Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Looking to upgrade your PC for Alpha 2?
Vyril
Member, Alpha Two
EDIT: Updated Alpha 2 Specs
Just a little PSA.
2024 is the year of potential big leaps for CPUs in the gaming world.
AMD and Intel are both launching new chips in 2024 that have potential significant increase, in performance and energy efficiency.
CPU
GPU
So if you're looking to upgrade, I would recommend looking into waiting till the release of these components, or to get a discount on existing components when the new ones release.
Just a little PSA.
Minimum and recommended computer specifications for Alpha-2.
Minimum Specs - 1080p
- Processor: Intel i5 8400 | AMD Ryzen 5 2600
- Memory: 12GB
- Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1070 or equivalent
- DirectX: Version 12
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 100GB SSD Storage
- Windows 10/11
Recommend Specs - 1440p
- Processor: Intel i7 8700 | AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Memory: 16GB
- Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 3070 or equivalent
- DirectX: Version 12
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 100GB SSD Storage
- Windows 10/11
Please note that these requirements will change throughout our testing phases.
2024 is the year of potential big leaps for CPUs in the gaming world.
AMD and Intel are both launching new chips in 2024 that have potential significant increase, in performance and energy efficiency.
CPU
- AMD with their 8000 series
- Intel with their 15th Gens.
GPU
- AMD to launch 7000 series GPUs in early 2024
- Nvidia to launch 5000 Series in late 2024 or early 2025
So if you're looking to upgrade, I would recommend looking into waiting till the release of these components, or to get a discount on existing components when the new ones release.
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Comments
TBH - A few Youtube videos will get you there. Patience and a willingness to learn and you should be good to go.
oh yeah! I've been gaming on my laptop but I built a desktop a while back but couldn't get a GPU. I'm buying an RX 7600 XT for that desktop. that GPU is coming out at the end of this month, I think, but I always like to wait 2-3 months to buy tech stuff after they come out. I play on 1080 so I probs don't need more than that
Be careful about upgrading your GPU without upgrading the CPU. You'll have bottlenecks, and not get the performance you paid for on the GPU.
that desktop has a ryzen 5 5th gen and one of the new boards. i built it a couple of years ago but didn't really use it as was gaming on my laptop and I couldn't really find a GPU that wasn't super overpriced. it was back then when btc got popular again xD
anyways, right now the desktop has a 7200 gtx, which I bought just so that I could turn it on while waiting for a GPU xDDD
So for people buying a new PC this summer for the A2 release (and possibly the spot tests before it), the best CPU options really are the AMD 7800X3D or the Intel 14 series I think. Unless a tight budget forces you into older generations like the AM4 series 5800X3D, or the newer 5600X3D or 5700X3D, which honestly is probably fine for Ashes.
As for GPUs, I would really love to know how much Ashes will be leaning into RayTracing and if frame generation is good or bad for the game. I don't think we'll see the Nvidia 5000 series until 2025, so much later than A2 release, but depending on the prices this summer, the new nvidia Supers might be a good option. If RT and frame gen don't do much for Ashes, the AMD 7000 cards might very well give more bang for the buck.
And lets not forget about Intel's Battlemage GPU! It's probably coming out this year and might surprise us. They've improved the drivers a lot, and it might be a worthwhile budget contender.
Nvidia's 30xx and 40xx series are quite disappointing in my opinion especially for the price.
@Nerror I agree, Team Blue is going to be making some good advancements as well.
Soooo, early 2026?
Lumen by default uses a software based ray tracing solution so at the very least it will be present. There is an optional hardware based solution that's more accurate, offers a much further "fallback" range to rasterized techniques, supports more light bounces, and offers support for more "areas" of lighting (such as reflections and real time ambient occlusion for dynamic/moving objects) as well but most developers don't seem to be putting forth the effort to implement that (in fact I'm not sure any released game is using it, Lords of the Fallen might be based on the descriptions on the options for their lighting quality settings but that hasn't been confirmed as far as I'm aware).
no such thing as "future" proofing when it comes to pc's. lol
I think that depends on what you want to do with your PC really. If all you're trying to do is play at 1080p 60fps then you absolutely can build a PC that will be overkill right now and still more than powerful enough to meet your needs in five or six years.
On a more serious note, can we get a 7680x2160 ultrawide OLED monitor that never burns in, and a GPU that can handle it at 240Hz and 240FPS in Ashes please? Is that too much to ask?
it's usually something consumers use to bargain with themselves to buy "newer" tech
I usually aim to build a new computer to last for 8-10 years with overclocking in mind, replacing a graphics card every 5 years or so as that generationally is usually the standardisation for modern made games. You can usually upgrade to some better hardware near the end of life market for that generation for things such as storage and ram. Even having 32 GB of ram is still overkill lol.
Buy what is relevant.
32GB of RAM is most definitely not overkill anymore, there are multiple games that can use nearly that much memory by themselves now. Anno 1800 in late game can use up nearly 30GB by itself, so 32GB isn't even actually enough after taking into account memory used by Windows and other processes. So if you're a huge city builder fan and want to be able to play that game without issue then you will want at least 32GB of RAM, probably 64GB. Hogwarts Legacy can also use over 20GB of memory at times so 16GB isn't enough to run that game at max settings. So if someone wants to be able to do that then 32GB isn't overkill. MS Flight Sim is the same, I've seen it use over 24GB of memory.
Again, it's all about what you're wanting your PC to do. For some people high end hardware now is most definitely overkill but they buy it because they know it will last a long time for what they want and then they'll do it all over again in several years, and there's really nothing wrong with that. For others it's the only option to accomplish what they want and they'll be upgrading as soon as something newer is out, and there's really nothing wrong with that either. Ultimately what is "relevant" is subjective and everyone will have their own opinions about what that is.
- PCIE 5.0 is becoming a standardisation, that's relevant for the next decade.
- DDR5 is becoming a standardisation, that's relevant for the next decade.
- 32 GB of RAM is a lot still, could always upgrade through halfway of generation if need be.
- Sata is essentially disappearing making m.2/pcie nvme storage relevant for the next decade.
- Graphics card generations change every 2-3 years minimum so replace it every 5-6 years to be relevant for modern games.
- Super sampling and frame generation are interesting but completely not necessary.
- 4k gaming is still in its early years in terms of optimisation. Going to be like 5+ years before 30-50% of the pc gamer market uses it regularly over 1440p.
What new patent?
Do you refer to GPU Chiplets?
multi GCD for RDNA5
Yes, everything is subjective but the OP is referring to those generations related to alpha 2 for this game. A gaming pc, workstation pc and hybrid of those two are three different scenario's. No point in debating that regardless of how marginally minimal the differences can be. Yes, ddr4 at 32 GB of ram is still more than most will need outside of the VRAM inadequacies GPU's companies scam you with (especially nvidia). I shouldn't need to explain the generational DDR differences to you
The higher the resolution you play at, the more VRAM you will use before other variables are accountable for performance and graphical settings. Consumers have gotten ridiculous with putting settings on max, especially with resolution "performance" for the luxury tier which has become quite comical to witness.
Saving up for a new PC in 2024 before alpha two. Thanks for the info!
With Nvidias rediculous pricing and the AI boom you will probably need 5k just to buy a lowbudget Nvidia GPU XD
On a serious note i hope Intrepid takes note of that and that most players wont be able to come close to afford the top Nvidia cards in the upcoming generations.
AoC max settings shouldnt even consider XX90 cards.
AMD themselves have said they wont make high end cards for next generation and they are still way behind on RT.
AMD also have big problems with GPU drivers and cards running very warm.
All the GPU manufacturers are currently mas...baiting over AI and puts everything into that so the next GPUS might not be the best for gaming but rather AI.
Theres also nothing "new" as in new architecture or new PCIe slot CPU or GPU coming out.
Intel wont come out with something new for the processors until like 17th gen, which is 2026, late 2025 at earliest.
Right now theres no reason not to go for AMD CPU, both pricing, performance AND not the least power consumption.
Intel GPus are still way of but might be worth keeping an eye of for their next generation gpus, which wont be for years.
TBH i would skip next generation aswell even though i know its VERY hard to do
On the other side i dont see any AAA game coming out that are more demanding than say Cyberpunk 2077 this year, so you can just buy a cheaper GPU and hold out until then.
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