DICE: Some Frostbite Games Will Require a 64-bit OS

By Billy Taylor
published

If you're still gaming on a 32-bit OS come 2013, you won't be playing some of DICE's biggest releases.

DICE has made considerable improvements over their Frostbite engine with the release of Battlefield 3. Consequently, these improvements and enhancements demand more power from your PC. According to Johan Andersson, rendering architect at DICE, some Frostbite powered games in 2013 will demand a 64-bit operating system.

Currently, PC gamers can run popular titles fine on a 32-bit OS, which makes convincing them to switch difficult. The real benefit gained from a 64-bit operating systems is that it can address 4 GB's or more of RAM. He states that the main driving force behind this requirement is larger Virtual Address Space (VAS) and RAM access.

Johan Andersson suggests that if you do not currently own a 64-bit OS, the release of Windows 8 is a good opportunity to upgrade.

Billy Taylor
Topics
Software
65 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Energy96
    Win 7 is a better choice to switch to 64bit.
    Reply
  • scurbox
    to each their own on which OS to switch to i guess.

    however, 64bit is a must for most gamers anyways. even though most games aren't written in 64bit it's definitely better to have a 64 bit OS just so it can have allocate more ram and have enough ram for the OS and the game rather than swapping from a pagefile.
    Reply
  • bavman
    Heaven forbid we have to start phasing out consumer 32-bit o/s'. Its only 2012 after all
    Reply
  • captaincharisma
    or you could go for a and find that rare copy of windows XP x64 if you still like living in the stone age
    Reply
  • dafin0
    And lets see if this story turns into a windows 8 hate story... it really doesnt mater if its win 7 or 8 as they will both play games almost 100% the same. and from what iv heard win 8 gets ever so slightly better frames in games.
    Reply
  • *adds more emphasis to the sarcasm*

    Heaven forbid we have to start phasing out consumer 32-bit o/s'. Its only 2012 after all
    Reply
  • shafe88
    "Great opportunity to upgrade to windows 8" Now why would any one in their right state of mined upgrade to windows 8 just to play games, when windows 7 x64 is far superior.
    Reply
  • obsama1
    Processors have been 64bit since 2006. Only thing holding us back are the people using XP (That's me, LOL).
    Reply
  • shafe88
    "Great opportunity to upgrade to Windows 8" Now why would any one in their right state of mind upgrade to windows just to play game when Win7 x64 is far superior.
    Reply
  • sirencall
    shafe88"Great opportunity to upgrade to windows 8" Now why would any one in their right state of mined upgrade to windows 8 just to play games, when windows 7 x64 is far superior.
    Thats a lie, win8 has better performance in games due to being less resource intensive
    Reply