Ideal System Specs for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
By Ced at 6 October, 2008, 5:53 pm
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky (PC, Shooter), is the stand-alone prequel for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, a first-person shooter computer game by Ukrainian developer GSC Game World. The game consists of a roughly 50/50 mix of new areas and old, remodeled areas from the previous game. The X-ray graphics engine has been updated to version 1.5 and includes DirectX 10 support. Additionally, the AI received an overhaul to accommodate the new faction wars feature.
Tom’s Hardware compared various graphics cards for playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky with these specs:
- CPU: overclocked Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 @ 3.47 GHz (13×266 MHz)
- Motherboard: Asus P5E3 Deluxe, Intel X38
- RAM: 2x 1 GB Ballistix (Crucial Technology) 1.5 V DDR3 1066
- HDD 1: Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500 GB, S-ATA, 16 MB Cache
- HDD 2: Hitachi 120 GB, S-ATA, 8 MB Cache
- PSU: CoolerMaster RS-850-EMBA 850 W
The graphics cards that were tested were:
- Radeon HD 3870
- Radeon HD 4850
- Radeon HD 4870
- GeForce 8800 GTS 512
- GeForce 9600 GT 1024
- GeForce 9800 GTX
- GeForce GTX 260
- GeForce GTX 280
These were the ideal settings:
- GeForce 9600 GT and Radeon HD 3870 - switch to dynamic illumination (DirectX 9) as both graphics chips are too weak for DirectX 10 and maximum graphics quality.
- GeForce 9800 GTX / 8800 GTS 512 / GTX 260 and Radeon HD 4850 – can use DirectX 10 illumination, and are good for resolutions up to 1680×1050 pixels.
- GeForce GTX 280 and Radeon HD 4870 – can play at 1920×1200 with DirectX 10 illumination.
“… Stalker behaves a bit like Crysis in that, with DirectX 9, everything runs smoothly, but with DirectX 10, even the fast cards reach their limits at high resolutions. If you want to run at more than 1280×1024 pixels, don’t even think about activating anti-aliasing. The HD 3870 and 9600 GT are actually the second generation of DirectX 10 graphics cards, and already perform too poorly to display all the effects. The first DX10 generation Radeon 2000 and the old GeForce 8000-series cards will certainly have even more problems with the new illumination modes. What this shows is that the promised performance boost from optimized DirectX 10 drivers didn’t become a reality. If you want to see the sun rays with HDR in full high-def resolution and with DirectX 10, you need a high-end card like the HD 4870 or GTX 280. The old DX10 graphics chips were overextended with high resolutions and light effects, even before the gaming market switched to Windows Vista, thus proving the old maxim: never buy graphics performance for the future.” [Tom’s Hardware | Stalker: Clear Sky - Is Your System Ready?]
The 9600 GT and HD 3870 can be used to play Stalker: Clear Sky, but don’t expect DirectX 10 or maximum graphics quality.
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