New Player Help - What Machine to Buy?

[Marcus_Aurelius]

Hello! New to SQUAD and have been loving it! This is my type of mil-sim through and through. A ton of work has been put into it and the community at large is superb. Great find, I randomly tripped over a gameplay video on YouTube and was pretty quickly hooked.

However, it turns out my machine doesn't play it very well. It crashes after awhile from overheat. I thought Not quite enough VRAM. I have a laptop I use for work but I am looking at getting a desktop that could also handle this game well.

I'm not a super-tech guy (years ago built a couple of towers, :P not ignorant...mostly ;) ), I want to make sure the machines I'm poking around at would run this game on medium settings (don't need to top of the top fancy settings, although that would be nice!).

Would any of these desktops listed work well for SQUAD:

Lenovo Veterans Advantage[www.lenovo.com]

Thanks!

[Marcus_Aurelius]

After researching their graphics cards and looking over their specs, I think this is the one I like: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/veteransadvantage/desktops-and-all-in-ones/thinkcentre/m-series-sff/ThinkCentre-M75s-1/p/11AV001FUS

I just want to make sure it will actually be able to run SQUAD. Yes? No?

[Maki Nishikino]

You’re going to want at least 16 GB of RAM and a GPU that has at least 6 GB of VRAM. GPU wise I would take a look at the GTX 1660 Ti, it offers good performance for it’s cost. AMD might offer something cheaper with about the same or better performance but honestly I don’t keep tabs on them.

[Mr. Pink]

I would like to recommend the following specs:

RAM: 16 GB
GPU: 8 GB i.e. RTX2070Super
run Squad on SSD

Good luck, Soldier!

[Stellar Fox]

Originally posted by Marcus_Aurelius:

After researching their graphics cards and looking over their specs, I think this is the one I like: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/veteransadvantage/desktops-and-all-in-ones/thinkcentre/m-series-sff/ThinkCentre-M75s-1/p/11AV001FUS

I just want to make sure it will actually be able to run SQUAD. Yes? No?

this will struggle to run the game at 60 fps with everything on low.

[Dust]

Originally posted by Stellar fox:

this will struggle to run the game at 60 fps with everything on low.

This build will struggle to even reach the main menu. That GPU is a card for budget laptops, it's gonna run Youtube okay and that's probably going to be it.

OP, take a look at the minimum and recommended specs before choosing a build.

MINIMUM:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 7 SP1 (x64)
Processor: Intel Core i or AMD Ryzen with 4 physical cores
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Geforce GTX 770 or AMD Radeon HD 7870 with at least 4 GB of VRAM
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 55 GB available space
Additional Notes: A teamwork oriented mindset

RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 7 SP1 (x64), Windows 8 (x64), Windows 10 (x64)
Processor: Intel Core i or AMD Ryzen with 6 physical cores
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon 570 with at least 6GB of VRAM
DirectX: Version 12
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 55 GB available space
Additional Notes: A microphone

If I were you, I'd get at least a 1050ti / AMD 5xx (4 gigs of VRAM minimum), with a CPU of your choice (a ryzen or a newer generation i5 at the minimum) and 16 gigs of ram (8 might be pushing it). That'd get you 60 fps on medium with some dips here and there.

[Major.Pain]

OP just had a look through the Lenovo's you linked and frankly even the 3700 and 3600 Ryzen systems which are possibly the best ones have a laughable Radeon 520 GPU in them, the Intels on the page all use Integrated Graphics(on CPU) which are CSGO doable at best.
The Lenovo's Radeon 520 compared with a basic entry level GTX1050 get stomped by about 380%

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-vs-AMD-Radeon-520/3650vsm329613

Even the venerable gaming card of 2007 8800GT kicks it a.s.s. lol.
https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GeForce-8800-GT-vs-AMD-Radeon-520/m7722vsm329613

[LifestylerAUT]

If it has to be really a laptop-it really does not matter, which one, as long as there is 16gb of ram and 6 core cpu (8 core is better)- I d highly recommend to take a look at >external gpu cases< with standard mid range gpus in it; for example rx 5700xt, rtx 1660, gtx 1080, rtx 2070 etc, just go a bit OVER the minimum, better look at the recommended specs). Just google which fits your needs the most. (https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/best-egpus)

This way you will be able to play demanding games at home BUT at the same time you ll be able to go to work without carrying a heavy "beast" with you or simply if there is no need for any strong gpu on the road and further more it gives your the opportunity to "upgrade your laptop" over time, if there is the need to.
Further more it gives you more freedom to choose which laptop to buy.

I hope it helps

Edit:

here some other links in addition

https://egpu.io/best-laptops-external-gpu/
https://thunderboltlaptop.com/best-laptops-for-egpu-usage/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37MdvN1XQ5o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7qD4dc1Lbc

[Dust]

8 cores is overkill for gaming.

[LifestylerAUT]

Originally posted by Dust:

8 cores is overkill for gaming.

No, for squad, hell let loose and post scripum it is not. They a are eating cpu cores and ram for breakfast ;) And then one should ask himself, whats gonna happen the moment 8 core concoles are start to breath...
Noone want to buy a laptop or pc just for one year, it would be nonsens in my opinion at least :)

[Dust]

Originally posted by LifestylerAUT:

Originally posted by Dust:

8 cores is overkill for gaming.

No, for squad, hell let loose and post scripum it is not. They a are eating cpu cores and ram for breakfast ;) And then one should ask himself, whats gonna happen the moment 8 core concoles are start to breath...
Noone want to buy a laptop or pc just for one year, it would be nonsens in my opinion at least :)

8 core consoles have been a thing since 2012, at the very least, with the release of the PS4. You'll be fine for the foreseeable future with 6 cores, if you don't have the misfortune of stumbling upon a heavily cpu-bound, unoptimized mess of a game.

Also, beg to differ. Might vary a bit on some maps, but the performance stays around these numbers 95% of the time for me.

https://i.imgur.com/sewLeh3.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Eky5yaK.jpg

Just gotta keep in mind that OP's gaming on a budget here, and an 8 core cpu is a 100$ increase as far as I can see for a largely negligible boost in performance in my opinion.

[oldschool]

Im waiting for 12th gen intel before I upgrade my cpu, if your building an expensive rig you also should wait

if you build now your gonna have to buy ram again to upgrade your cpu after a few years

If you must buy now its prob best putting a big chunk of your money into a gpu, and getting bare bones cpu and ram then upgrading the cpu and ram in a couple of years

[Gankdalf The Dank]

Squad can utilize no more than 5 CPU threads concurrently to their full potential (quad core was the standard for a long time so its not suprising). This can be seen by how many users talk about performance on say a 9900k not being what they hoped for, then describe no more than 30-35% CPU usage.... 30-35% of 16 threads is just short of 5 threads.

you COULD therefore theoretically say you dont need more than a quad core for squad BUT due to the days of the quad core coming to an end I would absolutely not recommend it as you will be gimped in upcoming AAA titles.

a reasonably balance PC configuration (as in a good balance between CPU and GPU) will almost always be CPU limited in this game, just the nature of the beast. You can keep throwing hardware at it and it just wont matter past a point. Go for highest ST performance / clock speed, tight memory timings and a decent GPU and you will get essentially the best squad performance. Users with 9900K and 2080ti see their hardware severely underutilized in this game, you can see posts about it here regularly.

Again the disclaimer that I am describing a realistic and balanced modern machine with settings that are realistic for said configurations