Build a PC for Rome 2 / Hardware Recommendations and Advice Thread

[SamueleD]

I got my new PC practically built and had to reinstall Windows but the internet isn't working on it. So I am using my kindle fire to message this. Any ideas?

Have you installed all the drivers from the motherboard's disk?

[AngryTitusPullo]

7850 is more powerful, but I'd go with a 650 Ti Boost (make sure to get the 2GB version), which handles TW better.
But if you can wait a bit (eg. you are just upgrading, not building from scratch), wait until the 750 Ti (around october) or the 9850 (maybe october as well) are out, those other cards are now a year old almost.

Too expensive. Need the money to repair the car aircond. 7850 is quite cheap nowadays and I hope they still be in stock come end of the month.

I'm also building a new one but that's another story and will probably get something like GTX770. For the current rig I'm staying with AMD/ATI and just need a little upgrade from my old 5770.

[alQamar]

Have you installed all the drivers from the motherboard's disk?

just install the network drivers from the disc. in 99% of all cases the drivers are outdated. Once you have an internet connection enable "obtain other software" from Windows Updates and also get the latest drivers. Links are in the benchmark thread under "preparations".

[SamueleD]

Too expensive. Need the money to repair the car aircond. 7850 is quite cheap nowadays and I hope they still be in stock come end of the month.

I'm also building a new one but that's another story and will probably get something like GTX770. For the current rig I'm staying with AMD/ATI and just need a little upgrade from my old 5770.

Then the 7850 or waiting for the 9850 are your best options!

[Sir_Red]

My OCd 780 just arrived , bank account cleared out! All in the name of ROME! and gaming in general...

[Frost, colonel]

My OCd 780 just arrived , bank account cleared out! All in the name of ROME! and gaming in general...

I know how you feel, just done the same.

[Aruberikku]

Hey guys,

Like many people, Rome II made me decide to get a new PC. I have an old PC, so I have to start from scratch.
But I have several questions.

So far what I'm looking at is:
CPU - Intel Core i5-4570 - €190
GPU - Asus GTX 760 - €270
HSF - Scythe Katana 4 - €25
Mobo - Asus B85M-G - €73
RAM - 16GB DDR-3 1600MHz CAS 9 - €130
SSD - [Won't let me type brand name] 840 120GB - €90
HDD - Seagate Baracuda 2TB - €85
PSU - OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W - €70
OS - Windows 8 64-bit - €100
Other - DVD-RW LiteOn iHAS124-04 - €20

Prices in my country are pretty high. This build would cost me around €1050 ($1400).
However I can save a little by ordering parts in a neighbouring country. Savings on the parts would be around €80 (most notably the GPU for €30 less), but after shipping costs about €60. (Which is still nice in my opinion.)

Unfortunately that's still more than what I intended on paying, so I was wondering if there are any things I could downgrade without affecting performance too much?

I'm also wondering if that Mobo will perform properly with the other parts? I kind of went with the cheapest one.
I don't need SLI atm, but I would like to overclock if needed. (If it performs properly without I won't do it immediately.)

I'm also wondering if it's useful to upgrade from a i5-4570 to a 4670 (+€20) or 4670K(+€40)?
And if it's worth upgrading from the SSD from a 840 120GB to a 840 Pro 128GB for +€40?

[Biggus Splenus]

I done the same a few weeks ago.... I hope you guys find a better value in the 780 then me I wanted to return it a few days after I got it, the value is that bad (in my opinion).

@ Aruberikku - looks good, most of it. Get a H87 board instead of B85. Get 4GB of RAM instead of 16GB, or 8GB if you think you need it (if you just game and don't do anything professional on your PC, you only need 4GB ) For the SSD you mean Samsung? They're great! For the PSU get one of the Seasonics in the recommended builds in the OP, if they're available.

[Sir_Red]

@ Aruberikku, looks good. 760 good for Rome 2, but you may want a bit more power for higher spec games (Crysis 3 for instance). Although at 1080p you should be fine. 16GB is overkill. 8-12 is more than enough, plus Rome is 32bit, so will only use a max of 4 gig ram .

[Innos]

I'm currently trying to decide between these two GPUs for a new PC I'm about to build. Anybody have any advice, or is there very little between them?

This MSI GTX 670 or this Asus GTX 670. I'm currently leaning towards the MSI due to the price difference.

[Sir_Red]

I'm currently trying to decide between these two GPUs for a new PC I'm about to build. Anybody have any advice, or is there very little between them?

This MSI GTX 670 or this Asus GTX 670. I'm currently leaning towards the MSI due to the price difference.

MSI are a good brand, and have a 3 year warranty (more importantly).

[Biggus Splenus]

@ Aruberikku, looks good. 760 good for Rome 2, but you may want a bit more power for higher spec games (Crysis 3 for instance). Although at 1080p you should be fine. 16GB is overkill. 8-12 is more than enough, plus Rome is 32bit, so will only use a max of 4 gig ram .

A 760 will perform extremely well in all modern and future games, yes even Crysis at very high details. 6GB of RAM is more than enough, 8+ is overkill, 4GB is optimal.

@ Innos - get the ASUS card, it's only £5 more and has an amazing cooler (the best cooler actually). The MSI card has a very loud and inefficient stock cooler.

[Innos]

MSI are a good brand, and have a 3 year warranty (more importantly).

@ Innos - get the ASUS card, it's only £5 more and has an amazing cooler (the best cooler actually). The MSI card has a very loud and inefficient stock cooler.

Ah in that case I'll probably get the Asus - the price of the MSI was £179 but it's increased since I checked it last.

[Aruberikku]

@ Aruberikku - looks good, most of it. Get a H87 board instead of B85. Get 4GB of RAM instead of 16GB, or 8GB if you think you need it (if you just game and don't do anything professional on your PC, you only need 4GB ) For the SSD you mean ...? They're great! For the PSU get one of the Seasonics in the recommended builds in the OP, if they're available.

Thanks for the tips!
I'll have a look at the H87 Mobo's and go for 8GB of RAM (G.Skill Ares-series).
The Seasonic G-550 PSU is extremely expensive here, but found it €25 cheaper in the Netherlands, so I'll go for that one as well.

And yes I meant the SSD from S**sung. Why can you write it, but it gets detected as a forbidden word when I try?

Also forgot to ask some things earlier:
- Is a 2TB good compared to a 1TB in terms of reliability? I'm guessing a 2TB one has more platters and headers, which increases chances for failures or am I wrong?
- If I only use my SSD for my OS, will there be any increased performance apart from faster boot time? Or would you recommend also using it for Rome II? The indicated read/write speed is only for uncompressed data isn't it? If I look at Shogun 2 it has a lot of pack files, so it might not benefit from that?

[Uncleburt]

Both of you will be able to play on High with Huge unit sizes, may have to adjust shadows and AA to keep performance up in very large battles.

Only upgrade I would recommend to either of you would be a stronger a GPU.

Hey Sorry I didn't see this earlier. Many thanks for your feedback. I was expecting more or less as you say, quite happy with that. Thanks again!

[Sir_Red]

Thanks for the tips!
I'll have a look at the H87 Mobo's and go for 8GB of RAM (G.Skill Ares-series).
The Seasonic G-550 PSU is extremely expensive here, but found it €25 cheaper in the Netherlands, so I'll go for that one as well.

And yes I meant the SSD from S**sung. Why can you write it, but it gets detected as a forbidden word when I try?

Also forgot to ask some things earlier:
- Is a 2TB good compared to a 1TB in terms of reliability? I'm guessing a 2TB one has more platters and headers, which increases chances for failures or am I wrong?
- If I only use my SSD for my OS, will there be any increased performance apart from faster boot time? Or would you recommend also using it for Rome II? The indicated read/write speed is only for uncompressed data isn't it? If I look at Shogun 2 it has a lot of pack files, so it might not benefit from that?

Games will always benefit from being on an SSD (use regular HDDs for media etc). Especially games like Rome 2, load times will be much much quicker

[SamueleD]

@Aruberikku
Unfortunately, if you want to overclock, you will need a Z87 motherboard and a 4670K or 4770K CPU, which cost more.
If you don't need SLI/CFX and will only use the GPU as expansion card, you can also buy a miniITX or mATX motherboard, which could cost less or at least widen your choice, if your case is compatible with them.
8GB or even 4GB of RAM will be enough for TW and gaming in general, no need to go 16GB!
Using the SSD with Rome II will shorten loading times, nothing more, nothing less. I never had an HDD fail on me, I wouldn't worry about 1TB vs 2TB.

[Keithzor.]

Have you installed all the drivers from the motherboard's disk?

Got it working. That was the problem lol.

[Keithzor.]

Going to do that benchmark test now.

[Tilarium]

I hadn't intended to buy a new PC but mine has been acting up lately. The cooling is gone so it's overheating.. Civ V has it burning up, and that's pretty bad! I'm getting lockups and full blown blue screens due to timing out. It's horrible. SO I went to iBuyPower, built a new rig and should get here around the time the game launches. It's a nice system and will totally rock Rome 2....

1 x Case (Erebus GT Full Tower Case))
1 x Processor (Intel® Core™ i7-4770K Processor (4x 3.50GHz/8MB L3 Cache) - Intel® Core™ i7-4770K))
1 x Motherboard (Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H -- 3x PCIe 3.0 x16, 6x USB 3.0, HDMI, DisplayPort))
1 x Memory (16 GB [8 GB x2] DDR3-2133 Memory Module - Corsair Vengeance))
1 x Video Card (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 - 4GB - Single Card))
1 x Power Supply (1200 Watt - NZXT HALE90V2 1200W))
1 x Processor Cooling (Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ Triple Radiator - 3x ARC Silent High Performance Fan Upgrade))
1 x Primary Hard Drive (120 GB Corsair Neutron GTX SSD - Dual 120GB Drives (240GB Capacity) - RAID 0 High Performance))
1 x Data Hard Drive (1 TB HARD DRIVE -- 32M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive))
1 x 2nd Optical Drive (24x Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black))
1 x Optical Drive ([12x Blu-Ray] LG BLU-RAY Reader, DVD±R/±RW Burner Combo Drive - Black))
1 x Sound Card (Creative Sound Blaster Z -- 5.1 Channels, 192KHz/24-bit))
1 x Network Card (Intel Pro 10/100/1000 Network Card))
1 x Operating System (Windows 8 Pro + Office 2010 Trial [Free 60-Day !!!] - 64-bit))

So what about you? Did you get a new system in anticipation of the game or upgrade for it?

Kyle

OOPS! Just noticed the sticky about this, sorry everyone.