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[TheCruzmeister]

What would be the best computer setup to run Dwarf Fortress? I know it can't use multi-cores, so would a really fast single-core processor and an ssd be the fastest way to play? I hate being halted from growing my fort past 200 because of FPS death.

[Tellemurius]

1gb+ DDR3 1066Mhz+ Ram
any 2.0Ghz+ processor with a L3 cache should be fine

Dwarf Fortress runs on pure ram and just uses the hard drive to save the game so SSD won't make much of a impact other than loading and saving.

[Blakmane]

1gb+ DDR3 1066Mhz+ Ram
any 2.0Ghz+ processor with a L3 cache should be fine

Dwarf Fortress runs on pure ram and just uses the hard drive to save the game so SSD won't make much of a impact other than loading and saving.

FYI this is entirely incorrect. Dwarf fortress uses the processor for almost everything. Ram is used in worldgen but otherwise has little impact on in-game FPS. If you don't believe me, just open up your task manager and have a peek at where the strain is: you'll find it is almost entirely CPU. Similarly, making DF large address aware helps a lot with worldgen, but you'll find it makes little difference to the game itself.

[Meansdarling]

I am interested in this too. I am thinking about getting a new computer in the next year or so.

[alexandertnt]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_computer

But really, faster the CPU is the better - especially with individual-core-performance. I would say you should have 2G available ram, given it seems to need almost that to run (and using virtual ram would just bring the game to its knees). Faster ram helps but it does plateau sooner than CPU power.

[Cruxador]

Don't go single core even with DF. You'll want another core to do other stuff, like run your OS and utilities, and the graphical rendering which Baughn put in its own thread for us.

[alexandertnt]

Don't go single core even with DF. You'll want another core to do other stuff, like run your OS and utilities, and the graphical rendering which Baughn put in its own thread for us.

I dont think there are even any modern decent-speed single core x86 processors anymore. But yeah, the cores in a duel core dont run twice as fast as the cores in a quad core. Basically more $$$ equals more DF FPS.

[gimli]

You can get a decent one for ~200$. -> Intel Core i5 2500k (4x 3.30GHz/6MB L3 Cache)

http://ark.intel.com/products/52210
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/07/how-to-overclock-the-intel-core-i5-2500k/1

It's a beast for games like DF, it is quad core, but you can overlock it to ~4.5 Ghz quite easily. [You don't even need watercooling...]

[nttea]

Best processor for DF is most likely the i52500K, i read somewhere performance in dwarf fortress increase reliably the more you overclock your processor so the unlocked multiplier is important. AMD current lineup doesn't hold a candle to intel when it comes to the performance of single cores (i would love amd to be able to compete but it just isn't the case) the i7 processors significant difference compared to the i5's is hyperthreading and that won't do anything to dwarf fortress so you would most likely get zero performance increase with an i7 compared to i5, possibly even slightly worse due to increased heat.
edit: above post was posted while i was typing this^ but glad he agrees

[gimli]

Best processor for DF is most likely the i52500K, i read somewhere performance in dwarf fortress increase reliably the more you overclock your processor so the unlocked multiplier is important. AMD current lineup doesn't hold a candle to intel when it comes to the performance of single cores (i would love amd to be able to compete but it just isn't the case) the i7 processors significant difference compared to the i5's is hyperthreading and that won't do anything to dwarf fortress so you would most likely get zero performance increase with an i7 compared to i5, possibly even slightly worse due to increased heat.
edit: above post was posted while i was typing this^ but glad he agrees

Haha. Yes, it is absolutely pointless to buy i7 for gaming anyway.

http://www.overclock.net/t/671977/hyperthreading-in-games

[calrogman]

One that supports tmpfs.  The time it takes to save the world to a spinning disk is huge, saving to a tmpfs then copying it to the disk in the background is a lot faster.

You could feasibly modify the `df' launch script that's distributed with the Linux version of the game to mount -t tmpfs tmpfs ./data/save/ && cp -r ./data/save.real/* ./data/save/ and clean up afterwards with cp -r ./data/save/* ./data/save.real/ && umount ./data/save/.

This advice applies mostly to generating a world and Adventuring.  Fortress mode won't benefit much.  The biggest difference you'd see is that your seasonal auto-saves are faster.  Also, this advice is pointless if you have one of them fancy pants solid state drives.

[Fieari]

I understand that in addition to needing a fast CPU, DF also performs massive numbers of memory accesses, so while saying "it runs off ram" is not quite precise, having a fast-access RAM may be important to performance.  You likely don't need more than 2gigs at this time, but the access speed and cache of that ram will be important.

[FearfulJesuit]

How do I tell my computer to run everything else on another core?

[xeniorn]

In task manager, on Processes tab, you right click individual processes and select "set affinity...". You set DF's affinity to one core and all the other processes to the other.

[Urk]

I recently updated my system.

Now i have:
I5 2500K 3.3Ghz (with CoolerMaster 212 EVO cooler)
asrock z68 pro3 motherboard
8 gb ram (kingston)

CPU is running at 4.2Ghz currently, I get my computer to boot with 4.6 but it wasnt stable. I dont have much experience about overclocking so I have been quite careful with voltages.

Dwarf Fortress has been running very nicely