Best computer build for shogun total war

bucki11 · Mar 20, 2012

I would like to build a new system mainly to run the total war series at max settings, especially shogun 2. I already have the housing, monitor & keyboard but thats it. I need recommendations for everything else. My budget is 1500k.

DM186 · Mar 21, 2012

This will be easy because My rig run's Shogun 2 on ultra with everything turned on or max out. How ever don't copy my rig. I will show you what you need. My CPU is overkill.

1. CPU is a i5 2500k. The i7 will only use 40% so you won't get the full use of that CPU. that is why the i5 is the best for gaming.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072&Tpk=i5%202500k

2. GPU either wait for the new Kepler nVidias 6xx series do to come out in a few weeks or you can buy the new AMD card or you can go with the nVidia's 5xx series like the GTX 560 Ti, or the GTX 570, and the 580. On the next time after you respond I can show you benchmarks about the card vs the cards. Two cards would be better in my opinion.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006519&isNodeId=1&Description=HD+7950&x=0&y=0

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006519&isNodeId=1&Description=HD+7870&x=0&y=0

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006519&isNodeId=1&Description=gtx+560+ti

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006519&isNodeId=1&Description=gtx+570+hd

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006519&isNodeId=1&Description=gtx+580+&x=0&y=0

3. PSU Should be a good brand name like Corsair, Antec, Seasonic, and XFX. But depending on the card you buy then we will know what size PSU in watts you need.

4. Ram about 8 gigs would be good and 1600mgz.

5. HDD 1 to 2 TByts.

6. DVD/CD RW

7. Coolers/Fans

Now you can go to Cyberpower.com and play with there configureator which you can build a rig with a lot of choices. And see what you want. You can write down what you have done then go on line and buy the items and build your rig. I hope this helps you a little or at least get you going in the right direction.

jjack339 · Mar 21, 2012

I concur, with the above. Pretty similair to what I have and I run it at the highest settings-

BTW- Shogun 2 rocks.... I love it.

bucki11 · Mar 21, 2012

DM,

Thank you for the recommendations, it is appreciated. I have never built my own system before and didn't feel comfortable going to microcenter and end up spending more than needed because some salesman/tech takes advantage of my ignorance.

I noticed you suggested purchasing two cards and crossfiring them in lieu of a single card, unless of course I wait a few weeks. Do you believe that this is the best method or is this the most cost efficient?

Also, do you recommend an SSD? I see it mentioned alot for new gaming builds. Really, i don't know what it is.

DM186 · Mar 21, 2012

Some people like two cards in SLI/Crossfire. And others don't. But since I did a SLI,I like it a lot. If I want 3 monitors I can do that plus the extra preformence that is added.

If you wait to see what Kepler is bringing to the table which are the Nvidia cards. And check them out. Because I was checking the AMD cards vs. the older AMD cards. There is such a huge difference in preformence.

They cost alot also. But I would wait then check out the bench marks and see if it would be two of the older cards vs. the one newer card. But you should still start buying all the other hardwear except the PSU.

Yes get the SSD. I was tired last night when I responded to you. If you get it make sure it is at least 120 gig. It is a hard drive that is a solid state hardwear. It is much faster than a normal hard drive.

Most people put there window's OS on it then any storage stuff like games go on the HDD. Yeah if you go to a store they will want to sell your a store rig, aka DELL, HP, etc.

Most of the people think they are very good and they have a lot of the good stuff in them. But they are most of the time not very good gaming rigs. Most of the cases are so cramped that you don't get very much air flow.

Which causes heat and heat will cause a lot of problems like having your GPU burning out. Then you are out all that money. If you are going to build a gaming rig you want a very large case.

If you go to Cyberpower.com and use there configurater and play around with what they have and just see. It is free and nobody is going to want to talk to you or put presure on you to buy.

It is a cool sight to look at all the different types of rigs you can build. That way you can get a feel on what a gaming rig should be. There is a lot of good and bad reviews with them.

There is another place to do this and it is ibuypower.com kinda of the same thing but less to choose from. Sorry this is so long but I believe in explaining things in a little more detail. I hope this has help a little.

bucki11 · Mar 26, 2012

Thanks DM. Sorry for the late response.

I Have the large case (thermaltake element 5) or something like that.

I played around with the cyberpower site a little and think I have a pretty good Idea what I need now, basically sticking with your recommendations. The only thing is the processor, i think I will go with the i7 intel just incase I start taking work home.

I will wait to see how the new Kepler card performs before i make a decision on the GC but I hape it comes out soon, I'm itchin to play. man cave is complete except for new rig and football season is to far away.

tsd16 · Mar 26, 2012

I have an i7 920 @ 3.4 and a 580GTX.

I run it at ultra everything1920 X 1080 no SSAO no AA. With the maximum alotted troops on the field it will bring my system to a crawl. (like 10 fps).

Theres plenty of youtube videos you can google, and there are people with some pretty high end systems that shogun will bitch slap back to reality.

In my case im pretty sure its heavily processor related, as adjusting the graphical options to the lowest doesnt change a damn thing for performance with like 4000+ troops on screen.

DM186 · Mar 26, 2012

bucki11 :

That is good to hear. Yeah you might as well wait to see what the Kepler is going to bring. The new 680 is out with a price of $499.99 and it is 10% faster than the HD 7970 and is $50.00 cheaper.

But they will be releasing all of the other's soon. Here is a link just for thought. Please let me know when you do your build because I would like to see a nice rig that I know you are putting together. Good luck

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/508?vs=555

bucki11 · Mar 28, 2012

No problem. I will be putting together a final parts list this week and will probaly post the list for feedback.

Do you know when the rest of the Nvidia cards will be released?

Thanks again, your information has been extremely helpful

DM186 · Mar 28, 2012

The cards are supposed to be on the market over the next few months. Nothing set in stone as of yet.

bucki11 · Mar 28, 2012

can't wait , I will go for the gtx 680 then and upgrade down the line

DM186 · Mar 29, 2012

That is grat to hear. Everything will come together in the end. I can't wait to see how your rig turns out.

Masterphenix · Mar 30, 2012

Hi i was reading this thread earlier today and realized that we both have the same goals, that being to have a rig capable of utilizing all of Total War Shogun 2 impressive graphical potential. I have been searching for weeks trying to find out what i would need in order to play Total War Shogun 2 on Ultra/Very high graphics settings on Dx11 with all extra options enables e.g. Tessellation, and if with the hardware suggested would allow me to play TWS 2 without and lag or jittery game play.

I only have a budget of £1000 perhaps £1100 if had no other choice but preferably £1000 would be my limit.
I have been complying a list using the links you provided but am unsure of a few of the components mentioned such as what "HDD 1 to 2 TByts" means exactly sorry if this is a stupid question but am new to the computer gaming scene and have no idea what half stuff says on links and websites i look at Lol.

If you could possibly provide further information as to what i need to buy in order to do this and if not to much trouble a rough price for them I would be exceedingly grateful.

Thanks in advanced
Lee

P.S sorry I went on so much hope makes sense

Please Email any Responses to my Email Address as I will be able to reply much faster if you do
rockstarphenix@hotmail.co.uk

bucki11 · Mar 30, 2012

I think ou want DM to answer your questions, I am new to this as well but I will be puchasing parts/hardware this weekend and I will post a list.

As far as HDD goes he is refering to the hardrive and though i am not sure what TB's do I have been told be or CPU tech at work that you want 2 TB's

Masterphenix · Mar 30, 2012

Thanks for replying so fast and I look forward to seeing how your rig goes maybe I will get something similar if yours works to a high enough degree for my needs.

DM186 · Mar 30, 2012

Masterphenix :

As you can see my sig below I can play Shogun 2 on ultra with eveything truned on and at maxx. With out any problems. I get 25 to 30 fps on campain map.

In battle I get depenting what is going on in battle, 60 to 90 fps. But my 550's are OC'd not to superclocked just one setting below. You don't need my type of CPU. You can get the same with the i5 2500k.

But with the prices of today the 560 Ti's are falling as well as other nVidia cards. As the list of cards I posted you will only need one to max out. I have two of the worst cards.

And with both of them going in SLI I still can't do better then one 560 ti. So the 560 ti and up on the nVidia side. The HD 6870 and up on AMD side and of course the HD 7850 and up.

Shogun 2 is the best of all the total war series. Anyway I hope this helps. If you have amy more questions let me know. Good luck to you new build.

Masterphenix · Mar 31, 2012

DM186 :

I know you said the Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K is better for gaming but I am having trouble understanding why, is not that don't trust you but I am gonna end up spending a lot of money on this rig and want it to meet my expectations (Hopefully Exceed them). I have been having trouble finding which Graphics Card/GPU is best I am not currently planning on overclocking as I know very little about it and don't wish to destroy my rig by doing something I know very little about.

BTW sorry response took so long I think we are in different Time Zone
I am in GM +0

DM186 · Apr 1, 2012

Masterphenix :

This is what I know. I bought the i7 2600k because I was tired of buying $1000.00 store bought PC's. And I thought at the time I was going to get the best CPU that money could buy.

But I was wrong as I found out the i7 is over kill and under full load it was using only 40% of it potential. Plus I was shown how the i5 2500k was better to handle all of it potential for gaming.

If I had told you to get the i7 I would cause a lot people to try to prove me wrong and they would be right. There was this woman on here and she put together max eveything. The best CPU etc.

So it boils down to what you feel is best for you. If you want the best in intels CPUs or you want the best in AMD 8 core CPU's. Then get it if that makes you feel better like it did me then go for what you want.

If I had to do over then the only things I would change is my PSU, I would have bought the Corsair or Seasonic and my GPUs, I would have bought the 560 Ti's and not the ones I have now. I still would have bought the i7.

If you get the i7 then I feel that down the line it might be the right one for the fucture. At least I don't think that I will have to up grade my CPU for a long while. So I hope you see the reason I have to tell you about the i5?

If I am not making any sence of this please ask which part you don't get and I will try to explain it better. There is lot of topic on this issue and I will try to find out more info for you to fully see what this is about.

I will be back to post more info. And I live accross the pond and then some Mts and then some planes and then some more Mts. So I am in Mt standard time.

bucki11 · Apr 2, 2012

Alright purchased most of my hardware over the weekend. No video card, the GTX 680 was out of stock.....everywhere! Here is the list, Phoenix the prices are shown to help you out with your budget.

Intel Motherboard - ASROCK Z68 Xtreme7 Gen3 HDNM SATA 6Gb/s USB 3 ATX - 269.99

Processor - Intel Core i5 2500 sandy bridge ( for me needs I decided to go with the i5, i would never utilize all the potential in the i7 so I couldn't justify the extra cost) - 219.00

Hard drive - Western Digital caviar green 2TB SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5 - 129.99

SSD - Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F60GB3A-BK 2.5" 60GB SATA III - 94.99

Power Supply - Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V High Performance. - 104.99

RAM - KingstonHyperX 8GB - 52.99

Fan - 29.99 (don't know why I bought this my case (thermaltake element G) has 2 large fans and one or 2 medium size fans)

DVD/CD Drive - 19.99

Promotions -50.00

Total - 872.92 (not including mail in rebates so deduct another 50)

Plus GTX680 499.00

bucki11 · Apr 2, 2012

What's difference between PNY & Galaxy gtx 680 cards. they are $10 apart.

DM186 · Apr 2, 2012

Just that $10. In the hierarchy of brands no.1 EVGA no.2 XFX no. 3 MSI etc. the Galaxy and PNY are a little further donw on the list but they are both about the same in there preformance.

You did good on your build. that is one nice rig and the cost is low. Mine cost around $1600.00 by the time I finnished and made to mistakes with the PSU and GPU's.

So pat yourself on the back for a job well done. And have fun playing it. It is going to be totaly cool when you will throw games , movies and what ever else you are into. Good luck with your new rig.

bucki11 · Apr 3, 2012

Thanks,

I found the 680 at tiger direct but my credit card security keeps blocking the transaction?????

AntiZig · Apr 3, 2012

call your credit card and talk to them, you're probably hitting the single transaction top limit.

AntiZig · Apr 4, 2012

Oldmangamer_73 :

seeing how you're 3.6k posts deep, I really expected you to know such things without reading the thread

AntiZig · Apr 4, 2012

I don't have much to think on, I don't know your situation/needs/workloads/etc to think in any direction on this. So the only opinion I can give you is it's your money, if you feel you don't need the i7 then by all means sell it and get an i5

Best computer build for shogun total war

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