Which CPU to take for total war?

[♔atthias♔]

hi guys

since as we all know TW relies upon single core clock speed for the turn times is it worth it going for an INTEL CPU that gets 5.0 GHZ versus an AMD one that gets only 4.5 GHZ?


here is the build I am planning to buy https://imgur.com/a/7MZMl7G


what do you all think about the build?

if you need more information feel free to ask

many thanks for any help in advance

[z3n]

Haha, you're going all out. It looks pretty good but here's a couple of tips

1) Keep in mind you're playing at 4k with that monitor, the CPU isn't going to be the issue. The GPU will matter most. However, speaking of CPU's I suggest watching this entertaining video.

2) We're going to see some serious competition on the GPU front in 2020, so you might want to wait and get a stop gap measure like a 2060 or even a used card off of a site like ebay for pretty cheap while you wait to see what Intel is releasing for their Xe graphics cards in 2020, Nvidia according to rumors will be launching their new 30XX series in June, and AMD is apparently cooking up a Nvidia killer line up (normally I'd press x to doubt, but Ryzen rocked Intel, and is still rocking Intel -- see above video)


3) Your resolution (4k) means that you'll be playing at about 60 FPS. Maybe get a 2080ti and have it liquid cooled (less sound than air coolers)

4) 64GB of ram isn't necessarily 'super' overkill with Star Citizen using quite a lot of ram nowadays (it utilizes enough for 32gb to be useful), but most games will never come close to using that. Even in the future. I'd put the extra money toward another SSD or something legitimately useful.

5) Overclocking is something you can do yourself, quite easily

6) Power Supply, you don't need a 1200W, a 1000W would do fine (even for dual 2080ti's or titans)

7) Maingear is fine, but Cyberpower can be a cheaper deal -- I put a computer together for a friend at around $2000 USD from cyberpower, but it was a good $300 more elsewhere.

If it comes down to it, building it yourself is relatively easy as well and a lot cheaper sometimes.

Honestly, the main issues are PSU, GPU, RAM being a little 'too' much (use a 1000W, 2080ti and 32gb or even 16gb respectively). You're going to regret not having an extra SSD or two if you don't want to uninstall anything and waste time (honestly it's a huge timewaster sometimes, having to uninstall and reinstall things). That extra money can go to the SSD or two.

If you want some tips about the monitors I can tell you too.

[♔atthias♔]

1 this is mainly a total war build and WH2 mortal empires has insane turn times and still does the turns on a singe core I need every bit of single core power crammed in I can get so I am wondering if these 0.5 points are worth choosing intel over AMD?

I will watch the video and update when I have finished

2 I see thank you I have been told even this card will struggle with 4K indeed but I am barely willing to wait

3 that cooler is a liquid one I just wonder if is it powerful enough?

4 I know but I really want use it to supply the GPU for 4K play and for when I multi task but yeah I can see it being overkill

5 I am not sure about that one so I will just ask my supplier to deliver it overclocked

6 agreed I am just worried my GPU/CPU(the titan seems to perform better the more power you supply it with) will be limited by the lack of power so that is why I choose it

7 I will keep that in mid thank you

8 I know but I am not a techie by any means so that is why I let it be build

have you missed the two 2 TB SSD I included?

I am not running out of space soon I think

yes I do love a suggestion for the screens if you can

many thanks again

[z3n]

1) 9900KS should be fine for this purpose then

2) This card will definitely struggle at 4k, any card does. So what I'd do is get a 2080ti (or other random card, even used off ebay or some place), and then wait for the next 30XXti. RTX Titan isn't worth it.

3) The liquid cooling appears to be only for your CPU. You would have to either confirm with maingear that this cooling extends to the GPU as well as the CPU (which is apparently what your water cooling is for right now, and only for the CPU) or get an EVGA 2080TI XC Hybrid. I've got a 1080ti hybrid and it's great.

4) The GPU only uses like 280W maximum. Their recommended power supply unit for the Titan is in fact a 650W unit, nowhere close to 1200W.

5) You can do it in around 3 clicks of your mouse on modern motherboards

6) Doesn't really get limited. My two titans really didn't perform any better than the average titan with a 1000W PSU.

Your 2TB SSD is fine, but I am just speaking from my perspective while having 4 different SSD's. I still run out of space -- but then I rarely like to uninstall or take anything off of them. It depends on how you plan to use it, and how many modern games you plan on installing. Remember, games constantly increase in size as we move from generation to generation. Before a 20GB game was unheard of, 2GB was the maximum. Now it's not uncommon for them to push 60GB. Again, just my opinion and how I do things. I just don't like to spend my free time waiting for something to install or leaving my computer unattended to install something.


As for screens, keep in mind that you'll be playing at lower FPS and without GSYNC (this is important as it reduces the amount of awkward tearing you may notice on the screen especially when looking around or in assassins creed for example when you 'sync' a location), the colour quality won't be amazing either. You'll want a VA type panel if you like seeing the contrast in shadows (black etc), and enjoy higher colour contrast in general. Stay away from TN, your monitor is a TN right now and they have very poor colour quality even at 4k.

IPS panels offers roughly the same colour quality as VA panels (although IPS is normally slightly worse in my opinion).

Here's a list of gsync compatible monitors, you can select the resolution you want 4k etc. But keep in mind, 4k shortens the lifespan of your graphics cards. You'll constantly have to upgrade to the latest generation of graphics card or suffer FPS drops. You can see this in the 1080ti, it runs at around 30+ fps with the latest games but it used to get around 60 on the latest games from only 2 years ago.

Titan RTX is a pretty good card but it costs $2500 compared to $1300 for a card with watercooling included and you only get about 5 more FPS maximum. This is a tremendously poor cost to benefit. Let me put it this way... If you buy a 2080ti now, you can buy a 3080ti in the future and still spend about the same as it cost you for a Titan RTX even with the 2080ti watercooled you could reuse the same cooling solution probably or if not still buy a watercooled card and get the same price as a Titan RTX.

This is important because the 3080ti will undoubtedly outperform the Titan RTX head and shoulders more. As any XX80ti is normally a slightly stripped down version of the newest generation top end Titan.

[♔atthias♔]

uugggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh

I just do not know what to chose anymore cyberpower is cheaper for example but they do not supply 2 TB variants of the SSD I selected and I want a bit of space

and the monitor section is confusing sigh with its tons of options and me being a tech noob

either way here is what I have now from cyber power UK https://imgur.com/a/nDCICUm

GPU is not visible but I am following your suggestion

[z3n]

All SSD's are the same, personally I find the fastest SSD of them all (Optane SSD like the 905P but older, mine is the 900p), to be only slightly faster (by a second or two) than my Crucial and Samsung SSD's for loading games. I am fine with any SSD that gives me a 5 year warranty, then I know it has quality parts.



Monitors, that one you have selected now is still a TN panel far as I've read and has a low contrast ratio. Contrast ratios of 3000:1 (VA panels typically have this level or higher) are better because you can see a wider variety of black, white and colors in general. You can view this image to see what contrast can do for you.

Personally I have an Acer Z271 which comes with Gsync, VA and 144hz (all of which I really like -- but it is 1080p). There are some good 1440p like the Acer Z321Q (which has Gsync, VA and 165hz as well) and 4k options like the Acer X34 (huge screen and with all the other features plus eye tracking). You don't have to just pick Acer monitors of course for Gsync, there's all sorts of other ones.

[♔atthias♔]

speakaing only between NVME SSD I assume since between sata and NVME the difference is huge IMHO

these are the monitors I can choose from with cyberpowerUK
https://imgur.com/a/cEONXFz

I cannot find acer among these so what is the next best for both 4K an 1440p?

I am still not settled on the one I will actually do yet since what you told me makes me a bit less enthusiastic for 4K

[z3n]

speakaing only between NVME SSD I assume since between sata and NVME the difference is huge IMHO

I still have old Samsung 840 Pro's and they don't seem to be that much slower (3 seconds absolute maximum slower) than NVME or my Optane drive. Optane is of course blazing fast (to be faster by a second or two in the realm of SSD's is impressive) but it doesn't really mean much for game load times overall.

We're not really talking the minute + saved by swapping to an SSD from a HDD anymore, it's more like slicing off a couple extra seconds at most.

For example read this article about Anthem game load times

Many people will tell you that NVMe SSDs don't make your games load or run any faster. Those people are generally correct. If a game has to process data as it loads (and that's pretty much always the case), it might only be pulling data from storage at a rate of 100-200MB/s, but rarely would it actually exceed the 500MB/s that a fast SATA drive can provide. Which means the results are basically what you'd expect:

1) Game load time: 58-60 seconds
2) Free play load time: 43-45 seconds
3) Exit free play time: still 32 seconds

All of those figures are within one second of the SATA SSD. Does that mean there are never scenes or areas where the NVMe drive would be faster? No, but at least during testing I was unable to produce results that gave the 970 Evo any noticeable advantage. (Moving files from the SATA SSD and then having Origin verify those files did go substantially faster, however.)

About monitors, those are some very slim pickings. You can't buy the monitor separately? There is a tiny screen in the 1440p range but unless I am overlooking it, I can't see a 4k one? If you absolutely have to pick from all of those, I'd look into the 35" one, assuming you can fit it on your desk or wherever you are. The 27" and lower ones are all TN panels (which are absolutely worse in terms of color).

Monitors can be the weak link, as the lack of contrast and color takes the fun out of games sometimes and the 35" one is the only one of the bunch which isn't a TN or tiny. It also has freesync, which recently Nvidia allowed to work with their cards to an extent, it won't be the exact same experience as Gsync but it will be similar. I'm not sure it is officially supported (couldn't see it on the gsync compatible list) but 10XX and 20XX cards both support freesync to an extent, now that Nvidia "officially" released the drivers enabling compatabiltiy for that, so it should work. I wouldn't settle for a 1440p 23.8" monitor, that's tiny and also TN which means bad color.


1440p is best at 27" or more.

[♔atthias♔]

I still have old Samsung 840 Pro's and they don't seem to be that much slower (3 seconds absolute maximum slower) than NVME or my Optane drive. Optane is of course blazing fast (to be faster by a second or two in the realm of SSD's is impressive) but it doesn't really mean much for game load times overall.

We're not really talking the minute + saved by swapping to an SSD from a HDD anymore, it's more like slicing off a couple extra seconds at most.

For example read this article about Anthem game load times






About monitors, those are some very slim pickings. You can't buy the monitor separately? There is a tiny screen in the 1440p range but unless I am overlooking it, I can't see a 4k one? If you absolutely have to pick from all of those, I'd look into the 35" one, assuming you can fit it on your desk or wherever you are. The 27" and lower ones are all TN panels (which are absolutely worse in terms of color).

Monitors can be the weak link, as the lack of contrast and color takes the fun out of games sometimes and the 35" one is the only one of the bunch which isn't a TN or tiny. It also has freesync, which recently Nvidia allowed to work with their cards to an extent, it won't be the exact same experience as Gsync but it will be similar. I'm not sure it is officially supported (couldn't see it on the gsync compatible list) but 10XX and 20XX cards both support freesync to an extent, now that Nvidia "officially" released the drivers enabling compatabiltiy for that, so it should work. I wouldn't settle for a 1440p 23.8" monitor, that's tiny and also TN which means bad color.


1440p is best at 27" or more.

thank you for the help I did not know SSDs speed differences for gaming where that lacking

well I could yes so I will do just that

I think I can get a similar build to this

although due financing options being really limited with cyberpower I feel almost forced to go back to maingear sadly since paypal support is only with maingear sigh

cyberpower (UK and international) are either UK only or really unclear about what they offer

apologies if that does not belong here though I just want to vent a little :p

[z3n]

cyberpower (UK and international) are either UK only or really unclear about what they offer

There's a cyberpower site for the US and Canada here, if you're looking for that instead of cyberpower UK? From what I read about paypal support, they did according to this, but I've never really paid attention. Maybe you should email their support (probably easiest for an official answer) or ask on their forum.


Maingear costs significantly more than cyberpower so I never really liked that option, it felt a bit scammy to me, knowing the proper prices and costs. But maybe it is more advantageous for you to go with maingear, especially if the paypal thing is an issue.

I'm also not sure whether you would have better shipping options from maingear or not, since I'm not really sure if that's an issue either.

[Condottiere 40K]

Unless money is no object, three to four hundred bucks would be the most I'd spend on any central processing unit, unless that computer is being used commercially, where time is money.

We know that Intel has been ripping their customers off, otherwise they couldn't cut their prices in half once they had a look the recent quarters sales figures that Ryzen was eating their lunch.

I wouldn't bother trying to future proof any computer, if you desperately need one, buy for your current requirements; current Intel architecture and sockets are dead ends.

For most people, a really fast gumstick is enough, you're not likely to notice much difference at the moment between various brands for gaming.

Regardless of what nVIDIA claims, their current two thousand series line up will not be able to process frame rates very fast once ray tracing is mainstreamed. However, next year the prices should come down when Intel launches their own graphic cards, and the introduction of Playstation Five and whatever name the Microsoft marketing team will come up with the newest iteration of the Ecks Box, as cheap graphic card prices were to had at the end of the last cryptocurrency mining boom, not the current inflated ones.

A base sixty five to ninety five central processing unit doesn't suck a lot of power, especially teamed with a PCIE3 gumstick, I've hooked up four hundred fifty watt power supply units only needing to account for the power draw of whatever graphic card was added in, so six hundred fifty is workable.

[Love Mountain]

I'd go with Maingear or Digital Storm to be honest. Origin PC is another one. Custom pre-built PCs are pretty cool and craftsmanship has gone up in the last 10 years. I always advocate building your own, but if you want to splurge...

[♔atthias♔]

I apologize for the late response RL was taking up a lot of time

thank you for the help guys

I went with digital storm here which save me quite a buck indeed thank you again

Specifications:
Chassis Model: Aventum X
Exterior Finish: Black Metallic Matte Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i9-9900K (5.0 GHz Turbo) (16-Thread) (8-Core) 3.6 GHz
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix Z390-H Gaming (Intel Z390 Chipset) (Up to 3x PCI-E Devices)
System Memory: 16GB DDR4 3200MHz Digital Storm Performance Series
Power Supply: 1000W Digital Storm Performance Series (Fully Modular) (80 Plus Gold)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Optical Drive: External USB - Blu-Ray Writer & Player (Blu-Ray 6x) & DVD/CD Writer <br><strong></strong>
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD M.2 (2TB Samsung 970 EVO) (NVM Express) (Extreme Performance) <br><strong></strong>
Storage Set 2: 1x SSD M.2 (2TB Samsung 970 EVO) (NVM Express) (Extreme Performance) <br><strong></strong>
Storage Set 3: - No Thanks
RAID Config: - No Thanks
RAID Card: - No Thanks
Internet Access: Wired PCI-E ASUS XG-C100C (10 GbE) (1x RJ45 Connector) <br><strong></strong>
Graphics Card(s): 1x GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB (VR Ready) <br><strong></strong>
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
HPC Processor: - No Thanks
Extreme Cooling: H20: HydroLux PRO: Exotic Custom Cooling System (CPU Only)
HydroLux Tubing Style: Flexible Tubing (Requires HydroLux Liquid Cooling System)
HydroLux Fluid Color: White Flexible Tubing + Clear Fluid (Requires HydroLux Liquid Cooling System)
Cable Management: Premium Cable Management (Strategically Routed & Organized for Airflow)
Chassis Fans: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks <br><strong></strong>
Airflow Control: Digital Storm Thermal Management Control Board & Software
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: Stage 2: Overclock CPU - Up to 5.1GHz on All CPU Cores <br><strong></strong>
Boost Graphics Card(s): Yes, Overclock the video card(s) as much as possible with complete stability <br><strong></strong>
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Professional (64-Bit Edition) <br><strong></strong>
Recovery Tools: USB Drive - Windows 10 Installation (Format and Clean Install)
Virus Protection: Windows Defender Antivirus (Built-in to Windows 10)
Office: - No Thanks
Mouse Pad: - No Thanks
Display: MSI 27 inch MAG27C Curved Series (144Hz Refresh) (1ms Response) (1920x1080) <br><strong></strong>
Surge Shield: APC 1500VA Uninterrupted Power & Surge Conditioner - BX1500M - (NOTE: Ships VIA Ground ONLY) <br><strong></strong>
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
Branded Gear: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 15-20 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty (3 Year Labor & 1 Year Part Replacement)

PS worth it for TWH2 to use more than 16 GB of RAM it got ram hungry lately using 3 and a half out of my 8
also the internet accesses is an WiFi or an Ethernet cable thing? it seems like the latter to me but I have no clue

the display options are very limited https://imgur.com/a/3mQUZpa but I think I can best take ASUS?

[Love Mountain]

That's a hell of a machine. Asus 1440p at 144hz is probably the best future proof option. This is a very good monitor. It is especially good for eSport titles. However, it is a TN panel... which means that its viewing angles are bad. How does it make the game look? I'm honestly not sure. I've heard that TN panels are very good in quality now, approaching IPS panels, but I never, ever buy TN Panels anymore so I can't really comment. What I will say, is that for single-player games like Total War Warhammer, I will take image quality over "performance" every time. Which is why I use IPS panels pretty much exclusively.

[z3n]

Yup, Asus even has G-Sync. It'd do the job, it means that you're going to struggle a bit more with newer games later on due to the higher resolution (you probably won't be able to play on maxed graphics for more than 5 years) but it's the best monitor overall.


Sadly no GPU cooling "HydroLux PRO: Exotic Custom Cooling System (CPU Only)".

So your computer might be loud if you don't have headphones on and also run very hot (if you live in a place that gets hot in the summer).

[Love Mountain]

For 400$+ I'd honestly just buy an IPS with G-Sync and 120hz. Even if you're an actual progamer, there's no real reason to buy a TN panel, imo.

[♔atthias♔]

will look for a different cooling and take the screen into account love mountain thank you

what do you think about this though guys?

PS worth it for TWH2 to use more than 16 GB of RAM it got ram hungry lately using 3 and a half out of my 8
also the internet accesses is an WiFi or an Ethernet cable thing? it seems like the latter to me but I have no clue

[z3n]

For 400$+ I'd honestly just buy an IPS with G-Sync and 120hz. Even if you're an actual progamer, there's no real reason to buy a TN panel, imo.

Also how you normally can tell whether a monitor is TN is by the "1ms response time" which is simply unnoticeable and not worth it.

PS worth it for TWH2 to use more than 16 GB of RAM it got ram hungry lately using 3 and a half out of my 8
also the internet accesses is an WiFi or an Ethernet cable thing? it seems like the latter to me but I have no clue

3gb is nothing. The only game that truly needs 16gb or 32gb is star citizen, as it is a (real) next gen game fully utilizing a massive scale of technology in true 64 bit precision. Meaning it needs all that RAM.


TW games don't really do that yet, they mainly chug along using single core and some GPU power with RAM being an after thought.

[♔atthias♔]

Also how you normally can tell whether a monitor is TN is by the "1ms response time" which is simply unnoticeable and not worth it.



3gb is nothing. The only game that truly needs 16gb or 32gb is star citizen, as it is a (real) next gen game fully utilizing a massive scale of technology in true 64 bit precision. Meaning it needs all that RAM.


TW games don't really do that yet, they mainly chug along using single core and some GPU power with RAM being an after thought.

interesting then that the game freezes often for me and goes stuck only to resume working 3 minutes later

thanks for the tip about how to spot a TN screen

[z3n]

Normally freezes like that are a sign of CPU strain (thinking hard) rather than RAM.

Unless you have a tiny amount of RAM e.g. 4gb in which case the computer would be struggling to remember everything it has to do. Which also slows it down.