I’ve a got a system which meets all the require specs, along with a 256 mb graphics card above that. I don’t have enough RAM or processing power to meet the reccomended. I can usually run the demo fairly well, but it’s choppy on the defaults.
Will this work well enough, basically, on into the later portions of the game? Can I optimize it enough to get it going up quick? I’m not too worried about graphics, though I admit I likes 'em.
I have some friends who managed ot get it running in decent detail at close to minum specs. Whata re your exact specs? GPU, CPU, RAM, and OS.
If you meet the required specs, then yeah, but it won’t look great. Turn all the settings all the way down, don’t have any other programs open to free up RAM and CPU cycles, and run it full-screened, not windowed.
K, thanks!
For the record, I’ve got 1 gig ram (hardly enough these days, I know), about a 2.6 ghz processor, but a solid 256 mb video card.
smiling bandit, it might be a great time to invest in some more RAM, especially if your PC uses DDR2. Just bumping up to a pair of 1GB sticks is worth the effort, and you can find some really decent matched pairs for way less than $50 on newegg or tigerdirect. Hell, even 4GB sets are down below $90 now
If you’re using DDR only, it’s a bit more, but it’s the cheapest yet most effective upgrade you can do.
For reference, when I had it installed, I ran the Bioshock demo at 1280x1024 with little choppiness on defaults - here’s my system: Athlon64 4000+ single core (2.4Ghz), X1950XT 256MB video card, and 2 GB DDR 400 (soon to be upgrading to an AM2 4800 dual core and DDR2 800, lucky me).
I have no doubt that if I were running 1GB, it would have been much choppier.
Here’s a good site to see if you can run something. It’s been accurate for me so far.
Word of caution: I tried that link with my laptop running Vista and using Firefox… something there was not happy. Had to reboot my laptop twice after it froze up. The first time I got the laptop to respond again but couldn’t get my internet connection back even after a quick power-cycle of my modem and router. The second reboot of the computer got me back online.
That site has a problem either with Vista or Firefox. 
ETA: after thought, maybe it’s the combination of the two.
Huh, that’s weird. It’s works fine for me with Vista and Firefox.
Really? Hmmm… maybe it was something else then. I may have to play with it when I get home, if I remember to.
Thinking back, it could also be the fact that I had a bunch of other tabs open, too.
Wow that was a wake up call. Crysis got me a pass on minimum an a fail on recommended. And I have 4gb ram 512mb 8800GT superclocked video card and a dual core e6850 (3.0 ghz) CPU. So Crysis people expected enough people to be able to play that game out of box? Wow, just wow. Okay back to the regularly scheduled Bioshock talk.
You have to have the proper hardware.
Daniel
That failed the recommended? All that failed for me was the video card and I have a 512 MB 8600 GTS, and it recommends the 8800 GT.
(And speaking of, what’s better? A GT version or GTS? So I have a dumbed down 8600 or a super one?)
Yep it tells me
everything else passes but the recommended it is not. My video card isn’t up to snuff I guess.
Your specs are pretty close to mine, but my processor is either 2.73 or 2.8 ghz. I have a gig of ram and a geforce 8600 GTS, which I think is 256 mb.
Bioshock runs fine for me. It crashes sometimes, but not too often. Mostly it crashes if I start moving around after a level loads but before the textures are fully loaded.
The only thing I’ve turned off is “high detail post processing” and I get a playable framerate. It’s probably not as good a framerate as it should be, but I’m okay with it.
My first playthrough was before I upgraded my graphics card, and I had a geforce 6800. It ran okay if I lowered the resolution and ran it in a window. I don’t remember how many of the settings I was able to leave on.