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

[SamueleD]

I've course SamueleD! I'll need to put you in the credits too, I can't believe you're not in there.

Thank you though it was alQamar who did all the testing. I merely gave my opinion on the results.

And yeah, all the money AMD will make off consoles won't be going straight into a new console, because they only come every 5 years. Lets hope it gets put into a new CPU, ditch the FX series and get a new one please AMD.

Yeah, if they were to reach even just Nehalem performance in single thread, that would be great.

[Micon]

I am back my bro`s.
case: Nanoxia deep silence 1 silver. (should i change to v2?
PSU: Corsair Xq 600w m bronze ATX12V 2.3 (Increased from 520W)
Motherboard: ASuS G87-pro s-1150 ATX (Better one?)
CPU: Intel core I5 4670K 3.4GHZ 6MB S-1150 (same)
RAM: Corsair 8GB DDR3 Vengeance LP PC3-12800 1600MHZ CL9 (same)
HDD: WD Black 3.5" 1tb 7200rpm Sata/600 64Mb (changed to WD)
Optical drive: Asus drw-24f1st DVD R/RW/ Ram DL 24x Sata black - Bulk (same)
GPU: Gigabyte Geforce GTX 760 OC V2 2gb. (good reviews on Newegg)
Pci-E adapter: D-link DWA-566 802.11A/B/G/N Dual band wlan Pci-e.
HSF: Noctua NH-U12S (Hope its worth the price)
I have heard that Asus has released software for the h-87 so you can now overclock?
Source: http://www.gizbot.com/gadgets/asus-b...ds-013087.html
I get 3 years of warranty from the site I plan to order from, and I find the possibility to send a defect gpu back overseas a nuisance.
will this build fit for overclocking? Any thoughts is welcome. This is a nice thread to have.
Addon: And is this the Asus Gpu mentioned?:Asus geforce gtx760 Oc 2gb( it has the editors choice award)
The total cost in NOK is 8500kr, in Euro 1088.56£, and in Usd dollars it is 1439.73 USD...SSD is not included.

[Duffeldof]

Let's keep you guys busy.

Could you build me computer from some site that ships to Finland (or you can just point components and I can from Finnish forums where I could get those and assembly).

I would aim for maximum TW performance.

After reading this topic I have been thinking atleast these:

Dual core (overclockable, also is OC possible to do safely for tech noob?)
4GB RAM
120GB SSD (or bigger If you recommend, how much there is space left after W8 & R2?)

[SamueleD]

Let's keep you guys busy.

Could you build me computer from some site that ships to Finland (or you can just point components and I can from Finnish forums where I could get those and assembly).

I would aim for maximum TW performance.

After reading this topic I have been thinking atleast these:

Dual core (overclockable, also is OC possible to do safely for tech noob?)
4GB RAM
120GB SSD (or bigger If you recommend, how much there is space left after W8 & R2?)

I don't know of any recent dual core that is overclockable, and yes, if you do your research and homework OC is possible even for n00bs.
If you find out what is usually the price for PC parts in Finland compared to US (not the exchange rate, just how much more they cost) you can just pick a build from the OP.

[Duffeldof]

I don't know of any recent dual core that is overclockable, and yes, if you do your research and homework OC is possible even for n00bs.
If you find out what is usually the price for PC parts in Finland compared to US (not the exchange rate, just how much more they cost) you can just pick a build from the OP.

Well usual rule of thumb is that in Finland it costs the same that in US just in euros. So 600$ build in Finland would be about 600€.

[SamueleD]

Well usual rule of thumb is that in Finland it costs the same that in US just in euros. So 600$ build in Finland would be about 600€.

Damn, that's pricy, go look for a build that's in you budget then.
Edit: If you can find the components on a Finnish hardware store you should be able to get cheaper shipment cost, here in Switzerland there is a website called toppreise.ch that compares the prices of most Swiss online stores for many things, try to google for something similar in Finland, or just a good hardware store.

[Duffeldof]

Damn, that's pricy, go look for a build that's in you budget then.

Higher taxes, work is more expensive and smaller country. I think biggest Finnish tech shops etc. would be ridiculously small shops in US Bigger companies can offer better prices.
High prices in Finland is one reason I'm interested in to ordering from somewhere else in EU.

[Killerbee]

I'm not a graphics buff, so low-medium but smooth playing is good for me. Are these specs enough ?

CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 @ 2.33GHz
GPU - ATI Radeon HD 3850
RAM - 4096MB

[KingCrr]

What is the difference between i5-4670 vs i5-4430? It seems like the 4670 is just clocked a little higher? Would that difference be a major improvement in game play? It is a $45 savings for the 4430.

[SamueleD]

What is the difference between i5-4670 vs i5-4430? It seems like the 4670 is just clocked a little higher? Would that difference be a major improvement in game play? It is a $45 savings for the 4430.

400MHz (600MHz in turbo) can make quite a difference in a CPU bottlenecked game as TW, if you can afford it pick the fastest one, since you can't OC the i5-4430.

[KingCrr]

400MHz (600MHz in turbo) can make quite a difference in a CPU bottlenecked game as TW, if you can afford it pick the fastest one, since you can't OC the i5-4430.

Thank you.

[babydoc]

Anyone here with TV knowledge?

I recently hooked up my PC with a 55" LED TV Samsung.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-UE55.../dp/B007JURJDK
Everything is sweet on all ultra when playing total war games.

My wife is tired of me cos she wants to watch TV from time to time.
I aint going back to my PC-monitor, hell no!

What should I look for when deciding on a LED TV? 55" minimum and 1080 is a must.
Are there higher res TVs?
Is there a way to play on dual TVs?, maybe have the new strategy map on one TV and the game on the other or just double the size?
I know that you can have dual monitors but TVs?

[SamueleD]

Anyone here with TV knowledge?

I recently hooked up my PC with a 55" LED TV Samsung.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-UE55.../dp/B007JURJDK
Everything is sweet on all ultra when playing total war games.

My wife is tired of me cos she wants to watch TV from time to time.
I aint going back to my PC-monitor, hell no!

What should I look for when deciding on a LED TV? 55" minimum and 1080 is a must.
Are there higher res TVs?
Is there a way to play on dual TVs?, maybe have the new strategy map on one TV and the game on the other or just double the size?
I know that you can have dual monitors but TVs?

The dimensions of the TV do not matter for performance a 20" @1080p requires the same GPU power as a 55" TV @1080p, the resolution is what matters.
I the TV you want to buy is just for playing games, then the criteria are the same as for monitors.
There are higher res TVs out there, but I don't know how GPUs handle them and you would need a lot of GPU horsepower for them anyway.
You can use dual TV, in the same way as you can use two or more monitors, the only problem is: you need a lot of GPU power to do it.

A TV is nothing special, it's just a big 1080p monitor, with some hardware thrown in the mix to allow you to watch TV channels and sometimes with speakers integrated.

In multi-monitor setups you usually either have the game in one screen and desktop with other things or movies in the other, or the game in all the screens, running at very high resolutions.

[babydoc]

answer

Thanks!
So basically A TV is almost like a monitor....

If Im happy about the TV Im using now its safe to say that I can buy another one and it will be all good?
I mean if there is a certain feature that is better for gaming then I would buy that TV instead.

I know that response times are bad and really hard to get info about it for TVs but all the games and most importantly TW games are great on the TV Im using now.

[SamueleD]

Thanks!
So basically A TV is almost like a monitor....

If Im happy about the TV Im using now its safe to say that I can buy another one and it will be all good?
I mean if there is a certain feature that is better for gaming then I would buy that TV instead.

I know that response times are bad and really hard to get info about it for TVs but all the games and most importantly TW games are great on the TV Im using now.

Yeah, if you are satisfied with the model you were using I see no reason to pick another one, unless you are looking for something cheaper.

[babydoc]

Yeah, if you are satisfied with the model you were using I see no reason to pick another one, unless you are looking for something cheaper.

Actually she got a Soundbar and a subwoofer for free with that TV.
The Soundbar is bluetooth, no cables, wich is convenient.

Thanks for clearing things up.

[alQamar]

Hopefully he can Metallistic and thanks for this detailed posting. What I do not understand is why I seem to be so lucky with my OC as my gf ivy runs cool and with 4.5 GHz so same to my sandy both without any voltage changing. Reasons? Does the geographical location (e.g.electromagnetism or altitude)or the better power lines making differences? Really curious.

[Metallistic]

Hopefully he can Metallistic and thanks for this detailed posting. What I do not understand is why I seem to be so lucky with my OC as my gf ivy runs cool and with 4.5 GHz so same to my sandy both without any voltage changing. Reasons? Does the geographical location (e.g.electromagnetism or altitude)or the better power lines making differences? Really curious.

No definitive answer, maybe just a really good chip and/or good even spread of the thermal paste between the CPU and its heatsink. You would be surprised how bad it was for some of the users and how far they went to fix the issue.

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXs0I5kuoX4

His results using Pime95 at 27C ambient temperature:
Temperatures before fix: 98 86 68 65
Temperatures after fix: 58 59 59 60

Something was really funky with Intel's manufacturing process as far as I can tell.

[alQamar]

All response times are well around 5ms go for samsung definitely. What budget do you acclaim and what possible size?

[alQamar]

I use artic cooling coolers they come with their own silver thermal grease so I don't have to care for proper application ar least the 98 degrees temp second my posting about *useless to spend lots on coolers*