Laptops that can play Shogun 2

[Xehh II]

Hey guys so I find out that when I move for my new job I have to ditch the desktop and get a laptop computer, which is kind of gutting for me being mostly a PC gamer.
Anyway, I was wondering if there are laptops out there that can play Shogun 2 or what kind of specs I need for a laptop to play it decently, i'm pretty un-co when it comes to this kind of stuff so any help would be pretty cool.

[jepp21]

Look at the back side of your game... its will telll you the specs.

anyway, i have a HP Pavillion Entertainment pc dv6-2170, and it can play it un ultra settings

[frogbeastegg]

You might want to try asking about high-end gaming laptops over in the hardware forum. That's where most of the knowledgeable folk congregate.

[easytarget]

You're not likely to find the prices of a notebooks that can run S2 decently to your liking, is my guess...

[edyzmedieval]

ASUS G74 will run Shogun 2 at high/ultra high settings.

[easytarget]

Do you own this notebook?

[edyzmedieval]

Do you own this notebook?

I'm looking to purchase it.

I have a DELL XPS with 256MB video card, 4GB RAM and Core 2 Duo 2.0GHZ. Runs without much problems S2TW on low/mid (custom settings).

[GoldenToad]

I'm looking to purchase it.

I have a DELL XPS with 256MB video card, 4GB RAM and Core 2 Duo 2.0GHZ. Runs without much problems S2TW on low/mid (custom settings).

Wow, I'm hopeful that my Dell XPS 15 with an i5, 2Gb Nvidia Geforce 540m, and 4Gb RAM will be able to run it reasonably well.

I'm getting it on the 18th so I will keep you posted OP if you are still looking for laptops that can run the game?

[Arekkusu]

Although you already have probably made up your mind with the laptop you need here I can say what I'm using in case anybody else needs this type of info.

Acer Aspire 5942G
15,6" Screen @ 1366x768
i5 430M
ATI Mobility Radeon HD5650 (1GB)
4GB RAM

All settings at the highest (Ultra in most cases) without any glitches or further problems. Running smooth. ;)

[Fagar]

I have always found Samsung laptops to be great value for the performance they offer..
I am running on Ultra settings on my current laptop no problem..

It is a Samsung RF511
Operating System
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
Core i7
15.6" Screen Size
NVIDIA GeForce GT540M (Optimus)
With 1 GB of dedicated graphics memory.

[easytarget]

And I call BS on anyone with any notebook saying they are running this game on ultra smoothly.

If I see a little stutter in the campaign map on my system, you're going to be crawling on your notebook on the campaign map.

i7 920 o/c 3.6ghz
win 7 64bit directx 11
8GB RAM
GTX 570 Twin Frozr III o/c to 1ghz (basically a 580)
Raptor 10k HD
1920x1200 on Dell u2410

P.S. No one is running the game completely on ultra w/ under 1.5GB VRAM (even if they think they are)

[Arekkusu]

And I call BS on anyone with any notebook saying they are running this game on ultra smoothly.

If I see a little stutter in the campaign map on my system, you're going to be crawling on your notebook on the campaign map.

i7 920 o/c 3.6ghz
win 7 64bit directx 11
8GB RAM
GTX 570 Twin Frozr III o/c to 1ghz (basically a 580)
Raptor 10k HD
1920x1200 on Dell u2410

P.S. No one is running the game completely on ultra w/ under 1.5GB VRAM (even if they think they are)

No need to be rude, I don't need to demonstrate anything and I'm not bragging about the fact that my system runs on ultra smoothly. It's the truth, believe me or not. I'm just trying to be helpful for others looking for a laptop which can run S2TW without problems. Your system specs are really awesome and I don't understand that you see little stutters in the campaign map. Maybe it's your system that is not optimized...
Maybe and I only say maybe you are using a too high resolution, and I have also seen oc'ed systems actually perform worse than non oc'ed systems.
I must admit that I have not been in any battle with more than 2000 units on screen at once. Maybe then I have stuttering. When that happens, and "if it happens" I will be the first one to come back here and say, listen I had to lower the details. Honestly what do I gain lying? Do I get hero points here or what?

Regards

[easytarget]

1. This isn't rez limited (the stutter still happens at 1680), the bottleneck is due to extremely poor optimization. The processor speed and amt of VRAM available are the main criteria driving performance. Both of which are more limited on a notebook than on my desktop, hence the reason I called BS. And this isn't about being rude, this is about not misleading others into thinking they can buy a notebook and run S2 on ultra, they can't. And neither are you for that matter, you just think you are, unaware the game unilaterally adjusts your graphics settings based on your available VRAM w/o telling you. Don't believe me, go google it and you'll find the thread in the TW forum tech section about it.

2. The stuttering on the campaign map lies entirely with CA not optimizing something there, I've no idea what, I suspect they've really just failed utterly to implement fog on the map along with water details that don't micro stutter the display. Because move the same settings to the battle map and I can run 40 units in real time and zoom anywhere as smooth as glass.

3. One final observation about notebooks, it's puzzling to me how they deal with heat while running this game. I didn't mention it above, but in order to o/c the cpu and gpu I'm running after market cooling on both. The graphics card in particular is the coolest running card made currently. Yet in the campaign map it cranks up fans to an audible level (which btw is yet more proof how badly CA handled optimization here, because I can run BF3, just as an example of a photo realistic game rendering in real time, and the fan is so quiet I can't hear it over the power supply fan). So I find it hard to imagine how any cooling solution that would fit in a notebook would work here.

[Arekkusu]

1. This isn't rez limited (the stutter still happens at 1680), the bottleneck is due to extremely poor optimization. The processor speed and amt of VRAM available are the main criteria driving performance. Both of which are more limited on a notebook than on my desktop, hence the reason I called BS. And this isn't about being rude, this is about not misleading others into thinking they can buy a notebook and run S2 on ultra, they can't. And neither are you for that matter, you just think you are, unaware the game unilaterally adjusts your graphics settings based on your available VRAM w/o telling you. Don't believe me, go google it and you'll find the thread in the TW forum tech section about it.

2. The stuttering on the campaign map lies entirely with CA not optimizing something there, I've no idea what, I suspect they've really just failed utterly to implement fog on the map along with water details that don't micro stutter the display. Because move the same settings to the battle map and I can run 40 units in real time and zoom anywhere as smooth as glass.

3. One final observation about notebooks, it's puzzling to me how they deal with heat while running this game. I didn't mention it above, but in order to o/c the cpu and gpu I'm running after market cooling on both. The graphics card in particular is the coolest running card made currently. Yet in the campaign map it cranks up fans to an audible level (which btw is yet more proof how badly CA handled optimization here, because I can run BF3, just as an example of a photo realistic game rendering in real time, and the fan is so quiet I can't hear it over the power supply fan). So I find it hard to imagine how any cooling solution that would fit in a notebook would work here.

Hi easytarget,

Explained that way it makes sense and you probably know better than me about a game I have just purchased a week ago. I only was telling my personal experience. Now, if you say that the game adjusts graphics settings w/o telling me although I selected Ultra then you could be right. No problem.
And just a final word about heat, my laptop has never had any heat problems with any resource hungry game such as GTAIV, Mafia II or even Crysis. I don't need any extra cooling. Maybe I have an optimum cooling designed laptop.

In any case, I didn't have any intention to start a discussion, just defend my experience and thoughts, but if as you say the game tricks me into thinking I'm on Ultra then I could be wrong. ;)

Regards

[easytarget]

Hey, if you're getting it to run to your satisfaction, that's all that ultimately matters!

And you're right, many other games do in fact run well on notebooks, it just so happens, ironically enough in my opinion given this is a strategy title, which usually isn't a genre that falls under the heading of insanely taxing on graphics, such is not the case with Shogun 2. In fact, so much so, that the latest AMD vid card released a month ago, called the 7970, featured in the first round of reviews a variety of games, the usual set of FPS as you would expect, but also included Shogun 2. Guess which game brought the card closest to its knees? Yep, Shogun 2.

As for the Shogun 2 trickery with settings, that one is confirmed. The game w/o telling you, or even changing the settings in options so you would know, downgrades your graphics settings in the game to fit your VRAM. Anyone running the game under 1.5GB VRAM is getting downgraded unless they manually go in and modify the config file and tell it they have 2GB of VRAM, at which point the game stops checking, and therefore stops unilaterally modifying the settings.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[easytarget]

The only thing you've convinced me of Gray is you spent way too much money on a notebook.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[smooth_operator]

Sony Vaio does pretty well

[leonardo davinci]

about that downgrading,

i've found that it actually does the opposite to. because my computer had crashed a couple of times , i set all settings to their lowest. a few days later i was checking them again, and noticed they were mostly back to high. why would it do that, if you don't want it to do that?

measured the GPU heat once on shogun, it got to 99 C! and that was on the hosting page (not already playing) of a MP campaign... and when i started, it got back to 94C. any idea why? i thought because i had it in a window, it was lower when i had it full screen....

[LegolasGreenleaf]

HP Pavillion Entertainment pc dv6-2170

I have the same model, but it overheats when I use it. I've checked everything, the ventilation is fine. Can anyone help?

[easytarget]

That's been my point all along. This isn't a game easily run on a notebook.

If I'm running this on a hand built desktop, with specialized cooling, and I'm still pushing the cooling to the point where things are audible when I run shogun 2 on ultra, then every notebook is going to struggle with this game by definition, because no notebook no matter how much it costs has cooling comparable to my desktop.

The solution is to turn down the settings and run it on a notebook, or run it on a desktop to get to higher settings.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[jaspritsingh]

For those with a less than optimal Notebook/Laptop, (i.e. one that is overheating or seriously lagging), try running the game in DX 9 mode instead of DX 11.

I am new to the series and have a less than optimal laptop. Can you please shed some more light on how much difference teh DX9 mode makes ?

[Gray_Lensman]

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[easytarget]

Or you could spend about $3500 dollars less and build a desktop capable of the same thing.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[easytarget]

You get heated up all you want there Gray, most people don't have the kind of money you apparently have to waste on notebooks capable of running shogun 2 properly. So not only is my suggestion spot on in this thread, it's in line with the 99% of the people reading it economically.

[Gregoshi]

You get heated up all you want there Gray, most people don't have the kind of money you apparently have to waste on notebooks capable of running shogun 2 properly. So not only is my suggestion spot on in this thread, it's in line with the 99% of the people reading it economically.

Gray explained his need and reasoning for having the notebook he does. I don't see anyone getting "heated up" - only notebooks. While I agree with you that a gaming notebook makes little sense to me (I'm a desktop fan too), the fact is, many people today want to or need to take their PC with them and for them the notebook fullfills their needs. As for which notebooks can play TWS2, each person has to make their own decision regarding what is within their means in the cost vs game settings issue. The topic of this thread is not notebook vs desktop playing TWS2, it is what notebook can play TWS2 and to what degree.

[TargetSlayer]

Been watching this thread for a while. Like most I have been a desktop (and console) gamer for years (43 year old). I purchased my first laptop about two years ago (Dell Studio 15). I added a video card and beefed up its RAM. While this was not meant for gaming, with respect to the Total War series, I was able to play all the titles up to and including Napoleon on medium settings. At the time there was no Shogun 2. This laptop was later given to my son, and he still games on it playing a bunch of stuff including Shogun 2 Fall of the Samurai over the weekend. I understand he is able to play it on medium settings with certain things turned off.

What folks don’t realize with laptop gaming is the absolute comfort of sitting in your living room (or wherever) on the sofa or reclining chair playing a strategy game like FOTS for a few hours versus sitting in a computer room in business chair (or worst). One really needs to experience the freedom of laptop gaming, especially strategy gaming for long sessions, to understand why people are willing to pay extra for this kind of leisure experience.

Just because some cannot afford it does not invalidate the experience. Of course laptops will always be more expensive when compared to their desktop counterparts. We get it. I have both I know. But for the extra cash I believe it is worth it.

Btw I really enjoyed playing FOTS over the weekend sitting in the recliner on my newer 17 inch widescreen (1080p) Alienware. I am playing the game on High settings with 2xAA and 4xAF and Sync On. Frame rates are smooth and the scenery looks amazing. This system can play it on Ultra but I prefer these settings for the better frames. With regards to heat, the Alienware has extra venting plus the machine sits on a dual fan cooling mat. I have not had any overheating issues with it, and I have been gaming with it since Christmas. I fly a flight sim (Rise of Flight) on the desktop downstairs, but very much prefer strategy games on the laptop sitting in the recliner.

Regards