Slow Computers and Total War are not Friends...

[CivIVMonger]

Hello Civ subforumers. I have loved the total war series since I was a little kid, and my computer seems to run them okay until, Medieval II. What eats the hell out of me is the fact that my computer is a dinosaur and Total War is no fun on it anymore! So, I can play Medieval II "acceptably" on the *lowest* graphics at about 5+ frames usually. However, I don't know if anyone else has an incredibly slow computer and has noticed this too... For some reason, the "Crusades" expansion runs much faster than the original game? I could run the same type of map script, same amount of units, same graphics and it runs much faster than the vanilla?

My mind craves this game for some reason but my wallet quivers in fear of death. I just almost can't live without those fearsome cavalry charges, the sound of metal clanging on metal, the explosion of gunshots from your men. I don't know if anyone else has this sickness, and excuse my literary skills as they are quite subpar.

Oh well, as you can see from my bad grammar and spelling, I am below legal age for a job, and need a budget computer that can run the latest 'Total War' games maxed at 20+ frames. Well, even I know that that won't be cheap. By 'budget' I mean, as cheap as I can get it to meet those requirements. Monitor, I don't care about as long as it isn't a crappy CRT. As the monitor plays a big role in the price. I know a computer that can do this likely won't get cheaper than $700, but as low as it can go...

My basic current specs are: (And please don't laugh)!

AMD Athlon 2800+ (2.01 GHz)
EVGA 8400 GS (512 MB)
960 MB DDR1

As you can tell this isn’t a gaming computer, or at least, not anymore. Back in 2002 this was fine. So, basically, post a link, recommendations, or anything you have that would point me towards a good purchase or build. Thanks!

~CivIVMonger~

 

[Maniacal]

Bad grammar and spelling? You're fine.

I reccomend asking in the Computer sub-forum, but it looks like you need an overhaul. What is your motherboard?
http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=73

 

[Murky]

There are many other strategy games that would run on that.

 

[CivIVMonger]

Bad grammar and spelling? You're fine.

I reccomend asking in the Computer sub-forum, but it looks like you need an overhaul. What is your motherboard?
http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=73

I can't remember the name but it only supports PCI cards and I have the second most powerful CPU it supports as well. The 8400 GS is about as good as it gets as far as good PCI cards. Even if something were better the improvement would be insignificant, especially for my goal. I can support no more RAM so an overhaul wouldn't work, sadly...

There are many other strategy games that would run on that.

I know, and I own *alot* of old-school strategy games. I should re post this on the right forum though. Thanks for the help though.

 

[Maniacal]

AN overhaul WOULD work because you would be replacing everything.

 

[W|M]

+ try using a ventilator near the computer - It will cool it down, which would make it run faster.

 

[Maniacal]

...

There is so much incorrect with that statement I don't know what to say.

 

[CivIVMonger]

Well, you mean a "build" replacing everything means the other computer doesn't exist anymore. Oh well, here are some of essential the parts I was looking at. Tell me if they would do the job please!

CPU:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5774823&CatId=4431

GPU:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4494054&CatId=3669

RAM: (Two of these maybe)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4837614&CatId=4524

Motherboard:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5019772&CatId=4296

I know that those parts might not correlate exactly well together. The Mobo has sli and support for 16 Gigs and AM3 so if it ever get's out dated I can upgrade. As far as everything else, cheap as it gets. I only really want a 14' monitor if possible and all other peripherals and accessories I don't care too much about. A *rough* price for all of that should come up to about $700. And if I need to upgrade, it should support it up to the higher end of gaming. I am not planning a build yet but those parts caught my eye.

A big question I have is: "How much RAM do I really need? That card and CPU aren't really beefy enough to take down the newer Total War games, for a crutch I would think higher RAM is in order, but I don't know at all. I was thinking either 4 or 8 gigs? And I do want to max the game out, (Empire Total War as a control for new games).

Will this build be suffiecient? And not the specific parts I have listed as rough as they are, but something along that line of power? That is a decent build if you asked me, but I don't have a lot of experience. I know I misplaced the thread and the people here aren't exactly from geek squad but thank you for your help.

 

[wabatt]

I did a test and Medieval 2 uses about 618 Mb of ram on the highest setting (1920,1080 resoultion too, pointless on a 14 inch moniter so yours should actually be a little less), raising the total usage of Ram for my PC to 30% 2.4 gigs (I have 8 gigs total) so you will still have near half of your total RAM idle while you are playing.

Im not sure about the newer games but your planed to buy hardware should be able to play it, not at highest settings of course but resonable well on the lower end

Edit: I am assuming you just get 4 Gigs of ram

 

[CivIVMonger]

I did a test and Medieval 2 uses about 618 Mb of ram on the highest setting (1920,1080 resoultion too, pointless on a 14 inch moniter so yours should actually be a little less), raising the total usage of Ram for my PC to 30% 2.4 gigs (I have 8 gigs total) so you will still have near half of your total RAM idle while you are playing.

Im not sure about the newer games but your planed to buy hardware should be able to play it, not at highest settings of course but resonable well on the lower end

Edit: I am assuming you just get 4 Gigs of ram

Ah, thank you. Like I said, there is room for upgrade. Maybe I'll get 8 gigs of RAM to make up for some better video quality?

 

[Traitorfish]

Does RAM effect video quality much? I'm ignorant about these things, but it'd certainly be useful to know.

Would it be worth going for 8 gigs right away? 4 would probably do you right now- most new games don't seem to demand any more than 2- and you can always get more later. It can get pretty expensive at that level, after all. I suppose it depends how much you want to invest in one go.

 

[wabatt]

As long as you arn't using all of it it shouldn't affect your video quality or frame frate, if u wanter better video quality you need a better graphics card (and a processur that can use it to it's full potenial)

 

[CivIVMonger]

Okay thank you all very much!