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

[alQamar]

Splenyi, I am disappointed of your comments this time about the CPU recommendation. Why recommend him a Haswell when he can use his existing setup to upgrade more cheap and reasonably?! Be more situative please.

If he already says a 3570k is too expensive there is additionally no way. As I said I would check Rome 2 performance and wait. But I second you splenyi, he should probably wait for the next generation of AMD in October-November 2013 instead to rush an upgrade now. His GPU is really fast enough at the moment.

Speaking about an "entry" card quoting the 7850 is somehow really weird mate. The mentioned HD7850 is an entry card or a GTX 450 / 560. Additionally you listed the HD7850 as alternative in the tier "good" in your OP, which is of course a correct choice. But this one entry... no way.


@Xyloto The 3470 would be a better pick if you want to upgrade, but I would be unsure to do it right now. The performance plus will not be reasonable to your expenses to be honest!

[Xyloto]

Splenyi, I am disappointed of your comments this time. Why recommend him a Haswell when he can use his existing setup to upgrade more cheap and resonably?! Be more situative please.

If he already says a 3570k is too expensive there is additionally no way. As I said I would check Rome 2 performance and wait probably for the next generation of AMD in October instead to rush an upgrade. His GPU is really fast enough at the moment.
The 3470 would be a better pick if you want to upgrade, but I would be unsure to do it right now. The performance plus will not be reasonable to your expenses to be honest!

Yeah i'll wait till rome 2 and consinder again then. Thanks both.

[alQamar]

You are welcome! See you then!

As you have an i3 please use the manual performance tweak here . Gives you a boost of 13% in the CPU performance! SamuleD set the parameter to 4 instead of 0 and could backup the results with his i3 aswell.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1#post13057026

[Xyloto]

You are welcome! See you then!

As you have an i3 please use the manual performance tweak here . Gives you a boost of 13% in the CPU performance! SamuleD set the parameter to 4 instead of 0 and could backup the results with his i3 aswell.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1#post13057026

So if I turn HT off i will get a performance boost?

[alQamar]

So if I turn HT off i will get a performance boost?

Only with an quad core with Hyperthreading (i7) but NOT with the i3

Easy with that rig @concrete

[SamueleD]

So if I turn HT off i will get a performance boost?

In i7 yes, but you can just set the thread limit to either 8 or 16 and it will remove the problem, no need to disable features you paid for. With i3 (or any other dual core with HT, like my mobile i5) setting the thread limit to 4 or higher gives huge performance boosts, in my case the best setting was 4, compared to the default setting I got 17% more peformance in DX 9 mode and up to 20% in DX11 mode, that is a huge improvement.

[-Concrete-]

Here's what I bought.

i5-4670k
GTX 760
ASUS Z87-A
8GB 1600MHZ RAM
120GB INTEL 520 series SSD

Playing at 1080 I hope to get as close to 'maxed' as possible, especially after they tweak things post release.

[Samuel Pidgeon]

is the alienware X51 R2 good enough for this game
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]Alienware X51 R2 Standard Base[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd3"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]PROCESSOR[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]Intel® Core™ i5-4430 Processor (6MB Cache, up to 3.2GHz with Turbo Boost Technology)[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd3"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]OPERATING SYSTEM[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]English Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd3"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]GRAPHICS CARD[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 645[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd3"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]MEMORY[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600Mhz[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd3"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]HARD DRIVE[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]1TB (64MB Cache) 7200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd3"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]OPTICAL DRIVE[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD RW, CD-RW)[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd3"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]DW1506 Wireless-N WLAN Half Mini-Card[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd3"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]OFFICE SOFTWARE[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]Office not included[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd3"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]SECURITY SOFTWARE[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]Anti-virus not included[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd3"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]SERVICES AND SUPPORT[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]1 Year NBD with Premium Phone Support[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd3"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: even"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]No DataSafe Online Backup selected[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd3"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE PROTEC
[TR="class: even"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]Driver[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]WLAN Card DW1506 Driver[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd3"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]Cable[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]UK 250V Power Cord [/TD]
[/TR]

[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD="class: scrtd1"]Power Supply[/TD]
[TD="class: scrtd2"]240W AC Adaptor[/TD]
[/TR]

1 year Accidental Damage Protection or should I get the chillblast fusion tiger shark[/TD]
[/TR]

[Samuel Pidgeon]

Should I get the chillblast fusion tiger shark gaming pc sorry for my last long post I couldn't fit all the info of the chillblast machine in last post lol

[Metallistic]

Run from pre-built PCs like they are the plague. Unless they are reasonably priced if you compare them to the net price of a list of components that are the same or at least similar to those in the pre-built machine, don't even think about getting one. Simply take a look at the first page of this thread and choose a configuration according to your budget. If you have some other specific needs and the provided configurations do not meet them, let it be known what your budget is and I am sure you will be pointed to something worth your money.

[Micon]

Lads, I am back with more problems/questions. I can get a 250gb regular samsung of the 840 series for almost the same price ( a tad more) as a Samsung 128gb pro and Ocz vertex 450 128gb, any help? Nr 2: Will the performance loop between the gtx 760 and gtx 770 be worth the cost?

[alQamar]

Question A take not the non pro series as they are slower as already said
Question b if you ask for cost efficiency rating. No it is not balanced just take the 770 if you have no money limit. Plain economically it is not reasonable.

THIS computer is not even worth to he named Alienware. The hardware pick is a fail for this brand. Look up the OP suggestions to get a good hardware for your bucks.

[Samuel Pidgeon]

CyberPower Commando 802 Gaming PC Processor

• AMD Eight Core FX 8320 CPU 3.5GHz
• 16MB cache
• ASETEK LIQUID COOLED

Memory

• 8GB 1333MHz DDR3
• 4 x Dimm slots (2 x free)

Hard Drive

• 2TB SATA III (SATA 6.GBs)

Optical Drive

• 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE.

Software

• Operating System: Genuine Windows 8 64-bit (pre-installed, Cyberpower recovery disk)

Display

• Monitor not included

Graphics

• AMD HD7870 2GB PCI-E Direct X11

Audio

• 5.1 Channel onboard Audio
• Realtek ALC887 Audio Codec

Input Devices

• 1 x PS/2 can be used for Keyboard OR Mouse
• USB for Keyboard and Mouse

Networking

• Lan onboard 10 / 100 / 1000 Gigabit LAN
• Realtek GbE LAN chip

Power Supply

• Coolermaster 500W ATX PSU

Dimensions

• Depth 497 mm
• Width 210 mm
• Height 430 mm

Interfaces

• 1 set 5.1 channel Audio jacks (3 jacks)
• 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
• 4 x USB 2.0 ports
• 4 x USB 3.0 ports
• 1 x RJ45 LAN port
• 1 x DVI Port
• 1 x VGA Port
• 1 x HDMI Port

Expansion

• 4 x Dimm Slots (2 Free)
• 1 x PCI-e x 16 slot (0 Free)
• 1 x PCI-e x 1 slots (0 Free)
• 1 x PCI Slot (Free)
• 6 x Sata II ports (4 Free)

Warranty

• 1 Year Manufacturer Warranty
• Warranty line: 0844 371 2727
• option 3 for tech support
• option 2 for missing cables etc does this look good enough its around my budget and im looking for a machine that has 2GB memory on video card. I have a feeling I want to get alienware machine but its only got 1GB memory on video card but I thought that I should get same type of graphics card it has in it but with more memory from another retailer. Otherwise it can cost about £200 extra or more just to have a better card with more memoery

[alQamar]

This one is rubbish too. Fat 8core no game can profit from but cheapest RAM. Omg. Sometimes I have the feeling oem do make their work that like you need to buy a new one every 2years as the hardware is somewhere slow.
Please look up my post 1550 if you still feel unsure about name your budget and we will find something suitable also something you do not need to assemble yourself.
Hope to hear from you again. Good night for now.

[Samuel Pidgeon]

someone please name a few brands and models of gaming pcs I should look at around £700 to £800 that I can buy in the UK

[alQamar]

There is a store that I used formerly. We can do it tomorrow. 800 is ok windows mouse keyboard or screen needed v within that price what screen and resolution do you have now?

[Micon]

Samuel, why not build your own? You will often get a better price to performance ratio than you get when buying a prebuilt one.
AlQamar, Oke, is the speed difference between the non pro and the pro so great?

[alQamar]

Yes in particular the writing speed x4
As splenyi said correctly anything is faster than a HDD but it may be not worth the price.
Obviously he can't building one his own but we can manage it with the site.

Pigeon please can you name your current hardware psu brand and wattage perhaps an upgrade is ok as well instead of a new. Yesterday I was able to upgrade one for 234 € to a enthusiast tier computer as he fully underestimated his rig from 2011. But finally I am off now. Gn.

[aqualord123]

When playing total war games you should generally purchase a NASA supercomputer in order to have optimized performance..

[Biggus Splenus]

When playing total war games you should generally purchase a NASA supercomputer in order to have optimized performance..

Yep, the warscape engine is very old now, and it's not well optomised for much at all.

CA should have invested another 6 months into Rome 2 to rework the engine, otherwise I might be a little disappointed, because this is suppose to be their biggest game yet.