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

[alQamar]

it is too much to go for a 770m, but a desktop if you have the space is ever the best alternative. Your calculation with power consumption is not valid. If you compare consumed power to delivered performance a PC is the best and most energy efficient device on earth, really, not matter iStuff, Smartphones and consoles or even laptops. What I aimed to say is that you will definitely will get a loads faster PC than laptop for 700 respective 1000 bucks.

[alQamar]

HOT HOT we just got more technical insight about the announced performance improvements in Rome 2
Quoting Jack Lusted:

How many soldiers will a high-end machine be able to handle before performance drops?
That will depend on the machine but on a top range machine you'll be able to get a lot of soldiers on screen.

So many?! Amazing!

[Mimoxx]

HOT HOT we just got more technical insight about the announced performance improvements in Rome 2
Quoting Jack Lusted:


So many?! Amazing!

So its wise to get a i7 ??? more cores will be used in rome2

[SamueleD]

HOT HOT we just got more technical insight about the announced performance improvements in Rome 2
Quoting Jack Lusted:


So many?! Amazing!

Owww, it's so detailed I'm gonna die

[Epic28]

So its wise to get a i7 ??? more cores will be used in rome2

Don't bet on it... Shogun didn't even operate 4 cores efficiently

[Metallistic]

HOT HOT we just got more technical insight about the announced performance improvements in Rome 2
Quoting Jack Lusted:


So many?! Amazing!

I facepalmed while holding a brick when I read this... I mean seriously? Welp, its the waiting game for us hardware geeks, as usual.

[MrChris]

you'll have to wait and see if the game actually uses multithreading to the point where an I7 makes a difference

an I5 already has 4 physical cores after all, the I7 just addes 4 logical through hyperthreading (simplifying it greatly by saying that)

I believe Shogun made some use of splitting load between cores? But it was only up to 3 at most? Can't remember the findings on that

[alQamar]

you'll have to wait and see if the game actually uses multithreading to the point where an I7 makes a difference

an I5 already has 4 physical cores after all, the I7 just addes 4 logical through hyperthreading (simplifying it greatly by saying that)

I believe Shogun made some use of splitting load between cores? But it was only up to 3 at most? Can't remember the findings on that

try here

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...lisation/page7

or here

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...TW-performance

to find out how many cores give you bang for the bucks. actually not more than 4... loads of evidence

[Mimoxx]

[Tier - Very Good - $894-$904
(high-ultra graphics, high-ultra unit sizes)
Great price/performance ratio
SSD = amazing boot speeds and loading times, and it's amazing for multitasking
May need to take unit size down to high for a few full-stack army battles
AMD and Nvidia performs about the same all-round, either way is fine, check some benchmarks for the games you play
Can definitely turn the graphics higher than High, but maybe not quiet Ultra
CPU - i3 3240 - $130
GPU - HD 7870 - $220 or GTX 660 - $210
HSF - CPU Stock - $0
Mobo - ASUS P8H77-V LE - $114
RAM - Corsair 4GB - $45
SSD - SanDisk Ultra Plus 128GB - $110
HDD - WD Black 1TB - $90
PSU - Seasonic S12II 520W - $85
Case - Corsair 400R - $110

My question here is about the cpu , i think i3 will be weak for r2 , still is half the price of i5. But i think i3 will be not enough

[MonTeZuma]

Quick question for the experts, I have been dabbling with overclocking and ave my 3770k at 4.4 ghz don't worry I have a very large after market cooler! Anyway at maximum stress load the cores hit a max of 83 degrees Celsius but usually around 70 -75 is that safe, or too much. Because usually surely they won't be tat stressed out.

[SamueleD]

My question here is about the cpu , i think i3 will be weak for r2 , still is half the price of i5. But i think i3 will be not enough

Here is what we know from Shogun 2: Shogun 2 takes advantage of 4 threads at most. But most of the improvements in fps come from higher clocks, as most of the load is on thread 0, so single theaded performance is still the most important thing. A desktop i3 has 2 cores and 4 logical threads, it is not as good as an i5, but it has still decent clocks and the fps improvementent you get by going to i5 is nice, but, at least at stock speeds, is not enough to warrant its purchase over an i3 for that price range, as i3 can still provide playble fps with good settings.
alQamar did a lot of tests comparing various numbers of cores with and without HT all at the same speeds, I suggest you take a look at them.

Quick question for the experts, I have been dabbling with overclocking and ave my 3770k at 4.4 ghz don't worry I have a very large after market cooler! Anyway at maximum stress load the cores hit a max of 83 degrees Celsius but usually around 70 -75 is that safe, or too much. Because usually surely they won't be tat stressed out.

You mean you get 83°C in prime95?
Yeah, you should be fine if in the real world you don't get past 75°C, it is a tad on the limit, but still ok, I would drop it down 100MHz, or try to get lower voltages, just a little, just to be safe.

[Mimoxx]

Here is what we know from Shogun 2: Shogun 2 takes advantage of 4 threads at most. But most of the improvements in fps come from higher clocks, as most of the load is on thread 0, so single theaded performance is still the most important thing. A desktop i3 has 2 cores and 4 logical threads, it is not as good as an i5, but it has still decent clocks and the fps improvementent you get by going to i5 is nice, but, at least at stock speeds, is not enough to warrant its purchase over an i3 for that price range, as i3 can still provide playble fps with good settings.
alQamar did a lot of tests comparing various numbers of cores with and without HT all at the same speeds, I suggest you take a look at them.

So its better to wait for rome 2 comes out and check if the usage of the cores still same has shogun2 , if it is i think is better to buy a i3220 and make a overclock , is it good for overclock? do i need a good HSP? Can u tell how much is the difference in FPS between a i3220 and a i54670 at Shogun 2 Please?

[MonTeZuma]

Yes prime 95 it hit 83'c once and usually sat at 70-75. In Shogun Ultra settings more like 60- 65.

[CanOmer]

Great recommendations, thanks a lot!

I am planning to make some improvements on my pc. Now I have;

CPU: Core i7 920 (stock HSF)
Motherboard: Gigabyte EX58-UD3R
Memory: Geil 3x4GB 1600MHz DDR3
GPU: AMD-ATI HD6850 1GB
HDD: 1TB + 750GB Samsung and 200GB Seagate
Monitor: Dell U2412M 24" LED IPS (1920x1200)
PSU: Glacialtech 650W
UPS: Tunvmatik Newtech Pro 1KVA


First I will buy new GPU, GTX 760 looks good but there are GTX 670 cards on same price in here. In tests GTX 670 is seems better. But I am not sure.
Secondly, I want to buy a good air HSF to Over Clock my CPU from 2.63GHZ(2.93GHZ with turbo) to 4GHz, or more due to heat. I read some tests about between my old i7 920 and new i7 CPUs. When i7 920 overclocked its performance becomes closer to new i7 CPUs they say.





Is my CPU enough for Rome II on ultra size armies?
Is my CPU enough for high end graphic cards such as GTX 770 ?
Is my PSU enough for better GPU and Overclocked CPU?

[alQamar]

Great recommendations, thanks a lot!

I am planning to make some improvements on my pc. Now I have;

CPU: Core i7 920 (stock HSF)
Motherboard: Gigabyte EX58-UD3R
Memory: Geil 3x4GB 1600MHz DDR3
GPU: AMD-ATI HD6850 1GB
HDD: 1TB + 750GB Samsung and 200GB Seagate
Monitor: Dell U2412M 24" LED IPS (1920x1200)
PSU: Glacialtech 650W
UPS: Tunvmatik Newtech Pro 1KVA


First I will buy new GPU, GTX 760 looks good but there are GTX 670 cards on same price in here. In tests GTX 670 is seems better. But I am not sure.
Secondly, I want to buy a good air HSF to Over Clock my CPU from 2.63GHZ(2.93GHZ with turbo) to 4GHz, or more due to heat. I read some tests about between my old i7 920 and new i7 CPUs. When i7 920 overclocked its performance becomes closer to new i7 CPUs they say.





Is my CPU enough for Rome II on ultra size armies?
Is my CPU enough for high end graphic cards such as GTX 770 ?
Is my PSU enough for better GPU and Overclocked CPU?

The 760 is the same card than the 670 technically.
A good and still cheap multi socket air cooler is the arctic freezer 13 (not pro) that is good enough for your ambitions. TW cpu performance gains linear with higher clocks.

Your cpu is not to slow for a 770 gtx especially as tw graphics engine only use one cpu core assisting the gpu.

Please participate in the TWC benchmark thread for rome 2. To get a better comparison and use the improvements for your i7.

[Marshal Ney]

As I posted earlier, but was seemingly ignored, lionheart was playing the demo (probably not as optimized mind you) on all ultra settings, getting great fps, and only using a gtx 570.... He also mentions a intel optimization performance option in the grahpical settings.... Im very hopefull for how rome 2 will run.

[Biggus Splenus]

As I posted earlier, but was seemingly ignored, lionheart was playing the demo (probably not as optimized mind you) on all ultra settings, getting great fps, and only using a gtx 570.... He also mentions a intel optimization performance option in the grahpical settings.... Im very hopefull for how rome 2 will run.

He also said that he doesn't have high detail shadows or AA on, which explains that.

[Metallistic]

He also said that he doesn't have high detail shadows or AA on, which explains that.

I am really curious as to what the "intel cpu option to render better" is and if it is allowed only for the 4th generation.

[Marshal Ney]

False, initially they were on, and it ran fine, he turned them off for it to run even better.

[alQamar]

False, initially they were on, and it ran fine, he turned them off for it to run even better.

"Fine" and "better" are fluff talk and non objective we need to see figures and comparison benchmarks. You will not tell me Rome 2 do not have a scripted bench like Shogun 2, will you?