This is more of a computer question, so please, help the technology-challenged...

[Xiekat]

Alright, so, basically, I just bought the Vana'diel collection 2007. I've been wanting to play this game since like... forever, so I'm very psyched to actually own it. Unfortunately, I am painfully aware of my home computer's miserable shortcomings, and I know that bothering to install it and actually play it on my system would be a colossal waste of time and effort. It's not like my computer is super-old, but it's a pretty basic Dell computer that my whole family uses, and I frankly don't think that this crappy little computer can handle it. Plus, the graphics card sucks.

I'm not some super-techie smart computer genius... I basically have no clue what to look for in a system. I looked at the system requirements on the back of the packaging, and I understood that I need windows XP, and the rest may as well have been in greek. Seriously, please don't get into the technical crap... I need a brand name, I need a model type... a link to a website where I can purchase. I do not know how, nor do I have a particular desire to "build" my own computer... If that's the only option, I'm not going to know what I'm doing... If it's just a good computer model and I have to get a seperate graphics card, that's fine... I just need... something.

Sorry, I'm rambling... I'll try to get to the point... I've just been on like... every computer website in the world trying to make sense of this crap....

So, I'm just curious as to what brand and model computers others find to run the game well. I'd prefer not to drop like $4000 ( looked at some "recommended for gaming" Dell models, and good lord, I work a part-time job, I can't afford anything like that) because I'm poor and just... no... but I don't want to have bought this game for no reason... I need something relatively affordable. It doesn't need to be like "OMG, TEH MOST AMAZING GAEMING MACHINEZ, EVAR!!!!!111111oneoneone" but still something good. I'd really prefer if someone could reccomend a laptop or something, because a full-sized computer is NOT going to fit in my room.

Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreaciated.

Also, I'm honestly sorry if someone else has asked something like this... I filtered through as much of the forum content as I could, but I didn't find anything except what I percieve as "techie" talk and I didn't see any questions that specifically adressed this problem.

[Mhurron]

Re: This is more of a computer question, so please, help the technology-challenged...

Don't get a recommended for gaming machine, they're horribly overpriced and no where near worth it.

Just about anything will do, FFXI is an older game now. The only thing you might want to look out for is getting a system with 1GB ram or more, and a PCI-E video card (ATI or GeForce). Those two things will help the machine to last you a while.

BTW, this probably needs to be moved to the Computers forum down the page.

[Xiekat]

Re: This is more of a computer question, so please, help the technology-challenged...

Don't get a recommended for gaming machine, they're horribly overpriced and no where near worth it.

Just about anything will do, FFXI is an older game now. The only thing you might want to look out for is getting a system with 1GB ram or more, and a PCI-E video card (ATI or GeForce). Those two things will help the machine to last you a while.

BTW, this probably needs to be moved to the Computers forum down the page.

ah! thanks~ Sorry for mis-posting!

[Lunaryn]

Re: This is more of a computer question, so please, help the technology-challenged...

I can't point you to a particular OEM computer model (frankly, almost all the OEM-built computers out there are crap. Dell is still marginally tolerable, though). I can offer a few basic pointers without getting too much into specs:

Final Fantasy XI is an old game. It runs reasonably well on old hardware. Not ancient hardware, but a lot of systems/components it works well with are a few years old by now. Before you totally give up on your current system, run Vana'diel Bench 3 and see how you score. If it won't run at all, you need a better graphics card at minimum, but if it'll run you can get a sense of whether you need a better system and how much better.

I'll put some basic guidelines for shopping, in terms of what you need to look for in the computer's description and specs to be sure you're not buying something that'll be a problem for FFXI.

Video card -- ATI Radeon and nVidia GeForce are best supported. You need at minimum a Radeon 2 or a GeForce 4, and ideally higher. Both nVidia and Radeon use numbers to identify the card progression, so this is somewhat simplified: For a Radeon, if the number starts with an X it's recent enough to be fine. Otherwise, look for 8500 or higher. For a GeForce, you'll probably want a number starting at 5000 if not 6000, even though lower cards may work. Note that most likely any Radeon offered will be plenty new; OTOH, GeForce 4 and lower cards do seem somewhat common, so watch the number there. Main thing is don't take a system with an Intel graphics chipset unless you are prepared to replace it with a decent graphics card. Dell often offers such chipsets as a basic option and offers upgrades to a Radeon or GeForce chipset.

For everything below this, a new system will probably be high enough to make the caveats below irrelevant. If you're looking at a used or very cheap system, though, they might come into play.

Processor speed -- I'd recommend about 1GHz at a minimum (I've had good luck with an Athlon 1.2GHz). Processor speed is always prominently listed (actual MHz or GHz for older systems, 4-digit numbers for newer ones). A newer system will probably be fast enough no matter what, but if it's a Pentium 4 or an earlier Athlon, etc. look at the processor speed and just make sure it's at least 1GHz (1000MHz). (Though for an AMD you can probably get away with this being a bit lower, as AMD processors tend to perform better at the same clock speed than Pentiums)

Front-side-bus speed -- This is hard to find out directly, but fortunately you don't need to. Just find out what kind of memory it takes. If the memory is called something like DDR or DDR2 you're fine. If it's called something like PC-100 or PC-133, the system is too old and you should try something else (I had severe sluggishness in key areas on a system like this). Also, I think Dell actually lists this speed, but any new Dell will have a high enough speed here. If listed, don't take anything with FSB 266MHz or less.

That covers the basics. You can probably just take a gaming-friendly Desktop config from Dell, toss in an upgrade to the video if necessary, and it should work. Alternately, a used system that's only 2-3 years old with a Radeon or GeForce card would probably be quite sufficient as well.

[Jinz]

Re: This is more of a computer question, so please, help the technology-challenged...

I'll try to keep this as non-technical as possible. I see you've mentioned possibly getting a laptop to play on, and I can tell you first hand that pretty much any of the recent Dell laptops will run FFXI just fine.

If you go on to dell's website and click notebooks > home & homeoffice, it'll come up with Inspiron models. I recommend sticking with the 15.4" models (That's the screen size). Pretty much any of the 15.4" models will work for FFXI easily, but personally I like the 1520 Inspiron because it uses Intel. I don't know what your budget is but you can pretty much spend anywhere from 900-1500, either way I'm sure you'll be very pleased when you compare it to your home PC.

The one catch to using a laptop though is that you won't get a num-pad (which is what default keyboard controls use in FFXI), meaning your best bet would be to get some kind of gamepad to play with, I can recommend more things as far as that goes later if you need it.

[nazlfrag]

Re: This is more of a computer question, so please, help the technology-challenged...

I played for a while quite acceptably on a 1.8ghz p4 with a GeForce MX440 card. That's ancient technology really. Anything made in the last four years should be able to run it smoothly, the requirements are fairly low.

[Feba]

Re: This is more of a computer question, so please, help the technology-challenged...

To be quite honest with you, my three year old computer handles FFXI fairly well-- and HP sells $300 computers that can probably compete with this.

Computers as cheap as hell as long as you're reasonable with them, to be honest, any new computer off the shelf nowadays that doesn't have an integrated graphics card should play FFXI fine.

[Jarre]

Re: This is more of a computer question, so please, help the technology-challenged...

I run the game just fine on an Athlon 64 3000 with 1024mb DDR 3200 memory, a Geforce FX5600 256MB Graphics card and use an 80gb hardrive whih i have never had more than half full. The graphics are fine to play with, you can se most things though i do have bit mapping turned off as I was getting too laggy with 3-4 parties close by in the jungles. I have been playing for 18 months on this system. You could probably pick up a machine of that spec for around $600, I can build one for £500 in the Uk and well your stuff is cheaper over there!

with my spec you don't get the best graphics, i.e. 100% smooth scenery when walking, but hey are you playing for the scenery? My spec means I can play jsut fine in parties, not get too laggy in jeuno etc.

It doesn't have to be "the best everything" Just make sure it has min. 1024mb memory and at least a 128mb seperate graphics card preferably ATI as it runs smoother on that card apparently.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: This is more of a computer question, so please, help the technology-challenged...

I don't mean to be rude, but if you're not a technical person, how would you know if the computer you've got is good or no good? Square-Enix has a program to help you judge how wellyour computer would running FFXI: Vana'diel Bench 3

Why don't you try running that program first and see what score you'd get before running off to get a new computer? (Of course, if it doesn't run, the answer would be pretty obvious that you need a new computer.)

[Feba]

Re: This is more of a computer question, so please, help the technology-challenged...

Just make sure it has min. 1024mb memory and at least a 128mb seperate graphics card preferably ATI as it runs smoother on that card apparently.

To be blunt, you're way, way over the 'minimum'. The Minimum is 128MB and a 32MB card- which ANY computer or graphics card you could possibly buy (new, anyway) at least has.

Even the recommended is only 256MB RAM and a 64MB card.

And Ifrit, not necessarily. Bench 3 never worked for me, but FFXI ran just fine.

[Aeni]

Re: This is more of a computer question, so please, help the technology-challenged...

In my experience, if you don't have graphics card better than a Radeon 7500 or equivalent (It has to be better than this) and at least 512MB of RAM, you're not going to be able to run the game problem free.

Those were the specs I had trying to run the game at NA release (Since the PS2 was not to be released until a few months later) and my PC couldn't run it past lowest resolution on crap frame rates and ugly textures.

When I upgraded with more ram and switched to a 9600 pro... it was awesome.

[Celeal]

Re: This is more of a computer question, so please, help the technology-challenged...

May you please list your current spec. for your current computer? Or maybe the brand and model name of your current PC? So that we get a better picture of your current computer and offer advice.

If you are going to buy a Dell PC nowadays, it usually comes with Windows Vista and stuffs that increase the workload of the computer, instead of speed up the game (FFXI). Some minor tweaking may still be handly. However, in general FFXI requirement is not high compare to today's standard.

[Mhurron]

Re: This is more of a computer question, so please, help the technology-challenged...

To be blunt, you're way, way over the 'minimum'. The Minimum is 128MB and a 32MB card- which ANY computer or graphics card you could possibly buy (new, anyway) at least has.
Even the recommended is only 256MB RAM and a 64MB card.

Yes but presumably they are going to do more then just play FFXI on this machine and get others for other reasons.

[InuTrunks]

Re: This is more of a computer question, so please, help the technology-challenged...

Best way to post your current specs is by going to the Start button

Run > DXDIAG > Save Current Config (will save to a text file) and post that.