Originally Posted by atomicmpc.com.au
Recommended:
* 3 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
* 1 GB System RAM
* ATI X800 series, NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series, or higher video card
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"Translated" official specs
For the sake of everyone, I have considered everything and made up this set of specs, that likely reflect what you'll need accurately, and in a more convenient way:
Minimum Playable : (least needed to be able to play the game half-decently)
+ Intel Pentium 4 2.0GHz, Celeron 2.6GHz, AthlonXP 2000+, or Pentium M 1.2GHz
+ 512MB RAM
+ Any video card listed in the "low-end" category or better (see the "video card ranking list" at the bottom of this post)
+ Video card must have at least 128MB video RAM
+ Windows XP (perhaps Windows 2000 as well)
+ 8X DVD-ROM or DVD burner drive
+ 4.6GB Hard drive space (full install?)
Medium-Level : (Enough to play it enjoying all of the features of the game, at decent resolution and performance)
+ Intel Pentium 4 2.5GHz, Celeron D 3.0GHz, AthlonXP 2500+, or Pentium M 1.5GHz
+ 1024MB (1GB) RAM
+ Any video card listed in the "mid-range" category or better (see the "video card ranking list" at the bottom of this post)
+ Video card must have at least 128MB video RAM; 256MB or more is recommended
+ Windows XP (perhaps Windows 2000 as well)
+ 8X DVD-ROM or DVD burner drive
+ 4.6GB Hard drive space (full install?)
Recommended : (enough to play the game as it's envisioned, with everything turned on and turned up)
+ Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz with hyper-threading, Celeron D 3.4GHz, AthlonXP 3200+, Athlon64 2800+, or Pentium M 1.73GHz
+ 1024MB (1GB) RAM
+ Any video card listed in the "high-end" category or better (see the "video card ranking list" at the bottom of this post)
Support for shader model 3.0 is preferred
+ Video card must have at least 128MB video RAM; 256MB or more is recommended
+ Windows XP (perhaps Windows 2000 as well)
+ 8X DVD-ROM or DVD burner drive
+ 4.6GB Hard drive space (full install?)
Unofficially supported graphics chipsets :
+ GeForce FX 5200, GeForce FX 5500, GeForce FX 5600, GeForce FX 5700, GeForce FX 5800, GeForce FX 5900 & GeForce FX 5950
+ GeForce PCX 5300, GeForce PCX 5700, & GeForce PCX 5900
+ GeForce 6200, GeForce 6500, GeForce 6600, GeForce 6610 & GeForce 6800
+ GeForce 7300 & GeForce 7800
+ Radeon 9500, Radeon 9550, Radeon 9600, Radeon 9700 & Radeon 9800
+ Radeon X300, Radeon X550, Radeon X600, Radeon X700, Radeon X800 & Radeon X850
+ Radeon X1300, Radeon X1600, Radeon X1800 & Radeon X1900
Chipsets that will NEVER work:
+ Intel Extreme, Intel Extreme 2, as well as most integrated graphics chipsets
+ GeForce 2, GeForce 3, GeForce 4MX, GeForce 4 Ti
+ Radeon 7xxx, Radeon 8500, Radeon 9000, Radeon 9100, Radeon 9200, Radeon 9250
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The video card ranking list
Lastly, for those that are really curious as to how good their video card is, I have sketched out a ROUGH outline of how just about any video card in use today stacks up against each other. It's VERY rough, and not guaranteed to be accurate. Also, keep in mind that the amount of video RAM on the board has NO real impact on performance in and of itself; it merely comes into play in determining how well the card will do on certain detail levels. As a general rule, the lower on the list the card comes, the more powerful it is; all cards in one lower list section ARE more powerful than those of the section above it, and generally, the card at the bottom of any given section will be the most powerful, and the least powerful at the top of the section. (this comparison was done fairly loosely after looking at enough benchmarks to make one's eyes hurt, and aren't perfect, obviously) Also, cards that support shader model 3.0 will be listed with underlines.
Anyway:
Rock Bottom (these cards do NOT support pixel shaders, and as such, won't run Oblivion)
+ (Any integrated graphics that's NOT listed elsewhere on here, save for any integrated Radeon or GeForce chips I forgot)
+ Radeon 7000 & Radeon VE
+ GeForce 4 MX 4000
+ GeForce 256
+ GeForce 2 MX
+ Radeon 7200 & ATi Radeon
+ GeForce 2 GTS
+ GeForce 2 Pro
+ GeForce 2 Ti
+ GeForce 2 Ultra
+ GeForce 4 MX 420
+ Radeon 7500
+ GeForce 4 MX 440
Outdated (these cards support shader model 1.x, which will not run the game)
+ Radeon 9100 IGP (integrated graphics)
+ Volari V3
+ Radeon 9250
+ GeForce 3
+ Radeon 9000
+ Radeon 9200
+ Matrox Parahelia 128
+ GeForce 3 Ti 200
+ Radeon 8500 & Radeon 9000pro
+ Radeon 9100
+ Radoen 9100pro
+ GeForce 3 Ti 500
+ GeForce 4 Ti
Very Low-end (these cards support what's necessary for Oblivion, but are very weak, and will likely provide unsatisfying performance even for modest gamers)
+ Intel GMA 900 Integrated graphics (chipset 915) (incredibly weak compared to other cards here, but does support SM 2.0)
+ GeForce FX 5200 & GeForce FX 5200 Ultra (different models have wildly varying performance)
+ GeForce PCX 5300
+ GeForce FX 5700LE
+ GeForce FX 5500
+ GeForce FX 5600
+ GeForce FX 5600 Ultra
+ S3 S8 256
+ GeForce 6100 IGP (integrated graphics)
+ Radeon Xpress 200 (integrated graphics)
+ GeForce FX 5700
+ GeForce PCX 5750
+ Radeon X300 HyperMemory
+ GeForce 6200 TurboCache
+ Radeon X550 HyperMemory
+ Radeon X600 HyperMemory
+ Radeon 9600SE & Radeon X300SE
+ Radeon 9550
+ Radeon X550SE
+ Radeon X300 & Radeon 9600
Low-end (these cards might be considered weak, but they can hold their own, and for most people, should provide a sufficient Oblivion experience)
+ GeForce 6200
+ Radeon X550
+ Radeon X550pro
+ GeForce 6600LE
+ Radeon X550XT
+ GeForce 7300GS
+ Volari V8 Duo
+ Radeon X1300HyperMemory
+ Radeon 9500
+ GeForce 6500
+ Volari V5 Ultra
+ Radeon 9600pro & Radeon X600pro
+ GeForce FX 5700ultra
+ Radeon 9600XT & Radeon X600XT
+ Radeon 9500pro
Mid-Range (these cards were/could've been considered top-end a few years ago, and are fairly powerful, and should be enough to fully enjoy Oblivion)
+ GeForce FX 5900XT
+ Radeon X1300 & All-in-Wonder 2006
+ GeForce FX 5800
+ S3 Chrome 25
+ Radeon 9700
+ GeForce FX 5900
+ GeForce PCX 5900
+ Radeon 9800
+ S3 Chrome 27
+ GeForce 6600
+ Radeon X1300pro
+ Radeon 9700pro
+ GeForce FX 5800ultra
+ Volari V8 Duo Ultra
+ GeForce FX 5900ultra
+ Radeon 9800pro
+ Radeon X700
+ GeForce FX 5950ultra
+ Radeon X700pro
+ GeForce 6800LE
+ GeForce 6800XT
+ GeForce 6800 (PCI-express version)
+ GeForce 6600GT
+ Radeon X800SE
+ Radeon 9800XT
+ Radeon X800GT & Radeon X800RX
High-End (some of these cards may be "outdated," but just about any given one is OVERKILL for almost any game out there, and will definitely be able to play Oblivion with all the settings enabled)
+ Radeon X1600pro
+ Radeon X800 & Radeon X800GTO 128MB
+ GeForce 6800 (AGP version)
+ Radeon X800GTO & Radeon X800GTO² (256MB version for either)
+ GeForce 7600GT (preliminary ranking; limited information)
+ Radeon X1600XT
+ GeForce 6800GS (AGP version)
+ Radeon X800pro
+ GeForce 6800GS (PCI-express version)
+ Radeon X850pro
+ GeForce 6800GT
+ Radeon X800XL & Radeon X800GTO 16
+ GeForce 7800GS (stock clock; 375MHz core)
+ GeForce 6800ultra
+ Radeon X800XT
+ Radeon X850XT
+ GeForce 7800GS (overclocked version; 400-430MHz core)
+ Radeon X800XT Platinum Edition
+ Radeon X850XT Platinum Edition
OMGWTFBBQ! (these cards are outrageous; they are rather expensive, but insanely powerful. Note that I cannot guarantee perfect accuracy of this ranking, but rest assured, all of them are more than overkill for this game)
+ GeForce 7800GS (superclock version; 460MHz core, 1350MHz memory)
+ Radeon X1800XL
+ GeForce 7800GT
+ GeForce 7800GTX
+ GeForce 7900GT (preliminary ranking, might be higher)
+ Radeon X1800XT
+ GeForce 7800GTX 512
+ Radeon X1800XT Platinum Edition
+ Radeon X1900 All-in-Wonder
+ Radeon X1900XT
+ Radeon X1900XTX
If your card is on the "rock bottom" list, please, for the love of Akatosh, upgrade it; those cards don't support shaders at all, and don't even run Morrowind at it's fullest!
For those who have cards in the "outdated" list, even if your card might still hold up, you'll still need to upgrade it. It may support pixel shaders, but not SM 2.0.
If your card is in the "low end" list, I can assure you Oblivion WILL run on your system; it's just a matter of what your going to wind up sacrificing, be it a part of quality, resolution, or performance.
If you find your card listed as "mid range," don't sweat it. Things will run FINE, and you'll get plenty enough eye candy to satisfy you. For those that need to upgrade, I'd recommend looking at some of these cards first. These ones will last for at least a short while.
If your card makes it to the lofty heights of the "high-end" list, rejoice! You have monstrous gaming power that will certainly eat up Oblivion quite greedily. Just remember to keep your drool bucket handy.
Lastly, if your card makes it into the "OMGWTFBBQ" list, careful there, steady! You were starting to hyperventilate. Please don't pass out on the forums. And make sure your drool-catching bib is still firmly tied on. You're going to need it when playing.
