Crysis Warhead $699 Gaming PC from EA Details
EA has released the final specifications of its specialized “Crysis” machine that it intends to offer for those looking to get into PC gaming’s most demanding title.
In late July, we reported that EA was planning on releasing special Crysis-branded PCs that would be both affordable and well-equipped to handle the most graphically demanding game of today. Details of this machine are now hitting the Internet, just in time for the release of Crysis Warhead, the next installment to the series, on September 16.
The Crysis Warhead PC will carry with it the following specifications:
- Nvidia GeForce 9800GT 512MB
- Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 2.66 GHz
- G31 mATX motherboard
- 2 GB DDR2 PC6400
- 250 GB hard drive
- 16X DVD-ROM
- Integrated LAN
- Integrated audio
- Keyboard and mouse
- 500 Watt PSU
- Ultra X-Blaster ATX mid-tower
- One-year parts and labor warranty
All of the above will cost only $699 and will come with everything except a monitor and headphones or speakers. The Crysis Warhead PC is the result of ideas from EA, Crytek, Nvidia and the company who will build the machine – Ultra PC.
Crytek’s originally supplied the specifications to EA as recommended system requirements, but Nvidia stepped in with the idea of selling it as a pre-built machine.
Crysis franchise producer Bernd Diemer explained the concept to Chris Remo’s blog, saying, ”When we started working on Warhead, we decided performance was a big issue. So we said, ‘Guys, we’re going to build a PC which has a maximum price of six or seven hundred dollars, and it has to run Warhead in high spec at an average framerate of 30.’ We built that PC—Crytek in the Budapest office [where Warhead was developed]—and we put it in the middle of the studio, and every review was on that machine. All the milestone presentations we did for EA, for the Yerlies [founding brothers Cevat, Avni, and Faruk], for the team, all the new prototypes, we showed on that machine.”
The hammered out specifications allowed the development team to borrow a little bit from the console-mentality of optimizing towards a certain platform.
“For us, it was really helpful, because we sort of had a hard cap,” Diemer added. “You couldn’t say, ‘It works on my computer, looks great on my machine.’ No no no, this is the benchmark, guys. If it sucks on this, the whole thing sucks. For us as a team, that was really valuable. We had a tangible border we could bump our heads into.”
Interestingly enough, the Crysis Warhead PC will not come packed with Windows Vista and its supposed gaming prowess. Instead, according to GameCyte, the system will be preloaded with Windows XP Professional with the latest updates and Service Pack 3.
Online retailer TigerDirect already has a campaign paged advertising the $699 system. Slightly confusing, however, is that the machine won’t come pre-bundled with Crysis Warhead or the original Crysis – making the special Crysis machine just sensibly put together gaming PC.
- EA,
- Crytek Studios,
- crysis ,
- warhead ,
- pc
- Windows 7: Straight from the VPs Mouth
- Toshiba Announces 240GB, 1.8-inch Hard Drive
- Nvidia's Own Shareholders Sue for Coverup
- Superior PowerLine Network Tech Ousted as Standard Due to Politics
- Microsoft Slaps PC Gamers, Decides to Close Ensemble Studios
- Gordon Moore To Receive IEEE Medal Of Honor
- AMD Releases Triple Threat and Price Cuts
- RIM Surging Ahead In Smartphone Market
- 24-Hour Battery Life Laptop from HP
- NCSoft West to Take on Blizzard in Next-Gen MMOs
- Microsoft Manager Says Vista Has Issues
- Google to Move its Data Centers Off-Shore?
- Nvidia GT206 and GT212 Spotted in ELSA Roadmap
- Is HP Wanting to Improve the Vista Experience, or Completely Avoid It?
- Electronic Arts Ends Courtship With Take-Two
- WoW: Wrath of the Lich King Ship Date Announced
- A Kinder, Gentler Copy Protection for Red Alert 3
- Microsoft's IE8 Phones Home
What a rip. I just built a similar PC from newegg for $500 including rebates and shipping. Of course, I used the cheapest components available which i'm this 'crysis' system has done.
its not a rip
it looks like a evga video card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130380
that's pretty good
and it does include an operating system, keyboard and mouse
that's at least $140 you would have to spend just on the os if you were building it completely from scratch
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116515
so its not that bad
I think this is great. This is what the PC gaming industry needs. Some standardized gaming platform that console players can easily transition to.
Building pcs for yourself will always bring about more bang for ones buck, this is just a given. I hope we see more of these machines as I am tired of playing poorly ported games. Mercenaries 2 sucks on PC 1280x720 only.
I hope we see more standardized pc platforms and perhaps more of a hardware grading tier.. as if hardware manufacturers could ever agree on this.
Well, my quick $500 build includes gaming mouse and keyboard. But yeah, I didn't include an OS. So you would save a bit over $60 building it from scratch with the XP pro. That's not as bad then.
Yeah, for a non techy, that's a great buy. Go configure a similar machine on dell or hp and see how much it is.
EXCEPT
what i love about this article... is no where does it say what resolution they want it to be playable at... if its like 1024 by 768... its such a rip... if its like 1680 by 1050... thats awesome
but it's more than likely a very low resolution that few people use anymore... even 1280 by 1024 is pushing it in my opinion... sure thats what most people have... but what does that say about optimization? currently older cards such as the 8800 gt and 9600 gt can play crysis on all high at over 30 fps at that res... so it better be a higher resolution other wise the whole optimization spiel they're throwing around is crap
I looked twice and I didn't see that the Crysis machine has an OS listed. What OS comes with it? Are we to guess Vista?
I will admit its a good pc for a person that wouldnt build their own gaming rig...but for must of us here, we could easily put together a better rig with a quad core, 4gigs of ram, and an HD4850, for about the same price..lol...(just put together something on newegg real quick, just to double check
)
Ok... at the very bottom of the article it does say it comes with xp.
IMO it's complete BS that the system doesn't come with the game.
a quick glance, and that build looks really solid... i just wonder how much bloatware they filled that thing up for a profit
thogrom: I play Crysis on mostly high settings at 1900x1200 on an 8800GT, so it is very likely that that machine can play at high resolutions, especially since warhead is supposed to be more optimized.
“For us, it was really helpful, because we sort of had a hard cap,” Diemer added. “You couldn’t say, ‘It works on my computer, looks great on my machine.’ No no no, this is the benchmark, guys. If it sucks on this, the whole thing sucks. For us as a team, that was really valuable. We had a tangible border we could bump our heads into.”
PC game devs really need this kind of thinking. i hate it when a game comes out and its only playable on uber high-end machines. thats why id pick COD4 over crysis anytime as the better game..
and cod 4 still looks great!
I like it!!! I also like that i have nearly the same specs as that machine and will be guaranteed to play high at 30 FPS!!! although i can already do that now with the now "old" Crysis...
I like it!!! I also like that i have nearly the same specs as that machine and will be guaranteed to play high at 30 FPS!!! although i can already do that now with the now "old" Crysis...
why are these idiots putting a micro board in a full ATX case????
airflow.
Isn't that a Cop Out? I mean putting XP so you can run it in DX9 instead of DX10 and say it's running in High Quality?
Great, so warhead is going to be even more optimised for nvidia only than the original crysis.
why not optimise for 4 platforms, one with an intel CPU and ATI card, one with a intel cpu and nvidia card, and the same again but with an AMD CPU.
and why not a quad core CPU??? crysis is, afterall, supposed to be multi-core compatible.
Isn't that a Cop Out? I mean putting XP so you can run it in DX9 instead of DX10 and say it's running in High Quality?
QFT
thogrom: I play Crysis on mostly high settings at 1900x1200 on an 8800GT, so it is very likely that that machine can play at high resolutions, especially since warhead is supposed to be more optimized.
LOL, no way.
a radeon 4870 plays 1680x1020 res all high (not v. high) but the 8800GT wont do. you'd need at least a GTX280 if not a 4870x2 to play at resolutions higher than than at high settings.
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 992-5.html
I agree with the first guy. I'm from Canada and with our smaller market and higher prices I still can easily spec the entire PC including XP pro, gaming keyboard and mouse for under $600 CAD. As much as I'd like to think its about time for PC gaming to have a standard gaming rig, but A rip off is still a rip off. Besides did you guys hear the interview with Bernd Diemer from Crytek by IGN. Bernd said that the team specked out the PC over 2 months ago and it was $700 USD or so back then. If they still charge for $700 now then its really too pricy.
So here's the challenge: Can anyone build a better system cheaper? If not, this appears to be the way to go. If so, they've suddenly become someone I'd like to talk to about purchasing a new system.
Nice... a machine with drm protected game preinstalled...
They must have severely optimized Warhead. The original crysis would croak on that machine. I just hope they didn't sacrifice eye candy for performance.
Also dont forget this is EA. They want your money. They don't care if you can build it cheaper
I agree with the first guy. I'm from Canada and with our smaller market and higher prices I still can easily spec the entire PC including XP pro, gaming keyboard and mouse for under $600 CAD. As much as I'd like to think its about time for PC gaming to have a standard gaming rig, but A rip off is still a rip off.
bull,
you say you can build that under $600 ? Then post the prices and specs
just be sure to include the MS XP
and do it without rebates and be sure to include shipping
you might be able to save a little, but you sure aint saving a lot
and this pc is obviously not for people who build pcs
its meant for people who want to play a game without worrying whether or not their pc meets minimum requirements and for people who don't want to be bothered with buying stuff and possibly having to RMA it
this is a very good pc at a very good price
Nice... a machine with drm protected game preinstalled...
learn to read
where in the article does it say the pc comes with a game preinstalled?
What a rip. I just built a similar PC from newegg for $500 including rebates and shipping. Of course, I used the cheapest components available which i'm this 'crysis' system has done.
So you're saying that the builders should make absolutely zero profit? Not everyone can just throw together a PC.
Intel E7300 $148.98
http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] omoid=1074
EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GT $139.99 $119.99 after rebate.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] omoid=1074
Foxconn 45GMX mATX 945G LGA775 DDR2 $49.00
http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] nn%20Group
OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 $47.99 $27.99 after rebate.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] omoid=1074
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB SATA2 $49.98
http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] omoid=1074
LG 16X DVD-ROM $24.00
http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] lectronics
Xion DAZL Black ATX Mid Tower Case 4X5.25 2X3.5 4X3.5INT Fans 500W W/ LED Fans & Window $90.04 $65.04 after rebate.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] cture=Xion
Microsoft CA9-00001 Desktop Basic Value Keyboard And Optical Mouse Combo $22.96
http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] =Microsoft
Microsoft Windows XP Pro $131
http://www.pcvonline.com/productDe [...] rodID=3116
The total comes to $702 if you include rebates and a copy of XP from your local Craigslist than the system is sub $650
Try pricing with a Phenom x4 9850 Black Edition on a Gigabyte 790GX/SB750 chipset and a ATI-HD-4850. (Or a Phenom 3x TripleCore).
Add 4 Gigs DDR21066.
(note that all of this is new summer 2008 hardware)
That would be new current tek with an upgradeable future. Add a 2nd Crossfire 4850 card next year = zoom.
These guys are selling old end-of-life tek that will really get old next year! It's a hardware dump for nvidiot in the middle of a major recall. Jokes on you. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.
AMD's latest price cuts will give you a pc worth owning - add up the cost at your fav dealer. And then sit back and look at what you are getting!
AND the HI-DEF, DECODING,BLURAY, HDMI CAPABILITIES ARE FOR FREE INCLUDED!
That's future tek!
Or you can invest in this old tek dump. It's your $$.
You can do a lot better with $700ish. And if you can't build it, your friend can.