Need a cheap PC to run Empire Total War

BazMcG

Hi all, I've been stuck with this laptop for too long now and I am seeking all your wise and wonderfull knowledge to help me build a good Desktop. I am posting as I haven't upgraded in soo long and have no idea what a good CPU is atm and graphics etc. I have a rough idea but nothing for sure.

So basically I love total war games and Empire for me just has to be bought, however I want the freedom to play it on as HIGH as graphics as possible to really get the most out of it.

So what I am looking for is a PC that will have the specs to beat that game lol. Keep in mind I am a skint student :P so money is a bit of an issue. £1000 is out the question for instance but see what you can come up with if u dont mind. Something around the £500 margin I could work with probably (the cheaper the better!)

The mimimum specs for Empire Total War are posted below.

Operating System: Windows XP 32(service pack 2), Windows Vista 32 OS.
Processor: 2.4 GHz Single Core Intel or AMD equivalent processor.
System Memory: 1GB RAM (XP) 2GB RAM (Vista).
Graphics Card: 256MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (shader 2.0 or higher).
Sound Card: Directx9.0c compatible sound card.
Windows compatible mouse & keyboard.
15 GB free uncompressed hard drive space.

Please just include hardware as i'm sure ya will. Thank You

Baz

AlmightyCushion

Minimum specs are a rubbish way to judge if a computer will play a game. It'll play it but you'll eat your keyboard in frustration because it's so slow. What are the recommended specs for the game?

BazMcG

On the sega site I had a look as i got the previous requirements from another pc site. They state the same specs here's a link to look at

http://help.sega.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=478&nav=0,6,165

Empire Total War PC Requirements

Operating System:

Windows XP (Service pack 2)
Windows Vista

Processor:

2.4 GHz Intel Pentium or greater or
AMD Athlon equivalent CPU

Memory:

1GB RAM (XP) 2GB RAM (Vista)
15 GB free hard drive space

Video Card:

256 MB DirectX 9.0c compatible
(shader model 2.0)

Minimum screen resolution 1024 x 768

*REQUIRES INTERNET CONNECTION AND FREE STEAM ACCOUNT TO ACTIVATE

AlmightyCushion

Do you need a monitor, keyboard, mouse or operating system?

BazMcG

Nope I can sort that out seperately, just the hardware I'll probably install XP if that helps. If this helps also a guy on the net uses a Systemax A782 Desktop Computer which apparently works well.

jonny72

AMD x2 245 chip - 55 euros
780g motherboard - 60 euros
4 gigs of ram - 45 euros
1 tb hdd - 70 euros
case - 50 euros psu - 70 euros

150+/- euros on a graphics card, Ati 4870/4890 or Nvidia 260 sp216

50 euros for build and posted

You will run that game smooth as butter on a PC like that

Just about every game will run very nice on that

Roughly 500 euros

go to www.hardwareversand.de to the pc configurator and try it yourself

BazMcG

wat ram did u get with that selection mate?

BazMcG

Hey I went to that german website and built a pc, I'll attach a picture of the basket to see what you think, its a bit dear because I added a monitor but will the current hardware work well together? any hints to make it cheaper or better please let me know thank you

PC BUILD.jpg

AlmightyCushion

Post it up and we'll take a look.

AlmightyCushion

Savage card.
Why are you going for a matx motherboard? Go for an atx.
Not a big fan on nzxt cases. An antec 300 would probably be better.
700w power supply is overkill.

BazMcG

hey cushion am is a 650W a better psu or would 600 be ideal?

jonny72

Actually good build

You don't need such a powerful PSU, even the corsair 550 watt will do

You can get 6400 ram if you dont intend on overclocking

It should just be a normal Samsung 1tb is faster than the green one.

Keep tinkering with the build, if u can save money on some parts u can get a faster chip

marco_polo

While I am not immune to overspecing myself and 148E is a damn good price for the 4890, is it not a little bit of overkill for a budget build with the main aim of maxing out Empire Total War, when a hd4850 would do the job just as well? Or at least drop down one level to a 4870.

What resolution monitor do you have or are going to be getting?

(1920×1080+) I would get a 1GB 4870:
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=24184&agid=1004

(1680X1050) and under I would go for a 512MB 4850:
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=27300&agid=717

BazMcG

Hey guys thanks for posting. I'll keep tinkering the build and posting things up. The monitor supports 1920 x 1080 but im not sure if i would game in that resolution we'll see tho. As for the build itself i did get a tad excited lol when picking parts and went a little overboard on the budget. As long as empire can be maxed surely i should be happy. But i suppose if i can get anything better out of it that works too.

I will pick that 550W that was mentioned, just curious would the PC be quiet or not? It'll be in my tightly compact uni room lol?

As for the ram, i probably wont overclock as i've never tried it before so i could change that.

jonny72

BazMcG wrote: »

Hey guys thanks for posting. I'll keep tinkering the build and posting things up. The monitor supports 1920 x 1080 but im not sure if i would game in that resolution we'll see tho. As for the build itself i did get a tad excited lol when picking parts and went a little overboard on the budget. As long as empire can be maxed surely i should be happy. But i suppose if i can get anything better out of it that works too.

I will pick that 550W that was mentioned, just curious would the PC be quiet or not? It'll be in my tightly compact uni room lol?

As for the ram, i probably wont overclock as i've never tried it before so i could change that.

The main culprits for a loud PC are generally the graphics card fan and case/cpu fans. If you buy a small very cheap case with bad cooling, then it can get hot inside and these fans can run v loud. Also, before you choose any graphics card look for a review of that exact card, including the make (e.g. EVGA, Sapphire, Palit) and read the review to see if its a quiet card.

Someone here should be able to recommend you a decent case for about 50 or 60 euros that will have nice cooling.

As was said before, your standard card should probably be a 4850. To run the game smooth as butter then a 4870. To run it on the absolutely highest res on highest settings (which I don't think you need) then perhaps a 4890.

A 550 watt power supply should be enough for your needs, you may want to get a 650 watt though for future bigger cards. The PSU shouldn't be making too much noise. Just remember that something like a Corsair 550 watt PSU will be MUCH better and safer than a noname cheapie 650 watt PSU.

Those processors, the AMD x2's are very good value for money now. There are a few games, e.g. GTA4 which will perform better on a Quadcore processors, but for now, Dual Cores above 2.5 ghz coupled with something like a 4870 are great for gaming.

marco_polo

BazMcG wrote: »

Hey guys thanks for posting. I'll keep tinkering the build and posting things up. The monitor supports 1920 x 1080 but im not sure if i would game in that resolution we'll see tho. As for the build itself i did get a tad excited lol when picking parts and went a little overboard on the budget. As long as empire can be maxed surely i should be happy. But i suppose if i can get anything better out of it that works too.

I will pick that 550W that was mentioned, just curious would the PC be quiet or not? It'll be in my tightly compact uni room lol?

As for the ram, i probably wont overclock as i've never tried it before so i could change that.

I think the 4870 is in order in that case especially as that will keep you playing for a couple of years at least, with the 4890 if you really want to push the boat out.

I like the look of this build myself about 600 delivered. Although I don't know WTF has happened to the price of DDR3 memory. It seems to have gone up in price, cheapest 4gb kit I could find was 75 :eek:

So if you would prefer and AM2+ Board, chip and DDR2 we could probably get back down towards 500 mark.

Solitaire

If you're not scared of a little overclocking here's a decent build for a shade over €550 shipped - and that includes a 22" TFT



That CPU could hit 4GHz but setting your sights a lot lower makes for an easy, hassle-free overclock. Not sure if the "easy OC" (switch FSB jumper from 200MHz to 266MHz and increase Vcpu to taste) up to 3.46GHz will stress the stock cooler a bit though. And that graphics card should be plenty good even at 1650*1080 - you can OC that too (many reviewers had to use RivaTuner as CCC wouldn't allow clock sppeds high enough to even bork it I'd still recommend sticking to CCC's software OC though!)

And if you're on a budget then a 1080p monitor is the last thing you need - it requires increasing the spec of the entire build (and thus spending a lot more of your beer money!) for only a very slight difference in the result.

TerrorFirmer

Can anyone shed any light as to what 'Battlestation Edition' means in relation to Sapphire cards? Looked before and couldn't find anything..:o

BazMcG

Solitaire wrote: »

If you're not scared of a little overclocking here's a decent build for a shade over €550 shipped - and that includes a 22" TFT



That CPU could hit 4GHz but setting your sights a lot lower makes for an easy, hassle-free overclock. Not sure if the "easy OC" (switch FSB jumper from 200MHz to 266MHz and increase Vcpu to taste) up to 3.46GHz will stress the stock cooler a bit though. And that graphics card should be plenty good even at 1650*1080 - you can OC that too (many reviewers had to use RivaTuner as CCC wouldn't allow clock sppeds high enough to even bork it I'd still recommend sticking to CCC's software OC though!)

And if you're on a budget then a 1080p monitor is the last thing you need - it requires increasing the spec of the entire build (and thus spending a lot more of your beer money!) for only a very slight difference in the result.

Hey man that seems pretty good value for money and a little cheaper than what I had suggested. In terms of overclocking i really have no clue so I would have to look up a guide on the net or something. That website is awesome btw can't believe I havent came accross it before.

marco_polo

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Can anyone shed any light as to what 'Battlestation Edition' means in relation to Sapphire cards? Looked before and couldn't find anything..:o

The cards look identical, however by squinting and looking really hard there appears to be a Battlestations Pacific logo on the front of the box.

Advertising or Free Game perhaps?

BazMcG

Hi guys thanks again for all your posts been very helpful sheding light on the latest budget gaming setups. From reading what you guys have wrote I think i'll pass on the 4890 and go for the 4870 with one of the AMDx2 chipsets. The antec 300 case seems nice and has a couple of fans I think which will help keep things cool.

So I am going to go now and build what may be a final draft of the gaming desktop that I may own in the near future! lol the only thing holding me back now is the funds xD

BazMcG

Ok i made what I hope to be a final draft of what I going to get. The only problem I had was that the lowest PSU i could get was 680W.. Not sure why maybe you guys could shed some light. But I put it in anyway just to make it a complete package. Stuck in a mouse, keyboard and display. The mouse looked cool... lol.

So what do you guys think? Will it play Empire to its full potential?

Thanks

PC Build.jpg

AlmightyCushion

dont get a keyboard form hardwareversand. They only sell gemran keyboards which are no good to ouo.

marco_polo

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

dont get a keyboard form hardwareversand. They only sell gemran keyboards which are no good to ouo.

I frgot thys anb I jot one ther bi mictake. :pac:

(Dutch one off komplete actually so it wasn't as bad basically US format, no Y's where Z's should be or anything like that)

jonny72

BazMcG wrote: »

Ok i made what I hope to be a final draft of what I going to get. The only problem I had was that the lowest PSU i could get was 680W.. Not sure why maybe you guys could shed some light. But I put it in anyway just to make it a complete package. Stuck in a mouse, keyboard and display. The mouse looked cool... lol.

So what do you guys think? Will it play Empire to its full potential?

Thanks

PC Build.jpg

Yah even though a corsair 550 would be fine for that PSU, when you use the pc configurator it only lets you spec high power PSUs, but its fine that PSU is only 5 euro more and its a decent one as far as I know.

Yup the PC should be fine for Empire, but also google reviews of the game to see what they recommend. So far, I've only seen one game, GTA4, that you really need a quad core to run at full full res.

Solitaire

marco_polo wrote:

AlmightyCushion wrote:

dont get a keyboard form hardwareversand. They only sell gemran keyboards which are no good to ouo.

I frgot thys anb I jot one ther bi mictake. :pac:

TerrorFirmer wrote:

Can anyone shed any light as to what 'Battlestation Edition' means in relation to Sapphire cards? Looked before and couldn't find anything..

I think it includes a full game, or a demo, or something... in any case the (otherwise identical) base version is still AWOL and the Sapphire is a bit better than the HIS (which is cheaper by something like a whole Euro :rolleyes: ) - better OC headroom and (unless hacking the drivers via RivaTuner) you can OC and keep the super-low-power idle state