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TDM 2.10+ & PC’s hardware 2022


acolyte6

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Hi guys,

I’m going out desktop shopping today. Not building my own no more. 
What should I be looking for with processor & ghz? Sdd &/or hdd & what size(s)? Ram?    Nvidia is obvious, but ram for that?

Thanks for any suggestions?

(Not on my machine, In Europé, but it works excellent )

My hobby built desktop is: XFX Play Hard-nVidia nForce 790i Ultra SLI

Onboard is:

CPU: Intel Socket 775

VGA: nVidia GeForce EVGA GTX-260

RAM: DDRIII 16Gb

HDD: 2 Tb

OS: 64bit Win 8.1

All service packs and latest drivers installed.

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The TDM team is always working to optimize future releases and it is our hope that CPU requirements won't grow much if at all since TDM 2.0. So your hardware requirements are going to be mostly defined by the ambitions of mission authors.

Based on @peter_spy , it appears that Briarwood Manor can have smooth 60 FPS with a Coffee Lake Core i7 8700 and Geforce GTX 1060. So for the latest hardware, you can probably get any Intel Core product with 4 or more cores and 2.8GHZ or higher CPU clocks. For AMD you can go with something like a Ryzen 3 3300X or Ryzen 5 5500.

You should definitely get an SSD. The load time improvements in 2.10 are significant even with an HDD but SSD will still drastically improve things for missions with lots of custom textures and models. You should have at least 8GB of RAM.

A GPU with at least 4GB of VRAM should be fine even if you want to play at native 4K ( no upscaling \ renderscale 1.0 ). The main factor for GPU performance will be fill-rate performance. Shadow Mapping mode may increase VRAM requirements a bit though, so if you plan to run at 4K with Shadow Mapping then aim higher than 4GB VRAM.

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In my laptop allmost all misions are working flawless with a min FPS of 30-40, except of some of the last. F.Exmpl Lucys Quest is nearly unplayable for me with a FPS ~10, others of the newer ones are playable but also with a low FPS which make it very difficult for a good experience. Hidden Hands serie are working reasonable well, also The Black Mage and The Painters Wife, huge missions which I can play with a good FPS 

Sys Specs (Obviously not a NASA PC)

Windows 10  Home 21H2 19044.1806

Processors
    AMD A9-9425 RADEON R5, 5 COMPUTE CORES 2C+3G   
        Cores: 2
        Threads: 2
        Virtualization: Yes
        Data Execution Prevention: Yes
        L2 Cache: 1.02 MB
        L3 Cache: 0 b
        Stepping: AMD64 Family 21 Model 112 Stepping 0
        Revision: 28672
Memory
    channel a
        Manufacturer: Samsung
        Size: 8 GiB
        Memory Type: Unknown
        Speed: 2133 MHz
        Form Factor: SODIMM
   Virtual Memory
        Total: 8.45 GiB
        Available : 4.82 GiB
        Used: 3.64 GiB
Graphics
    AMD Radeon(TM) R5 Graphics
        Video Memory: 0.5 GiB
        Video Memory Type: Unknown
        DAC Type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
        Current Resolution: 1920 x 1080
        Current Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
    Radeon(TM) 530
        Video Memory: 2 GiB
        Video Memory Type: Unknown
        DAC Type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
        Current Resolution: 0 x 0
        Current Refresh Rate: 0 Hz
 
    LENOVO
        System: 81MT
        Chipset: Controladora SATA AHCI estándar
        Product: LNVNB161216
        Model: 
        Version: SDK0J40709 WIN
        Revision: 
    BIOS
        Manufacturer: LENOVO
        Manufacturer: 8ZCN27WW(V2.06)
        Version: LENOVO - 1
        Build Number: 
Storage
    Disk 
        SAMSUNG MZ7LN256HAJQ-000L2
            Size: 256.05 GB
            Firmware Revision: MVT04L0Q
            Media Type: Fixed hard disk media SSD
            Bytes/Sector: 512
   
        

Edited by Zerg Rush

Sys Specs Laptop Lenovo V145 15AST, AMD A9- 9425 Radeon R5 - 5 cores 3,1 GHz  RAM 8Gb, GPU 1+2 Gb -Win10 64 v21H2

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I can play any TDM mission on 144 FPS (my monitor's refresh rate) on full details with this hardware: 

As has been mentioned here, TDM especially seems to benefit from the GPU. Get something along the performance of the RTX 3060/3060 Ti, and you'll be fine.

BTW, playing in 144 Hz absolutely rocks. Everything looks so realistic compared to the 60 Hz of my old monitor. :) It really makes a difference, it's just smoother.

Edited by chakkman
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6 hours ago, chakkman said:

As has been mentioned here, TDM especially seems to benefit from the GPU. Get something along the performance of the RTX 3060/3060 Ti, and you'll be fine.

BTW, playing in 144 Hz absolutely rocks. Everything looks so realistic compared to the 60 Hz of my old monitor. :) It really makes a difference, it's just smoother.

I was going to say that an RTX 3060/3060 Ti would be totally overkill for TDM, but I guess if you enable soft shadows and set its quality to high, ambient occlusion to high and are actually running at 144 Hz and playing the latest, most graphically intensive missions... then maybe it makes more sense.

Which is kind of amusing to me for an engine that is based off of a 2004 game (and yes I'm quite aware the engine has advanced considerably more than what Doom 3 could do, so leave me alone. :))

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A word of warning, Agent Denton. This was a simulated experience; real LAMs will not be so forgiving.

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The performance problems must have other reasons, which perhaps have to do with some optimization errors, since I have other games that are graphically equivalent and even superior that run smoothly on my small laptop with 50-60FPS (Tomb Raider 2013, Black Messiah, Call of Juarez, etc.), on the other hand I see some games that I have tried of Steam, with quite simple graphics, which were almost impossible for me to play, for having an FPS that seemed like a slide show.

TDM is graphically quite advanced, but not to the degree that you need a high-end, liquid-cooled gaming PC to run reasonably well. As @Xolvix said, TDM, based on a 2004 game, currently maybe 2010, normally it shouldn't have problems running on a current PC, even if it's mid/low range.

Edited by Zerg Rush

Sys Specs Laptop Lenovo V145 15AST, AMD A9- 9425 Radeon R5 - 5 cores 3,1 GHz  RAM 8Gb, GPU 1+2 Gb -Win10 64 v21H2

Favorite online apps you may like too 😉

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7 hours ago, Xolvix said:

Which is kind of amusing to me for an engine that is based off of a 2004 game (and yes I'm quite aware the engine has advanced considerably more than what Doom 3 could do, so leave me alone. :))

I recently saw a video on Youtube where someone played an older mission on an older TDM version (think the video was from 2012 or so). I was quite surprised how much better TDM looks in 2022. You don't notice it, if you regularly play it, and update from version to version. Well, at least I didn't notice it.

I wouldn't need any game to look better than TDM. IMO, people put WAY too much focus on the visuals today, while neglecting things which really make games fun to play. Most of nowadays' games are better grahpics demos for me. Impressive tech, but a gameplay which is thinner than a slice of crisp bread.

Edited by chakkman
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I'm currently running a Ryzen 5900X and Nvidia 1080ti, and in Iris I'm getting around 160-200 fps with almost all settings cranked.

On my main desktop, I'm using an Intel 12700k and Radeon 6800XT and get about 200-240 fps on Iris with same settings.

 

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I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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9 hours ago, chakkman said:

I recently saw a video on Youtube where someone played an older mission on an older TDM version (think the video was from 2012 or so). I was quite surprised how much better TDM looks in 2022. You don't notice it, if you regularly play it, and update from version to version. Well, at least I didn't notice it.

I wouldn't need any game to look better than TDM. IMO, people put WAY too much focus on the visuals today, while neglecting things which really make games fun to play. Most of nowadays' games are better grahpics demos for me. Impressive tech, but a gameplay which is thinner than a slice of crisp bread.

 

The thing is that you don't get hardware just to match what you can play today. Hardware can cost so much that you want it to perform for you tomorrow, and well into the future. Get a CPU that will run Windows 11 and beyond, that means no pre 7th Gen Intel CPUs and nothing that is unable to render ray tracing. Tomorrows games are just going to get more and more demanding, including TDM, so you want something beefy now to cover your cakes for the next generation.

 

 

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34 minutes ago, Shadow said:

 

The thing is that you don't get hardware just to match what you can play today. Hardware can cost so much that you want it to perform for you tomorrow, and well into the future. Get a CPU that will run Windows 11 and beyond, that means no pre 7th Gen Intel CPUs and nothing that is unable to render ray tracing. Tomorrows games are just going to get more and more demanding, including TDM, so you want something beefy now to cover your cakes for the next generation.

True. That was also the plan with my current PC. Mainly to be able to Starfield if it's being released... not too many games I really wait for though.

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2 hours ago, Shadow said:

 

The thing is that you don't get hardware just to match what you can play today. Hardware can cost so much that you want it to perform for you tomorrow, and well into the future. Get a CPU that will run Windows 11 and beyond, that means no pre 7th Gen Intel CPUs and nothing that is unable to render ray tracing. Tomorrows games are just going to get more and more demanding, including TDM, so you want something beefy now to cover your cakes for the next generation.

 

 

The problem is, if today you buy a PC for tomorrow's demands, 2 things usually happen, PCs with these characteristics turn out to be not so much, coming to tomorrow, still falling short, although somewhat later.
Or, as mentioned, the software becomes even more demanding, in an effort to show in the game's  AI every last pimple and hair on their faces, for commercial reasons and leaving the game itself in a go from point A made a point B, forgetting about complex plots that make the game more interesting using a 80% of the Gigas for the graphics. Examples are the old shooters, with very complicated maps and many current shooters with completely linear maps, but with graphics that allow you to fry an egg on top of the GPU as a result.


I think, as the current graphics are in TDM and the ones I mentioned before, they are more than enough, because they offer a plot and gameplay that guarantee fun, even if the AIs do not have the realism like real actors, taken from a movie, what isn't so important in a good game.

In our consumerist society this does not only happen in soft and games, but also in many movies, where a good script is replaced by spectacular special effects, Books sold as 'Bestsellers' in luxury bindings, which are a mediocre brick, smartphones every half a year a new one, with 20 Mp cameras, 8k, to take a selfie and new functions that nobody needs, with most people using it to post on WhatsApp and play CandyCrush.


We are falling into a trap that makes us lose sight of the essentials of what the things we use should contribute.

 

Edited by Zerg Rush
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Sys Specs Laptop Lenovo V145 15AST, AMD A9- 9425 Radeon R5 - 5 cores 3,1 GHz  RAM 8Gb, GPU 1+2 Gb -Win10 64 v21H2

Favorite online apps you may like too 😉

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3 hours ago, madtaffer said:

Does Dark mod work on new Intel's GPUs?

Drivers and continued support has always been Intel's Achilles heel. We'll see, they poached some world class people from a bunch of companies.

I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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