Civ-Centric Gaming PC

[Bfoxius]

Hello fellow Civfanatics, and yes, I have seen other threads like this, but I am lazy and want to bother you by asking you for some advice...I am a jerk . Anyways, I am designing a gaming computer with Civilization V, Total War, and Bethesda RPG's (Fallout, Elder Scrolls) in mind, for my old laptop can no longer handle Civ V . I would like to ask you guys if you have any advice on what to put in it. I am on a budget, and it is around $500-600, but I can go slightly over. Thank you very much for reading this.

 

[Aaron90495]

Hello fellow Civfanatics, and yes, I have seen other threads like this, but I am lazy and want to bother you by asking you for some advice...I am a jerk . Anyways, I am designing a gaming computer with Civilization V, Total War, and Bethesda RPG's (Fallout, Elder Scrolls) in mind, for my old laptop can no longer handle Civ V . I would like to ask you guys if you have any advice on what to put in it. I am on a budget, and it is around $500-600, but I can go slightly over. Thank you very much for reading this.

First off, are you building it or buying it? That'll help narrow it down.

 

[Bfoxius]

Oh, I forgot, I'm building it. The parts that I am planning on having:
CPU: AMD FX-6300
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling ACLAP64-GT 25.6 CFM
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 ATX AM3+
RAM: Corsair 8GB (2x4 GB) DDR3-1600
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB 3.5" 7200 RPM
Video Card: Not Decided Yet
Case: Zalman ZM-Z9 U3 ATX Mid Tower
PSU: Not Decided Yet
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM 64 Bit
Monitor: HP LV2011 60Hz 20.00" Monitor.
Alrighty, I have little knowledge of this, but I am learning, slowly but surely.

 

[Aaron90495]

That looks pretty good. Civ (and Total War, to a lesser extent) is EXTREMELY processor-intensive, and you seem to have a good enough CPU to run it quite well. As for the GPU, I'd probably go AMD since you're getting an AMD processor. In which case, you should be able to max all those games with a 7870 GHz Edition (or maybe 7870). If you really want Nvidia, go with the 660 or 660 Ti. As an added bonus for AMD, both 7870 models come with Tomb Raider, BioShock Infinite, and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. I've played the first two of those, both of which are spectacular (BioShock, particularly).

As for the PSU, add up the power requirement for all your components and then add 10-15%, to be safe; that should be plenty of power for your system and, by getting a little more than is required, you're running a much lesser risk of frying your system. I'm not particularly well-versed with PSU's, though, so someone may need to jump in here if I'm wrong.

 

[Bfoxius]

Alright, thanks. I am going with with the HD 7770 GHz edition instead of the 7870, because of my budget.

 

[Aaron90495]

Alright, thanks. I am going with with the HD 7770 GHz edition instead of the 7870, because of my budget.

Sure, that should be just fine. I'm not sure if you'll be able to max Rome II, but you should still be able to run it well.

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

newegg's 7770s are ~$99 and come with Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon. not bad if you dont mind Ubisoft's Uplay. I dont care for it so i dont play their games anymore but they do look pretty fun.