E8400 and SPQR testing results.

[Patton]

I run an alienware with that processor LT, 2x2gig 1067 pc3 8500 sticks in duel channel, 2x wd raptor 300's raid zero with the Nvidia GTX 280 ( 1 gig)
(this was my get ready for ETW madness) and you are right about that processor. Even on older games like the RTW mods and MTW2 and some of it's mods the whole game smooths out on higher setings. I happen to play another game online with an Austrailian guildmate and he keeps proding me to try this mod whenever I mention how much I love playing the Total War series and it's mods.

Looks like I should get off my lazy arse and give a look at your lovingly and hard worked mod.

Peace

[spiers]

Im quite disapointed on my new system which is 4 times better than my old one, (when i get my extra 4GB of RAM) can only play twice as many men as my old pc.

New pc main specs are Q6600 quadcore, 4GB of RAM and 9500GT 1GB card.
Dont think the RAM is going to make that much difference in RTW tbh.
Just a quick question, will turning that anti alising and other settings make it run with more men or will it always say to many men for specs when i select 6500 men no matter what settings i have ie very low.

[Alesia52BC]

I use a 8400 as well. Also a Raid setup. As well as 2 8800 GT's. 4GB of RAM as well. Very happy with it even for Crysis.

[Lord Dakier]

You dont get it for £200-converted to-$400 over here. Im more of an Nvidea guy, i dont know much about these graphics cards and I do suck when it comes to processors. My comp can only run low settings for rome

If anyone feels pitiful they can send me any spare parts they may have lol

E8400
Gigabyte 956P-DSL3
Raptor WD HD 10K rpm
OCZ Platinium DDR PC6200 5-5-5-7 2 1gb sticks linked.
MSA 8800 GTS which is factory OCed to GTX specs.

Basically thats all the important stuff, other than I use XP and keep background apps at bay. lol

Costs have changed the Motherboard would cost about $60 now but you can get the P35, CPU
$170. Ram about $50 now GPU about $180

So I would say about $400 should cover your expense to get an Excellent RTW game machine.

[Valerius Tiberius]

So I would say about $400 should cover your expense to get an Excellent RTW game machine.

wonderfull
if i have some more money, dunno where i'll get it though , i'll look out for these!

[Marcus Porcius Cato Uticencis]

I do play SPQR on my "old", still damn good and fast laptop, Dell Precision M70. I have 256 MB (own memory) NVidia Graphic card, upgraded to 3 GB Ram, 2,1 Mhz Pentium M Processor...I must say that I play with most of my settings set to highest, except for unit details (high).

If I fight a battle with no more than 8.000 men (90 percent of my battles), I experience no lag at all...When there is around 10-12.000 men ( approx. three armies), its a bit sluggish, but still easily playable...With higher numbers it really lags, so I am forced to decrease details considerably...

P.S. Cant wait for your movie, Lt...

[Roman Clone]

I do play SPQR on my "old", still damn good and fast laptop, Dell Precision M70. I have 256 MB (own memory) NVidia Graphic card, upgraded to 3 GB Ram, 2,1 Mhz Pentium M Processor...I must say that I play with most of my settings set to highest, except for unit details (high).

If I fight a battle with no more than 8.000 men (90 percent of my battles), I experience no lag at all...When there is around 10-12.000 men ( approx. three armies), its a bit sluggish, but still easily playable...With higher numbers it really lags, so I am forced to decrease details considerably...

P.S. Cant wait for your movie, Lt...

2.1 MHz? I think you mean GHz.

[Marcus Porcius Cato Uticencis]

2.1 MHz? I think you mean GHz.

Lol, such a shame...You got me, you are right, it should have been GHz...To defend myself, I was writing it quickly before dinner

[Roman Clone]

Lol, such a shame...You got me, you are right, it should have been GHz...To defend myself, I was writing it quickly before dinner

You are guilty. YOU MUST BE SHOT. .

[Emperor Domitianus]

You have 1GB DDR or 1GB DDR2?
I think you have a really good CPU.(Mine is an 8500 which is very very close to E8400).
Probably a GeForce 8800GTS 512 Mb which is, as you said, nearly to a 8800GTX.
Probably you need more ram if it's 1GB...

[lt1956]

You need to make sure you have everything configured right also. Alot of people get hardware and have issues because of Bios updates needed or Drivers, or Spyware etc on their PC.

My 8800GTS was OCed by the Company that put it out to about GTX speeds. But I am sure the normal GTS should work fine also.

As for the Ram its stated DDR2 PC6400 OCZ 2 1GB STICKS.

Check out your MB and see what Ram brands are compatible otherwise you will have problems. You should be able to play SPQR with 15k+ with No noticeable Lag IF NOT you have some issues with your software or hardware.

[lt1956]

Well dont go by the warning message it MEANS nothing. Basically you shouldnt have bought the Quad core, for one there arent any games that really use it or atleast none I would play. Second I have no idea what performance hit you would take having 4 instead of 2. Atleast with 2 one CPU usually handles the PC and the other the Game, hence why older games play faster and better, atleast this is my opinion.

Also Leave Unit setting to High and NOT HIGHEST, even with my machine I notice a performance hit when I have NO SPRITES which is what that setting does. Of course many men need to be on the field for this to happen. I find i can have FULL settings and 15k+ in Sieges or Land battles with units being set to high which have sprites and it plays great.

I still need to test a Bridge battle as those are buggy already but MY HOPE is they play smoother also since usually its only 6-7k in those battles.

Also of people get SUCKED into the Quad cores, do research check the reviews and see if there is a NEED. Get a MB that would support Future Quad CPUs when they are more common or needed. Basically what I think is happening is you are losing 2 cores and really only getting 2 cores so if you get one that is 2.0ghz and its a quad its like getting the lower end Dual core units when playing Video games.

Sorry mate, you choose poorly......j/k

Patton, you should really try SPQR if you like playing as Rome and like Realistic HUGE Battles. Read the readme and look around on the house rules they add to the challenge. If this helps no one has ever finished a campaign with SPQR. lol and its NOT because they were bored. ;-)

[spiers]

With the Quad core and 8GB of RAM i was looking into the future, i really want this pc with maybe a GFX upgrade to last 3/4 years.

My Unit detail is on highest, maybe thats it, but what about that anti-alising thing should that be turned off?
Btw the green icons is not present in SPQR, you know when you click a unit and it comes up below the unit in green, is that changed in the preferences.txt file?

[Freddie]

With the Quad core and 8GB of RAM i was looking into the future, i really want this pc with maybe a GFX upgrade to last 3/4 years.

My Unit detail is on highest, maybe thats it, but what about that anti-alising thing should that be turned off?
Btw the green icons is not present in SPQR, you know when you click a unit and it comes up below the unit in green, is that changed in the preferences.txt file?

With RTW (and M2TW) dual or quad, it doesn't make any difference it's the overall clock speed that's important. RTW can only make use of 1 of the CPU's cores, you don't need 8Gb's of ram for games 4Gb's is more then enough. The 9500GT isn't the greatest video card around but it shouldn't be holding SPQR back. You should consider overclocking your CPU as the Q6600 is decent overclocker (make sure you have a decent heatsink and fan on it first not just the stock Intel cooler).

[Echo26]

Well dont go by the warning message it MEANS nothing

Seriously it tells me that at like 200 men...

[lt1956]

AA shouldnt be noticed either way in FPS with your system its the Highest unit setting that is probably causing you lag. You should be able to play 10k without issues. Also try Defrag and also REBOOT your PC before playing a Game to clear your system ram etc out. Its always good to do and you always get a performance boost when its done, atleast what I Have noticed.

Lt

Even though RTW only uses one Core, the other core is handling the PC automatically you can tell by the performance increase when using the Dual over the single.

[spiers]

AA shouldnt be noticed either way in FPS with your system its the Highest unit setting that is probably causing you lag. You should be able to play 10k without issues. Also try Defrag and also REBOOT your PC before playing a Game to clear your system ram etc out. Its always good to do and you always get a performance boost when its done, atleast what I Have noticed.

Lt

Even though RTW only uses one Core, the other core is handling the PC automatically you can tell by the performance increase when using the Dual over the single.

Im definatly not getting 10K without lag, will try turning off the AA and putting the unit settings to high instead of highest.

The Vista defrag is wank lol but ive used to CMD prompt one and that didnt show up much as its a new machine. Just installed the extra 4GB of RAM and programs dont load that much faster, maybe a second or so. Might be more noticeable the more programs i run.

No way am i overclocking it. ive got a thermtalke case i dont know if they have that heatsink or whatever you were on about, had some sort of fan on the side?
But thats a fan not a heatsink.

[imak]

You guys and your monster computers It tells me i exceed my unit thing when its at like 6.5k units

[Roman Clone]

You guys and your monster computers It tells me i exceed my unit thing when its at like 6.5k units

That is a warning that it gives all of us, it is not always true.

[Echo26]

I wish I could even get to 6.5k lol