Best deal for a computer that can run CoH?

[Garble]

I've heard people say that because the game is +6 years old and was already using older graphics then, that it should be easy to get a computer that can run this game.

 

But not knowing much about gaming in general, I wonder what specific requirements I need and what kind of models available have everything needed and how much that should cost.

 

Can anyone recommend a relatively inexpensive gaming computer/laptop that can run CoH smoothly?

 

Thank you.

[Lines]

Who said 6 years? We're about to celebrate the game's 15th anniversary.

 

I can't imagine there are very many machines on the market that would struggle to play this. Even computers that aren't specifically for gaming will be fine.

 

What sort of budget are you talking? You'll still want a machine that won't give up on you.

Edited December 28, 2019 by Lines

[AWOL]

Top tip: Don't try and play it with Intel integrated graphics.

[Apparition]

Any computer made in the past five years with a discrete AMD or Nvidia graphics card will do just fine.  As @AWOL said, avoid integrated graphics.

[drdread]

What's your budget? Here is an Asus gaming laptop at $649. The hardrive is a little small, but a good processor and video card.

 

There is also this HP laptop at $536 with a gtx1050 video card. Again, small storage, but the SSD will load up CoH levels faster.

Edited December 28, 2019 by drdread

[Garble]

Thanks, all.

 

For context, earlier this year I replaced my 10 year old iMac with a refurbished 7 year old iMac. This was one month before the leak came out.

[tidge]

I can't recommend chosing an AMD video card. I picked up an RX 560 (as a replacement for a card that had lasted 6 years) but it never worked well. As near as I can tell it was the AMD software, but it was a year of misery until I finally dumped it.

[Hyperstrike]

As noted, just about anything modern.  Even a multi-core i3 running highly clocked will run the game fine.
It's just recommended that you get a discrete graphics card.
AMD will generally work.  But not everyone likes them. 
Full disclosure: I'm in this crowd.  I've generally had better, more stable experiences with NVIDIA setups.
If you're trying for 1920x1080 at reasonable quality settings, pretty much ANYTHING in the last three generations of video card will work fine.
If you're looking for 4K+ gaming, look in the actual "gaming/enthusiast" class cards.

[boggo2300]

2 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

As noted, just about anything modern.  Even a multi-core i3 running highly clocked will run the game fine.
It's just recommended that you get a discrete graphics card.
AMD will generally work.  But not everyone likes them. 
Full disclosure: I'm in this crowd.  I've generally had better, more stable experiences with NVIDIA setups.
If you're trying for 1920x1080 at reasonable quality settings, pretty much ANYTHING in the last three generations of video card will work fine.
If you're looking for 4K+ gaming, look in the actual "gaming/enthusiast" class cards.

What he said!

[Call Me Awesome]

Absolutely, as long as it's relatively current technology and has a discrete graphics card you're good.  Even the newer Intel Integrated graphics are doable, I can play at 1920x1080 on my 5 year old MacBook Pro with Integrated graphics.  Granted it's a Core i7 running at 2.8GHz with 16GB RAM (I use it for video editing and webcasting) but it does work.  The game isn't pretty on it since lots of the advanced video features aren't supported but it's playable at 30fps or higher, I ran a few MSR's a couple months ago and avoided the slideshow even with over 100 players in the bowl.  Admittedly I didn't have 30fps then but it still was responsive.  (This was before the zone cap went into effect)

 

Frankly I'd look for a machine that does whatever else you want to do well, make sure it has a Graphics Card, Nvidia preferred, and a decent amount of RAM (8GB bare minimum).  An SSD is very nice to have as zones load much faster, get 256GB minimum in size.  If your budget allows the Asus or Alienware Gaming machines will be nice for most games you'd play on them, not just CoH.  My 16 year old Alienware 11" laptop can still play the game, albeit at basic settings... I tried it out a few months ago just for giggles.  I was also a bit impressed that it still worked, it hadn't been asked to be anything but a word processor in close to 10 years.

 

Chances are you'll want to play other games as well on occasion so if you can afford it get something that's up to current gaming standards.

[Soulo]

Realistically, you can spend $200-$300 and have a computer that wont struggle at all with coh. My pc cost me $300 and i can run 2 instances of coh with ease. Im seeing like $600.....for coh? Nah

[Number Six]

For people who are building a budget machine:

 

While NVIDIA cards usually work better, a 2-year-old Ryzen 3 2200 with integrated Vega 8 graphics runs the game quite smoothly. You can't turn on all of the fancy ultra mode options, but can get the important ones and for a casual player it works just fine. AMD graphics drivers aren't as good as NV's but are a lot less of a headache than say ... Intel's.

[tidge]

One of the more annoying features of the AMD Radeon RX 560 I experienced was that the AMD software wanted to do a LOT more than it should have, instead of only having the option to run the graphics. For example, the AMD drivers and software interfered with the standard audio features of my PC. There was no way to suppress this either! One of the surest ways to trigger issues with the AMD card was to have audio running independently of any audio associated with a game. I really cannot recommend AMD products for windows users.

[Bodai]

You know, the thing that AMAZES me is how well this game engine holds up after 15+ years, even against many current-day AAA games, short of maybe some VR or ray-traced stuff that can be pretty amazing.

 

It still can and does look beautiful.  I run it on an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (11GB RAM), this is still about an $800 video card. 

I am running it at UHD with all the details and extras turned up as much as I want.  Although you don't have to because at that resolution things like AA and AF don't really make much of a difference, especially not beyond low levels.

 

So, it is true that quite an old computer with a modest discrete graphics card will play the game fine.  But pretty much the better your machine, the better it will look (up to a point).  As others have said, just get something that you might use to play other stuff today and it will be able to do this also.  I think even my machine is only about 90% to the point where you could literally turn everything up all the way and still get 60+ fps, but I think it would be hard to tell the difference side-by-side anyways.

 

You *CAN* run into trouble if you don't configure things right on a non-high-end machine, especially on big events with hundreds of people or even some league raids.  Always start with a refresh rate of 60 fps or more, and turn the settings up slowly until the framerate is affected, or it looks good to you, whichever comes first.  I think there are plenty of tweaking guides.

 

But, I am certainly an outlier, most people's standards are quite low.  Look at WoW, played by something north of 10M players and the graphics look like bad VHS copy of the flinstones.

 

-Bodai