Update: Watch Dogs Won't Run on 32-Bit Windows

[Arif_Sohaib]

I know AMD has a better budget range while Intel has better Hing-end stuff but AMD has no suppliers in Pakistan.

Ah see now that makes sense. Regardless, if you're building on a budget you may benefit from going for the older 1155 socket since the latest generation only gives about a 3-6% improvement with similarly rated processors. Whatever you go for as long as you're relying on an i3 you're probably going to have trouble getting this particular game to run...they're pretty weak for gaming and only have two cores.

What about future-proofing? (buy Haswell low-end now and upgrade to Haswell i7 or i5 later)
If I had a motherboard for 1155, I would go for that one but I have 775 now.
And Core i3 is virtually a quad core.

 

[votemarvel]

Damn and I've only just upgraded to a Intel i5-3330.

I do have a dual boot system though. 32-bit Windows XP where I spend most of my time and a 64-bit Windows 7 for when I want to take advantage of the 8gb of RAM in my PC.

Dear god why would you dual boot a 32 bit os?

Why not?

I have four hard drives in my PC. An 120GB SSD for Windows 7. A 160gb hard drive for Windows XP and two 1tb hard drives (one for My Documents and installed games. The other for media, downloads and my OS images.)

So it isn't as if I am hurting for hard drive space.

 

[sneakypenguin]

So, does that mean my i5 3750K (or was it 3570K) processor is worthless here?

probably not i'm pretty sure intel quad cores still smoke amd 8 cores. (definitly on a per thread basis) Plus you can OC that i5 easy. Only reason I could see needing an octacore pc is if they just bomb the pc development.

 

[lacktheknack]

Whelp, looks like I know where my scholarship money is going.

I may hold off a bit first... Maybe i9 will be released.

 

[spwatkins]

Geez they really are trying to get people to DOWNgrade to that Vista/7/8 trilogy of crap!

Or wait... Would it work on 64-bit XP? Maybe I could get those.

Valve needs to hurry up with that gaming Linux of theirs. I'm tired of all these broken windows.

I would have to disagree with that (somewhat). While Vista was terrible and Windows 8 seems unnecessary, I think that Windows 7 is the best version of Windows that Microsoft has come out with so far (and I've used most of them, including a Windows 2.X release).

 

[KeyMaster45]

Whoo! I meet the minimum requirements, just barely but still whoo! Annoyingly though it highlights my prediction that I'd probably have to start upgrading parts in my computer by the time the 5 year mark of it's life span got closer. I've only got 6gigs of ram and my typical system functions (Windows 7)take up at least 2 of that. Four gigs to run this game is really going to be pushing it, but I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best.

 

[Doom972]

I don't plan on getting this game, but I'm guessing that it's not the only one that will have this sort of requirements.

Does anyone know if an i7 quad core with hyperthreading counts as 8-cores for the purpose of gaming? If so, it looks like I'll only need to upgrade my graphics card for next-gen games.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Shit, that's a lot.

I wonder how much I'd have to lower the settings for my Integrated-Graphics-Duel-Core Laptop to run it at atleast 20-30 fps. Might look into finally picking up a decent fucking computer for a change.

 

[Rack]

Damn it, I knew when I bought that i5 2500k last year it would become obsolete fast. Ah well, no point running this at 15fps on minimum so I guess I should hold on for a PS4 version.

Close, but I think you'll find that in Intel the only thing that fits is nothing. There are no 8 core Core processors, even i7 only goes up to six [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_core_i7_processors], and they haven't even bothered with that many with the Haswell architecture.

So really, the claim that this is the recommended requirements is just plain stupid. Virtually no-one has an 8-core CPU because it's virtually impossible to find one even if you want to. Even AMD only sell a couple of 8-cores, and since they tended to score worse than Intel CPUs, and even some previous AMD ones, on benchmarks, not many people looking for a high-end gaming machine will have them. Even Crysis had fairly sensible recommended specs, it was just capable of making use of a lot more if you happened to have it. Setting recommended specs that a tiny fraction of potential customers can meet is just stupid.

Stupid maybe, but at least they're being honest. Since the new consoles have 8 cores it's going to be a hard requirement for PC games going forward. Until someone actually releases a decent 8-core it's going to be a bumpy ride.

The new consoles will use some of those cores for stuff like the OS and game recording, plus they are clocked below 2Ghz (PS3 is 1.6 I believe, don't quote me on this though). This means that ANY basic 6 core PC CPU will be enough for gaming for years to come.

Personally I think it's just marketing - to make it seem like it's "true next-gen". Kinda like the TW: Shogun 2, which runs on a crappy single-core CPU, but somehow has an i7 listed as a recommended requirement.

I hope you're right here, we're basically looking at opposite forms of cynicism here. Don't forget though that Windows will use a lot more processing power than the consoles' OS and that companies hate optimising PC games. I have no idea if it will be straightforward to use a 3ghz core in place of 2 1.6 ghz cores but if it isn't then it will never happen, games will just lazily use 2.5 ghz of each core to do the job of 1.6ghz work (poor optimisation) and run slowly if there aren't any more cores available. Sooner or later that 6 core is not going to cut it, not unless it breaks the 10ghz barrier. As time goes on you'll just need a more ad more powerful PC (how well will an 8 year old computer run Bioshock Infinite?)

 

[The White Hunter]

8-core?
In Intel the only thing that fits that is the Core i7, even i5 is Quad Core, i3 is Dual Core with Hyperthreading.
Can it only work well on AMD then?
Rest of the requirements are kind of reasonable for a next-gen game.

AMD's Octo-cores really work more like 4 pairs of almost-a-core. It's bizarre. But performance wise an intel quad core is usually superior to the equivelant 8 core AMD in lightly threaded tasks like gaming. Not to mention the graphics card is likely much more important.

If you have an i5 and a 670 you'll be just fine with it.

 

[The White Hunter]

Eight cores? What's that make, an Intel Xeon Server CPU?

I mean, you can't get more than 6 cores from Intel's desktop lines atm...
Do they mean 4 cores with hyperthreading = 8 threads, or am I missing something?

They mean an AMD FX 8320 or higher, and haven't thought about the intels for some reason (vast majority of the PC market runs on intel). An i5 will likely be adequate. Or hell, if not, maybe the next gen of intel platforms will see an Octo-core i5 and a hyper threaded Octo-core i7, because fuck it.

To be fair if I had the money I'd probably game on Xeon.

 

[ForumSafari]

Well if you'll kindly donate a copy of windows 7 I would have it, as it stands I'm running windows XP. Other people can donate the rest, it's not easy to keep up with technology when you're disabled and don't have a job.

I'm sympathetic, paying for an upgrade really sucks. What's the state of the rest of your system if you don't mind me asking?

 

[major_chaos]

Well then, nice to see my $1000+ one year old PC is already outdated. I guess I know where my Christmas money is going. Stupid real life gear treadmill.

 

[Xan Krieger]

Well if you'll kindly donate a copy of windows 7 I would have it, as it stands I'm running windows XP. Other people can donate the rest, it's not easy to keep up with technology when you're disabled and don't have a job.

I'm sympathetic, paying for an upgrade really sucks. What's the state of the rest of your system if you don't mind me asking?

It was built maybe 3 years ago, back when I still wasn't sold on windows 7 so I basically decided to push XP to its limits.

Quad core AMD 2.66Ghz
4GB RAM
1 160GB harddrive for my documents, music, and other small things, 1 1.5TB harddrive for my games
ATI Radeon HD 4800 series graphics card with 1GB memory

Lets me play a lot of games like Shogun 2 Total War (even modded so the unit sizes are twice what they would normally be), Crysis and Crysis 2, the Mass Effect series, Saints Row the Third, and GTA IV. Unfortunately for me support of XP ended quicker than I expected so now there's games like Far Cry 3, Saints Row 4, and ARMA 3 that need vista or newer.

 

[8bitmaster]

Geez they really are trying to get people to DOWNgrade to that Vista/7/8 trilogy of crap!

Or wait... Would it work on 64-bit XP? Maybe I could get those.

Valve needs to hurry up with that gaming Linux of theirs. I'm tired of all these broken windows.

I would have to disagree with that (somewhat). While Vista was terrible and Windows 8 seems unnecessary, I think that Windows 7 is the best version of Windows that Microsoft has come out with so far (and I've used most of them, including a Windows 2.X release).

I agree. As someone has used all 3 of them, and XP, I have to say 7 fixed all the real issues vista had while keeping everything intact. Vista wasn't really all that bad, just bloated with unnecessary issues that got fixed in 7. Also, I hope you weren't planning on keeping XP for very long anyways as support for it ends next year. I don't even want to go in what's wrong with 8.

(btw, my main operating system is arch linux anyways)

OT: You know, i'm ok with this. I was worried it wasn't going to live up to expectations going into the end of the lifespan of this console generation, but maybe it'll turn out to be the powerhouse of a game we all hoped. 8gb of ram and a hexacore will be plenty.

 

[Dessembrae]

8-core?
In Intel the only thing that fits that is the Core i7, even i5 is Quad Core, i3 is Dual Core with Hyperthreading.
Can it only work well on AMD then?
Rest of the requirements are kind of reasonable for a next-gen game.

Actually the most cores you will find in the i7's is 6 (with hyper treading that makes 12 threads of course but not the same ting.)

OT: seems I maybe should start thinking about upgrading my GPU for this gen games, but I'll be fine for a year or two I think

 

[Arif_Sohaib]

Ubisoft did a really bad job explaining this or its the fault of this article but a Core i 7 will run this perfectly fine because it is 8 or 12 core.
Hyperthreading means that it executes two threads on the same core at the same time.
The reason you need multi-cores is because you want to do multiple tasks at the same time.
In case of AC 4, you need 8 hings at one time and Core i7 can do that.
I had a full 4.0 GPA in Computer Architecture last semester, I know a few things about it and a Core i7 will be fine.
And I just remembered the biggest issue with multi-cores, that is stalling. Stalling is waiting for one thread to complete its job because the other's either depends on it or it uses some of the same pieces of hardware.

My original comment here was kind making fun of their use of the word 8-core because as many of you know, that term is officially usable for a few AMD processors only.

In conclusion if you have an i7, you are fine. Also an i5 will work too but may be a bit laggy, you can turn off some of the CPU intensive features and it will be fine.
I still remember the first Assassin's Creed being the first game to require Core 2 Duo so this shouldn't surprise anyone who has been into PC gaming for a bit.

 

[Griffolion]

-snip-

It's a bit of a silly recommendation, more than likely so they can cover their arse with any performance issues in the wild.

Put this up against an I3 with plenty of fast memory with a decent GPU and it will work fine.

-snip-

Agreed. The other thing I truly don't understand is the bandwagon hate for Windows 8. It's technically superior in every single way to Windows 7. The Metro UI, if you don't like it, is worked around very easily. Even so, it has some features that make it invaluable, like the searching functionality. I can get into any program quicker with Windows 8 than I ever could with the Windows 7 start menu system. Everything works as it should, but faster and stabler.