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

[DarthShizNit]

So with the new Intel CPU's that came out today...should I go with an Ivy Bridge (old) or Haswell (new) i5? I've heard the Haswell is great for laptops and tablets, but obviously that doesn't affect me.

[osros]

So with the new Intel CPU's that came out today...should I go with an Ivy Bridge (old) or Haswell (new) i5? I've heard the Haswell is great for laptops and tablets, but obviously that doesn't affect me.

I read only about 10% faster than current. Im sure there are other benefits, go figure I just ordered a new system on Saturday. Im not too worried compared to what I have now alot better. I tend not to go with the new thing as soon as it comes out, wait a bit, bugs worked out, drivers polished. Perhaps there will be good deals getting rid of the current stock of 3gen processors and mother boards in the weeks to come also instead of full price on the new thing if there is only minor benefits.. a thought

[DarthShizNit]

I read only about 10% faster than current. Im sure there are other benefits, go figure I just ordered a new system on Saturday. Im not too worried compared to what I have now alot better. I tend not to go with the new thing as soon as it comes out, wait a bit, bugs worked out, drivers polished. Perhaps there will be good deals getting rid of the current stock of 3gen processors and mother boards in the weeks to come also instead of full price on the new thing if there is only minor benefits.. a thought

That's what I'm thinking, although if I do go with the new one I assume upgrading in the future will be easier.

[magpie]

The test will come using 2 stacks on the battlefield.
If the AI gets its act together and also uses 2 stacks it will be graphics fun.

Fun over Epic at 24 my god I am still having fun at 66 .
Yes I went through the fat phase at 30 got back in shape and rejoined the fray.
Don,t give up women are in their prime in their late 30,s early 40,s fit men keep them happy.

[Epic28]

Looks like Sith and I are gonna be the only mature adults here and enjoy playing Rome 2, shooting up our expensive smack, on our laptops...

And Magpie its all fun and games at 24 years old... Until you have a kid... Which I don't yet... So maybe you're on to something.

[Totalheadache]

Not sure why some people are going on about laptops on here. Inferiority complex no?

I build high end pc's so playing on a laptop would most likely make me feel ill. Not to say I wouldnt use a laptop/palm thingy if work so required...but game on a laptop when i can game on a desktop you must be joking.

[Caelifer_1991]

Not sure why some people are going on about laptops on here. Inferiority complex no?

I build high end pc's so playing on a laptop would most likely make me feel ill. Not to say I wouldnt use a laptop/palm thingy if work so required...but game on a laptop when i can game on a desktop you must be joking.

Well I don't know of many people that play games on a laptop as opposed to a desktop by choice tbh, I play games on a laptop because I have to, no one's saying that desktops aren't blatantly superior but that sometimes you just need the extra portability afforded by a laptop.

Good to hear, still dissappointed though. I installed Crysis a few days ago and it ran smoothly on medium settings on my laptop so I was wondering what all the fuzz was about since I had all the time heard that when Crysis comes it would be the ultimate graphic shock, I was feeling very positively surprised until I realized yesterday that Crysis is from 2007 and have been out for years. Time goes by so quickly!

Well that's how it goes when you grow up, stop reading PC Gamer and people you know don't play games, you get out of synch with time...

Well you should also be happy that your computer will play Crysis 2 and 3 equally as well if not better, if you do choose to play them. They're prettier but also much better optimised, their increased linearity might have something to do with it though.

[Epic28]

Well I don't know of many people that play games on a laptop as opposed to a desktop by choice tbh, I play games on a laptop because I have to, no one's saying that desktops aren't blatantly superior but that sometimes you just need the extra portability afforded by a laptop.

If you don't mind me asking what kinda laptop do you own and game on? And do you plan on using it for Rome 2?

[Caelifer_1991]

If you don't mind me asking what kinda laptop do you own and game on? And do you plan on using it for Rome 2?

XPS 17, couple years old now, it's specs are: i5-2540M 2.6Ghz (3.1Ghz Turbo) CPU, Nvidia 555M GPU with 3GB graphics memory, 6GB DDR3 Ram at 1333Mhz, 750GB HD, no SSD, with 64bit Windows 7. I paid about £800, though it's price will inevitably be less now. I intend to use it for Rome II, we'll see how it performs - I expect that it shouldn't be any problem to play it on medium with high/ very-high textures (effected mostly by graphics memory that there is no shortage of) on DX11, albeit at a less than desirable fps of around 20-25 or so, at a guess. I bought it for my Aeronautical Technology degree that involves a lot of graphics rendering, and thus requires a lot of graphics memory - as such it is also semi-suited to gaming.

[Epic28]

Still plan on running Rome 2 on it? I played M2TW on my laptop with fairly high settings and huge unit size. Framerate dropped in big city sieges but not unbearable. Not sure why everyone is giving me the stink eye for wanting to play Rome 2 on a laptop.

[Caelifer_1991]

M2TW isn't very graphics intensive by today's standards, to clarify I also intend to play with the largest unit sizes. If you give me your computer specs I might be able to give you an approximation as to whether you'll be able to run Rome II, but it will of course be very approximate given that the game isn't even out yet, I'm basing my guess as to my own laptop's performance on Shogun II, and adding say, 10-15% to the requirements. P.S: I edited my last post to mention Rome II at the same time you posted your response.

[Epic28]

See thats the thing I currently dont have a computer other than my work laptop which isn't for personal use, or video game forum browsing (shhhhh), so I wanted/need a personal pc and I really dont want to be constricted with purchasing a desktop because I travel for work often.

[Caelifer_1991]

See thats the thing I currently dont have a computer other than my work laptop which isn't for personal use, or video game forum browsing (shhhhh), so I wanted/need a personal pc and I really dont want to be constricted with purchasing a desktop because I travel for work often.

I got my laptop from Dell, they tend to cut corners but you have a lot of customisation options and they have some good deals, so it might be worth checking them out. As for the rest that I checked, it depends where you are, if you're in the UK I might check around a bit and get back to you, I've been considering replacing my laptop for a newer one anyway, so I can render faster and have less limitations in my final year of Uni (and I get to play games at higher settings) It's probably best to make your own laptop of course but I hear that they're quite fiddly and it's easy to make mistakes relative to building a desktop, I also hear that finding laptop components that work together is harder and managing to fit them all together is a feat on it's own, so it might be best not to do that - I looked at doing it myself and decided it wasn't worth the effort despite building the desktop I had previously.

[Igor85]

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Compute...s.13849.0.html
My guess: Only on low settings, though some people claim they have magic laptops^^

[Bearnation54]

I was looking to buy a new pc and I have a choice of a 2nd gen intel i7 core 12m cache overclocked at 4.1ghz or should I go with the same thing but 15m cache and only overclocked at 4 ghz which is better?

[talljoe]

I was looking to buy a new pc and I have a choice of a 2nd gen intel i7 core 12m cache overclocked at 4.1ghz or should I go with the same thing but 15m cache and only overclocked at 4 ghz which is better?

You need to be way more specific. What are the two processors? For example, an i5 3570k usually outperforms the 3770k, even though the 3770k costs $100 more. So... what are the names of these processors?

If you are aiming for playing Rome at decent setting without it turning into a slide show during big melee battles, then it's hard to beat an OC'd i5 2500K, i5 3570k, or the newest i5 4670k. Also the 2600, the 3770k and the 4770k are good options, but they're more expensive because they're hyperthreaded.

[Bearnation54]

You need to be way more specific. What are the two processors? For example, an i5 3570k usually outperforms the 3770k, even though the 3770k costs $100 more. So... what are the names of these processors?

If you are aiming for playing Rome at decent setting without it turning into a slide show during big melee battles, then it's hard to beat an OC'd i5 2500K, i5 3570k, or the newest i5 4670k. Also the 2600, the 3770k and the 4770k are good options, but they're more expensive because they're hyperthreaded.

Thanks for respoding and Sorry about not being specific.
Heres the two option
1: 2nd gen intel i7-3930 k 12 m cache overclocked at 4.1 ghz
2: 2nd gen intel i7-3960 X 15 m cache overclocked at 4.2 ghz
(Pricing is not a problem)

[Semper_Fidelis]

Thanks for respoding and Sorry about not being specific.
Heres the two option
1: 2nd gen intel i7-3930 k 12 m cache overclocked at 4.1 ghz
2: 2nd gen intel i7-3960 X 15 m cache overclocked at 4.2 ghz
(Pricing is not a problem)

Just because it is more expensive doesnt necessarily mean it is better for gaming, apparently the i5 is better for gaming but the i7 is better for multitasking and things like video editing, rendering and coding. If your PC is mainly for gaming I would just go for an i5.

[Biggus Splenus]

Thanks for respoding and Sorry about not being specific.
Heres the two option
1: 2nd gen intel i7-3930 k 12 m cache overclocked at 4.1 ghz
2: 2nd gen intel i7-3960 X 15 m cache overclocked at 4.2 ghz
(Pricing is not a problem)

The X series of CPUs are the absolute best, but they are based off the 2nd Gen Sandy Bridge architecture. The current 4th Gen Haswell 4670k will probably outperform the i7-3960X. The biggest upside to the 3960X is it's high core count and high clock speed. It has 6 cores (+ hyperthreading = 12 threads), but games will never make use of that many threads, so more than half your processor will be sitting there doing nothing while gaming. Also, because it's 2 generations behind the current Haswell chips, it has lower IPC (instructions per clock, higher is better, essential for gaming), and you'll also be able to overclock a 4670K higher.

apparently the i5 is better for gaming but the i7 is better for multitasking and things like video editing, rendering and coding. If your PC is mainly for gaming I would just go for an i5.

i5 isn't better for gaming, it's about equal to the i7 (i7 clocked 100Mhz higher, so that makes it slightly better, but the extra $100 for that small amount isn't worth it, plus you can just overclock it).

[Birk]

I only need to upgrade my GPU, i've a GTX580, i probably upgrade to GTX770 or to GTX780. No need to upgrade my CPU, because i already have i5-2500k, and the newer CPU's only have 0-5 FPS higher performance So that would be totally waste of money. But the GPU upgrade can give me a FPS boost up to 40FPS, and i want to run Rome II on max graphic.