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[QuakeIV]

For instance, if anyone made a sort of dwarf fortress computer, what kind of specifications would it need, and if anyone would even be interested?

Iv been thinking about it myself and wanted to know what you guys think.

[StealthArcher]

http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Computing

With more than a year with no save breaking versions (no versions for that matter :B) people get creative.

[QuakeIV]

Actually i meant a physical computer to run dwarf fortress.


Ninja edit: wow, thats one awesome wiki page, i never thought of that...

[StealthArcher]

Dwarven Engineering is fun, especially if you're studying to be an Engineer.

Frankly, the best type of Classic Computer to run DF as it stands would basically focus completely on CPU, likely Dual Core (one for DF, one to make sure DF doesn't lock down the whole thing), simply being as fast as possible (say a i5 OC'd to 6.Ghz on Liquid).  Enough RAM would be 3 for DF (it's 32 bit as I remember so it can't use anymore anyway), and 2-3 for everything else. A GPU would be nice now thanks to the d# releases (nothing like a 4890 mind you, a standard 8600 GT would run this just fine to my knowledge.).   And enough power and cool air to keep it stable.  Really DF is single core, and CPU dependant to the max.  Sadly CPU's aren't advancing much in simple Clock Speeds anymore (P4 helped with that, crappy architecture that it was. *grrr Netburst*), so DF is running about as good as it's going to without Multicoring or optimization.

So, to summarize, Heavy CPU (probably massively OCd), large RAM, average GPU.  And power.  DF is quite simple in it's demands.

[Googolplexed]

ATM you would probably want an overclocked core i7 860

It might be quad core, but it has the best single threaded performance of any desktop CPU out there at the moment.

And CPUs single-threaded performance IS getting faster, the more efficient design is improving it more then pure increases in clock-speed ever could (Using any reasonable method of increasing the clock speed, liquid nitrogen isn't counted )

Quad core might also be nice if anyone wants to try playing multiple DF games at once

[QuakeIV]

Huh, found a 3.8 GHZ P4.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=27487


EDIT: Jesus christ some japanese dudes overclocked that thing to 7.1 GHZ with liquid nitrogen!

[John Hopoate]

ATM you would probably want an overclocked core i7 860

It might be quad core, but it has the best single threaded performance of any desktop CPU out there at the moment.

Nope, that would be the Core i5-670 dual core (3,46ghz + 3.73ghz turbo boost). With overclocking using an after market air cooler, the new 32nm i3's and i5's will be able to reach much higher per-core speeds than the old 45nm quad cores.

Right now you can get a Core i3-530 (2 physical cores, 4 threads) for about $125US, add another $30-$60 for a good air cooler, and you can run it reliably at over 4ghz.

EDIT: This review says 4ghz with just the stock cooler but I wouldn't risk it

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3724&p=5

Huh, found a 3.8 GHZ P4.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=27487


EDIT: Jesus christ some japanese dudes overclocked that thing to 7.1 GHZ with liquid nitrogen!

A P4 running at 7ghz will will have a significantly slower per core speed than an i3 or i5 running at 4ghz. 

[ungulateman]

Huh, found a 3.8 GHZ P4.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=27487


EDIT: Jesus christ some japanese dudes overclocked that thing to 7.1 GHZ with liquid nitrogen!

Catsplosion? What Catsplosion? I froze them all with LIQUID NITROGEN!

[QuakeIV]

A P4 running at 7ghz will will have a significantly slower per core speed than an i3 or i5 running at 4ghz. 

Sorry, but could you elaborate how that works, because that same overclock broke a world record by calculating one million digits of PI in 18.7 seconds.

EDIT: on a lighter note, that would make more absoolutely AWESOME framerates! I mean holy crap, you could probably get a 300 dwarf fort at 100 FPS!

[StealthArcher]

A P4 running at 7ghz will will have a significantly slower per core speed than an i3 or i5 running at 4ghz. 

Sorry, but could you elaborate how that works, because that same overclock broke a world record by calculating one million digits of PI in 18.7 seconds.

EDIT: on a lighter note, that would make more absoolutely AWESOME framerates! I mean holy crap, you could probably get a 300 dwarf fort at 100 FPS!

The architecture used for the P4 line of CPUs was designed solely to reach ridiculous clockspeeds, with very little effectiveness to them.  It's been proven that the P3 was actually more powerful per hertz then the P4.

[John Hopoate]

A P4 running at 7ghz will will have a significantly slower per core speed than an i3 or i5 running at 4ghz. 

Sorry, but could you elaborate how that works, because that same overclock broke a world record by calculating one million digits of PI in 18.7 seconds.

When did it break that world record, 2004?

SuperPi is single threaded and a first generation 65nm Core 2 Duo with only 2mb of cache running at 3.6ghz will do it in under 15.5 seconds

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/156/374648184_9f58e93ddb_o.jpg

A new 32nm i3 or i5 dual core running at 4ghz would do it in less than 14 seconds, I'd call that significantly faster than 18.7 seconds.

[John Hopoate]

Ohh and if you really care about crazy liquid nitrogen superpi times, the record for a dual core i3 (running at 6.5ghz) is 6.469seconds, almost three times as fast as your crazy liquid nitrogen Pentium 4, bear in mind that just like Dwarf Fortress SuperPi is SINGLE THREADED so theoretically the chip is over 5 times as powerful, although not for the purpose of playing Dwarf Fortress (although a 2nd core helps indirectly).

http://hwbot.org/community/submission/938826_andreyang_superpi_core_i3_540_6sec_469ms

So if a 6.5ghz i3 can calculate Pi in 6.469seconds we can safely presume that a sensible, 24/7 reliable air cooled i3 running at 4ghz could do it in about 11 seconds. That's far far faster than your crazy Pentium 4 and the chip's likely to burn itself out in 10 years rather than 10 minutes.

[Baughn]

DF is also pretty memory-intensive. You'll want the fastes memory you can get.

[Deon]

Along with an appropriate motherboard with an appropriate bus .

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

I'd recommend either 1) the best dual-core cpu you can afford OR 2) an intel multi-core cpu with "turbo boost" feature to boost the Dwarf Fortress core as much as possible when all you're doing is Dwarfing, depending on how much you really want to focus your computer on DF and what else you might be doing with it.