New gaming machine for N:TW

Hi guys, I posted this in the Empire: Total War Technical Help Laptop thread, but since it relates more to N:TW I'll post it here too. I need a new gaming rig to run Napoleon, as my current one doesn't even run Empire. I'm thinking to going for a laptop because I have a lot of free time at work with long lunchbreaks/quiet periods. I'm quite keen on this one http://tinyurl.com/ybqjqdh

I know it will run Napoleon, but just wonder what settings it would run on ie. Medium/High/Ultra. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Well If its a Laptop Youd Need An EXTREME! rig If you want to Run Most things on ultra.

Just get an Alienware: http://www.alienware.co.uk/main.aspx

Evan

Originally Posted by Evan MF

Just get an Alienware: http://www.alienware.co.uk/main.aspx

Evan

Yeah they are nice machines but are pricey, the one I linked to seems pretty good and is only (NZ)$1800, which is about 790 British pounds.

dont think u'll be running on ultra for only790 pounds... dont know the conversion too well (1.8ish... right?)... but think you'll have to spend close to 2g's here in the states (dollars) to get a decent game'n rig!

I think you Will play at Medium/High ....

hmm, I don't know, you'll have trouble with that Acer, the minimum processor for NTW is 2.3ghz duel, but yours is an Intel Core i5 430 2.26GHz Processor, which I don't know is enough, you might have to cut other things down like the sky, grass, HDR, etc...

The processor should be fine. The Core i5 M 430 kicks many older but higher clocked desktop dual cores in the butt. The graphics might be the weakest link, but it should probably run the game on high. The card looks significantly better compared to the GeForce 240 M but in the end it still is a budget gamer graphics chip.

i5s are quad core and I think empire supported quad cores and even if ntw only supports dual core the processor should be good enough for at least medium, the graphic card is pretty good I think but I don't think it will run all on ultra and ram shouldn't be a problem so I think you will end up with half on high half on ultra

Cheers guys, I think I'll go for it.

Overclockers are good value for money with their custom desktop PCs (I bought my Titan Goliath rig from them for €1100 last March). The good thing about overclocking is that you can speed up the framerates/reduce lag in a game by forcing the CPU to go faster. The cooler (mine is Coolermaster) prevents the system overheating thereby preventing damage from the process. I have found that I get less lag - particularly in sieges - when I overclock.

I'd advice against getting an Alienware, you pay alot for the brand.

I'd reccomend you to build your own computer from scratch if you know how to do it.

I have a Core 2 Quad Q\Q6600 and it runs Empire, at 2.4 Ghz and I run Empire fine-on just below medium fine (stupid low end graphics card), a quad will do for you.

get an i7 they are around $200
get an evga x58 mother board another $250
best video card you can afford lets say another $500 (would recommend the new nvidia g3's or radeon 5 series)
a corsair 850watt powersupply is $120
6 gigs of ddr3 ram will run you about 250 to 300 bucks.

so that leaves you with a little over 1300 for a machine that will be able to plow through pretty much anything in the market now

just use your old harddrives and disk drives or budget another $400 for some velociraptors or solid state's.

a 1500 dollar computer may seem expensive but let me tell you that the components here will last you a VERY long time if you upgrade anything on this type of build it would be just more harddrives hehe then in another year or 2 you could get a second video cards and sli/xfire.

my current system is a
amd phenom II 940 over clocked to 3.8ghz with a noctua cooler
8 gigs of ram overclocked as well
corsair 850watt power supply
a gtx 285
and 2 500 gig internals

and i run empire darthmod ultimate commander with everything on ultra and the only time my framerate drops is when i zoom into the masses of smoke that the smoke mod makes over a LONG line of line infantry.

my weakest point in my system is my harddrives, they are only 5400 rpm, i wish i could replace them with some 10k's but hey what you gonna do hehe