Minimum spec to play the Shogun Total War type games

NIMAN · 21-11-2019 12:39PM #1

Son has a ps4, but has really got interested in these series of games via YouTube.

What would be the spec needed on a laptop or small form pc I'd need to play them smoothly?

Skerries · 21-11-2019 12:46PM

this is the minimum specs and recommended for one of the newer titles

Here are the Total War: Warhammer 2 System Requirements (Minimum)

CPU: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo 3.0Ghz
CPU SPEED: Info
RAM: 5 GB
OS: Windows 7 64Bit
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GTX 460 1GB | AMD Radeon HD 5770 1GB | Intel HD4000 @720p
PIXEL SHADER: 5.0
VERTEX SHADER: 5.0
FREE DISK SPACE: 60 GB
DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 1 GB

Total War: Warhammer 2 Recommended Requirements

CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-4570 3.20GHz
CPU SPEED: Info
RAM: 8 GB
OS: Windows 7 / 8 (8.1)/ 10 64Bit
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 4GB | AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB @1080p
PIXEL SHADER: 5.0
VERTEX SHADER: 5.0
FREE DISK SPACE: 60 GB
DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 4 GB

So a laptop could play this on lowest settings but still might look like crap
I would suggest picking up a second hand gaming PC from Adverts

NIMAN · 21-11-2019 03:02PM

Thanks for that Skerries.

I'm guessing the spec they give you officially is the one just to have it play.

But I'd like it to be smooth and detailed and close to highest settings.

NIMAN · 23-11-2019 09:39AM

I take it a laptop with this spec would be more than capable?

Intel® Core™ i5-6200U Processor
Memory: 16 GB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 930M

Homelander · 23-11-2019 02:02PM

Those minimum requirements are ridiculous. It might run but it would run like hot garbage. An old core 2 duo from 2006, really. I would hate to see that running in action, it would be a slide show.

If you want it to run well and close to highest detail settings, that laptop is completely useless really. I would say you should be aiming for the 'recommended' requirements for a decent experience at decent visual levels, the 6200U and 930M are miles below that.

what is your budget. A carefully chosen 2nd hand desktop for 250-300ish (roughly the same as the recommended specs for the game) would be way better and easily run it at highest settings. Keeping in mind there are tons of total lemon pc's for sale on adverts and ebay in that price range, but loads of really good ones too.

If you have a budget of 500 or so you can actually build a really solid gaming pc new (or get a pre-built one that's pretty decent either, again if chosen carefully)

NIMAN · 23-11-2019 04:01PM

Homelander wrote: »

Those minimum requirements are ridiculous. It might run but it would run like hot garbage. An old core 2 duo from 2006, really. I would hate to see that running in action, it would be a slide show.

If you want it to run well and close to highest detail settings, that laptop is completely useless really. I would say you should be aiming for the 'recommended' requirements for a decent experience at decent visual levels, the 6200U and 930M are miles below that.

what is your budget. A carefully chosen 2nd hand desktop for 250-300ish (roughly the same as the recommended specs for the game) would be way better and easily run it at highest settings. Keeping in mind there are tons of total lemon pc's for sale on adverts and ebay in that price range, but loads of really good ones too.

If you have a budget of 500 or so you can actually build a really solid gaming pc new (or get a pre-built one that's pretty decent either, again if chosen carefully)

Well that spec I listed was from a laptop that was being advertised as a gaming laptop.

So you'd think the makers of Total War wouldn't list those specs as being suitable?

Homelander · 23-11-2019 04:58PM

If you go on YouTube you will find people with 840M/930M (same card) running the game, first one I looked at, it was running at lowest resolution and settings at 30fps, which is what you would expect.

There is no universal standard for what 'minimum requirements' actually means, for some game makers it means lowest settings at 30fps, others it means low-medium at 60fps. In the case of Warhammer 2 Total War, the bare minimum spec means everything at low, at 20-30fps.

A 930M is not a gaming laptop, it was released as a low-end card in 2015, pretty much nothing from 2019 would run at all even at lowest setting. Advertising it as a gaming laptop in 2019 is extremely misleading. A new laptop with integrated graphics would be faster than the 930m now.

It really depends on your budget. Obviously if your budget is 100 euro and the 930M laptop costs that, then it will get by on low settings fine. But if your budget is even 300, you would easily get a very decent 2nd hand desktop to run it at high settings, or 500 would actually buy you a new desktop that would run it and other new games at high settings well.

If it needs to be a laptop you will get one to run it at high settings well enough for about 600 euro new.

NIMAN · 24-11-2019 09:05PM

Thanks Homelander, interesting and informative.

Minimum spec to play the Shogun Total War type games

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