it's the ancient CoH engine.  I don't think that upgrading hardware is going to help much, if at all.

[drdread]

31 minutes ago, Cutter said:

If COH doesn't support them, what happens? Does the game "recognize" them as GTX or whatever equivalent?

RTX is essentially a light renderer. It makes more dynamic and realistic light. It also improves the appearance and performance of translucent and reflective surfaces. If a game doesn't use RTX, then the card uses the older renderer. So a non-RTX game will look just as nice on a nVidia 2080ti as it will on a nVidia 1080ti. A game that does support RTX will look way better and perform better on an RTX supporting video card.

 

Will CoH ever support RTX?

Possibly, but don't hold your breath. There are some older games that got RTX support (like Quake2), but there was a team of developers that worked and were funded to add that functionality.

[Cutter]

1 hour ago, Rathulfr said:

The GTX 1060 is way more powerful than anyone ever dreamed was possible back in the early 2000s.  The MSR slideshow problem isn't your video card: it's the ancient CoH engine.  I don't think that upgrading hardware is going to help much, if at all.

Good to know. And since COH is basically the only game that I'm playing, I guess that saves me a few hundred bucks then.

27 minutes ago, drdread said:

RTX is essentially a light renderer. It makes more dynamic and realistic light. It also improves the appearance and performance of translucent and reflective surfaces. If a game doesn't use RTX, then the card uses the older renderer. So a non-RTX game will look just as nice on a nVidia 2080ti as it will on a nVidia 1080ti. A game that does support RTX will look way better and perform better on an RTX supporting video card.

 

Will CoH ever support RTX?

Possibly, but don't hold your breath. There are some older games that got RTX support (like Quake2), but there was a team of developers that worked and were funded to add that functionality.

Thanks for the edumacation! I am now smarter than I was when I woke up.

[Snarky]

All great info thanks. I love  the City community and this old game lol.  My other game is WoW.  Which I mostly solo on. For obvious reasons.  Will take the great advice into consideration as I shop

Edited November 5, 2019 by Snarky

[biostem]

Here's what I'd recommend:

 

1. Get a decent used tower as a starting point, (something like this).

2. Get a good quality SSD, (I lean toward Intel, Samsung, or OCZ).

3. While the 8GB that the tower comes with should be plenty, it wouldn't hurt to bump that up to 16GB or so.

4. Get a decent graphics card - something like a GTX 1060 can be had for about $150 new, or $110 used.

 

The above should run the game handsomely, without setting you back too much.

[Lost Ninja]

23 hours ago, Snarky said:

I am getting a new tower because I can. Do not want to overspend but want to make sure I can crank every graphic setting and get through a Ritki raid with no lag.  I am just like that

 

i am looking at something like cyberpower pc gamer extreme vr. Is there any hardware  floors I should make sure I get?   I am a truck driver not a computer builder. Thanks

I can run three clients at 1920x1080 in ultra at 60fps in normal content/Incarnate Raids/Teams/etc, I cannot run one client at 1920x1080 at regular graphics settings in a MSR without graphics lag. I have a Ryzen 1600/GTX 1060 6Gb/16Gb.

[Snarky]

Good to know. Thank you. I avoid MSR except for badges.  No help for it I see

[wasuber]

Have any of you tried the CEL shading option in advanced graphics settings? It looks cool plus it will double if not triple your frame rate. Just make sure you have good cooling 🙂 not for everyone but sometimes I turn it on for that cool comic traced look or for taking awesome screen shots. 

[Snarky]

I went with an early Black Friday sale item from Best Buy.  I did not shop a lot.  I hate shopping for high end items almost as much as I hate trying to install the razer devices and CoX and WoW and get everything is a working order.  Always stupid roadblocks

 

the comp I got is the Omen Obelisk 875-0034. It has intel i7-9700 a 1t harddrive a 256SSD and an Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti. 6gb. Cheap keyboard and mouse (already on a shelf ready to collect dust) and nothing else 899.  According to them this is a huge Black Friday sale.  Hopefully it will be smooth gaming for a couple years. Thanks for the tips

[drdread]

Nice. That should serve you well for CoH and other games. It ia VR ready too.

 

Imagine CoX on an occulus or vive? 😄

[Call Me Awesome]

6 hours ago, Snarky said:

I went with an early Black Friday sale item from Best Buy.  I did not shop a lot.  I hate shopping for high end items almost as much as I hate trying to install the razer devices and CoX and WoW and get everything is a working order.  Always stupid roadblocks

 

the comp I got is the Omen Obelisk 875-0034. It has intel i7-9700 a 1t harddrive a 256SSD and an Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti. 6gb. Cheap keyboard and mouse (already on a shelf ready to collect dust) and nothing else 899.  According to them this is a huge Black Friday sale.  Hopefully it will be smooth gaming for a couple years. Thanks for the tips

That should run COH as well as anything can.  How much system RAM?  The 6GB sounds like the video card, but if it's system RAM I'd upgrade.  For a computer today I'd look at 8GB system RAM as an absolute minimum and I'd recommend 16GB.  RAM is fairly cheap these days, a cursory glance at Amazon shows several options depending on what your motherboard uses in the $75-100 range.  Crucial, Mushkin, Corsair and G.Skill are all brands I'd recommend.

 

Most of what you're paying for in that machine is the CPU, it's frankly overkill unless you're doing some serious CPU work like video transcoding... for gaming it's WAY more than you need.  I make my living in Video Production and that CPU is actually more powerful than my current Video Transcode/Animation Rendering machine, admittedly my machine has 64GB of RAM.

[Hyperstrike]

Know you're looking at a custom box.

Here's a mass market box to use as a benchmark.

Dell G5 Desktop: $949/1000 (Baseline $849)
Base: i9 9700, 8GB RAM, GTX 1660

 

Option 1 (949): 256GB SSD, 2TB Drive
Option 2 ($1000): 512GB SSD, 1TB Drive

Also consider: Upgrading to 460W PSU for $20

If you're an OTR driver (and not a local), invest in the longest Premium Support Plus (includes accidental damage) you can afford.