Valve's Gabe Newell has posted on the HL2 Fallout forums and has revealed what the full hardware requirements will be for H-L 2. Information which comes right on time, if we are to believe the much talked about end-of-summer 2004 release date.
According to Mr. Newell then, the minimum machine specs for decent performance on H-L 2 will be a 1.2GHz CPU with 256MB RAM, Win 98/ME/2000/XP and a DirectX 7 capable graphics card. As you well realise such a box would not do justice to the various graphical wonders of the game so Mr. Newell was quick to add the recommended system specs which are as follows: a 2.4 GHz CPU with 512MB RAM, Windows 2000/XP and a DirectX 9 graphics card.
What Mr. Newell does not clarify is how the XBox version will differ since Microsoft's box does not reach the optimal hardware requirement and in some instances even fails to meet the minimum requirements. How will the limited, 64 MB DDR 200MHz, memory impact the game and how will Valve respond in order to make H-L 2 playable on XBox? Or how will the 733 MHz CPU affect gameplay. All perfectly logical questions which will need a great dose of Valve magic and some eye-candy cutbacks, to be resolved.
For a clear and useful hardware guide to H-L 2 follow the download tab above.
