Hi Firestar,
Fans help by keeping it from dropping to zero, accompanied by smoke.
It’s hard to predict what the actual requirements for Extremes will be. Rather, it is hard to predict how a specific computer will perform; there are tradeoffs between processor speed and graphics performance because they affect the frame rate in different ways.
For the graphics card, it is important that it have enough RAM on the card so that it does not need to share RAM with the motherboard. Cards with 1 GB are becoming the norm.
It is also important that the card provide all of the necessary features that SS needs, such as shaders, particle generators, etc. Without specific information from VSTEP, which they may not yet know, it is difficult to predict the performance in Extremes.
I do not even know whether Extremes will use QuestViewer as its engine. While QV is an excellent platform for the other kinds of applications that VSTEP makes, the present architecture of SS has severe limits. Getting much farther will eventually require either an entirely new engine or significant changes to QV.
As Angus pointed out, what we have seen with the Pro betas would indicate that that the requirements for Extremes would not be extreme if it was simply a “lite†version of Pro.
The announced additions for Extremes, aside from the sea model and, perhaps, a busier environment in Sydney, are not that significant when speculating on any increase in demands on the system.
Regards,
Marty
