Crysis Branded PC Revealed - $699!

[H.Bogard]

Chris Remo of Gamesetwatch recently had a chance to check out the official Crysis-branded PC's at EA. Crytek has guaranteed that these budget PC's will be able to run the upcoming Warhead on high settings with great framerates. Here's what the man reports, and as it sounds... its apparently more than a marketing gimmick:
In my original post, I pegged the price to be between $600 and $800; as it turns out, it’s almost exactly in between, at $699, and it will apparently be coming in a single SKU. It will be sold by UltraPC (http://ultrapc.com/), and unveiled by EA. Crytek, Nvidia, EA, and UltraPC were all involved.
And the specs are... *drumroll*:
Though I don’t have every nitty gritty hardware detail, I did get the machine’s most important specs:
- CPU: Intel Core Duo e7300 (http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLAPB) (@2.66GHz)
- Video card: Nvidia 9800GT (http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_9800gt_us.html)
- RAM: 2GB
Read more details here on how this came about. (http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2008/09/the_remo_files_the_crysis_warh.php)

[Homes]

That's a reasonable price. My first custom PC was about $600.

[Varsity]

That's around £350 then?

[Klade]

The second most powerful card nvidia makes can run Crysis on high settings, an engine mind you thats a year old.

Geewiz ya think?

I however still don't have a computer that can compare with that one.

[H.Bogard]

The second most powerful card nvidia makes can run Crysis on high settings, an engine mind you thats a year old.

Geewiz ya think?

I however still don't have a computer that can compare with that one.

A year old 8800GT can run that year old engine on high settings just as well... Didn't your mommy teach you not to rant on topics you don't know jack shit about?

[bryan]

The second most powerful card nvidia makes can run Crysis on high settings, an engine mind you thats a year old.

Geewiz ya think?

I however still don't have a computer that can compare with that one.

I don't think how old the engine is matters. It still looks great, and so does the Unreal Engine 3. And as long as Crysis holds the crown for most demanding engine, I think having it as a brand is meant to say the system kicks ass.

[bryan]

Isn't the GT260 the second most powerful?

[muddi900]

700 bucks seems good. Though you can build one yours self for cheaper. Add a better graphic card and you get a better system. I've an extremely similar system, I haven't tried Crysis on it yet, because I am too addicted to mass effect. Its not working out for my life very well as it is.

[Itchyeyes]

Isn't the GT260 the second most powerful?
4th actually. Current video cards rank about like this:

HD4870X2
GTX280
HD4870
GTX260
9800GTX+
HD4950/9800GTX

[trip1eX]

IT's about time they do something like this.

It's a great idea. Plus they actually used this thing as their "test" machine.

And smart to keep it at just one sku.

[scythe]

4th actually. Current video cards rank about like this:

HD4870X2
GTX280
HD4870
GTX260
9800GTX+
HD4950/9800GTX

Forgetting the 9800GX2? Plus he was just talking about nVidia cards.

Anyway, the point is that the 9800GT is a very similar card to the 8800GT, and nowhere NEAR nVidia's or ATI's top of the line cards.

[fitbabits]

I'm in the market for a new PC, so this may just be the $700 ticket for me.

[NationalKato]

I'm in the market for a new PC, so this may just be the $700 ticket for me.

I'm with you. I don't have the know-how to build my own and I really don't want to pay Alienware prices for a good gaming rig.

[fitbabits]

I'm with you. I don't have the know-how to build my own and I really don't want to pay Alienware prices for a good gaming rig.

Yeah. I have knowledge and skills to build my own (have done in the past), but I no longer have the patience...

[NationalKato]

Yeah, I've built my own PCs since I was 14. Unfortunately, adult life means I can no longer stay on top of all the changes in PC tech and brands. So now I'm just another schlub in retail. :(

[Methos]

I remember scouring HAM radio fleamarkets (they called them HAMfests) for great deals on computer parts. Every year I'd build up a new system with the latest. 286s, VGA monitors, Roland MIDI! Now I'd much rather plunk down that 700 dollars for the convenience of it.
Computers and automobiles have similarities; you can spend the 30000$ US for that brand-new badass Mustang, or get something reasonable for $8000. That $4000 Alienware looks like it will melt your brain, but a 6-9 hundred dollar one with a new videocard will work just fine.

[vherub]

this is testament to how great prices have been the last 12 months for ram, video cards and cpus.
doesn't say what the mobo or power unit is, so it could be a dog, especially for overclocking, which would be a shame since the 7300 oc's well

[Evil Avatar]

While it runs Warhead on high settings, it does so at only 30 fps about half what most fps gamers consider a reasonable framerate. That means major slowdowns when the action gets going.

[H.Bogard]

While it runs Warhead on high settings, it does so at only 30 fps about half what most fps gamers consider a reasonable framerate. That means major slowdowns when the action gets going.

RTFA. They tested the game on this PC throughout the development, whenever there was any sign of slowdown on this very PC, they tweaked the game to make it run faster... never below 30 FPS.

Evil's posts in a PC game thread = Swiss army.

[Ghostbear]

While it runs Warhead on high settings, it does so at only 30 fps about half what most fps gamers consider a reasonable framerate. That means major slowdowns when the action gets going.

A little reading goes a long way.

[Claus DuBois]

While it runs Warhead on high settings, it does so at only 30 fps about half what most fps gamers consider a reasonable framerate. That means major slowdowns when the action gets going.

Warhead must be less harsh on systems than Crysis then, because based on the multitude of the card reviews I've seen, not even the top cards out (even the 280 & the 4870 x2) get you much past 30 fps average for Crysis at high settings & 1920 x 1200 up.

[Venkman]

Warhead must be less harsh on systems than Crysis then, because based on the multitude of the card reviews I've seen, not even the top cards out (even the 280 & the 4870 x2) get you much past 30 fps average for Crysis at high settings & 1920 x 1200 up.

Cue the person who will say "on my system with blah blah blah I play at supermax 1920x1080 with full AA and FX with no slowdowns, something must be wrong with your system."

Wait for it. You know they are out there.

[H.Bogard]

Cue the person who will say "on my system with blah blah blah I play at supermax 1920x1080 with full AA and FX with no slowdowns, something must be wrong with your system."

Wait for it. You know they are out there.

I love it when people who don't know anything about hardware rant on it. Those are actually pretty decent results for the cards, given the amount of eye-candy that Crysis produces.

[Disgustipated]

Crytek et al fails for putting the 9800 GT in this rig. It's just a fucking rebranded 8800 GT.

They should have put a 9800 GTX+ or Radeon 4850 in there.

[Venkman]

I love it when people who don't know anything about hardware rant on it. Those are actually pretty decent results for the cards, given the amount of eye-candy that Crysis produces.

I wasn't ranting about hardware, but OK. I think EA's PC is an awesome idea.

[H.Bogard]

Crytek et al fails for putting the 9800 GT in this rig. It's just a fucking rebranded 8800 GT.

They should have put a 9800 GTX+ or Radeon 4850 in there.

The rig is marketed by Intel and Nvidia... no chance for Radeons.
Though I agree, why wasn't AMD spamming their fucking phones and mailboxes to grab the endorsement throne? This would've been the perfect platform to market the 4870's.

[Wackman3000]

While it runs Warhead on high settings, it does so at only 30 fps about half what most fps gamers consider a reasonable framerate. That means major slowdowns when the action gets going.

Most serious PC FPS gamers also wouldn't be running out to buy a Crysis PC either, since they'd clearly have rigs that make their "OMGZ 60FPS" so the action is sans slowdown.

And from what I've read, they have really done much optimizing to the engine since Crysis' release, so I expect even those with 8800GT's getting solid framerates at solid settings.

Don't forget that in the Cryengine2 you can also tweak every GFX setting in game for those who really want to optimize or tweak to squeeze out every bit of either performance, beauty or a combination of the two.

[biosc1]

While it runs Warhead on high settings, it does so at only 30 fps about half what most fps gamers consider a reasonable framerate. That means major slowdowns when the action gets going.

Personally, I don't mind a consistent 30FPS. That used to be the goal to achieve back in the GL Quake days. Of course, if it can't maintain 30FPS, it'll definitely be noticeable compared to a game running at 60FPS dipping to 50 or 40FPS.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

I'm going to (possibly) be getting a new rig around the end of the year, and something like this is pretty tempting. It'd be cool to build my own, but I'm pretty sure I don't have the patience for it.

[Disgustipated]

I'm going to (possibly) be getting a new rig around the end of the year, and something like this is pretty tempting. It'd be cool to build my own, but I'm pretty sure I don't have the patience for it.

Don't, this thing is a clunker.

[Furious Wang]

Don't, this thing is a clunker.

Yes. 2gigs of ram in a 700$ machine is pretty inexcusable. And what's with Bogard running around sucking crydick? The game really isn't worth defending at that level of asshattery.

[scythe]

Yes. 2gigs of ram in a 700$ machine is pretty inexcusable. And what's with Bogard running around sucking crydick? The game really isn't worth defending at that level of asshattery.

He's not being an asshat. I think it's pretty obvious that many people wrote off the whole game as a glorified tech demo that requires 8 GPUs to run. That's pretty maddening for people like Bogard, myself, and many others who actually played the game the whole way through with our 8800GTs or equivalent cards at perfectly acceptable framerates and really enjoyed it.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Don't, this thing is a clunker.

I wouldn't get this particular PC, but a pre-built one is going to be a tempting buy. Hopefully I'll resist and just ask you for advice instead. ;)

[H.Bogard]

Yes. 2gigs of ram in a 700$ machine is pretty inexcusable. And what's with Bogard running around sucking crydick? The game really isn't worth defending at that level of asshattery.

I would say the same thing scythe said, but in a much meaner tone. Possibly calling out your sexuality and your mom's character in question while doing so as well.

Crydick... really? Really? Are you 14 or something?

[H.Bogard]

I wouldn't get this particular PC, but a pre-built one is going to be a tempting buy. Hopefully I'll resist and just ask you for advice instead. ;)

I'd recommend you get the same specs as this PC, but replace the video card with a 4850 or 4870 instead. If you have some cash left, you can buy an E8400 for the CPU.

[Bahamut]

I'd recommend you get the same specs as this PC, but replace the video card with a 4850 or 4870 instead. If you have some cash left, you can buy an E8400 for the CPU.

$20 more gets you the E8500, a better buy.