Why did my system bomb the benchmark?for new pc buyers

http://www.zam.com/forum.html?game=268&mid=1278136129165719075

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

shu:ffxiv does not support dual video cards atm.but later on they will add the drivers/support for that in.so do not be surprised if ur dual card get same score as others.it will get a boost later on when more updates is in game.

Video: If it doesn't say "GeForce GTX 4XX" or "Radeon
57XX/58XX/59XX", it will not provide you with a decent performance.
CPU:
If it's not at least a quad core processor it will not provide you
with a decent performance.
Laptops: If you are looking at a
laptop and it is priced under $1000, it will almost certainly not run
FFXIV at all. Consult the above two points.
Minimum
Requirements: If your system barely meets these, expect to benchmark
at 1000-1500. That means lots of lag, 5 FPS, minimum settings, and
don't even try to set foot in a crowded area or your system will
explode.
Setting a reasonable budget: Quoting someone else -
The One and Only Aurelius wrote:
If you're going to go new, might as well push a bit and
get something you're going to be happy with. Personally, if I just
dropped $500-700 on a box of hardware to run a game and I still had to
lower/disable all settings just to get 10fps in a crowded zone, I'd be
pissed.



HAVING SAID THAT...

There
are a lot of posts by a lot of people in a lot of threads by people
with one of two things on their minds (or both). The main two questions
that a lot of people are asking, and I've been trying to address
individually as best I can, are:

1) My system bombed the
benchmark. Here's a bunch of technical stuff I don't understand,
someone tell me what I need to fix.

...and

2) I want
to buy a new system or new parts. Will this system (copypasta lots of
technical stuff) or these parts (link to other site) work?

I'm
going to try to address both of these in such a way that you should be
able to answer the question. Myself and other people are still usually
willing to help out if you need personally tailored questions answered
about your specific situation, but your question has probably been
answered (and maybe other questions you haven't thought of) in one of
the many threads here.

"I want to replace some parts!"

Lamnethx has started this
thread with basic system building tips, and there are a lot of
individual people asking about their systems, with answers within.

"I'd
rather just buy one off the shelf!"

This
thread started as someone trying to buy a retail system and has
some examples of what to look for and what not to look for if you're
adverse to "getting your hands dirty" so to speak (You don't actually
get your hands dirty).

In
this post, I have sorted out a bunch of benchmark scores and tied
them to the CPU and GPU they were ran on. I have used this to come up
with some base passmark numbers.



So let's get
started. Either you want to know what you need to replace, or you want
to know if a part you're looking at is "good enough". I'm going to be
talking in terms of two scores, a FFXIV benchmark score (on a scale of
1500-8000; 1500 being nigh unplayable and 8000 being max) and passmark
scores (a general system benchmarking tool).

If you want, you
can even download passmark and run
it on your own system. It's a free trial for 30 days but you should
only ever need to run at once. You don't even really -have- to.

"Is
my CPU good enough to run the game?"

These are
average CPU scores. Locate your CPU on the list, if you can. If
your CPU is not on this list, your CPU will probably need an upgrade.
Run passmark on your system to confirm.

TraceKoldKut wrote:
Found this
with ease for those interested in having a general sense of how your
processor stacks up. It's not recommanded to scale up for the
performance/cost ratio unless you're moving up at least 3 tiers.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu,2599-7.html




All scores listed below assume low res (720P)

EDIT:
Note that the following refers only to your CPU score, not your overall
system score.

With a passmark rating under 1500, your FFXIV
benchmark will likely be under 1500. (unplayable)
With a passmark
rating of under 2500, your FFXIV benchmark score would probably be 2000
or lower, depending on your GPU. You might be able to manage at minimum
settings. No promises.
With a passmark rating of 2500-3000, your
FFXIV benchmark score will likely be around 2000-3000, depending on your
GPU. You should be able to play at low settings, possibly low-medium.
With
a passmark score of 3000-4000, your FFXIV benchmark score should be
around 3000-4500, depending on your GPU. You should be able to play the
game at medium settings.
With a passmark score of 4000-5000, your
FFXIV benchmark score should be around 4500-6500, depending on your GPU.
You should be able to play the game at high settings.
With a
passmark score of 5000+, your FFXIV benchmark score should be at 6500+
easily, depending on your GPU. You should be able to play the game on
max settings.

If you are not sure why you failed the
benchmark or if you are shopping for a new computer, consult the above
list regarding your processor.

"Is my Video Card good
enough to run the game?"

Next, Video Card, or GPU:

I'm
going to lay it on the line: While you MAY have some luck getting the
game to run on low with a weaker/cheaper card, I would not recommend
even trying. Consult this list
for video cards. If your video card is under 1100 (or not listed), the
game almost certainly will not work. A card rated 1100-1400 should be
able to manage the game on minimum or even low settings. POSSIBLY
medium if it's closer to 1400, but no promises. I can not in good
conscience suggest any card that isn't rated AT LEAST 1500+ on that
list. Cards rated 1500-1800 on that list will likely cost you between
$140 and $200 and should manage the game on medium settings (lower or
higher depending on your CPU). Cards rated 1800-2000 will likely start
at $200 and should (coupled with an equivalent CPU) produce medium/high
results. At scores of 2000+, you're easily looking at $300-500. These
cards, along with a Core i7 should run the game on max, or at least very
high.

If you are not sure why you failed the benchmark or
if you are shopping for a new computer, consult the above list regarding
your video card.

If you CBA to read that paragraph and
need the tl;dr, here it is:

ATI: I would recommend the 4800
series or 5700 series for affordable average performance and the
5800/5900 series for more expensive top performance.
NVIDIA: I would
recommend the GTX 400 series for very expensive, insurmountable
performance.


There is a lot more than just your CPU and
your GPU that go into building a good system (motherboard, power supply,
etc) but the two most common questions that people seem to have, as
listed above, should all be answered definitively in this post.

I
hope it helps :)

EDIT - Disclaimer:
I'm not going to claim
that a system below these requirements -can't- run XIV -at all- but I
will say that I'm fairly certain that it if it doesn't meet these
requirements, it almost certainly won't. You're welcome to try, but you
will probably be disappointed; I'm just trying to save you the stress.
I must also very strongly recommend that if you are upgrading, do -not-
settle with parts that will result in a FFXIV benchmark under 3000.
Even though 1500 is the bare minimum for the game, I can't imagine you
could be happy with the massive amount of cutting back you'll have to do
to get the game to play at a decent amount of FPS. If you really don't
care that it looks like crap, then don't mind me, but don't say you
were never warned. The object of this post is to ensure that if you're
going to spend your hard-earned money on new parts or a new system, that
you should know what to expect in terms of results before you buy it.
For your money, you deserve to be happy with your performance, and
nothing sucks like having to tune it all down because you didn't know
that for a little more, you could have done better.