DICE says some upcoming Frostbite 2 games will require 64-bit OS

[Marlindoz]

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<p>Wasn't the use of more than 4 gigs of ram the only benefict of a 64bits s.o?</p>

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<p>That's the main benefit. I think this implies that these games simply need a lot of RAM. The real limitation for software is 3GB (and even that is somewhat of a hack, as it's normally 2GB). I find it a little funny because the console versions do with a lot less RAM, and a lot of people complain that PC games are nothing but console conversions.</p>

You can't really compare consoles and PC's in that sense. Consoles manage with less RAM cause every Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 are the same. Developers can optimize games because they know exactly what hardware it's going to run and which software will be running in the background.

However, PC's have a pretty much unlimited number of combinations of hardware and software. You could be running a dual core CPU, a 64-bit OS with 24GB RAM and an overclocked videocard or you could be running a quad core, 32-bit OS, 4GB of ram and a budget/HTPC card.

TL;DR
Consoles have no variables, PC's do.

 

[gwailo247]

I'm glad DICE is pushing progress forward, so little has happend in PC gaming for the last 5 years it makes me sad
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That's very true. I noticed that the impetus to upgrade my hardware, be it CPU or video card, has always been some game. I remember that Oblivion made me buy essentially a new computer, I upgraded my video card to run Civ V (don't judge me). If one of these "killer" titles requires 64 bits, and the game is a must have, then people will upgrade.

A improvement of 20% in speed is not going to get your average person to spend a few hundred bucks to improve their computer, as its hard to put a price on such a gradual increase for most people "20% for $300...nah, its fine now". But if you present them with a binary option of a) upgrade or b) you can't play it at all, people will probably reconsider plopping down the money and utter the phrase "I needed a new computer anyway..."

 

[Guest]

hold on... didnt they stop making 32 bit processors years ago? I dont even look for this information when purchasing... its just always there...

 

[Puiu]

it's about the OS. Computers with less than 4GB of RAM still sell with a 32bit OS installed because 64bit eats up a bit more ram.
Many people have 2-3 GB of ram and they only need to change the OS to make the game work. (although I'm not sure it will work at max settings)

 

[Guest]

"Business have only just started to move to win7, now theres win8?"

Think of Windows as what Apple and Google already do, offer newer OS for newer technologies, while keeping odler OS for existing and older hardware. Microsoft doesn't have a pure "keep only 1 OS option" on their products, they have kept XP and server 2003 alive for this reason. Likewise Windows 7 (which is now the new "XP") will be usable and supported for many years to come; While the rest of us that like the latest and greatest Hardware & OS can play with Win8/Win9/etc to take advantage of that new features.

Someone with a desktop doesn't "need" windows 8. However someone with a newer x86 slate or convertible tablet/notebook could clearly benefit from windows 8.

It's not so different than Linux, one version is consider LTS stable, other is a brand new distro or alpha quality, another distro for supporting really bleeding edge stuff.

 

[MrBungle]

<p>Yep.for today's and tomorrow's gaming desktops, we need to dump 32bit OS and also the same tried windows 95 desktop metaphor. It's almost 20yrs and I can't believe people can't evolve beyond the "start" button.</p>

It really is crazy. I guess I'm just backwards preferring to launch my app(lications) without the handholding of a full screen menu built for people too technically illiterate to understand a directory structure or mulitasking.

 

[Guest]

I sold an Athlon 64 3200+ to a friend and installed Windows 7 64bit just for testing, surprisingly it works well with 2Gigs of RAM, could say it was really future proof

My brother's PC is also an Athlon 5500+ with win 7 64bit and a 3850 AGP on it and works pretty fine

Only some atoms out there are not 64bit capable nowadays even some pentium D's have EMT64

I find the 64bit build of windows more than stable, even the crappy Vista worked a lot better in 64bit version rather than the 32bit

 

[Guest]

I just need weight on my weapons....just like Killzone 3 for the PS3 console