40d Talk:System requirements

DF Doesn't Need a Fancy GPU

Even considering how DF uses OpenGL for graphics, an integrated card should have absolutely no problem displaying 2000 quads on screen.

I threw together a quick and dirty test app to render 2000 dwarf faces, and it can manage 100 FPS with just 18% CPU load. Without throttling I get 600 FPS with 80% CPU. That's on an integrated (GMA x3100) card. So, at least for Intel's GMA cards going back at least two years, the graphics should perform just fine.

So that's why I don't think it should be necessary to recommend a powerful discrete GPU, especially when the screen isn't updated very often.

--Jcromartie 13:31, 9 May 2008 (EDT)

It's specifically stated that an old GPU will work just fine. Just a bargain bin 25$ card would be sufficient for the purpose. A BIG reason for using a separate GPU is the fact that they will share resources, (Shared Memory *and* CPU Cycles,) which will quickly affect performance of the CPU, which DF is quite power-hungry for at this stage, (and many future stages as well I'm sure.) --Edward 19:39, 9 May 2008 (EDT)

Not to mention a seperate GPU takes ALL those 2000 quads off the processor. --Darkone 20:35, 12 May 2008 (EDT)

General Performance

I may be talking out of my butt here, and as a developer I can understand the challenges of (and reasons to avoid) optimization, but might it be time to start tuning DF? It uses 99% CPU on a 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo all the time. This is even the case when displaying the main menu or when paused.

Maybe this article can shed some light on why it uses so much CPU when it doesn't need to?

--Jcromartie 13:31, 9 May 2008 (EDT)

I can see where you're coming from, but being that the majority of the game has yet to even be programmed, it's far too early to begin real optimizations. Toady's made a few tweaks to do minor optimizations, so he's got it in mind, so far as it won't interfere with the many core and other items that still need to be added. Over half of the http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_core_1-20.html Core Components are still missing, and it's even farther from completion when looking at the http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_req_1-50.html Non-Core Required Components, a good number of which deal directly with optimization. --Edward 19:33, 9 May 2008 (EDT)

Dual Core

I believe it may be right to add back in a recommendation, but not for multiple cores but the processor itself. Someone made an erroneous edit in the history stating that a single core is usually faster then a dual- this is wrong, as the Core 2 architecture is Far more powerful then Pentium, though I do not have data for AMD processors. A Core running at a mere 1.86 gigahertz pulls in a 3000+ benchmark (cinebench) versus the lowly 1800-2000 of a 3 gigahertz pentium 4. Not to mention running DF on its own private core is probably the best thing you could do with it.--Darkone 10:45, 12 May 2008 (EDT)