Hardware Guide for X3

[PhoenixConstruction]

Very Nice Pat

[Pat1217]

I'm envious George. I had to buy a new desktop but it's nothing like yours...although it's better than what I had.

I bet I could to a render in half the time or more with your setup.

[thorn]

A 64 bit OS is a must have.

Windows 7 64-bit is the best OS to run X3 on. X3 will ship as a 32 bit application.

I thought a 32 bit application running on a 64 bit system was still only able to acces a maximum of 4GB memory.
So does a Windows 7 64 bit really make a differance?

[lbuttery]

So does a Windows 7 64 bit really make a differance?


yes

maybe not to that particular software, but if you have multiple things running like a web browser and a paint program and ....

then each of them want a piece of the pie

64-bit helps them all run a bit better/faster

plus, you will be ready for any software that is 64-bit capable and Chief will be ready one fine day


Lew

[Doug Park]

Actually a 32 bit application can only access 2GB of memory.

The additional memory is put to use by the OS for disk caching and other activities so it does make a difference.

[thorn]

Is Nvidia still the prefered video card over ATI? In the past most have said Nvidia seems to work better with Chief. Is that still the case? Do you see that changing with X3?

[lbuttery]

Thorn:

the recommendation is still with Nvidia

CA has indicated that ATI has become better, they used to have driver issues, etc

the main requirement is Open GL 2.1

Lew

[Bennie]

Just got a price on this system from a local computer shop

Intel I7 power system
Intel I920 retail CPU
EGVA X58 Sli Le motherboard (6xddr3-1600,4x pci-express,6xsata2,raid0,1,0+1,5,jbod,gbe,12xusb)
6 GIG DDR3-1600 CL8 Memory
500 GIG western digital raid edition HD,mirrored
Lite-on DVDRW Lightscribe
EVGA Geforce 275 video card (1280M)
Windows 7 64 Bit Business
Thermaltake 650M 650W 2.3 True power supply
ATX case $ 1,963.00

Any thought's or suggestions,Is there any thing I should change or add? I also plan on getting 2 24" wide screen monitors(will that work good)?

[JJHDC]

What video card do you suggest?

When is X3 coming out?

Will there be a price reduction on X3 for time lost using X2?

[lbuttery]

Will there be a price reduction on X3 for time lost using X2?



Huh ????




X3 is expected to be released around June 2010


Nvidia cards are recommended, but no need to go with the Quadro cards
OpenGL 2.1 is the current requiremen


Lew

[nikpapag]

You said 'X3 will ship as a 32 bit application'. So, when will Chief Architect ship as a 64 bit application and what will be the advantages?

[Doug Park]

You said 'X3 will ship as a 32 bit application'. So, when will Chief Architect ship as a 64 bit application and what will be the advantages?

I can't make promises on a delivery date yet, but we are actively investigating what needs to be done to support 64 bit. We have some questions on certain Third Party libraries that we use that could complicate the delivery time line. The good news is that this has floated to the top of our priority list.

Other good news is that X3 will be significantly easier on memory usage for certain 3D models.

[Dan Park]

I found this link online comparing most of the Nvidia cards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...ocessing_units

[abqjimlynch]

Will hardware dongles be available for x3 when x3 ships?

[Doug Park]

Will hardware dongles be available for x3 when x3 ships?

Yes. Cost will be $50 as before.