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

[alQamar]

Check your pm so I can objectively help you.

[L'aigle]

Good job Splenyi

Just two things, in the context of a high-performance configuration it would be better to couple a "I7" processor with a graphics card type "GTX780 or 770." These graphics cards need to be powered up to deliver their full potential.


For memory "4gb" is a bit light, even in a mid-range configuration for the price difference (very slight) gain with "8Gb" would be a more even with a "I5" and mid-range graphics card.


A good graphics card (even mid-range) must be powered up to be 100% effective.


Just a personal opinion


Former scheme I7, but it does not change much.

[a tw player]

There really is no point getting an I7 unless you're into modelling and rendering where you'd really see the benefit of the multi-threading. You may get a few % performance gain, but for a disproportionate extra cost than an I5 that just isn't worth it.

Hence my build has an I5 rather than an I7, even though I consider it to basically be top of the line

[SamueleD]

@L'aigle I'm afraid not: without proper settings tweaks an i7 performs even worse than an i5 in TW (check the benchmark thread in my sig), and even with the tweaks it brings no benefit for the game, if you are video rendering, etc. then it becomes useful.

As for the 4GB, they are easily upgradable in the future and if you are just gaming they are fine, since TW is still 32-bit, you have to close browser, music players, etc. while gaming of course, but I would put 8GB in the Great and Excellent build. Just remember you don't have to follow the builds to the letter, and they are especially designed for best price/performance for TW only.

[Frost, colonel]

I do hope this game is good, because I just spent £1074 at Overclockers, helpful chaps.
I used alot of the info from the OP, and nearly all components were from those lists, nice work, so thanks very much for the work that went into that.

I would like advise on any excellent particular 24' monitors please, ie which one, basically to get a very good Total War gaming experience ie I don't play F.P.shooters.
I sit about 3 ft from my monitor so feel 24' is big enough, My present monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 226BW 22' with a DVI cable. Hoping there is something much better out there, although I am not unhappy with it.

Max budget of £350ish.
Things like 2-8mls response time, 60-144Hz refresh, 250-350cd/m² Brightness, 1920x1200 Resolutions? etc what amongst this lot is important for playing RTWII?
Was hoping for a slim Bezel one, but if there aren't any good one's then I will look at any recommendations made regardless.

It looks like even the expensive one's need fiddling/calibrating out of the box, shame that is, and I don't see why? Of course we all have different preferences but still alot of different reviews state the colours are poor out of the box.

Thanks for any help,

Cheers.

[AngryPolack]

Just a heads up, I called Asus tech support reference that "C1 stepping USB bug" for my Z87-A you guys have been talking about. Not only did the tech not have a clue what I was talking about at first ( had to go online to read about it while I was on the phone), but then said he had no idea when Asus will be shipping the C2 motherboards. Oh well. Think I'm going to go ahead with the build and hope for the best.

[Frost, colonel]

Just a heads up, I called Asus tech support reference that "C1 stepping USB bug" for my Z87-A you guys have been talking about. Not only did the tech not have a clue what I was talking about at first ( had to go online to read about it while I was on the phone), but then said he had no idea when Asus will be shipping the C2 motherboards. Oh well. Think I'm going to go ahead with the build and hope for the best.

Just bought the Asus Z87-A, what problem does this "C1 stepping USB bug" cause? As in what effect will it have on me?
Thanks.

[alQamar]

Just bought the Asus Z87-A, what problem does this "C1 stepping USB bug" cause? As in what effect will it have on me?
Thanks.

Officially it causes "only" problems with USB3 and hibernation, but for some reason I found out (comparing 3 different rigs) that C1 steppings seem to be more sensible in a negative way for overclocking the 4670K and 4770K and we have a very strange performance issue with splenyis mainboard aswell. I don't want to raise a panic but advise all with Sandy Bridge B2 and Haswell C1 Stepping to replace. Most of all the Sandy Bridge owners as the documented SATA port bug and sudden data loss may hurt. Replace is free of charge. Contact the vendor or your retailer for a replace. Do not loose your CPU socket security caps, they usually refuse change then because they are very sensible to be damaged on transports.

[Frost, colonel]

Greetings,

Does a dedicated soundcard like this Asus Xonar DSX 7.1 PCI Express 1.0, improve system performance from using the MoBo's onboard 7.1?
Thanks.

[SamueleD]

Greetings,

Does a dedicated soundcard like this Asus Xonar DSX 7.1 PCI Express 1.0, improve system performance from using the MoBo's onboard 7.1?
Thanks.

No.

[Achilleslastand]

Just a quick question for the gearheads here... Would the difference in DDR3 ram speeds make any difference at all when it comes to gaming? Would you see any difference with ram@1866 or ram@1600?

[alQamar]

Yes there are but only when both have same latencies usually cl9-9-9-28. The advantage is about 5% in the cpu benchmark.

[YouRéady]

First of all, i'm sorry for my english.. CPU: Amd athlon II Dual Core M300 2.0 Ghz (32 bit) I heard Total War Games are "32 bit games". I have 3GB memory on my pc and I wanna upgrade it to 4GB and my pc to 64 bit. So i have questions. ^^ -64 bit systems are good on this game? Should i keep using 32 bit? -32 bit systems can read 4GB RAM? As i know its max 3.5GB, am i wrong? What should i do?

[YouRéady]

First of all, i'm sorry for my english..


CPU: Amd athlon II Dual Core M300 2.0 Ghz (32 bit)

I heard Total War Games are "32 bit games". I have 3GB memory on my pc and I wanna upgrade it to 4GB and my pc to 64 bit. So i have questions. ^^
-64 bit systems are good on this game? Should i keep using 32 bit?
-32 bit systems can read 4GB RAM? As i know its max 3.5GB, am i wrong? What should i do?

[alQamar]

Don't upgrade it is not worth the hassle for this small plus of ram please refer the TW myths thread to get your answer instantly. Thanks.

[alQamar]

Of course. But number of units depends only on processor not your graphics card at all.

[L'aigle]

The application of the texture (dds) on the 3d model (mesh) is applied by the gpu graphics card and stored in its own memory (duplication), it is not the processor that takes care of that...in any case it involved, but it is the job of the gpu.

[alQamar]

True but gpus aren't the bigger bottleneck at the moment. That's why me and Sam said it.

[AlexCouceiro]

Hi there.

Do you guys happen to know if my CPU (Intel i5 2500 3.3 Ghz) will handle units on ultra?

Thanks in advance.

[SamueleD]

Hi there.

Do you guys happen to know if my CPU (Intel i5 2500 3.3 Ghz) will handle units on ultra?

Thanks in advance.

Yes, it will, but overclock for improved smoothness in melee and zoom-ins, it's woth it.