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[Proxiee]

I'm tired of spending 2 days to make a 10,000 year world, and then playing it until I get 60 dwarfs that ultimately kill my fps.

If dwarf fortress could use multi-cores, then I would simply just build a cluster computer and use that. But, sadly, it cannot.

SO!

Assuming money is not a factor, whats the best of the best computer that we can build that is optimized to run dwarf fortress?




Unrelated:

(I had a great idea for making dwarf fortress multicore. Apparently we cannot just make it use multicores to do the whole game, so why not with a quad core make it so that temp/weather is on one core, pathfinding on another, and everything else on a third, leaving the rest to run the computer? He has used the second core to help graphic wise on some version, why not expand on that )

[612DwarfAvenue]

The multi-core thing has been discussed to death before. Toady will do it if he can/wants to.

As for the best computer, i would imagine the NASA Supercomputer . Failing that, i really don't know.

[Organum]

Considering that DF is almost entirely run on a single core, I suggest using one powerful core. That's probably obvious, but that's about all I can think would
help. If I remember this right, world gen is the only RAM intensive procedure, and even then I don't think it usually climbs over one gig of usage.

[dree12]

An Intel i7 works much better than competing AMD brands. Quad-core or 6-core shouldn't matter, a quad should be enough (3 cores for DF, 1 for everything else). The 2.66GHz can be overclocked, but I would personally advise not because of cooling issues. RAM can be light, 8GB should be enough to run the OS (Df is limited to 2), but needs to be FAST (DF does most of its work reading and writing). Personally, I find DF to run faster on Windows (maybe its more optimized?) but the general consensus seems to deviate from that.

[Lemi]

The fastest I've ever gotten Dwarf Fortress to run is on a intel 980x hecta-core processor overclocked to 4.20ghz with 8 gigs of RAM. It can do 150 dwarves at 100 FPS on a standard embark and maintain that for the first 10 years or so before declining to 70.

Should add that it's not the hecta-core that matters since DF is single threaded, it's the overclock. The faster I push my processor the longer it maintains a 100 FPS.

[Dangerous Beans]

I think you should start with an i5-2500k, and overclock it to some insane dwarfy level.
For instance, mine 2500k@5ghz was doing 60-70fps with ~210 dwarfs with 10 idlers, on a flat 6x6 embark with 1 cavern layer and a waterfall.
You are going to want a decent water cooling system to help this, possibly along with a water chiller.

[Proxiee]

I was thinking this:
i5-2500k $200
Corsair H50-1 water cooler $80
8GB of Ripjaw ram $70

All I need to pick now is Motherboard, GPU, and power supply

If I had the $6000 to build the computer I would just buy everything evga classified. Since the evga classified motherboard supports TWO cpu's, I would have 2 i7 6 core extremes. (12 overclocked cores fuuu-)

[Girlinhat]

The biggest factor appears to be the overclocking.  Which lends itself to cooling.  Therefore, the best investment is a stable cpu and a good coolant system so that you can overclock it.  For once, magma is, in fact, the exact opposite of what you want here.

[HorridOwn4ge]

I was thinking this:
i5-2500k $200
Corsair H50-1 water cooler $80
8GB of Ripjaw ram $70

All I need to pick now is Motherboard, GPU, and power supply

If I had the $6000 to build the computer I would just buy everything evga classified. Since the evga classified motherboard supports TWO cpu's, I would have 2 i7 6 core extremes. (12 overclocked cores fuuu-)

Get a intel Xeon 2x 6,8 x 6 then use the evga motherboard so you get 6*6,8*2= 91,6GHz processing power if I´m not mistaken.

[Noir]

I have an old E8500 - that is, a Core Duo at 3.16 Ghz. I overclocked it to 4.05 Ghz with a high-powered fan (Zerotherm FZ120), and gained a net 33% of FPS more. I haven't pushed it as far as possible, I think I could bring it at least to 4.25.

[Weylyn]

91.6 GHz? That's not how it works...

Multicore processing involves considerable overhead even if you have a program specifically written to accomodate it. If that is the case, what you want is not fast cores but just lots of slower ones so you can keep the whole thing cool. That's how supercomputers work.

The reason consumer PCs have faster cores is because cooling is less of an issue, and because the programs we use do not lend themselves to multithreaded computing. What you want for DF is the fastest single core clock speed you can manage, with an extra core to handle overhead.

Realistically, the best possible performance from DF is probably one of the last-generation Dual Core processors, with the fastest core you can find. One core to run DF, one to run your OS and all other ancillary bullshit. Overclock it as high as it will go, and that should be the limit. Anything more is just overkill, since there is no way for DF to make use of the added processing power from having multiple cores.

[Krelian]

we should do a pool that says "what should be the next development arc oriented to?"

one of the options should be "support for multicore"

Then let the people speak.

[Lancezh]

we should do a pool that says "what should be the next development arc oriented to?"

one of the options should be "support for multicore"

Then let the people speak.

This game is still alpha (according to toady) and to add multicore support would be just stupid until the very end for various reasons.

[Organum]

From a programming perspective wouldn't it be easier to design the program with multicore usage in mind? I think of it like the way I build my forts;
It's much more difficult to go back and rebuild them for a larger population than it is to just design them with the knowledge that some day, I'll need all
100 of those coffins.

[Girlinhat]

If my position in the forums means anything (I'm kinda a queen here, right?  At least a duchess?) then please, please, PLEASE don't turn this into another multithread demand flame war.  Yes, we all know it would be helpful.  We all knew it five months ago and your opinion is not new.  It's like complaining about taxes.  We know it suck, trust us, you're not the first to have this thought, but it's something we all deal with.

Urist McGirlinhat has made a mandate!