Best Hardware for Rome: Total War

[sangyup81]

For those that have played the game, the hardware requirements are really different for this game compared to the hardware requirements for games like HL2, Doom 3 and Far Cry.

The video card comparisons out there show that your GPU doesn't make that big of a difference (maybe 10-20 fps) but there are no benchmarks showing how this game's performance scales with your CPU and how much memory you have installed.

Do you guys think this game will benefit from 2 GB of memory since you could start having 10,000+ units on the battlefield with multiple A.I.'s late in the game?

Rig I'm thinking of putting together:

DFI NF4 Ultra (or maybe the SLI version)
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Socket 939 90nm (oc'ed to 2.5ghz+)
Leadtek PCI-E 6600GT 128MB (overclocked and replace the cooler with a better one)
Mad Dog 550W PS (the rails seemed decent before)
160GB Western Digital IDE 7200RPM Hard Drive

and then either the 2x512 Corsair memory that can go 318fsb (295 for best perf.) from newegg.com
or 2x1GB Ballistix PC-4000 (i think) memory from crucial.com

 

[sangyup81]

anyone?

 

[Jotho]

Originally posted by: sangyup81
Do you guys think this game will benefit from 2 GB of memory since you could start having 10,000+ units on the battlefield with multiple A.I.'s late in the game?

I have not played the game, but I do believe that this, if any game, could benefit from the extra memory. Also, a fast hard drive might make some difference too, esp in loading, etc.

 

[nick1985]

i own rome, and have played it extensively.

i would tone down your CPU to a 3000 and used the saved cash to get a 6800NU. the game really benefits from a card with more pixel pipelines.

and your best bet is to just get a gig of regular 3200 for $120, fancy stuff doesnt help. and then if you do that you could even afford a 6800GT

 

[sangyup81]

I'm probably gonna get the OCZ Value VX which is more than $100 cheaper than that RAM I put up there plus it's capable of low latency at high clock rates when I jack up the voltage to 3.6. The benchmarks have shown a slight increase if I get the 6800GT but I don't really play shooter games intensively although I do own HL2.

Also, given the number of units in the game, would it benefit from Hyper Threading if I got a p4 and would it make up for the deficiency the p4s have in other games?

 

[nick1985]

i doubt a P4 will benefit much.

 

[sangyup81]

Originally posted by: nick1985
the game really benefits from a card with more pixel pipelines.

More pipelines eh? What do you think of the x800 XL? it's $299 for the Built By ATI version at CompUSA

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: sangyup81

Originally posted by: nick1985
the game really benefits from a card with more pixel pipelines.

More pipelines eh? What do you think of the x800 XL? it's $299 for the Built By ATI version at CompUSA

quite a step up from your 6600GT

 

[bjc112]

I played it with a 2.4ghz Athlon XP ; 6800GT ; 1GB PC 3200 @ max settings and AA, no probs what-so-ever..

Granted you will have a 6600GT, you should but just fine without the AA.