The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - PC System Requirements are here!

[prince_of_nothing]

If we're gonna continue, it's probably better here:
http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/32239-Building-a-gaming-PC/page77

Nah it's no big deal, I'll just drop it. But I'll just say though that on top of the loading points in the Witcher 2 which could cause minor pauses, there was also the finishers. The finishers were cutscenes that needed to be retrieved from storage on short notice unless they were already loaded into memory.

---------- Updated at 09:23 AM ----------

As for the SSD, How much gb do you think is best ? 128? 256? 350? 500?

I want to thank you, and the other members again for helping me

I'll say it depends on what your storage needs are. For example, on my own system I have a 1 terabyte Samsung 850 Pro SSD which I use for the OS, games, programs, music etcetera. So I prefer high capacity SSDs as I don't have to worry about managing space or over provisioning..

But for movies and videos, I have a Western Digital Raptor 600 GB as movies and videos take up a lot of disk space, but don't benefit from an SSDs performance for playback..

So you can do what I've done and buy the biggest SSD you can afford, or you can get a smaller SSD and put the OS and your favorite games on it, and use a HDD for other less performance intensive stuff..

 

[Mow2345]

I'll say it depends on what your storage needs are. For example, on my own system I have a 1 terabyte Samsung 850 Pro SSD which I use for the OS, games, programs, music etcetera. So I prefer high capacity SSDs as I don't have to worry about managing space or over provisioning..

But for movies and videos, I have a Western Digital Raptor 600 GB as movies and videos take up a lot of disk space, but don't benefit from an SSDs performance for playback..

So you can do what I've done and buy the biggest SSD you can afford, or you can get a smaller SSD and put the OS and your favorite games on it, and use a HDD for other less performance intensive stuff..

I think I will do like you and buy the biggest I can afford. But here is the strange thing, some 256gb are more expensive than 350gb or even 500gb. Am I missing something? Is there something else important in SSD beside capacity?

 

[tahirahmed]

SSD is a miracle for games like Skyrim, I know Skyrim was not very well optimized for PC but SSD can solve the problems of stuttering and long loading time for such games, and if your game is filled with heavy mods then it makes more sense. For OS not that much however on normal HDDs the windows start to feel more and more lame as it gets older but on SSD it remains responsive for longer.

For example in my office there are some old print systems with windows 7 and they are filled with viruses and malwares (thanks to USB's coming from everywhere) but they still start like new windows because of 120 GB SSDs. On normal HDD such a system will take at least 15 minutes before it becomes usable. It's not like we face such problems on our gaming machines as we keep them in top condition but it's just a case where SSD is beneficial for OS.

 

[prince_of_nothing]

I think I will do like you and buy the biggest I can afford. But here is the strange thing, some 256gb are more expensive than 350gb or even 500gb. Am I missing something? Is there something else important in SSD beside capacity?

Yeah there's quite a few factors involved. A major one besides capacity is the type of NAND they use. MLC, SLC or TLC. Some of the new models like the Samsung 850 Pro use 3D V-NAND.. Basically, the type of NAND influences performance and endurance... SSDs aren't like HDDs in that you can overwrite information. They have a limited amount of writes that can be written to them.

So more expensive models will likely use better NAND and offer greater performance and endurance..

 

[Mow2345]

Yeah there's quite a few factors involved. A major one besides capacity is the type of NAND they use. MLC, SLC or TLC. Some of the new models like the Samsung 850 Pro use 3D V-NAND.. Basically, the type of NAND influences performance and endurance... SSDs aren't like HDDs in that you can overwrite information. They have a limited amount of writes that can be written to them.

So more expensive models will likely use better NAND and offer greater performance and endurance..

Alright. Thanks. I'll keep my eye open when I'll buy one. I think a lot of comparing is ahead of me

 

[tahirahmed]

Three members answered me ( including you ) and the three of you told me about the desktop being the better choice, and I believe you of course, but once again, It is incompatible with my life style uch:

First, Thank you!
My 4 years laptop is a gaming one ( Asus ), I bought it 800 euros and It made the job. I was able to play games in high for 2 years, and in decent quality for the 3rd year. Now I can play Ori & the blind forrest or Pillars of eternity even if he struggles a little bit. the blow fan started the 3rd year, and It is pretty annoying. But overall Iam very happy about it. I just want that again. 2 years of ultra/high gaming, a 3rd one of decent gaming. I think I can do it, especially now that my price range has doubled.

By the way Iam not struggling anymore between Asus and MSi anymore. Asus got better cooling system, they also got IPS screen and it's cheaper.

As for the SSD, How much gb do you think is best ? 128? 256? 350? 500?

I want to thank you, and the other members again for helping me

Well pretty much everyone will suggest you to go with a desktop if you're spending big amount but I understand your requirement and if I was in your position I would have gone with laptop as well

If ASUS has better cooling or lower fan noise then I'd also say go with it because the only thing I disliked about my friend's MSI laptop was the fan noise when he was showing me some games but that fan noise makes sense in his case because that laptop is very slim so all that heat needs to be ejected.

I'd say 256 is decent. With SSDs we have a rule of more is better however their price is the issue so I say install your OS on a normal HDD and keep the SSD for games and important programs.

It's my pleasure and your welcome

 

[Mow2345]

Well pretty much everyone will suggest you to go with a desktop if you're spending big amount but I understand your requirement and if I was in your position I would have gone with laptop as well

If ASUS has better cooling or lower fan noise then I'd also say go with it because the only thing I disliked about my friend's MSI laptop was the fan noise when he was showing me some games but that fan noise makes sense in his case because that laptop is very slim so all that heat needs to be ejected.

I'd say 256 is decent. With SSDs we have a rule of more is better however their price is the issue so I say install your OS on a normal HDD and keep the SSD for games and important programs.

It's my pleasure and your welcome

I've read a lot of users reviews and they say there's no noise when they are playing, the cooling system being ultra efficient. And we can control it now manually as I understand. Very useful. I think I will go with a 256gb or 500gb depending on how much I have left after buying my Laptop. Again thank you, you have been very helpful, and now I more certain about my choices, Iam glad. Thank you! If I need more information in the future, I'll be back

Edit : Just thought of something. Is overclocking on laptop is a good idea? Heard that it add more heat to the machine. Is that true? And do I lose the warranty by doing it?

 

[tahirahmed]

I've read a lot of users reviews and they say there's no noise when they are playing, the cooling system being ultra efficient. And we can control it now manually as I understand. Very useful. I think I will go with a 256gb or 500gb depending on how much I have left after buying my Laptop. Again thank you, you have been very helpful, and now I more certain about my choices, Iam glad. Thank you! If I need more information in the future, I'll be back

Edit : Just thought of something. Is overclocking on laptop is a good idea? Heard that it add more heat to the machine. Is that true? And do I lose the warranty by doing it?

Your most welcome

Well no overclocking a laptop is not a good idea. It's possible yes but since they have very limited options for cooling you'll end up heating up your hardware, they have small fans, small heat spreaders and less space for exhaust therefore the heat multiply fast and overclocking will make things even more difficult.

You can judge this by the fact that recently Nvidia disabled overclocking for their mobile GPUs via a driver update but due to the backlash from customers they enabled it again but this proves that even they don't recommend it.

Once again I'll tease you by saying get a desktop and play with it as you like (just joking I know your requirement).

EDIT: No idea about voiding the warranty, I think not unless you do some crazy OC and fry it completely but you need to confirm that before you tinker with it.

 

[Mow2345]

Your most welcome

Well no overclocking a laptop is not a good idea. It's possible yes but since they have very limited options for cooling you'll end up heating up your hardware, they have small fans, small heat spreaders and less space for exhaust therefore the heat multiply fast and overclocking will make things even more difficult.

You can judge this by the fact that recently Nvidia disabled overclocking for their mobile GPUs via a driver update but due to the backlash from customers they enabled it again but this proves that even they don't recommend it.

Once again I'll tease you by saying get a desktop and play with it as you like (just joking I know your requirement).

EDIT: No idea about voiding the warranty, I think not unless you do some crazy OC and fry it completely but you need to confirm that before you tinker with it.

I won't do it then, I won't try my luck on this, Iam sure I'll be very pleased with it by default. Lol. Stop teasing me, I'll start to feel idiot by buying a laptop if you do

 

[Giovanni1983]

I was thinking of looking into a second 970 but my motherboard only has 1 x 16 PCI slot.....darn i forgot about that.

 

[ann.ltd]

Hello guys,

What do you think of playing The Witcher 3 on a golden oldie: Intel X5650. This is an 6-core chip and im running it on 3.6Ghz with turbo. I know its from 2010, but when you think of the specs CDPR gives on AMD machines this CPU has to be quit strong. This X5650 can compete in cinebench with the i7 3770/4770 CPU.
My total setup is:
CPU: Intel X5650 3,6Ghz
RAM: 6GB 1600Mhz Ram
GPU R9 290
SSD: Crucial M500

I really want to play The Witcher 3 on high+/ultra, but i don't want to invest in Haswell when Skylake is only months away.

 

[TheWitcherAR]

can i run it with my rig?
I7 3770K @4.6 (watercooled)
DDR3 Gskil Trident x 16 G 4x$ @2400
Nvidia GTX780 MSI twinfrozen OC ed @1100
SSD: Crucial M500 100 gig X2 in raid 0
i hope to run it on high with some ultra at 1080p 30 fps (i hope to use all but ubersampling)

 

[GuyNwah]

@ann.ltd
I think you're fine. That's a very high-end Nehalem. Far outperforms the minimum Phenom II. Lacks only some newer floating point instructions, but I don't think those matter. What we don't know is how well the game will play on AMD cards, but in your case I think the question is "how much of Ultra can it play at acceptable frame rate".

@TheWitcherAR
Nice overclock. I think you're also good for "how much of Ultra will play at acceptable frame rate". What we don't know is how well the SLI profile will have been tuned at launch.

 

[ann.ltd]

@GuyNwah I hoped for that.
I only think my RAM is a bottleneck and should get set 3x2GB extra (secondhand). Doesnt have to be that expensive. And Im going to play this game on a nVidia card. Im just goning to wait to buy one until the first benchmarks. The card that im using I bought from a guy that has been mining bitcoins for 8 months. So, nice card, only used up a bit .

 

[eskiMoe]

The card that im using I bought from a buy that has been mining bitcoins for 8 months. So, nice card, only used up a bit .

I would personally avoid such cards if you have no idea in what conditions that GPU has been used during that 8 month period.

Mining 8 months 24/7 @ 80+ celsius might affect the lifespan of the card.

 

[ann.ltd]

I would personally avoid such cards if you have no idea in what conditions that GPU has been used during that 8 month period.

Mining 8 months 24/7 @ 80+ celsius might affect the lifespan of the card.

R9 290 runs fine, no throteling. It is a stock card with stock fan. And that is loud! But it does the job and keeps the temperatures below 75 in games like Dragon Age and Hardline.
The Witcher on the otherhand deserves the best. So I wait until the first benchmarks are out and buy the best graphics card to run TW3 on. Probably a 980 because im not spending 1000 euro's on a Titan. Better to invest 550 euro's in GTX980 and the rest in a great new monitor.

 

[prince_of_nothing]

@GuyNwah I hoped for that.
I only think my RAM is a bottleneck and should get set 3x2GB extra (secondhand). Doesnt have to be that expensive. And Im going to play this game on a nVidia card. Im just goning to wait to buy one until the first benchmarks. The card that im using I bought from a guy that has been mining bitcoins for 8 months. So, nice card, only used up a bit .

Yeah, the only thing I would advise is to get more RAM. Witcher 3 is a 64 bit application, so it's going to eat up a lot of RAM between the exe and buffering the VRAM. Your CPU should be fine. The only weakness I can see is that it doesn't have the AVX instruction, which is used by software PhysX to accelerate cloth simulation. But it still supports SSE4, so I wouldn't be too worried..

The R9 290 is a capable GPU, but AMD's DX11 drivers tend to have higher CPU overhead than NVidia's. Thats likely why it's the recommended AMD GPU, despite being significantly more powerful than the GTX 770.

 

[FuhrerGrifter]

hi!!!

so can we run witcher 3 ultra setting with the r9 270x? =)

sry for take ur time

 

[Giovanni1983]

hi!!!

so can we run witcher 3 ultra setting with the r9 270x? =)

sry for take ur time

Hi there. Sadly i think it won't be possible with a 270X since it's way below the recommended specs and a just a bit above the minimum. You could probably get a decent framerate on low-medium i suppose but you never know. We don't know specifics yet

 

[tahirahmed]

I won't do it then, I won't try my luck on this, Iam sure I'll be very pleased with it by default. Lol. Stop teasing me, I'll start to feel idiot by buying a laptop if you do

Yes a high end gaming laptop is quite capable and that's why we were suggesting a higher end GPU like 980 so you won't have to go overclocking path

Good luck with the purchase

I was thinking of looking into a second 970 but my motherboard only has 1 x 16 PCI slot.....darn i forgot about that.

A second 970 is the best performing and cost effective setup you can get right now, it outperforms a single TitanX and is considerably cheaper, I suggest you see how the game performs on single 970 and if it isn't good then invest in a new Mobo + 970.