Do you think these are the lowest standards needed?
Do you think these are the lowest standards needed?
I'm wondering why I'm bringing this up since I just got it running on my HP Pavilion DV6 3010AX from 2010. It's running with: Phenom II N970 4GB DDR3 at 1333 due to the CPU upgrade, Ati Mobility Radeon HD5650 1GB (main GPU), and Ati Mobility Radeon HD4250 320MB (secondary - could run another desktop from it). It's using Windows 7 Home 64bit with 320GB storage and a 5400RPM Toshiba SATA II HDD. The display is an LED LCD with TN panels. Now the settings are set to their lowest levels, including resolution, and shadow maps are at 16 instead of the default 1024, but it still works. I plan to test Frappe later, but recording all games I play will be done in batches—just SS only. I aim to log at least three each of minimum and maximum frame rates, then compute the average. By the way, this laptop's CPU and its main GPU are why I'm giving AMD a run for its money—their older tech is still quite solid and performs well for its age.
I recommend an i3-4130 paired with a GTX 750 for generally solid performance.
For the CPU benchmark it doesn't really matter. GPU performance does. A 1366x768 display uses roughly half the pixels of a 1080p screen. Use the general guideline to double the framerate until it matches the CPU speed. The CPU test runs at high settings, so from the lower (around 90 fps) numbers you can confidently say an i3-4130 should handle most games at about 60 fps.
I have two perspectives on this. One, they need to address a large audience. Your "playable" version differs from my own, and stating the essential requirements could be risky. There are always people who expect smooth performance even on basic hardware, only to find issues and demand rebates or negative feedback. Secondly, maybe certain sections or elements are significantly more demanding than the rest of the game—like intense boss fights with explosions, smoke, or fragile environments. These aspects might not be fully implemented yet but could be planned for in a future patch or DLC.