Minimum Specs

[pApA^LeGBa]

This game doesn´t run 30FPS on a 2GB video card like steam suggests. It doesn´t even run on 30FPS average on a 4GB video card.

I tested this, for fun, when i built my new PC. Took only the GPU from the old one, so i took an even older GPU, a GTX690 with 4GB, and put it in the old system that could run 7 days to die apart from the usual skyscraper and blood moon lags, just fine with 60FPS using the RX6700.

And i mostly was under 30FPS using the GTX690 having lows of 15FPS. Ofc settings on low using a R53600, 32GB Ram, 1080p.

Not even the recommended GPU specs can run the game properly even when the rest of the system is well above the specs. And i dare anyone to try and play this with a i7 2700K and GTX590 from 2011 which are both recommended spec according to steam.

There needs to be a baseline of CPU and GPU model numbers. Otherwise people think they can play this on their old machines or with a cheaply bought used PC. Now with console and no mods on there, the scenario of someone getting a cheap PC to be albe to use mods isn´t unlikely.

I did this nearly 2 years ago btw.

 

[Riamus]

This game doesn´t run 30FPS on a 2GB video card like steam suggests. It doesn´t even run on 30FPS average on a 4GB video card.

I tested this, for fun, when i built my new PC. Took only the GPU from the old one, so i took an even older GPU, a GTX690 with 4GB, and put it in the old system that could run 7 days to die apart from the usual skyscraper and blood moon lags, just fine with 60FPS using the RX6700.

And i mostly was under 30FPS using the GTX690 having lows of 15FPS. Ofc settings on low using a R53600, 32GB Ram, 1080p.

Not even the recommended GPU specs can run the game properly even when the rest of the system is well above the specs. And i dare anyone to try and play this with a i7 2700K and GTX590 from 2011 which are both recommended spec according to steam.

There needs to be a baseline of CPU and GPU model numbers. Otherwise people think they can play this on their old machines or with a cheaply bought used PC. Now with console and no mods on there, the scenario of someone getting a cheap PC to be albe to use mods isn´t unlikely.

I did this nearly 2 years ago btw.

VRAM isn't the only part of a GPU that impacts performance. I can maintain over 30 FPS most of the time, and if I'm out of the city I can usually be around 50-60 FPS (my monitor is only capable of 60FPS). Certain textures will drop the FPS below 30, but that's not too common. And that is using a 4GB VRAM Radeon RX580 card with medium to high settings. So yes, it can maintain 30+ FPS on average with a 4GB GPU, but it depends on the GPU and the computer it's installed in. But 30FPS on a 2GB GPU is very unlikely. No one should be trying to play games on a 2GB card these days. This is of course on 1.4 or older. I have no idea if it will change any in 2.0.

As a side note, I run the game at a 30FPS cap because it can maintain that with very little trouble, giving a smooth experience. If don't cap it, a fluctuation normally between 40-60FPS doesn't look good, even though it's higher FPS.

Still, the specs do need updated and SylenThunder has requested that in the past as well. There needs to be more specific details in the specs as well, which he's commented on.

 

[pApA^LeGBa]

Ofc VRam isn´t the only part with an impact. That´s why there needs to be specific models as a baseline for both, minimum and recommended specs for the GPU and the CPU.

 

[SylenThunder]

I posted a thread on this a while ago. Looks like the migration screwed up the tables.

Thread 'Update the Hardware Requirements to Have Real Data'

Mar 15, 2024

Currently the requirements are listed as follows.





 


Minimum


Recommended






OS


Windows 10 or higher (64-bit)


Windows 10 or higher (64-bit)




CPU


2.8 Ghz Quad Core


3.2 Ghz Quad Core or faster




RAM


8 GB RAM


12 GB RAM




GPU


2 GB Dedicated Memory


4 GB Dedicated Memory




Storage


15 GB available space


15 GB available space








This information is...

• SylenThunder
• Replies: 17
• Forum: Pimp Dreams

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[pApA^LeGBa]

Yeah, that´s not really a suggestion for pimp dreams. It´s actually not a suggestion but a "Hey fix this. This is wrong information. Basically fooling customers".

I am pretty sure steam isn´t happy about minimum requirements not being accurate. And this is not a borderline case, it´s downright unplayable with 2GB VRam.

I think with your thread this is at least the third time this was brought up, maybe even the fourth time. I mean it´s not exactly rocket science or a lot of work to fix this, either they forgot it or it´s on purpose.

And no, future optimizations won´t make this game run on a 2GB VRam card, in case someone wants to suggest that..

 

[SylenThunder]

This is the most likely location for the thread to be reviewed though. And I agree wholly. In the games current state Min spec should be a 4GB GPU, and Recommended should be 8GB. The client wants to use about 7.5GB VRAM.

And the min spec is misleading especially because the way the client works the VRAM, if you don't meet the usage requirement, then it will need more RAM. Yet if you are already at the minimum for RAM, and now your VRAM is going to RAM, half of it is now going to the pagefile.

It's a serious issue, and something I have been bringing up regularly since at least 2016. Not only do they need to be updated, but they need to be more defined. The vagueness of the processor requirement is abysmal.

 

[TWORDY]

I am not sure but 4 core CPU, 12GB RAM, and 8GB video card will not be enough to enjoy the game at 1440p.

Any recent 8 core CPU, 32GB RAM, GPU 16GB or higher should find itself in recommended specs for 1080+ resolution.

What frame rate are we targeting... 30 frames? Give me a break. I cannot play anything if my PC is not capable of rendering at least 90+ frames with high refresh rate monitor. Honestly anything below 120 frames feels sluggish because of mouse input.

I am running 7DTD at 1440p with R5 7600X paired with 9070 OC 16GB in medium/high details. FSR native to resolution to hit over 120 frames most of the time.

So the question is what resolution are we targeting at what frame times...

 

[Riamus]

I am not sure but 4 core CPU, 12GB RAM, and 8GB video card will not be enough to enjoy the game at 1440p.

Any recent 8 core CPU, 32GB RAM, GPU 16GB or higher should find itself in recommended specs for 1080+ resolution.

What frame rate are we targeting... 30 frames? Give me a break. I cannot play anything if my PC is not capable of rendering at least 90+ frames with high refresh rate monitor. Honestly anything below 120 frames feels sluggish because of mouse input.

I am running 7DTD at 1440p with R5 7600X paired with 9070 OC 16GB in medium/high details. FSR native to resolution to hit over 120 frames most of the time.

So the question is what resolution are we targeting at what frame times...

I think you bring up a good point relating to monitors. If you use a monitor than can provide really high framerates, a lower FPS will often be really bad compared to the same FPS on a monitor that can only provide up to 60 FPS. So that is also a consideration.

 

[SylenThunder]

I am not sure but 4 core CPU, 12GB RAM, and 8GB video card will not be enough to enjoy the game at 1440p.

Any recent 8 core CPU, 32GB RAM, GPU 16GB or higher should find itself in recommended specs for 1080+ resolution.

What frame rate are we targeting... 30 frames? Give me a break. I cannot play anything if my PC is not capable of rendering at least 90+ frames with high refresh rate monitor. Honestly anything below 120 frames feels sluggish because of mouse input.

I am running 7DTD at 1440p with R5 7600X paired with 9070 OC 16GB in medium/high details. FSR native to resolution to hit over 120 frames most of the time.

So the question is what resolution are we targeting at what frame times...

Usually the target is 60FPS at 1080p.

As for the vague hardware specs, I happen to have an old Core 2 Quad 6600 with 8GB RAM and a GTX 650-770 with 2GB VRAM to toss in it. Last time I really stress tested this machine with the game was a20, and it was capable, but starting to struggle. In the current build I have no doubt that it will struggle to maintain 30FPS with that, and visually it won't be pretty.

 

[TWORDY]

Usually the target is 60FPS at 1080p.

As for the vague hardware specs, I happen to have an old Core 2 Quad 6600 with 8GB RAM and a GTX 650-770 with 2GB VRAM to toss in it. Last time I really stress tested this machine with the game was a20, and it was capable, but starting to struggle. In the current build I have no doubt that it will struggle to maintain 30FPS with that, and visually it won't be pretty.

I used to own 4 core i5 4460, 8GB ram 1600Mhz, GTX 760 2GB, 720p used to be fine years ago with this setup. The problem probably lies between ancient GPU drivers vs newer versions of Unity, then VRAM usage. I doubt anything below GTX 1000 series runs the game above 60 frames.

 

[pApA^LeGBa]

I think on steam the minimum has to be 30FPS at low and recommended 60FPS high both 1080p. But i am not sure.

10 Series sounds good for minimum. I remember back in A17 buddy had a GTX980 and it didn´t run well. The 1060 6GB might be a good choice for minimum. A few of my friends had that card and it did run the game well enough during A21. For AMD probably the RX5700 i guess?

Not sure for CPU, it runs 60FPS with drops to 35-40 in the city and during bloodmoon on a AMD R5 3600 (16GB RAM, RX7800XT), Intel I5 6600 is too weak already if i remember correctly (GTX1070, 16GB RAM). 1080p medium-high. These are ofc just single observation from friends and their old systems.

Interesting was my GPU change. Running a R5 3600 with 32GB RAM and a GTX1070, i switched to a RX6700 because my 1070 died. No real improvement for 7 days in FPS. Then i built a new PC and only keeping the RX6700, using a I7 13700K, 32GB RAM and now cities and bloodmoons are 45 50FPS while they used to be 25-35.

 

[Riamus]

Interesting was my GPU change. Running a R5 3600 with 32GB RAM and a GTX1070, i switched to a RX6700 because my 1070 died. No real improvement for 7 days in FPS. Then i built a new PC and only keeping the RX6700, using a I7 13700K, 32GB RAM and now cities and bloodmoons are 45 50FPS while they used to be 25-35.

No real surprise there. Most of the slowdown is CPU rather than GPU in this game. Unless your CPU can handle the game properly, changing the GPU likely won't have much impact.

 

[TWORDY]

I will upgrade my 7600X to 10 000X series next year. Double count of cores on one single chiplet with 12-15% IPC uplift will be worth the money.

I feel bad for anyone who even attempts to play 7DTD on a 13 year old machine. Again, someone will complain that he or she bought the game and can`t even run it anymore on a 4k monitor lol.

 

[Grandpa Minion]

Most of the slowdown is CPU rather than GPU in this game.

that moment when they realize the game is primarily designed for single-core processing, which creates a bottleneck for the CPU, making adding bandits (entitys) that will bog down the cpu more.. is not an option.

 

[pApA^LeGBa]

I will upgrade my 7600X to 10 000X series next year. Double count of cores on one single chiplet with 12-15% IPC uplift will be worth the money.

I feel bad for anyone who even attempts to play 7DTD on a 13 year old machine. Again, someone will complain that he or she bought the game and can`t even run it anymore on a 4k monitor lol.

Yeah the 4K Monitor reminds me of a friend who bought one. Having a 1060 6GB in his rig and wondering why he has low frame rates.

You can get a 9800X3D now. It has that 15% more if not even more than that. No double core count though. I doubt that we will see 12 cores for a gaming CPU with the next Gen. Yes there is the 9900X3D and the 9950X3D but they don´t really differ that much from the 9800X3d in gaming performance. They might even be a bit slower sometimes.

 

[pApA^LeGBa]

Oh we now have a timed window for edits. Forgot to add that if @TWORDY wants to upgrade mainly for 7 days, then the core count above 6 doesn´t matter, probably not even the jump from 6 to 8 cores does not much for 7 days, the general upgrades of a new CPU generation in single core will do the most for 7 days. Unless you need productivity power, 8 cores are enough for gaming anyways no matter the game.

 

[pApA^LeGBa]

To put this a bit into perspective i went looking how much a PC, containing parts that i can buy new, with minimum and recommended specs would cost me at pretty much the lowest possible prices.

This is a self built PC, so for prebuilt PC´s you can add up to 100$.

Had to go 16GB Ram for recommended, because 12GB are only possible with 3 sticks with buying new parts and you should never ever do 3 Ram sticks.

This includes a 1080p Monitor, Mouse/KB, Headset, 1 TB SSD, 450W PSU 80+ Bronze (this is the minimum standard anyone should buy for gaming), Case and Motherboard. They only differ in RAM and CPU.

Again all this can be bought new and is available within a few days, even weaker 4GB GPU´s than the RX6500 can still be bought new btw, like a GT730.

Minimum:

CPU: AMD R3 3100, 4 Cores, 3.6 Ghz
GPU: Nvidia GT 1030, 2 GB DDR4 VRam
RAM: 2x4 GB DDR4, 2133 Mhz

For 430 Euros aka 495 US Dollar.

Recommended:
CPU: AMD R3 3100, 4 Cores, 3.6 Ghz
GPU: AMD RX 6500, 4 GB DDR6 VRam
RAM: 2x8GB DDR 4, 2133 Mhz.

For 535 Euros aka 616 US Dollars.

Both can run WIN11.

CPU is the same, because it´s the cheapest that fits min specs.

500$ is a lot of money to spend just to realize that this PC won´t run the game. And for 120$ more you get a PC with a tiny bit more than recommended specs that will maybe run the game but only on low and max 20 FPS average.


4GB VRam are not enough. Not even for Minimum Specs.


Now considering the used market you can get it cheaper ofc, but that is not for everyone and there is always a risk that it´s more expensive in the long run even if it works initially.

For Minimum CPU the AMD R3 3100 is the right choice i think. For Intel the i3 12100F, those two can still be bought new. There is older CPU´s that probably are enough for low, like a Inte i3 10100F or a AMD R3 2300X to cover people with older PC´s.

For a GPU anything with 8GB or more VRam. Probably Nvidia GTX1070, AMD RX5700XT as the launche already needs 7.5GB it seems. But the game maybe runs just good enough on a AMD RX580 8GB, Nvidia GTX1060 6GB for minimum.


There needs to be a change. TFP claims on steam that you can play this game with a 2GB GPU that is now nearly 15 years old.

No matter how much time and money you spend for optimizing this game, even billions of dollars and years of time for hundreds of skilled devs, will make this game run on a Nvidia GT430 2GB from 2010.

 

[Riamus]

4GB VRam are not enough. Not even for Minimum Specs.

It depends on the GPU. I run a 4GB GPU (RX 580) and usually maintain a steady 30FPS, which is what I cap it at. And if I uncap it, I can get 60FPS, which is my monitor's max. I just don't do that because any fluctuations are very noticeable, so it looks better at 30. And I play on medium to high settings at 1080p. For minimum specs, that is not bad.

As with CPUs, trying to use a broad categorization doesn't really work well. You can have a 4GB card that can easily work as a minimum spec for this game, and you can likely find a 6GB or even 8GB card that does not because it is budget grade. In the same way, you shouldn't generalize CPUs and say you need X generation or higher, because each generation has a budget grade that is wise than the earlier generation.

Also, if you go over the VRAM, you would start using normal RAM. If you have a lot of fast RAM with good timings, you can usually do fine with lower VRAM. I think I've only seen one game that didn't switch to regular RAM if you went over VRAM. No Man's Sky will just crash if you go over available VRAM.

 

[pApA^LeGBa]

@Riamus What i am saying is that you can´t just put up 4GB VRam as requirement unless it runs on ALL 4GB cards. There needs to be specific model numbers. It would be easier if the game had DirectX12 as a requirement, but as it is DX11 this includes GPU`s from 2010.

Other games solved this too, even small indie studios with a single developer were able to do this. It´s not exactly rocket science to get this done right.

Also really? Timing of Ram? Nah man. You can´t ask from the consumer to be aware of that. There needs to be a baseline that runs the game no matter what parts you choose as long as they are in the minimum specs.

If you say you need a 2GB video card, with a 4 core CPU and 8 GB RAM than every RAM that wiorks with that 4 core CPU has to run the game properly no matter which GPU as long as it is in the minimum specs. Do you really think the average gamer even knows about RAM timings? A lot of them doesn´t know. Many don´t even know if they have DDR4 or 5.

If a GPU can´t run the game properly unless it has RAM with good timings it has no place in the minimum or recommended specs.

I get it, they want to target as many people as possible, but GPU´s from 2010? Those will be 17 years old when the game is finally done.

Why is this even a discussion? It´s not true what is on the steam page and it needs to be fixed in a way that you can be 100% what you need for the game.

Also i have a 13700K, RX6700, 32 GB Ram and i can´t get stable 60FPS everywhere at any time. On medium. I mean i can get 90FPS a lot on high, but in the city when downtown and horde nights, big screamer hordes don´t run at 60FPS at all not even on medium. And that is part of the game no matter how often it happens, it´s an essential part of the game. That needs to be the baseline for FPS testing. Skycrapers and and more than 32 zombies at once.

So yeah actually 4GB isn´t enough. There is no 4GB GPU that makes the Crack a Book HQ as an infested quest plus a screamer horde a fun experience. Screamers and T6 quests are quite common.

This game is very demanding for the hardware in some situations that are crucial to game play, you can´t just put 15 year old cards in the requirements. And if you want 4GB cards in there, you need the weakest model that can run the game properly on low for the minimum requirements no matter which RAM timings. You even need to consider that EXPO and XMP are often not in use. Gamers nowadays often don´t know anything about their PC´s. Heck if you ask people on 7 days to die FB gourps which CPU they have, they answer i5 and are confused if you ask from what generation. My favorite answer was "Intel" though.

The 2GB needs to go for sure at minimum.

 

[Riamus]

What i am saying is that you can´t just put up 4GB VRam as requirement unless it runs on ALL 4GB cards.

Which is why I had mentioned earlier that you can't just put generic specs. You need to put more information. X gen CPU isn't enough. You can get the newest gen CPU that is budget grade and it will likely perform poorly enough in this game to not qualify for "recommended specs." SylenThunder's post clearly points out to the devs (hopefully they'll read it) that they need to give more specific information.

I think 4GB is fine as minimum specs, though I think it needs to include more information than just that. If a player can't figure out if the card they have meets the minimum specs, then they should ask. After all, even if you put the most detailed specs possible, you're going to have people who have no idea if their computer meets those specs. If they can't be bothered to ask, then it's on them if they can't play a game.

As far as your example of Crack-A-Book HQ infested with a screamer horde, I can do that without any loss of FPS. I have never lost FPS due to large numbers of enemies. I'll lose it for specific textures on blocks that create a lot of reflections, or due to a lot of shadows, but not due to enemy count. So, yes... I can play this with a 4GB GPU without any issue. And I'm not playing this at the lowest settings. When you switch from VRAM to RAM, it may be slower, but for this game, it is not normally that much of a problem unless you have really slow RAM or not enough RAM that you start using the virtual RAM (pagefile), which is definitely going to slow you down. If you have plenty of RAM so you don't have to use the virtual RAM, then running out of VRAM doesn't much matter in this game. This game's bottleneck is almost always the CPU.

As a side note, they still make 4GB cards.