Minimum and Recommended Computer Specifications

Greetings Adventurers,

I would like to discuss the minimum and recommended computer specifications for Ashes of Creation, Alpha 2.

According to the Intrepid Studios Support FAQ (last updated on August 27, 2024) the minimum and recommended computer specifications are as follows:

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

I decided to make this post because my experience, with respect to graphics, during last weekend's Alpha 2 test was... sub-optimal to say the least. And, judging by the comments I've seen from others, I don't think I'm the only one to experience these issues.

I had to run the game on medium settings in order to get acceptable performance but the game just didn't look very good. The colors seemed a bit washed out (grey and hazy, not enough contrast / vibrancy), character models looker atrocious (i chose the female preset with pink hair which i immediately regret considering the physics for this hairstyle seem especially bad for the time being) assets only rendered in detail in a small circular proximity around my character but not very far beyond and as a result the game looked like an MMO from the early 2000s (think FFXI)... okay, maybe not that bad but you get the point.

If I tried pushing the video settings to high, or even ultra high, I would get significant input delay, stuttering, low FPS, dropped frames etc. On the bright side, running the game on high did not result in any crashes but it was far from enjoyable so in the end I had to settle with medium graphics for the time being.

Meanwhile, the graphical fidelity shown by streamers on twitch was unbelievably good in comparison - not just on the render distance of objects but also their textures and the color contrast/vibrancy. Having said that, I know that some streamers may increase the contrast and vibrancy through their streaming software but I don't think that's the case since almost every stream I checked out seemed to be much more vibrant than mine. Also, I am well aware that streamers are more likely to run high end setups with top of the line hardware which obviously allows them to run at higher settings with fewer problems.

With all that out of the way, my computer specs currently are as follows:

Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 8-Core Processor (3.9GHz)
Memory: 32 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (8 GB VRAM)
Network: Fiber (900+ Mbps Down, 300+ Mbp Up)
Storage: 1 Terrabyte SSD
Windows 10 64bit
Display: 2560 x 1440, 120 Hz LG Monitor

According to my preliminary research, all of my specs appear to be comparable, if not better, than the recommended specs with the exception of the graphics card which is almost 5 years old at this point. That said, I ran a technical comparison between my GPU and the recommended GPU and they don't seem THAT far apart, albeit a 14% difference in performance. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the site I used to compare is trash so If anyone has a better site for comparing GPUs I'm all ears.

So now I'm contemplating upgrading my GPU, which I've been meaning to do for some time now, but I still have a few questions with respect to the aforementioned "minimum and recommended specs":

1) I'm assuming that "minimum specs" are the minimum requirement for running the game at an acceptable frame rate on the lowest possible settings - is that correct?

2) If the above assumption is true, does that mean that the "recommended specs" should be able to run the game at an acceptable frame rate on the highest (ultra) settings? If not, then what are the intended settings to be run by these recommended specs? Medium? High?

3) What are the recommended specs for running the game on the highest settings at an acceptable frame rate with good performance?

Personally, I would love for Intrepid to publish recommended specs for each of the video settings (low, medium, high and ultra) rather than give these vague minimum and recommended specs that have become an industry standard but don't really give players any idea of the type of performance they can expect on each setting.

Also, on the topic of upgrading my GPU: as much as I would love to get a a 4070, 80, or 90 series now that prices have come down ahead of the release of the 50 series, unfortunately, my motherboard does not support them. I can, however, upgrade to a Radeon RX 7900 XTX with my current setup. So, for any of you playing on a Radeon 7900 XTX I would love to hear your feedback - how has the game run for you? have you had any problems or crashes due to your GPU in the current Alpha 2 environement?

Finally, I am also well aware of the graphics related issue mentioned in the Alpha 2 List of Known Issues:

If your game appears washed out, or the colors seem inverted, try changing your graphic settings to fix the issue.

While the description of the game appearing to be washed out seems somewhat relevant, I have not experienced any color inversion and changing my graphics settings doesn't seem to make a difference. However, I have not ruled out that this may also be affecting me but it's hard to know for sure without a screenshot of said bug / issue to compare against. So if anyone has some screenshots of this issue in particular and it's not under NDA I would very much appreciate a link.

Also, if you have any recommendations for optimizing graphics settings through the in game settings or through some external program like GeForce Experience, I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully this information can be of help to others in the community as well.

Cheers,
Matsume

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Comments

Uncommon Sense

Right now I'd say your 8Gb GPU is the limiting factor holding back the graphical fidelity or lack thereof you're experiencing...

If you got to Aliexpress you can get a 5700x3d CPU for cheap which will perk up that AM4 system and you should be able to recoup some costs selling the 3800X CPU.

I would say try to hold of on a new GPU until more news of the upcoming RX8800* series from AMD/Radeon which should be start of next year. Which supposedly will get you 4080ish performance for about $600 if rumors are true.

Nvidia 50* series being kept in the locker while the 40* series sells up (Jensen likes his AI Profits) and if you think the 4090 is expensive the 5090 will be even more expensive...

If you can't wait the 7900GRE is pretty good value and will get you 4070super like performance with 16GB of Vram at a lower price. (might still have the 2 game bundle including space marine 2) The 7800XT is also 16GB and has the same 2 game bundle being a bit cheaper and about 10% lower performance than the 7900GRE...So still a solid choice.

The 4070Super is about the only Nvidia GPU that might be considered "good value" As you do get better raytracing and DLSS But it is only a 12GB card so By turning on such features you could be gimping yourself...

Hard recommend anything higher tier with the newer GPUs around the corner.

And if you had a higher budget you'd probably have something already.

I'm doing alright with 4k testing on an RX6800 around 50-60fps custom high settings. Mid to low setting looks god awful

Matsume

Uncommon Sense wrote: »

Hard recommend anything higher tier with the newer GPUs around the corner.

And if you had a higher budget you'd probably have something already.

Very much appreciate the feedback, and yeah, I figured it was the GPU holding things back.

To be honest, money isn't really an issue. I'm just frugal and don't like throwing money away so I will generally run what I've got so long as I can which is why I haven't upgraded in 5 years. Truth be told I haven't had any issues with any of the recent MMO release.

The main issue is my mobo doesn't support any of the Nvidia 40 series but It will support the AMD 7900 which is why I'm considering it. I'll have to look into the RX8800 and see if it's compatible with my current setup.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Uncommon Sense

I'd honestly start with the 5700x3d CPU It's like $150 form aliexpress. A solid upgrade and will accommodate a GPU up to a 7900... Once you go passed a 4070ti/4080/4090 you really need a 7800x3d.

The 7800XT should smoke most 1440p games comfortably and I'd rather go for 16GB of Vram.

My 7500F/Rx6800 at 4k is using over 25gb of system ram and 12gb of Vram in the Alpha 2 tests.

Uncommon Sense

Word on the street is the new RDNA 4 RX8000 series will be worth waiting for and make all the 7900 cards somewhat redundant, which is why AMD is holding off release while 7000 series inventory sells out...So expected Q1 2025

Matsume

Uncommon Sense wrote: »

I'd honestly start with the 5700x3d CPU It's like $150 form aliexpress. A solid upgrade and will accommodate a GPU up to a 7900... Once you go passed a 4070ti/4080/4090 you really need a 7800x3d.

The 7800XT should smoke most 1440p games comfortably and I'd rather go for 16GB of Vram.

My 7500F/Rx6800 at 4k is using over 25gb of system ram and 12gb of Vram in the Alpha 2 tests.

Honestly, I was considering upgrading the CPU alongside the GPU so this is even better feedback, considering the price it seems like an easy decision.

Also, if what you say is true with respect to the RX8000 series then I might just take your advice wait it out.

Again, I very much appreciate the feedback. Thanks bro.

Uncommon Sense

Not sure what motherboard you have but you should be fine with a bios update going from a 3800x to a 5700x3d on any AM4 motherboard

Matsume

Uncommon Sense wrote: »

Not sure what motherboard you have but you should be fine with a bios update going from a 3800x to a 5700x3d on any AM4 motherboard

Motherboard is an X570-E.

Last I checked the best CPU it supports is the 5700x3D so I'm probably going to start with that and wait and see on the GPU as you suggested.

Uncommon Sense

I think you will see surprising results with the cpu upgrade. I know the 3d vcache can do wonders for other MMOs and most games see a massive improvement in 1.0 and .01 min framrates...So expect some 'Smoothness'

Matsume

Uncommon Sense wrote: »

I think you will see surprising results with the cpu upgrade. I know the 3d vcache can do wonders for other MMOs and most games see a massive improvement in 1.0 and .01 min framrates...So expect some 'Smoothness'

I'll be sure to come back and update this post in the coming weeks after upgrading the CPU.

ShivaFang

There's two settings that need to be changed in a settings file that fixes most issues on lower end computers. The issue is lack of DLSS on older cards and some settings need to be tweaked to address this.
Honestly - if the game is going to warn my that I have an i13 processor EVERY time I boot the game (with no option to 'never warn me again), it could at least include a button to fix these two settings for older GPUs.

Uncommon Sense

I hope there isn't upscaling going on in the background without my knowing. I understand why some people like DLSS/FSR/XESS its good technology when used right, But if its used as a mandatory crutch to circumvent proper hardware optimization then I can't stand it.

FSR is opensource and If I am not mistaken supported in Unreal Engine 5, so if anything will likley be a funtion in the graphics settings at some point.

DLSS being Nvidia propriety would imply Intrepid pay for or Nvidia supports* its implication. What that cost would be is unknown.

Intel has been fumbling the bag with CPUs and Gpus now that even if XESS is decent its in such a 'whatever' situation now nobody really knows what to do with it...

calling upscaling a fix isn't really true for older GPUs at least FSR works on GTX cards like a 1080/ti.

I understand most people with Gaming PCs just assume that they have a Nvidia GPU and in that respect expect DLSS/Raytracing to be an option.

I think you'd be fine with a 6core CPU an AMD RX6600/5700XT or Nivida RTX2070/3060 and 16GB of system RAM as a minimum recommended spec for 1080p native resolution. Yes there are cheaper GPUs on the market but anything below the 8GB RX6600 is hard to recommend.

Like I mentioned before the only new Nvidia GPU I would remotely consider right now is the 4070 Super and with 12gb of Vram that's a hard pill to swallow over $400...

iARN

I was getting 70 FPS on my GTX 1080 on Low settings. Performance was fine, sure I wish it looked better, but my GPU isn't the games fault. Also, isn't optimization or whatever like one of the last things most studios do before release?

Matsume

While I haven't yet upgraded either my CPU or my GPU, I would like to update this post with the fact that the game performed much better this weekend than last weekend. I don't know what optimization changes Intrepid have made behind the scenes but there was a lot less stuttering, lag and input delay this past weekend than before. In addition, the colors seemed more vibrant and less washed out. Very encouraging.

Uncommon Sense

It is definitely getting better than day1 alpha 2

Reblix

Ryzen 5 3600, 16GB RAM, RX 6600 8GB GDDR6.
Running the game on low settings, it’s impossible to stay in the center of nodes when there’s a high concentration of players. The game drops to around 10–5 FPS.

Noaani

Honestly, I find it difficult to reccomend an NVIDIA GPU to anyone these days.

While they have some great features, and the chips themselves are far superior, it is their decision to put as little VRAM on their GPU's as they can get away with that makes them something I just can't reccomend to anyone.

Since VRAM is often the actual deciding factor in the enjoyment of a game, far more often than any NVIDIA or AMD specific features, or the raw GPU chip performance, it is almost always worth buying the graphics card that has the highest VRAM that you can afford - and that is never an NVIDIA card.

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