Ideal system requirements for PT4

[PartyAnimal]

The recommended requirements for PT3 are only dual-core processor with 2GB of RAM and 7200RPM hard drive. What are the IDEAL requirements for power PT4 users' next PC, e.g., can handle multi-tabling at least 8 tables with ~10 HUD pop-ups and many custom or processing-intensive stats for hand ranges and filters based on "M" or effective stack sizes?

1) SSD. Is SSD the single most important upgrade to improve PT4 performance? Would a 120GB SATA3 6GB/S SSD be good enough to quickly access a 50 GB+ PT4 database and other files important for grinding poker?

2) Processor. Is any quad core processor quick enough such as the "Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB" for PT4 power users, or would it be worth it to upgrade to a 6 core such as Intel Core i7 3930K 6 Core 12MB 3.2GHZ Hyperthreading Unlocked LGA2011 Processor?

3) Memory. Is 8 GB RAM more than enough, or would it be worth it to upgrade to 12 GB or more?

4) Graphics Card. Would a 1 GB card such as the AMD Radeon HD 6870 900MHZ 1GB GDDR5 4.2GHZ be good enough to multi-table on three monitors, or would it be worth it to upgrade to a 2 GB card such as AMD 6970 880MHZ 2GB 5.5GHZ GDDR5?

[APerfect10]

The recommended requirements for PT3 are only dual-core processor with 2GB of RAM and 7200RPM hard drive. What are the IDEAL requirements for power PT4 users' next PC, e.g., can handle multi-tabling at least 8 tables with ~10 HUD pop-ups and many custom or processing-intensive stats for hand ranges and filters based on "M" or effective stack sizes?

1) SSD. Is SSD the single most important upgrade to improve PT4 performance? Would a 120GB SATA3 6GB/S SSD be good enough to quickly access a 50 GB+ PT4 database and other files important for grinding poker?

2) Processor. Is any quad core processor quick enough such as the "Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB" for PT4 power users, or would it be worth it to upgrade to a 6 core such as Intel Core i7 3930K 6 Core 12MB 3.2GHZ Hyperthreading Unlocked LGA2011 Processor?

3) Memory. Is 8 GB RAM more than enough, or would it be worth it to upgrade to 12 GB or more?

4) Graphics Card. Would a 1 GB card such as the AMD Radeon HD 6870 900MHZ 1GB GDDR5 4.2GHZ be good enough to multi-table on three monitors, or would it be worth it to upgrade to a 2 GB card such as AMD 6970 880MHZ 2GB 5.5GHZ GDDR5?

There is a big difference between "ideal" requirements and "minimum" requirements. We have not yet settled on our requirements but I will provide you with what I would personally recommend along with a brief mention of how important it is to the function of PT4.

1. SSD: Storage is the single biggest performance bottleneck on your computer and the same holds true for PT4. If you do not currently own an SSD and wanted to upgrade your computer, this would be the first place to spend money. In fact, if you are on a tight budget and can only afford to upgrade one part of your computer -- this would be where to spend that money by buying an SSD.

2. CPU: Any quad core processor should be more than sufficient to run PT4.

3. Memory: The second place to spend money would be to ensure that you have a 64-bit system. 8GB of memory should be more than sufficient for playing poker. To take advantage of more than 4GB of memory, you must be using a 64-bit system (motherboard + CPU + operating system) along with the 64-bit version of PostgreSQL 9+. (PostgreSQL 8.x is only 32-bit and cannot use more than 4GB or memory) You will also need to manually modify your PostgreSQL config file to instruct Postgres to use more memory. More memory is worthless if it is not being used.

4. Graphics Card: This would be the last place that I would spend any money upgrading. Any modern day graphics card should be more than sufficient to run PT4. The one caveat here is HUD opacity. This feature is too new for me to be able to provide a recommended graphics card to ensure good performance while using the transparent HUD. With that said, your current card should be fine with these new HUD transparency settings. (If you are not noticing any difference if you toggle between opaque and transparent with your existing graphics card then upgrading your graphics card will not improve anything).

To summarize, below is my opinion of the order of hardware importance:

1. Storage - Having an SSD.
2. Architecture - 64-bit support
3. (Tie) Memory & Quad-Core CPU
4. Graphics Card

I should note that the order of importance is based on the average computer. For instance, If you are running a Pentium 4 then the most important upgrade for you would be to upgrade to a 64-bit motherboard and quad-core CPU.

Best regards,

Derek