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

[Leep]

Depends at what resolution you want to run it at. Also how do you get on with Shogun 2 that will give you a good idea. Your graphics card will be your weak point here which may stop you being able to play on max settings. It lacks VRAM among other things.

I would run it at 1280x1024, unless I take up an offer for a bigger one. I guess I need to drop ~190 dollars for a 7800 series then? I think I should wait to see how it runs with my current card, but what do you think?

[Leep]

Thank you, by the way.

[aion2006]

I'm quite sure most of us here can run ROME 2 decently.

My only concern if CA optimize the CPU.
In every total war game the graphic looks fine.
But I can never get the mega battle with smooth fps because of the cpu bottleneck.

Seeing as this is the same engine, its not hopeful so no choice but to appreciate whats given.

[alQamar]

Hi leap, If you really plan to take up a new monitor the GPU has to have lots more power due the higher resolution of 1920x1080
What PSU wattage do you have, what country are you from? Currency?

BREAKING NEWS
Hi techies, according my thread about revoke of limitations of OC Intel i5/7 K CPUs and Haswell chipsets
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1#post13010404

Again there are good news: Also ASUS, aside to Asrock and Gigabyte, now offers the free and safe multiplicator overclocking for H87 boards and B85 boards, in this case you can save a lot of money comparing to the Z87 board you would have needed before.
Compatibiliy is easy done via updating the UEFI (BIOS), download it from the vendors websites to any USB stick and upgrade within the UEFI.
As now a lot big players of the market done this step, there is literally no need to buy a Z87 from the technical view, and somehow makes it quite obsolete. It is likely other vendors like MSI will follow, they have however not given an official statement yet.

[Leep]

Hi leap, If you really plan to take up a new monitor the GPU has to have lots more power due the higher resolution of 1920x1080
What PSU wattage do you have, what country are you from? Currency?

BREAKING NEWS
Hi techies, according my thread about revoke of limitations of OC Intel i5/7 K CPUs and Haswell chipsets
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1#post13010404

Again there are good news: Also ASUS, aside to Asrock and Gigabyte, now offers the free and safe multiplicator overclocking for H87 boards and B85 boards, in this case you can save a lot of money comparing to the Z87 board you would have needed before.
Compatibiliy is easy done via updating the UEFI (BIOS), download it from the vendors websites to any USB stick and upgrade within the UEFI.
As now a lot big players of the market done this step, there is literally no need to buy a Z87 from the technical view, and somehow makes it quite obsolete. It is likely other vendors like MSI will follow, they have however not given an official statement yet.

I live in the US and use US dollars. My power supply is an Antec Earthwatts @650 watts (the more, the merrier). Correct me if I'm off, but I'm currently deciding between the (probably Sapphire) ATI Radeon 7870 or 7850 in 2Gb to max Rome 2. Thanks!

[Leep]

Oh, and the bigger screen's native resolution is 1680x1050.

[MonTeZuma]

I live in the US and use US dollars. My power supply is an Antec Earthwatts @650 watts (the more, the merrier). Correct me if I'm off, but I'm currently deciding between the (probably Sapphire) ATI Radeon 7870 or 7850 in 2Gb to max Rome 2. Thanks!

They will do much better for you but if you could spring a 7950 then you would be set but I reckon you will do very well with the 7850 or 7870.

[alQamar]

I live in the US and use US dollars. My power supply is an Antec Earthwatts @650 watts (the more, the merrier). Correct me if I'm off, but I'm currently deciding between the (probably Sapphire) ATI Radeon 7870 or 7850 in 2Gb to max Rome 2. Thanks!

I second montezumas opinion mostly.
First of all you cannot compare a 7850 to a 7870 as the 7870 has a much better processor.
It offers you plain said 30-45 % more performance in calculations at same memory speeds.

In this case a 7850 is out of race if you are not on budget.
Your PSU is well enough to serve all cards on the market

A price of 279 $ is reasonable for the performance of a 7870
This is recommended for good cooling and vendor OC.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16814121649

BUT: For a quite same price you can get a 7950 (not boost). Why: the boost should be hotter and louder, more expensive as the standard one an its TDP (energy draw / cost) is about 25% higher!

The 7950 offers you minimum 12% more speed comparing to the 7870.
It does not only have an also improves processor again but much more important
a higher memory bandwith!
The memory bandwith, so the speed the GPU can access its own memory is over 56% faster than a 7850 / 7870!
This is vital for TotalWar and all other texture intensive games.
An additional nice to have is that it comes with 3 GB VRAM,
however Rome 2 is not able to serve it as 32bit application, additionally you would only need such a massive amount of Video RAM for 2-3 screens @ 1080p

The Asus 7950 is a great card.
Even I am an NVIDIA fan, in this particular case I cannot even recommend you an NVIDIA card, as no NVIDIA card offers a 384bit memory bus at this price level.

Go for that one to get the best card for your bucks, 50$ more price is damn god worth to buy it instead of a 7870.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16814121716
the pricing / performance balance is very good towards the 7870.
Running this card with a 1280 res. you should enable vsync as to get your GPU relaxed and quieter, as it would produce to much FPS than your monitor (60) can display. some say this produce input lag, but hell this is TW and not counterstrike, even this would be true . I never experienced any lag issues, or I am just to slow to notice that


have a nice day. What do you think?

[ahedgpe]

Hello All! I am getting ready to upgrade my CPU. I have been on the AMD side of things for many, many years and am trying to research the best option for an Intel CPU. I am stuck between getting the i7-3770K or i5-4670k. I expect to use the processer for about 1 - 1/12 years. Am I right in thinking that the 4670k will be my best bet for that time frame and also a HUGE upgrade from my current 955 Black Edition?


OS - Win 7 Ultimate
CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (Quad Core @ 3.6ghz) stock 3.2ghz
Memory - 8gb DDR3 1600mhz Corsair Vengeance memory
GPU - Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2gb DDR5 video card
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H
PS - Thermaltake 850 watt Black Widow
Display 24" Monitor at 1920*1080

[alQamar]

Hi there your rig is fine enough to run Rome 2, upgrading will be not a recommended thing yet, you do not get a lot of improvement if you are able to run your quad core that high. Remember that Rome 2 does not even support quad core
Your rig is very up to date and aslong you are not one of that 3Dmark "top of the hill" competitors, you'll be alright with that. Upgrading that rig won't use much and would be a vaste of your hard earned money - at least I hope so -
If you cannot still cannot resist reasonably: As we are aware about that the Haswell are bad to OC, mostly 300 MHz less than Sandy or Ivy bridge on that model said, I suggest you to choose the 3770k on a Z77 board and leave everything of the other components alone with the new mainboard and CPU. You won't miss anything as the difference, without OC are just about 10%, which is negligible, esp. on seen on the price differences. With OC the Ivy comes easily on 4.5 GHz all cores and boosts out the Haswell in a price / performance comparison level
By the way: the times of changing your hardware all 18 month or 24 are out. With a 3770k you can serve all stuff for the next 4 years. Aslong you do not target for DDR4
There is a good reason why the market for PC crashed by 16% percent this year.

[ahedgpe]

Hi there your rig is fine enough to run Rome 2, upgrading will be not a recommended thing yet, you do not get a lot of improvement if you are able to run your quad core that high. Remember that Rome 2 does not even support quad core
Your rig is very up to date and aslong you are not one of that 3Dmark "top of the hill" competitors, you'll be alright with that. Upgrading that rig won't use much and would be a vaste of your hard earned money - at least I hope so -
If you cannot still cannot resist reasonably: As we are aware about that the Haswell are bad to OC, mostly 300 MHz less than Sandy or Ivy bridge on that model said, I suggest you to choose the 3770k on a Z77 board and leave everything of the other components alone with the new mainboard and CPU. You won't miss anything as the difference, without OC are just about 10%, which is negligible, esp. on seen on the price differences. With OC the Ivy comes easily on 4.5 GHz all cores and boosts out the Haswell in a price / performance comparison level
By the way: the times of changing your hardware all 18 month or 24 are out. With a 3770k you can serve all stuff for the next 4 years. Aslong you do not target for DDR4
There is a good reason why the market for PC crashed by 16% percent this year.

Thanks for the info! I have had that processor for about two years and having some mobo issues so it is the perfect opportunity to "tweak" my system! In truth, I am leaning more toward the 4670K just because of the price-point. I am able to get a i5-4670k with an Asus z87-A mobo for $300 as a bundle. My question is, in 6 months, am I going to be sorry I didnt get the 3770?

[alQamar]

Thanks for the info! I have had that processor for about two years and having some mobo issues so it is the perfect opportunity to "tweak" my system! In truth, I am leaning more toward the 4670K just because of the price-point. I am able to get a i5-4670k with an Asus z87-A mobo for $300 as a bundle. My question is, in 6 months, am I going to be sorry I didnt get the 3770?

It is better to get the i7, OC is better, its level 3 cache is bigger and most of all the hyperthreading is also very helpful in performance to Rome and other games.
Don't get Haswell. If you can bother to read a previous posting where I explain Tick and Tock strategy of Intel you should not buy the Haswell "tock".
Higher numbers do not mean everyting lad. It will take some months or even years till games with use AVX2 of Haswell, until that the Hyperthreading is useful for you with quite every game on market as it was invented with Pentium 4, so AGES ago, and it still apply for Total War.

Guys I'm having trouble with my video card. I put it in the PCI Slot and that was easy, however it came with 2 power connectors a 6 and 8 slot one. On the other end are those big pins, 3 of them, I think they are called mole connectors, anyway, I don't have any more adapters for those, is it possible for me to not use those and use the extra 8 and 6 PCI connectors that came with my power supply?

Its a Gigabyte 7970 Ghz edition

Pictures please. cannot follow you. the 7970 ghz thats what I got so far have 2 PCI-E express power connectors.
One is 6 pin and the other 8 pin. Your PSU does not offer a 6 pin and a 8 pin PCI-E express power connector (black yellow) or what?

If there is no other way - but thats the last way to do - because of the intern balancing of the 12Volts rail, you can use the adaptors that came along with your Gigabyte card. They are connecting 2 4pin molex (red, yellow, orange, black ones) to a 6 pin PCI-E connector. best practice is to use the connectors that are reserved for PCI-E (black yellow)
the most PSU have 2 of that (3 of you count the one for the CPU, but thats another thing and wont fit)
both have 6 pin (2rows of 3) and one of them has 2 flexible in case the GPU has an 8pin (2rows of 4) connector.

i have q9400 and 7750 and 4 gb ram
will it run ? how ?
+
what does it mean total war games cant handle 4core cpu ? i have quad so rome 2 will use only 2 core of it?

Exactly! It would run medium settings with no shadows I guess. Thats why they quoted the old Intel Dual-Core series as minimum, covering that you need a Dualcore. That they still quote a single core with 2.6 GHz and Windows XP is really hilarious.

If the game engine of TW would support quadcore they would have said it in the recommended specs but they did not. Anything that CA is not saying it is not there. Like avatar mode (they commited later to be out of the game), thats like they are.

It seems you are not very experienced with computing so I won't bother you with Overclocking your CPU. However your 7750 will bottlenecking Rome 2 or Shogun 2 more than your less GHz on your Quad-lcore.
If you have a 450 or 500 Wattage PSU you should consider to upgrade the graphics card to get a better performance.

If you are on a low budget at least a 660Ti your dualcore fits to Total War.
A Geforce 660Ti would be great fit for your specs (more than 6 times faster than your AMD), if this is too expensive get a 560Ti
thats still twice faster than your AMD card.
With the 660Ti you can definitely run the game high or ultra on DX11 with all features on, and high on the 560Ti.
Any questions?

[Greatonesh]

i have q9400 and 7750 and 4 gb ram
will it run ? how ?
+
what does it mean total war games cant handle 4core cpu ? i have quad so rome 2 will use only 2 core of it?

[Sebt1890]

Guys I'm having trouble with my video card. I put it in the PCI Slot and that was easy, however it came with 2 power connectors a 6 and 8 slot one. On the other end are those big pins, 3 of them, I think they are called mole connectors, anyway, I don't have any more adapters for those, is it possible for me to not use those and use the extra 8 and 6 PCI connectors that came with my power supply?

Its a Gigabyte 7970 Ghz edition

[Sebt1890]

Thanks for the reply. I figured it out and am currently installing Windows

[Sebt1890]

Has anyone here gotten the Windows 8 Installation Loop?

It'll install, reboot, then have me do the process all over again.

EDIT: Fixed it. Updated my drivers and everything.

What's the best software program that I can use to see what the temps are? I know i can do it from the BIOS but I was wondering what one is the most reliable that I can open from the desktop?

[SamueleD]

What's the best software program that I can use to see what the temps are? I know i can do it from the BIOS but I was wondering what one is the most reliable that I can open from the desktop?

People tend to use two at the same time, which is always a good idea if you want reliability. I know Open Hardware Monitor, HWMonitor, RealTemp, and there are a few others out there that people will suggest.

[AngryPolack]

Can anybody give me some advice on a new build for Rome 2? My budget is about 1700$, I'm buying from Newegg, and my current monitor's max resolution is 1620 (I think). Not sure if i should go with a new 1080p monitor and if that makes much of a difference. I've only used about 250 mb's of storage on my 6 year old computer, so I was wondering if I should get a 500 GB SSD. Can anyone help me with a new build with that budget?

[Baldos]

Can anybody give me some advice on a new build for Rome 2? My budget is about 1700$, I'm buying from Newegg, and my current monitor's max resolution is 1620 (I think). Not sure if i should go with a new 1080p monitor and if that makes much of a difference. I've only used about 250 mb's of storage on my 6 year old computer, so I was wondering if I should get a 500 GB SSD. Can anyone help me with a new build with that budget?

See post #1123 above about end results similar budget. CPU- i5-3570K (easy to OC to 43x); ASUS P8Z77-V Pro (you can save with less costly version); Gigabyte GTX 770 OC (really fast and cool); Samsung 840 Pro SSD 512GB (save by getting 256GB), good CPU cooler, good 1600gHz or 1833gHz RAM( see above post), Case, 750W PSU... I think you will be in budget with a great rig.....The guys (aQamar, SamueleD, Splenyi & others, on this forum know their stuff!

[alQamar]

baldos 10 $ and the circumstances with QVL this is ok. Have loads of fun with your rig! Good we all could help you.
polack I will care about that task in about an hour if that's ok. How many free space abd allocated space do you have.

I am back in town, made my meal and tried the american way of doing pancakes first time, yummy and soft with mexican honey.

BTT, I am suprised how expensive computers are in the USA. I though well having 1700$ thats a bunch... and started to build a X79 system with quadchannel ram support a GTX 780 and sorts, but jesus this really ran out of budget. :O

but here is my suggestion for you Angrypolack and we are neat within the budget.
given parameters: budget 1700 US$, no screen currently 1680 resolution. favorite reseller: newegg.com

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147192 128 GB Samsung SSD 840 Pro for your Windows OS only. Games and Data should be stored on the conventional harddisk. 5 years warranty!
140 $
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832416552 Windows 8 License professional 64 bit.
140 $
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116501 Ivy Bridge 3770K, as we talked often about it the Ivy Bridge is better to OC up to 4,5 GHz than Haswell, thats why I took this one.
Additionally the 3770K has not only 4 cores but also 8 threads due hyperthreading giving Total War and other games like Civ5 a significant boost
320 $
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131833 Asus Z77 pro micro ATX, fits all your needs and is needed to do OC on the i7-K (just multiplier changing)
140 $
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233299 decent and fast RAM 16 GB of it in just 2 memories with CL9 latency. Lifetime warranty
153 $
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151088 one of the best PSUs on earth, quiet, reliable, safe, energy saving and modular, good hardware warranty from Seasonic (7 years), so this one is stays with you on every future upgrade.
119 $ CURRENT DISCOUNT action! watch out not to miss it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16800999306 comes with your EVGA for free plus you get a free copy of the latest 3Dmark at EVGA.com

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130921 EVGA GTX 770 with custom cooler, yes i know splenyi would take Asus cooler as it is better but EVGA offers your 10 years full warranty on this card,
you need to register it at EVGA.com to get this and other benefits. No spam, excellent service!
420 $
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136792 Fast and reliable Western Digital 2TB should be able to store your steam and other games and data.
160 $
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112304 Lian Li Case, understatement in all facettes, it is not looking wild but quality and usability of their cases are placed #1 in the world
this lightweight aluminum case, is something that you will really love, even it looks "boring" compared to others. Additionally to the good cooling and included coolers within the case, the aluminium is a good material tranporting heat, thus why all CPU coolers are combinations of aluminium and copper. Means the whole case is cooling your system, not only the airflow.
130 $
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136259 a standard LG DVD-RW drive, does serve well enough.
18 $
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16835186039R Artic Cooler is well enough to put up with a TDP of 200 Watts, your CPU does have 77 Watts, so no need to spend more money into that.
Do not pick the 13 pro freezer it has a small additional cooler below that is rotating quite loudly and often fails (like all small fans)

total 1800 $
if you need to save money take 2x4 GB instead of the 16 GB, then you should be easy within your budget.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233180

also do not forget I included Windows 8 license with this package, which I do not normally.

What do you think? Questions?