Attila Computer & Hardware Recommendations
Recommended Gaming PC BuildsUseful Information and Tips
Updated for Mid-2014 (Currently Updating)
Tier - Entry - $514
AMD generally performs better than Nvidia in this range, check these benchmarks for comparison
CPU can overclock, but only with a Z97 Mobo and aftermarket cooler; look into higher tiers for recommendations
CPU - Pentium G3258 - $69
GPU - R7 260X - $120
HSF - CPU Stock - $0
Mobo - ASRock H97M Pro4 - $79
RAM - Corsair 4GB - $54
SSD - None, not essential at this price range - $0
HDD - WD Black 500GB - $75
PSU - Corsair CX-430 - $50
Case - Corsair 200R - $70
Tier - Fair - $643
~25% better graphics, better Mobo, extremely reliable PSU, great quality cases
(1st case example is designed to reduce sound, 2nd is a more generic design)
AMD usually performs measurably better than Nvidia in this range, check these benchmarks for comparison
CPU can overclock, but only with a Z97 Mobo and aftermarket cooler; look into higher tiers for recommendations
CPU - Pentium G3258 - $69
GPU - R7 265 - $160
HSF - CPU Stock - $0
Mobo - ASUS H97-PLUS - $110
RAM - Corsair 4GB - $54
SSD - None, not essential at this price range - $0
HDD - WD Black 500GB - $75
PSU - Seasonic S12II 520W - $85
Case - Corsair Carbide 330R - $90 or Corsair Carbide 400R - $90
Tier - Good - $735
An i3 processor (still 2 cores, but now 4 threads), ~20% better graphics
AMD is the only logical choice in this price range, closest Nvidia card is the GTX 750Ti, check these benchmarks for comparison
Try find a GTX 760 for the same price, that'd be a better deal (though production has stopped)
Also check prices of GTX 960 in your country, this is the best card if it's in the same price range (not recommended as primary option because of high prices in most countries)
This CPU can't overclock like the one from the former tiers, but it is much more powerful in majority of cases
CPU - i3 4160 - $130
GPU - R9 270 - $185
HSF - CPU Stock - $0
Mobo - ASUS H97-PLUS - $110
RAM - Corsair 4GB - $54
SSD - None, not essential at this price range - $0
HDD - WD Black 1TB - $90
PSU - Seasonic S12II 520W - $85
Case - Corsair Carbide 330R - $90 or Corsair Carbide 400R - $90
Tier - Very Good - $831
SSD = amazing boot speeds, OS "smoothness", and much better loading times
Same CPU, but ~15% better graphics
AMD is slightly better than Nvidia in this price range, check benchmarks for comparison
Check prices of GTX 960 in your country, this is the best card if it's in the same price range (not recommended as primary option because of high prices in most countries)
CPU - i3 4160 - $130
GPU - R9 280 - $200
HSF - CPU Stock - $0
Mobo - ASUS H97-PLUS - $110
RAM - Corsair 4GB - $54
SSD - Crucial MX100 128GB - $72
HDD - WD Black 1TB - $90
PSU - Seasonic S12II 520W - $85
Case - Corsair Carbide 330R - $90 or Corsair Carbide 400R - $90
Tier - Great - $1028-$1038
(high-ultra graphics, ultra unit sizes)
May need to take unit size down to high for multiple full-stack army battles
AMD and Nvidia performs about the same all-round, either way is fine, check some benchmarks for the games you play
Can definitely turn the graphics higher than High, but maybe not quiet Ultra
CPU - i5 4670 - $220
GPU - HD 7870 - $220 or GTX 660 - $210
HSF - Hyper 212 Evo - $38
Mobo - ASUS H87-Pro - $120
RAM - Corsair 4GB - $45
SSD - SanDisk Ultra Plus 128GB - $110
HDD - WD Black 1TB - $90
PSU - Seasonic S12II 520W - $85
Case - Corsair 400R - $110
Tier - Excellent - $1129
(ultra graphics, ultra unit sizes)
May need to take unit size down to high for multiple full-stack army battles
Nvidia's 760 outperforms the more expensive 660TI, and AMD's more expensive 7950 (60% of the time)
Benchmarks between GTX 760 and GTX 660TI, Benchmarks between GTX 760 and HD 7950
Can play on Ultra, but not with all filters and AA turned up the highest
CPU - i5 4670 - $220
GPU - GTX 760 - $260
HSF - Hyper 212 Evo - $38
Mobo - ASUS H87-Pro - $120
RAM - Corsair 4GB - $45
SSD - SanDisk Ultra Plus 128GB - $110
HDD - WD Black 1TB - $90
PSU - Seasonic G Series 550W - $106
Case - Corsair 500R - $140
Tier - Enthusiast - $1294-1326
(ultra graphics, ultra unit sizes)
Fairly ok price/perfomance ratio, premium over last tier is payed for the ability to overclock
Shouldn't ever need to take unit sizes down from Ultra once an average overclock is achieved
Nvidia's 760 outperforms the more expensive 660TI, and AMD's more expensive 7950 (60% of the time)
Benchmarks between GTX 760 and GTX 660TI, Benchmarks between GTX 760 and HD 7950
Can play on Ultra, but not with all filters and AA turned up the highest
Better HSF you buy, the higher overclock you can achieve AND it'll be quieter
CPU - i5 4670K - $250
GPU - GTX 760 - $260
HSF - Hyper 212 Evo - $38 or Xigmatek Dark Knight II - $52 or Noctua NH-U12S - $70
Mobo - ASUS Z87-A - $150
RAM - Corsair 8GB - $80
SSD - Samsung 840 Pro 128GB - $150
HDD - WD Black 1TB - $90
PSU - Seasonic G Series 550W - $106
Case - NZXT Switch 810 - $170
Tier - High Enthusiast - $1444-1476
(ultra graphics, ultra unit sizes)
Price/performance ratio is rather poor at this point
Shouldn't ever need to take unit sizes down from Ultra once an average overclock is achieved
Nvidia's 770 replaced the much more expensive 680, and outperforms AMD's competing 7970 60% of the time
Benchmarks between GTX 770 and GTX 680, Benchmarks between GTX 770 and HD 7970
Can play on Ultra, at most things maxed out. Will probably need to turn AA down to x4 instead of x8, and might need to disable Vsync, that's it
Better HSF you buy, the better overclock you can achieve AND it'll be quieter
CPU - i5 4670K - $250
GPU - GTX 770 - $410
HSF - Hyper 212 Evo - $38 or Xigmatek Dark Knight II - $52 or Noctua NH-U12S - $70
Mobo - ASUS Z87-A - $150
RAM - Corsair 8GB - $80
SSD - Samsung 840 Pro 128GB - $150
HDD - WD Black 1TB - $90
PSU - Seasonic G Series 550W - $106
Case - NZXT Switch 810 - $170
Tier - Extreme Enthusiast - $1812-$1844
(ultra graphics, ultra unit sizes)
Price/performance ratio is very poor at this point
Shouldn't ever need to take unit sizes down from Ultra once an average overclock is achieved
Nvidia's 780 has no competitor from AMD, it is superior in every way for gaming but is extremely expensive, benchmarks between $650 GTX 780 and $1000 Titan
Play on Ultra with everything to the max, no worries
CPU - i5 4670K - $250
GPU - GTX 780 - $670
HSF - Hyper 212 Evo - $38 or Xigmatek Dark Knight II - $52 or Noctua NH-U12S - $70
Mobo - ASUS Z87-Pro - $200
RAM - Corsair 8GB - $80
SSD - Samsung 840 Pro 128GB - $150
HDD - WD Black 1TB - $90
PSU - Seasonic XP 660W - $164
Case - NZXT Switch 810 - $170
What is this?
Keep in mind that this is just a guide intended to help you find the "sweet spot" of pricing and component balancing. These recommendations are great, but you can probably do better yourself if you look and research hard enough to make your PC suited for you. Please note that you should be researching/preparing for the minimum of a week before purchasing the parts to build your first PC. It's a lot of money, and you'll be using it for a long time, so get all the help you need right here.
What are these PCs built for, and how to optimise it for something else?
These recommended PCs are built for gaming. If you want to use your PC for some other intensive programs (such as editing and/or rendering), then you could consider more RAM, a better SSD, and/or a better CPU.
Compatibility?
Everything listed in each tier is 100% compatible. If buying different parts and you're unsure, post on this thread and keep reading through this section.
The pricing?
Prices here are directly from Newegg.com, they will definitely be different if you live in another country. Significant $$$ can be saved by looking for cheaper, but just as effective, alternatives if these items are a little expensive in your country. Ask in this thread before buying something you're unsure about.
What the builds include?
The OS or peripherals is not included in the pricing, we are happy to recommended peripherals on this thread if you make a post, but we won't put anything in the OP as of this moment. FYI, a copy of Windows 8 is $100 US, Keyboard and Mouse set can be picked up for $30 US, and a decent monitor is about $160 US. Everything else is included in the recommend builds above ie. the actual PC.
Credit
A special thanks to alQamar, SamueleD, Epic28, and Totalheadache for helping me out on this thread, and to everyone else who has contributed
Description of Components
INDEX (going to get these linked once I figure it out.... hit Ctrl+F and search for the identical name for quick searching)
Processor (CPU)
Motherboard (Mobo)
System Memory (RAM)
Graphics Card (GPU)
Power Supply (PSU)
CPU Heatsink Fan (HSF)
Chassis (Case)
Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
Solid State Drive (SSD)
Processor (CPU)
What is it?
A central processing unit (aka. CPU aka. Processor) is like the brain of your PC. It runs all your calculations, operations and programs.
Which one to get?
If you're a gamer, which you most likely are otherwise why else are you on TWC, then this is 100% dependent on your budget, and the recommended builds above (which are well balanced) is a great place to see what level of CPU you're going to be getting.
AMD or Intel?
You'd be better off to run with Intel. Why? Because you love playing TW games, and TW runs measurably better on Intel than AMD.
Which Model is for me?
An Intel i3 processor is very well suited for gaming, you could play 95% of modern games on high, and plenty of games that people actually play on ultra (by that, I mean games like WoW, LoL, DotA2, MC, CoD, CS, TF2, WoT, BF4 to name the most popular). An i5 processor is an amazing, and usually excessive, all-round CPU; ultra on all games. An i7 processor is designed for professional purposes, and will perform just as well as an i5 in the vast majority of games.
Can I still get AMD?
You certainly can, you'll still be able to play on high, and probably even ultra, but all current TW games will run better on Intel.
Conclusion
Get something that you need, that suits what you want to play at, and what you can afford. Don't feel like you to spend $250 on a CPU.
Motherboard (Mobo)
What is it?
Your motherboard (aka. Mobo aka. Mainboard) basically connects all your components together and provides them with power.
Why Spend a lot of Money on it?
High quality motherboards have additional features, and higher graded components (usually unnecessary for the premium payed, especially for the typical gamer). More power phases, solid capacitors, ferrite chokes and MOSFET heatsinks are present on higher quality motherboards. Higher quality on-board audio, and sometimes ethernet and even WIFI + Bluetooth can be found on higher grade mobos too.
Which Brand to Get?
ASUS, ASRock, Gigabyte and MSI are all the largest sellers of motherboards, and all are great. Other options are fine too, just do your research first.
Conclusion
Think about what you want first. How much SATA connectors do you need (for connecting your HDDs, SSDs and optical drives)? Are you going to setup CrossfireX or SLI (multiple graphics cards)? Are you going to overclock? Read up on the specs and make sure it's got what you need + a little headroom (just in case). Remember, the motherboard wont contribute to performance, spending a lot of money on one won't contribute to "future-proofing" at all, and you don't need a fancy motherboard to pull off amazing overclocks any more.
System Memory (RAM)
What is it?
Random Access Memory (aka. RAM aka. System Memory) can store a small amount of data from your storage for your processors, with super high transfer rates.
Importance of all the Specifications?
In a nutshell, ideally what you want is DDR3 2x2GB sticks, 1600Mhz at C9 timings (timings look something like "9-9-9-27" on the product page; this example is the ideal spec). More RAM is 100% un-beneficial to Total War, although faster RAM will give a tiny bit more performance. You'll also want to look for RAM running at 1.5v, that's the highest Intel recommends running with their CPUs, any higher should be fine though.
Which Brand to Get?
Corsair, G.Skill and Kingston are all amazing, Crucial and Mushkin are good too, any others are fine. Do your research first, but they all use the same chips and standards. It's just the reliability and warranty that differ usually.
Incompatability?
There are plenty of reports online of people's RAM not working with their certian motherboard. Don't worry about this, they're just the unlucky ones (and they are the ones that make the noise), all RAM will be compatible with any motherboard, and any CPU (even if it's AMD or Intel). After all, it's all DDR3 and they all use the same chips, standard, and similar design.
Conclusion
The heat spreaders on the DIMMs are just for looks, they give no benefits (no, RAM never gets that hot even at high speeds like 2400Mhz, unless you're running at like 3000Mhz) and tall ones can cause clearance issues for big heatsinks, and (rarely) cases. Replacing RAM is easily done and most of them have great warranty. Get Dual Channel memory; avoid Single, Triple and Quad Channel, because they can cause incompatibility sometimes (rarely, but avoid just in case). It is not recommend to mix different RAM sets; stick to the one model.
Graphics Card (GPU)
What is it?
A graphics cards (aka. Video Card aka. GPU) processes images to be displayed on your screen.
Which Brand to Get?
All the different brands sell reliable cards, if they didn't, then they wouldn't exist in the market. Most cards from different manufacturers are identical apart from the cooling systems and warranty provided, which are the key things you want to be looking for. Some cards also have custom PCBs with custom power delivery, but this is an unnecessary feature, just like the high quality power phase design on motherboards.
AMD or Nvidia?
Both are great. There, answered for you. Do your own research and look up benchmarks to make your own decision. Nvidia fanboys will die trying to convince you to get their cards, and AMD fanboys will do the same. The smart people will listen to what you use your PC for and give you the best recommendation. In the recommended builds we have listed the best price/performance from either company, so we have done most that for you. Still do your own research though (we've helped you with that too).
CrossfireX and SLI?
This is when two graphics cards are connected and working together
Pros;
- Theoretically, double speeds (it never is though, 80% at the absolute most)
- More performance than a single card priced the same
Cons;
- More power usage, heat and noise compared to a single card priced the same
- Possible micro-stuttering in some games with bad support
- The on-board GDDR5 RAM of the cards does not double, it is shared between them to generate images. eg. 2 graphics cards with 2GB each will equal 2GB usable memory, not 4GB
Conclusion
Don't be fooled thinking that you need to spend $300+ US to get a decent card. AMD's 7870 and Nvidia's 660/760 are usually considered the sweet spot for price/performance ratio ($200-$250). Do your own research, decide between Nvidia or AMD, and don't overspend on a card if you don't need it. When looking at benchmarks, don't focus on the synthetic benchmarks, just look at the real-world game benchmarks, because they're the only ones that matter. Also, I personally recommend against SLI/CFX, discuss it in this thread if needed.
Finally, remember to make sure your power supply can handle your graphics power (see below for more information), and try to get a good cooler that will suite your case (in tight spaces with not much ventilation or breathing room you should get a stock/blower cooler, in cases with more airflow and plenty of room get a custom fan/open-air cooler), and good warranty.
Power Supply (PSU)
What is it?
A power supply (aka. PSU) converts the AC power sucked out of the wall into DC power, which is usable for the PC.
Why Spend Lots of Money?
Higher quality PSU's will deliver cleaner power to your components, higher power conversion efficiency (saving on your power bill), tighter voltage regulation and less power rippling. Cheap ones will produce more heat and noise and may not provide the rated wattage.
Modularity?
Regular PSU's have all the cables fixed into the unit, but with modular PSU's, all (or most) the cables can be removed. This lets you keep the ones you need, and detach the ones you don't, reducing cable clutter. Modularity is standard for most high quality PSU's.
80 PLUS?
This is the PSU's efficiency rating. There are 7 levels:
- no 80 PLUS certification - below 80% efficiency, stay away from these
- 80 PLUS - just reaches 80% efficiency, these are below average and should be avoided
- 80 PLUS Bronze - stays between at least 81% and 85% efficiency, these are average and recommended
- 80 PLUS Silver - stays between at least 85% and 89% efficiency, these are really great but (strangely) rare
- 80 PLUS Gold - stays between at least 87% and 92% efficiency, amazing enthusiast level
- 80 PLUS Platinum - stays between at least 89% and 94% efficiency, top of the line stuff; server quality
- 80 PLUS Titanium - stays between at least 90% and 96% efficiency, brand new standard; absolutely amazing stuff
Which Brand to Get?
- Seasonic (All)
- XFX (All)
- Corsair (TX-V2, HX, AX)
- Silverstone (Strider Plus, Strider Gold, Zeus)
- Antec (HCG, EarthWatts, Neo Eco, True Power New)
- Cooler Master (Silent Pro Gold, V series)
- Rosewill (Capstone)
- EVGA (G2, P2)
- FSP (Aurum)
- be quiet! (Dark Power Pro 10)
- Super Flower (Leadex, Golden)
These are all good. Be careful buying anything else, make sure to do your research first, or make a post on this thread.
Other things to look out for:
- A single 12V rail. This avoids having to worry about plugging your PCIe cables into the right sockets, or using the right cables (in a non-modular PSUs case). It's also more efficient.
- With Intel's new Haswell CPUs, you will need a Haswell certified PSU for the low-power states to work. Check with the manufacturer for verification, or ask here. The lower power states can be disabled in the bios, so a certified PSU isn't essential.
Conclusion
Don't spend a heap of money on your PSU, because it's likely you wont use as much as you think you need. I'm not telling you to "cheap out" on one, just not to go overboard with the amount of wattage, because 600W is plenty for any single GPU system. Make sure you get a good brand, that its got the cables you need (especially if you want to do CFX/SLI), is at least 80 PLUS Bronze, and can power the system you have. Do your research, which I have some handy links below to help you out, because this component is so important. A reminder again; please don't cheap out on this.
- JonnyGURU - best PSU reviews; non-bias, goes into amazing depth, puts all PSUs through an absolute torture test.
- PSU Review Database - name says it all, a great resource to find out how good a PSU is from numerous reviewers.
- eXtreme Power Supply Calculator - it's a good way to get a general idea of how much power you need. Remember to leave some head way.
CPU Heatsink Fan (HSF)
What is it?
Heatsinks disperse the heat generated from your CPU across a much larger area than the chip itself, allowing it to be cooled by nearby or attached fans. A heatsink is vital if you don't want your processor frying itself.
Which Brand to Get?
Well, if you're not overclocking, then you don't need one because all CPU's come with a stock one anyway, which can handle itself fine at stock/turbo speeds. Reliable brands are Cooler Master, Thermaltake, Phanteks, Noctua, and Arctic Cooling. Others are fine, just make sure to do your research first.
Compatibility?
The main thing to look out for when buying a large CPU heatsink is that it might hang over your RAM sticks, and having tall heap spreaders will ruin your build if this is the case. The other thing is to make sure your case is wide enough to actually fit your heatsink into, otherwise you won't be putting your side panel back on after installing it.
Closed-Loop Water Cooling?
An alternative to your air cooled heatsink is a closed loop water cooling solution. They are more efficient, cool better, have much less compatibility issues, install easier, but are more expensive when considering price/performance ratio, and sometimes louder. If you're thinking about getting one, make sure your case can support it. Good brands are Swiftech, Corsair, Thermaltake, Antec and NZXT (most are produced by the same OEM anyway). Others are fine, if you do your research.
Conclusion
Pick something that you need, don't overspend on one if you won't be overclocking much, or at all. Do your research before buying a heatsink, and below I have a couple of links to help you decide between the huge variety. An aftermarket heatsink is the easiest thing to add into a new build, so if you're tight on cash, or not sure if you'll be overclocking, consider sticking with the stock cooler for now and upgrading later on.
Silent PC Review and Frosty Tech are both great reviewers for coolers.
Chassis (Case)
What is it?
The case houses all your components, and is responsible for the potential thermals and noise of the components. There is a load of different form factors and styled cases out there, so choices are dependent on the individual.
What to look for?
What you are primarily looking for is a case that can house all your components (eg. no clearance issues), has good cooling, isn't too loud, and is sturdy. Think about where your preferences lie, because you can't have it all without paying big (usually).
Some nice features
Features that people enjoy seeing in cases that are essential for ease of use and a clean computer are cable routing holes and tool-less 3.5" and 5.25" bay mounts (for your storage and optical drive). Some people, especially those in dusty environments or with pets, would most definitely need dust filters to keep your components clean, which some cases come with (if not, you can just purchase some, they're relatively cheap, but it's always best to get some that are built in).
Can I get a different case that wasn't recommended?
Of course! The ones recommended are what w believe to be generally great all-round cases, with great features, expandability and performance for the price. What you are looking for might be completely different, just read plenty of reviews before buying.
Conclusion
Get something that can fit everything you plan on putting in there, with room for any expandability you might want in the future. It also needs to perform to your preferences, and it should also last you throughout a heap of upgrades and a few different builds, so get something that you will be happy with for a long time (and I don't mean spend a fortune).
Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
What is it?
Hard drives store all your data, such as games, pictures, movies, music, etc. and probably your OS.
Which one should I get?
For your OS, applications and your games, you would want a high performing drive, such as a Samsung F3 Spinpoint, Western Digital Black or Seagate Barracuda.
For general storage, you might be looking for reliability more than performance, a Western Digital Green/Blue and Samsung F4 are good drives for this purpose.
Conclusion and some tips
HDDs are easy to replace, easy to add more, and are very cheap now days. You want to be getting a 7200rpm 64MB cache SATA drive. RAID is a way of pairing together some drives to work as one, giving double the performance (theoretically), but costs some stability (you'll also need at least two drives to do this, more can be used). Get a HDD that is reliable and not too expensive, do your research first.
Solid State Drive (SSD)
What is it?
An SSD is a lot like your HDD, but it's more energy efficient, has no moving parts, makes no noise, more reliable, and much, much faster.
Sounds great, I won't bother with Hard Drives then!
Because SSDs are so expensive for their capacities, people usually buy one that is big enough for their essential programs, applications, and OS to be installed on (which is where the benefits of an SSD is most beneficial), and you could also fit a few of your favorite games on there (it won't give an fps boost, but will dramaticly reduce loading times). SSD's are definitely not a necessity for a PC, but are considered excellent upgrades for anyone that card afford one.
Which one should I get?
All modern SSDs are extremely fast, and the difference between their speeds can usually only ever be obvious in benchmarks, and not real world applications. The real difference between an average and very expensive SSD lies in their ability to maintain consistent performance, and their reliability after long term use. Great choices are;
- Performance (professional quality): Samsung 850 Pro, Sandisk Extreme Pro
- Value (best choice): Samsung 850 Evo, Crucial MX100, Sandisk Ultra II, Sandisk Ultra Plus
- Stability (expensive, but very reliable): Intel 730, Intel 530
Those are the newest from the most popular manufacturers. Other choices are fine too, but I have avoided listing some because they are know for higher failure rates, or have just been superseded by a newer model.
Conclusion
Get something big enough to put whatever you think is necessary onto it. ~64GB for just the OS and small programs, ~128GB for OS, all programs and a few games (recommended size), and ~256GB for OS, all programs and plenty of games.
FAQs
How well will certain components perform on TW specifically?
Come to this post by alQamar, which contains plenty of the native Shogun 2 benchmark results on a heap of different components.
Total War Tech Myths
Forget all the rumors you've heard, come to this post by alQamar to learn the truth.
How can I better optimise Rome 2 for more performance via the preference.script.txt file?
Come to this post by alQamar to learn all about it. Yes, it does apply for other warscape Total War games.
Which copy of Windows should I get?
Ask yourself this; do you know what bitlocker encryption or remote desktop hosting is (and also need these features)? If not (and you'd know if you did), then you just need the standard version of Windows 8.1 or 7 (I recommend Windows 8.1 because it has no RAM limitations, and plenty of optimisations, including DirectX 11.1). But..... if you need the ability to join a domain (not like a WiFi hot spot, something different; again, you'd know if you needed it), then you need the professional version of Windows.
Is it possible to get desktop performance from a laptop for Attila TW?
Yes, you can get mid-range desktop performance from a top-of-the-line laptop, but nothing more. To put this into perspective; the highest end laptop GPU (the GTX 780M, cost about $700-$800), performs competitively to a mid range desktop GPU (like a GTX 660, cost $200). No laptop CPU can compete with desktop CPUs though, and consider that Total War games need CPU horsepower for all those soldiers on screen. Desktops are also easier to maintain, clean, and can actually have every component upgraded (just RAM and storage in a laptop). A laptop is usually 2 years behind a desktop in price/performance ratio.
How much RAM do I really need?
I done some of my own test on Shogun 2 and Rome 2 to test exactly this. I set all graphics to the absolute highest, and tested with Vsync both on and off. I monitored the RAM usage during the main menu, loading screens, campaign map gaming, and battlefield gaming with 4 full stack armies. The RAM usage never went over 2.5GB, and that's with Windows 8.1, the RAM hungry OS. The conclusion is obvious.
How much of a CPU can Total War utilise?
It puts full stress on the 1st and 2nd core, and between 40-80% stress on the other cores up to the 4th. 5 cores and over provide no benefit, neither do additional threads (eg. Intel's hyperthreading).
Will an SSD boost performance if Attila TW is installed on it?
No, not even a fraction of an fps will be gained. It will significantly reduce loading screen times compared to a HDD though.
What do I need to upgrade to improve X?
CPU = units, models and animation
GPU = textures, graphical effects, particles, resolution
CPU + GPU = shadows (more on the GPU though)
Can I plug my TV into my PC and get the same performance as my monitor, even if it's 2x larger?
Most likely, yes. Your GPU only works harder for the AMOUNT of pixels, not the SIZE of them. If both are "full HD" (1080p ie. 1920x1080 pixels), then the performance will be the same. Same goes for all other resolutions.
Reply With Quote
) here will be more helpful than anywhere else you can find to get you the perfect rig for your budget and gaming needs.
Originally Posted by zackstefy
I think that MLAA or even no antialiasing is the best technical choice for low end devices, with limited VRAM AND most of all narrow memory bus speeds such as 64bits or 128bits. For all the fans of high end computing devices / formerly named PCs in Microsoft terms 
), crazy efficient GPUs. It's a big time for hardware.
code or dev deliberate sabotaging. I built a pc for my naphew with 3258 and is regretting the decision now 
as he can't play alot of the new games. mainly the new dragon age game. should have gone with 6-8 core amd 
