question about pc

[BanaanBert]

First of all, I didn't exactly knew where to put this topic, but the 'Questions & Suggestions' forum seems the most appropriate topic.

So, now my question. I have bought Empire: Total War and Napoleon: Total War recently, in the hope I could play it on my pc. Through systemrequirementslab I checked if my pc could run it and it was quite possitive, but since that pc is quite old it still doesn't run smoothly. I can play small battles on E:TW with the lowest settings but N:TW is non-playable. So I decided to save some money for a new computer. But since I'm not that good at computers. I know a little, but some help will be appreciated.

I decided to put my own laptop together, of what I think it will run N:TW smoothly. Here are the specs:

-Processor: second generation Intel® Core™ i7-2620M Processor 2,7 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0, till 3,4 GHz.
-RAM: 6.144 MB 1.333 MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [1 x 2.048 + 1 x 4.096] (This should be fine)
-Videocard: 2GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M Graphics card

So now my question, after the intro. Will this laptop run Napoleon Total War smoothly at the highest settings? And will it run future Total War games? Thanks in advance!

BanaanBert

[Squid]

Moved to the basement.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

if you need portability then fine, it will run decently

Shogun 2 will run well in DX9 mode DX11 will run like crap,

as far as the cost of said laptop a Desktop 1/3 the price will game better then the laptop, but again if portability is a must it cant be helped.

[BanaanBert]

portability is no need at all, but I had to choose for one laptop for gaming and study or a desktop for gaming and a laptop for study. For now I made the choice to buy a laptop, but I'm still thinking about a desktop and a laptop, just because I find a desktop way easier to game on.

And thanks for moving to the right place, squid.

[Oberbefehlshaber]

portability is no need at all, but I had to choose for one laptop for gaming and study or a desktop for gaming and a laptop for study. For now I made the choice to buy a laptop, but I'm still thinking about a desktop and a laptop, just because I find a desktop way easier to game on.

And thanks for moving to the right place, squid.

What is "study" exactly? If I were you, I would just get a netbook, which are cheap and simple. Then build a gaming desktop.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

well to give you an Idea the GT 540m is roughly a GT 430 desktop part aka entry lvl

at a screen res of 1280x720 its okay it can give playable frame rates so a 13inch laptop or below it can game alright but its nothing special

on laptops with that kinda cpu power they tend to be bigger with 1600x900 screens or 1920x1080 at which case, the 540m just dosent cut it

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...M.41715.0.html
Keep in mind with the review your seeing AVG frame rates, if the AVG is 30 your going to see drops down into the 10-15fps range, far more often, 45+ is recommended for at least smooth play back on most games, Granted Total War games can run at a lower frame rate and still be smooth.

most games your gonna have to set to low setting to enjoy them.

laptop + study means your going to need battery life, a gaming laptop tends to be bulky power hungry and the batter life tends to be terrible. keep those things in mind,

But give me a maximum budget to work with, and your location aka USA, Canada, Uk etc where are you located and whats the budget.

[BanaanBert]

So, if I understand correctly, with these specs I won't be able to run N:TW on high unless the laptop is 13 inch?

Some more information:
the laptop is a modified Dell XPS 15 Laptop. This is the screen: 40 cm(15.6") HD WLED TL (1366x768) 720p with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera

What is "study" exactly? If I were you, I would just get a netbook, which are cheap and simple. Then build a gaming desktop.

Study means only word etc. I won't be using photoshop or 3d-modeling programs or anything. But I can't build my own desktop because I'm not that good with computers. I will then have to make a desktop the same way I made this laptop.

[Oberbefehlshaber]

Well if you can build you laptop, you can build your own desktop. Its not very complicated. It might seem a little overwhelming to someone who has never done it before, but there are some very good tutorials around the internet.

If you are just going online and using word for study, I would get a netbook.

I suppose it depends on what your budget is for this whole thing.

[BanaanBert]

Well if you can build you laptop, you can build your own desktop. Its not very complicated. It might seem a little overwhelming to someone who has never done it before, but there are some very good tutorials around the internet.

If you are just going online and using word for study, I would get a netbook.

I suppose it depends on what your budget is for this whole thing.

I've never build a laptop before, and I don't think I will be able to do that, or a desktop. I just selected a base laptop and I could add some more RAM etc. before ordering it. So Dell will make that laptop for me without giving me all the stress

[Oberbefehlshaber]

Alright, when you said, "I decided to put my own laptop together". I thought you wanted to build one.

If you dont mind me asking, whats your budget for this?

[BanaanBert]

Alright, when you said, "I decided to put my own laptop together". I thought you wanted to build one.

If you dont mind me asking, whats your budget for this?

That's the stupidest part. I don't really have a budget. I want to pay in terms so I can pay a laptop that is a bit more expensive. But I think it is max €1000,-

[Crazyeyesreaper]

it would run medium settings and be pretty fluid,

essentially shader for shader, the newer DX11 cards are less efficient then the previous gen DX10 gpus from nvidia

meaning a 9800gt or 8800gt from nearly 5 years ago on the desktop front will still be a bit faster in say empire / Napoleon, the kicker here is a used 8800 / 9800 / gts 250 (all the same G92 based gpu) can be found for $40 USD to $60 USD used. new is a different story but you get the idea,


also i looked that laptop up your config is $1100

if you have a decent monitor already read, 1680x1050 etc 20inch LCD keyboard and mouse
a full tower for $750 will beat the laptops brains out and just get an AMD APU based laptop for $350 for studying. they have about 4hr-5hr battery life last i checked.

checking the reviews they always use 3dmark which kinda sucks but works for a broad comparison

a stock Athlon X2 4400+ 4gigs DDR2 and an 8800gts 640mb form 5 years ago performs better in gaming tests i build that machine 5 years ago for $800. to give you a rough idea, the laptops performance in any games will be equivlent to an entry lvl self built desktop in the $500 range, or less.

in usd..

i5 2400 + 4gigs DDR3 + H67 mobo should come to $330 give or take Windows os $100 for $430 + 1tb HDD = $490 + Case $30 + psu $50 = $570 leaves about $180 for a GPU which will get you into the mid range aka AMD 6870 or GTX 560 etc etc, which are comparable to the AMD 5850 / 5870 and Nvidia GTX 470 which will run Shogun 2 near max at 720p easily but you could probably stretch out all the way to 1920x1080p full HD and still be 100% playable at near max settings.

if your in the USA, Canada, UK i can do a parts list. if your in Canada, NCIX will build the system for you for a surcharge of $50. still leaves enough room for a Netbook or low power Notebook for study purposes.

[BanaanBert]

So buying a gaming desktop would be way better for me to do? And then buy a cheap laptop for study. Any recommendations for a desktop then(which I don't have to buy myself)? I was thinking about Alienware earlier but they are quite expensive and I don't have that much money.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

again without a location i cant do a damn thing

again if your in Canada, NCIX will BUILD THE PC FOR YOU FOR A CHARGE OF $50 and you can pick any damn part you want from there website, to top it off there Canada's largest etailer in terms of PC parts.

find a local buisness, that can build the PC for you, and give them an EXACT part list with ALL the links i give you, find out what they charge to build the machines, just make sure they give you the boxes for the parts and all CD's

example in my local area i do custom builds all the time at $50 a pop, i do parts lists if the customer agrees they buy the parts, they get shipped to my location i build the machine test it, call them when its ready and they come pick it up.

there are alot of people around that do this, with many local shops doing it as well.

and to give you a rough idea, a local shop building it for you will most certainly cost you $200-500 less then Dell / HP / Acer / Gateway / Velocity Micro / Warmachine / etc etc etc.

[BanaanBert]

I live in holland, Sorry that I didn't mentioned that.

The problem is, I really don't have any idea of what is good and what is bad, and what is good with that etc. And thanks for all the helping so far

[Oberbefehlshaber]

You mentioned Alienware before, you are right they are somewhat expensive. If your looking to buy and not build, you can look around these sites. They ship internationally.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/ __ http://www.digitalstormonline.com/

[Crazyeyesreaper]

Holland ive no idea what online Etailers are good in that location.... gonna need some other people from TWC to help out.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

Hes still better off looking for individual parts and having a local shop build it for him. as far as the tower goes. there surchage should be far less then the OEM tax you pay for machines build by places like Dell

and Digital storm and the like aka Falcon Northwest Alienware etc charge huge premium for the hardware.

[Oberbefehlshaber]

Some shops charge an arm and a leg for custom work. I know it depends on the shop, but if his budget is over $2000 like he mentioned. If I were him, and I could not build one, I would just buy one, hes basically paying for less hastle, but he has to make that choice.

[BanaanBert]

thanks for the help and for the links. I will look around at the links, for a desktop for now. And maybe I'll find a place where they build desktops for you, but I don't think there is one in Holland. I'm now creating a desktop through the second link you gave me. But it's quite expensive so I'm still looking around, but when I made one I'll post the specs here so you can review it, if you'd like to

one question: will this, Intel Core i5 2500K CPU, also do the job? Or do I need a i7?