Games that require SSE4.2 capable CPU

[Glasare]

Hey

 

I have a couple of "high end" Socket 775 systems, and when poking around with them, I've come across two games that actually won't even run because of SSE4.2 requirements:

Assassin's Creed: Origins and Quantum Break.

 

It's hard finding info about what games actually require SSE4.2. The minimum requirements from the developers is not based on this. (Both AC:O and GR:W has Core i5-2500S listed as minimum cpu requirement, tho GR:W will run, surpisingly well, on a QX9650 (or X5460) @4GHz / 8GB / 1060 6GB) and when I google for it, almost everything is about old AMD cpus that can't even handle SSE4.1.

 

Do you guys know of any other games that require SSE4.2?

[Spotty]

36 minutes ago, Glasare said:

Do you guys know of any other games that require SSE4.2?

My guess is the issue lies with the copy protection built in to the games that relies on SSE4.2 and not the game itself. Both Ghost Recons Wildlands and Assassins Creed Origins use Denuvo copy protection.

You can view which games use Denuvo on the wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denuvo

[Glasare]

1 hour ago, Spotty said:

My guess is the issue lies with the copy protection built in to the games that relies on SSE4.2 and not the game itself. Both Ghost Recons Wildlands and Assassins Creed Origins use Denuvo copy protection.

You can view which games use Denuvo on the wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denuvo

There are a LOT of games on that list that run just fine on a C2Q, so Denovu doesn't equal SSE4.2.

[Spotty]

4 minutes ago, Glasare said:

There are a LOT of games on that list that run just fine on a C2Q, so Denovu doesn't equal SSE4.2.

It depends on which version of Denovu the game is running and whether or not the developer/publisher has removed it from their games through subsequent patches. Older or alternate versions of the copy protection software may not need it.
 

Quote

That’s if your CPU is compatible with the latest version of Denuvo of course, and many are not.
Enter SSE 4.1

Denuvo version  5.0 requires your CPU to support instruction sets known as SSE 4.1 and 4.2. SSE stands for Streaming SIMD Extensions and this version (4.0) of the Intel technology was introduced in 2006.

https://davescomputertips.com/amd-phenom-owners-plagued-by-crazy-drm-issues/
 

Quote

Assassin’s Creed Origins launched two months ago, but for PC players, at least, a major issue that the game suffers from has gone unaddressed all this while. Specifically, PC owners with CPUs that lack SSE 4.1 or 4.2 support find they can still not play this game at all.

To be fair, this is an issue that affects other popular games, like Destiny 2– however, while developers of those games have attempted to address the problem, it seems like Ubisoft is unwilling to. As reported by DSOGaming, according to a chat with customer service that a player had, Ubisoft’s stance is that a PC with such a CPU is below the minimum requirements for running the game that Ubisoft mandates. Apparently, this is an issue endemic to games that use Denuvo- but there have been other games on PC using Denuvo that have had support for these CPUs patched in over time. Ubisoft’s reticence in this matter is truly baffling.

https://gamingcentral.in/games-paid-assassins-creed-origins-treated-like-pirates/

[Glasare]

So... Can anyone confim other games than AC:O and QB that wont run on C2Q?

[Stefan Payne]

I imagine back in 2006 people complaining because games won't run on an old Pentium MMX, because that was what was en vogue 10-12 years before the Core 2 Duo came...

Just to have something to compare to...

 

Just because there wasn't much competition, you can be happy that there are still some games that might run on that old thing...

 

As for the games:

Everything that states as minimum requirement is NOT a Core 2!

There is a ton that list a sandy bridge or AMD FX as minimum requirement.

 

Your CPU is under the Minimum requirement for many modern games...

[Glasare]

Yes yes, but..

 

I'm asking if there are more games than AC:O and Quantum Break that will not even start due to SSE4.2 requirements.

 

[Stefan Payne]

12 hours ago, Glasare said:

Yes yes, but..

 

I'm asking if there are more games than AC:O and Quantum Break that will not even start due to SSE4.2 requirements.

Of course there are!

 

Just look at the minimal requirements. There is no Core 2 Duo listed, there are in some cases core i5 listed.

 

[Spotty]

12 hours ago, Glasare said:

Yes yes, but..

 

I'm asking if there are more games than AC:O and Quantum Break that will not even start due to SSE4.2 requirements.

Far Cry 5 is another game that uses the same version of Denuvo + VMProtect as AC:O and has the same issue according to community comments.
 

17 hours ago, Glasare said:

It's hard finding info about what games actually require SSE4.2. The minimum requirements from the developers is not based on this.

I mean, to be fair to Ubisoft it does list SSE4.1 or higher required in their system requirements for AC:O and for Far Cry 5.

 

Spoiler

Quote

Minimum requirements:
Resolution: 720p
Video Preset: Lowest

Operating System (64bit versions only):

Windows 7 SP1
Windows 8.1
Windows 10

Processor:

Intel Core i5 2400s @ 2.5 GHz
AMD FX 6350 @ 3.9 GHz
(or better)
(SSE 4.1 Support or higher required)

https://support.ubi.com/en-AU/Faqs/000031268/System-Requirements-of-Assassin-s-Creed-Origins-ACO

 

Quote

Minimum requirements:

Resolution: 720p
Video Preset: Lowest

Operating System (64bit versions only):

Windows 7 SP1
Windows 8.1
Windows 10

Processor:

Intel Core i5 2400 @ 3.1 GHz
AMD FX 6300 @ 3.5 GHz
(or better)
(SSE 4.1 Support or higher required)

https://support.ubi.com/en-US/Faqs/000033169/What-are-the-minimum-requirements-for-Far-Cry-5

 

Honestly, at this point if you are hoping to play modern AAA titles like AC:O then it's probably time to upgrade your system. A 10+ year old CPU just isn't going to compete. Even the most budget CPU offerings from current gen will perform better in games than your Q2C system, as well as the added benefit from things such as supported SSE4.1/4.2, supporting DDR4 memory, and a whole heap of other benefits that come with the newer platforms.
Example: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core2-Quad-Q9650-vs-Intel-Core-i3-8100/m1706vs3942

 

If you're not able to update your system and/or don't have something more modern to use, just stick to playing/buying games that specifically list C2Q CPUs in their requirements.

[Mira Yurizaki]

I think the point of the OP is to poke if any game is actually requiring SSE4.2 outside of DRM and if so, why.

 

But as it stands, the only reason games are requiring SSE4.2 seems to be for DRM. And if you think that's a bad thing don't buy that company's games.

[Stefan Payne]

2 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

But as it stands, the only reason games are requiring SSE4.2 seems to be for DRM. 

I highly doubt that.

 

Because:

https://www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/luke-hill/amd-athlon-5350-kabini-am1-platform-fs1b-apu-review-w-sapphire-r7-240-low-profile/all/1/

 

So there isn't really a reason for modern games to NOT support SSE 4.1 and 4.2, if it makes sense. 

Especially since there are games that list an Ivy Bridge as minimum (though more like Haswell)...

[Glasare]

1 hour ago, M.Yurizaki said:

I think the point of the OP is to poke if any game is actually requiring SSE4.2 outside of DRM and if so, why.

 

But as it stands, the only reason games are requiring SSE4.2 seems to be for DRM. And if you think that's a bad thing don't buy that company's games.

Yes! I thought my question was pretty straight to the point. I'm just interested in how widely spread the use of SSE4.2 is, and if I end up selling a system to a friend for the kids to play Fortnite, CS:GO, Dota2 or whatevs, I wanna be perfectly straight with what they can expect of it.

 

I have an 8700K/1070Ti-system, so I'm good, I do however like to poke around with old hardware and see what it's capable of. 

3 hours ago, Spotty said:

Far Cry 5 is another game that uses the same version of Denuvo + VMProtect as AC:O and has the same issue according to community comments.

There are a bunch of C2Q benchmark on Youtube, so I'm a bit curious about this, I'll probably end up buying it sooner or later anyways.

 

 

[Spotty]

1 hour ago, Glasare said:

There are a bunch of C2Q benchmark on Youtube, so I'm a bit curious about this, I'll probably end up buying it sooner or later anyways.

Some Core2Quad CPUs support SSE4.1 instruction set. The Q8xxx and Q9xxx are Yorkfield which has SSE4.1. Earlier Core2Quad processors, such as a Q6700 (Kentsfield), don't have it.
Looking at the youtube results that come up in google search, they're running CPUs that support SSE4.1 (Q8200, Q9650, Q9550 Q8400, etc), which is why they're able to run the game.
 

Spoiler

 

1 hour ago, Glasare said:

I'm just interested in how widely spread the use of SSE4.2 is, and if I end up selling a system to a friend for the kids to play Fortnite, CS:GO, Dota2 or whatevs,

Fortnite and Dota 2 are both free, so you can install them and check whether or not they will work and how they will perform.

[Glasare]

Some Core2Quad CPUs support SSE4.1 instruction set. The Q8xxx and Q9xxx are Yorkfield which has SSE4.1. Earlier Core2Quad processors, such as a Q6700 (Kentsfield), don't have it.
Looking at the youtube results that come up in google search, they're running CPUs that support SSE4.1 (Q8200, Q9650, Q9550 Q8400, etc), which is why they're able to run the game.

That's good info. Thanks. 

 

Fortnite, Dota, and that bunch works really well.

[Mira Yurizaki]

6 hours ago, Stefan Payne said:

So there isn't really a reason for modern games to NOT support SSE 4.1 and 4.2, if it makes sense. 

Especially since there are games that list an Ivy Bridge as minimum (though more like Haswell)...

Requiring a processor of a certain generation or with certain features does not imply that said feature is being used. It implies, only at best, that the developer was willing to support hardware from that point on.

[Stefan Payne]

2 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Requiring a processor of a certain generation or with certain features does not imply that said feature is being used. It implies, only at best, that the developer was willing to support hardware from that point on.

No, it shows that the Use of SSE 4.1 and 4.2 is possible on the consoles and might be used on those applications.

 

So the last CPU without SSE 4.1 and 4.2 support is the AMD Phenom II Processor and Zacate (40nm Jaguar Predecessor). Intel seemed to have introduced it with Nehalem, AMD with Bulldozer (and Jaguar), wich only leaves Core 2 Duo But SSE 4.1 was introduced with the Wolfdale shrink,...

 

SO with that out of the way, there isn't much to keeping the Gamedevelopers from using SSE 4.1 and 2 at all in their applications.

Doesn't have to be Denuvo...

[Mira Yurizaki]

32 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

No, it shows that the Use of SSE 4.1 and 4.2 is possible on the consoles and might be used on those applications.

 

So the last CPU without SSE 4.1 and 4.2 support is the AMD Phenom II Processor and Zacate (40nm Jaguar Predecessor). Intel seemed to have introduced it with Nehalem, AMD with Bulldozer (and Jaguar), wich only leaves Core 2 Duo But SSE 4.1 was introduced with the Wolfdale shrink,...

 

SO with that out of the way, there isn't much to keeping the Gamedevelopers from using SSE 4.1 and 2 at all in their applications.

Doesn't have to be Denuvo...

Either the application uses the feature or it doesn't. Saying "might be used" is ambiguous and doesn't help me at all.

 

But again, requiring certain hardware with certain features doesn't mean the feature is going to be used. Looking at OP's hardware in question, something form the Core 2 lineup, look at how much official support is left for the product. Virtually nil. When you say your application runs on some hardware, depending on the people's perception of what you should be willing to dump for support, people are going to expect you to support them on their configuration.

 

What if their issue is a show stopping crash due to some errata on the hardware they have that wasn't ever fixed? You can't fix their issue because the original manufacturer doesn't care about the product anymore. At least not without you spending a fortune to get a support team together. Or worse, you claimed the hardware could run the application but you didn't really test it. Chances are in the end, this will reflect negatively on you.

 

I believe hardware requirements on applications are more about how much the company is willing to support. Anything outside the bounds of those requirements is unsupported, regardless if the application runs or not.