512mb Graphics Card?

[Luis]

I realise it is below the minimum specs, but will Dirt Rally run with a 512mb GT 650m?

My laptop's native resolution is 1440x900, so not particuarly demanding in that respect.
Other specs are a 2.3 GHz i7 quad-core (3615QM) and 10gb of RAM, so no issue there.

This is one of the few titles in a long time that I want to buy straight away, but obviously I'm not keen if it won't even run. Has anyone else had experience with a 512mb card? Will it not run at all, or will I be able to get something playable at low settings?

[Pad.Trick]

i have a i7, 4 GB Ram and GT 240M laptop somewhere here laying around ^^
i search it and install it there. can give feedback in a few minutes

[Luis]

Ok thanks! If it isn't too much hassle that'd be good. Although I believe the gt 240m is quite a bit older than the 650m, it's a DX 10 card.

[Uzi [OTG]]

I don't think the game will work on Dx10.
ALl the min spec cards listed on the store page are DX11

I imagine in time they will include full DX10 support for folk with older cards.
Maybe.
OH, as a data point of reference.
Using Ultra settings all maxed.game uses 2.4 GB of VRAM on a GTX970 at 1920x1200
No clue what it wants with low settings as I never tried. I may do that and see
what happens.

Edit, corrected figure above.
Tested on system here.

Ultra Low . Game used 1.4 GB VRAM
Low Game used 1.6 GB VRAM

Reportedd by MSI Aferburner.

I must say the game looks surprisingly decent at those settings.
again, that is at 1920x1200 and I imagine at lesser res the memory footprint
would be less. I got a feeling 512mb isn't going to cut it.

[Arya]

You can try, but I suspect it would set your GPU on fire. Perhaps literally.

[Luis]

I meant a GT 240m is DX10. The 650m that I have is DX11. I have been suprised how well the 650m handles modern games at 1440x900.

Assetto Corsa runs just below 60fps on roughly medium to high settings, which is the reason I thought I might be able to run Dirt Rally.

The most recent Codemasters game I have run on this computer is F1 2012, which runs extremely well on ultra everything at 1440x900 (GeForce Experience reccommends maximum settings on everything except AA). Although that game is a few years old now.

Thanks Uzi for that data though, that seems to suggest 512mb wont be qutie enough. (1920x1200 is roughly 1.78 times the pixels of 1440*900, although it's not quite that simple.)

[Uzi [OTG]]

Are you getting that to run Assetto Corsa with only 512mb or are you letting the card access shared memory?
One would hope if a card like that can run AC it could run this. AC isn't a graphical slouch!

[Luis]

I haven't done anything myself to let the graphics card access shared memory.

However, I just checked in System Information under Nvidia Control Panel and it says
Total available graphics memory: 4096 MB
Dedicated video memory: 512 MB GDDR5
System video memory: 0 MB
Shared system memory: 3584 MB

Like I said, I haven't made any changes for this to occur, it seems to have just happen by default. I didn't realise dedicated cards were able to share system memory.

[Uzi [OTG]]

There ya go. It might work!

Risk that cash and buy it. Call it research.
IT's only money.

[Luis]

Haha I'm tempted to just get it before the first week discount runs out. I was just hoping someone else had tried it with a similar set up. Do you know anything about shared memory being used with a dedicated card?

[Uzi [OTG]]

Not really, as I don't have any gear that does such so I never had to worry about it.

All I know is it exists on laptop devices as a low cost option to allow games more
simulated VRAM access if they need it.

IT is a compromise as system RAM is used up and that can lead to issues running
a game if one doens't have enough RAM to keep OP system and game running.
I know some games may not get along with shared video memory, I recall seeing that
over the years.

SHould be some decent detail on Wikipedia and Google searches .

I see in other threads this current version of the game does have issues
with Nvidia laptop cards in that it wont' run full screen and only runs
in a window. Seem to recall some saying a tiny window.

SOmething I'm sure they will fix at some point.

[Luis]

Just went ahead and bought it, at worst it won't run, but at least I have added another sale to a game that is heading in the direction I want it to, and will be able to play it when I have something that can.

Yea, it seems that some games use the shared memory and others don't, which would probably explain why I have found some games run surprisingly well for a 512mb card and others don't.

I've also read about the Nvidia laptop issue, but I'm sure they will fix that.

Thanks for your help!

[Luis]

For the benefit of anyone who comes across this thread with the same question:

Initial impressions are that it was worth it. I just loaded it up to test quickly before bed and ended up playing half an hour (even though I was only using keyboard controls!). At 1440x900 with the low graphics preset it ran smoothly and looked better than I expected (for "low" settings, obviously nowhere near as good as the screenshots).

Using the in-game benchmark tool, it got an average FPS of 56, with min/max of 30/83 on the low preset. So playable depending how often it dips down to the minimum.

I have a feeling they are being conservative with the minimum requirements as it is early access.

I will try it tomorrow using my wheel and see how playable it is (ie how bad framerate dips are; if they cause any input lag or not) and report back if it isn't good enough.

And initial impressions of the game itself are very high! The narrow stages and the awesome engine sounds had me grinning the whole time :) Looking forward to seeing how the feel is with a wheel.

Edit: also, it ran in full screen without issue.