Empire Total War system requirements

[Martok]

From the official site (http://www.sega.com/empire/gameinfo/news.php?n=2936):


Operating System: Windows XP 32(service pack 2), Windows Vista 32 OS.
Processor: 2.4 GHz Single Core Intel or AMD equivalent processor.
System Memory: 1GB RAM (XP) 2GB RAM (Vista).
Graphics Card: 256MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (shader 2.0 or higher).
Sound Card: Directx9.0c compatible sound card.
Windows compatible mouse & keyboard.
15 GB free uncompressed hard drive space.


Please direct all questions/concerns about whether or not your PC can run ETW to this thread. Any duplicate threads discussing system requirements will be merged with this one. Thank you. :bow:

[Sir Beane]

Huzzah! Now we have a one stop thread for all our system spec needs. :beam: It beats dozens of 'Will my pc run Empire' threads popping up between now and March.

Of course it also concentrates the misery and disappointment of people who will not be able to run Empire. This will be a very said place. :(

In the interest of optimism my PC will be able to run Empire.

3.00Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
512MB nVidia GeForce 9800GT graphics card
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
620GB Hard Drive.

[ULC]

Not for me ~;p. My computer will be able to run everything for at least another year on medium to high settings, and medium for a half a year after. More then enough time to get another PC that lasts 3 years :beam:

[BeenPlayingSinceRTW]

As indicated in a previous thread (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=111503) my system specs are:

2.2ghz CPU
256MB graphics card
and 1GB RAM

which is less than the minimum, so I will be waiting to see what kind of experiences people have playing the game before deciding whether to buy. Hopefully, the game will run okay in singleplayer even without the minimum requirements. :no:

[Sir Beane]

As indicated in a previous thread (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=111503) my system specs are:

2.2ghz CPU
256MB graphics card
and 1GB RAM

which is less than the minimum, so I will be waiting to see what kind of experiences people have playing the game before deciding whether to buy. Hopefully, the game will run okay in singleplayer even without the minimum requirements. :no:

You'll be lucky if the game does run in Singleplayer with below the minimum requirements. Games companies tend to be a little generous with wthat they think hardware is capable of. More often than not a game ends up requiring more than the minimum rather than less.

Good luck though. :2thumbsup:

[ULC]

Well, I had M2TW running on 512MB, a 1.6GHz, and a Geforce 3 :2thumbsup:

[Ishmael]

i think i've asked this somewhere else before, but can somebody estimate the recommended specs from this?

[Sir Beane]

I'm guessing that the recommended (and by that I mean that the pc could run the game on medium to high graphics, with atleast 2000 men on screen and no lag) will be something like this:

2.4ghz Dualcore or 3.0ghz single core CPU (I hope Empire is programmed to make use of multi-threading)
2 Gig DDR2 RAM (XP) or 3-4 Gig DDR2 RAM (Vista)
High end 256mb graphics card, or standard 512mb graphics card
10 Gig of free hard drive space

That's my guess, I have no idea how accurate it is though.

[ULC]

Hmmm...I would ante up to 15-20 GB for hard drive space. Lower the RAM requirements a bit - I think about 1.5 GB on XP and 2 GB on Vista - any higher and it won't run on standard shop computers, since CA has stated that the average computer owner could play it well enough.

As for the Graphics card, I might just have to agree with you on that one :laugh4:

[Sir Beane]

Hmmm...I would ante up to 15-20 GB for hard drive space. Lower the RAM requirements a bit - I think about 1.5 GB on XP and 2 GB on Vista - any higher and it won't run on standard shop computers, since CA has stated that the average computer owner could play it well enough.

As for the Graphics card, I might just have to agree with you on that one :laugh4:

The 10GB of hard drive space was based on an actual figure I remember from somewhere or other. .

I was being generous with the RAM, mostly becuase more RAM can really help processor heavy games like Total War. :2thumbsup:

[Fisherking]

I am on a laptop that was pretty high end a year or so ago, and figured I should have no problems.

While it is a duel core though I see it is a 2.16 GHz processor. It that going to cause any problems with clock speed or anything else?

[Sir Beane]

I am on a laptop that was pretty high end a year or so ago, and figured I should have no problems.

While it is a duel core though I see it is a 2.16 GHz processor. It that going to cause any problems with clock speed or anything else?

Since it is dual core it should not be a problem so long as Empire makes use of multi-threading. A dual core 2.16 GHz is equivalent to a single core proecessor with a clock speed of higher than 3.0 GHz, which is more than enough (according the the minimum requirements at least.)

Usually the weakest part of a laptop setup is it's graphics card. If your laptop has a decent card it should be fine.

[Fisherking]

It is a gaming laptop and I got the best going at the time…I don’t remember exactly but well over the minimum specs everywhere else.

[pevergreen]

A year or so...you should be right. I think I will still install on my desktop, just as a saefty precaution.

[Haxorsist]

What worries me is the RAM. I have 2 gigs on my laptop and I'm running Vista. I'm probably gonna have to upgrade when I get the money for it. I have serious doubts whether 2 gigs will be enough even though it's within the minimum.

[Sir Beane]

What worries me is the RAM. I have 2 gigs on my laptop and I'm running Vista. I'm probably gonna have to upgrade when I get the money for it. I have serious doubts whether 2 gigs will be enough even though it's within the minimum.

Luckily for you RAM is easily the cheapest thing to upgrade on a PC. You can get a gigabyte of RAM for under £20 if you know where to look nowadays. :2thumbsup:

[Schnappieter]

Intel Core 2 Duo - T5800 2000 MHz
Windows Vista Home Basic 32 bit
2048 MB DDR2
250 GB (7200 RPM, Serial ATA)
NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT 512 MB

These are the specs of a laptop i want to buy. But is the processor good enough? And the RAM?

[Sir Beane]

Intel Core 2 Duo - T5800 2000 MHz
Windows Vista Home Basic 32 bit
2048 MB DDR2
250 GB (7200 RPM, Serial ATA)
NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT 512 MB

These are the specs of a laptop i want to buy. But is the processor good enough? And the RAM?

Looks fine to me, although you will probably have to run the game on low graphics and avoid huge battles.

[pevergreen]

Enough ram, but the Processor won't be enough to play the game well.

I have a laptop that runs better except for the graphics card (geforce 8600) and it struggles a bit with full M2:TW. All i would do is upgrade to, say a T8000 series or T9000 processor. Im running a T8300 (2.4GHz)

edit: Sir Beane, the processor is only 2GHz, even though its Dual Core, it may not be enough.

[Sir Beane]

Enough ram, but the Processor won't be enough to play the game well.

I have a laptop that runs better except for the graphics card (geforce 8600) and it struggles a bit with full M2:TW. All i would do is upgrade to, say a T8000 series or T9000 processor. Im running a T8300 (2.4GHz)

edit: Sir Beane, the processor is only 2GHz, even though its Dual Core, it may not be enough.

If Empire makes use of multi-threading (which it should) then it can use both cores. That gives the game around 3 or more Ghz of processing power, which is greater than the minimum. It really all depends on if Empire is properly optomised for a dual core processsor.

[Incongruous]

At the end of the enw trailer it has an intel core i7 logo and says, "plays best on intel core i7" or sommint.

[Schnappieter]

Ok, thx for the info guys, i could also get a Intel Core 2 Duo - T9400 processor so that should be enough too play the game well, right?

[pevergreen]

Yes, that will be plently good enough.

[Furunculus]

Enough ram, but the Processor won't be enough to play the game well.

I have a laptop that runs better except for the graphics card (geforce 8600) and it struggles a bit with full M2:TW. All i would do is upgrade to, say a T8000 series or T9000 processor. Im running a T8300 (2.4GHz)

edit: Sir Beane, the processor is only 2GHz, even though its Dual Core, it may not be enough.
the min spec is i believe based on the old P4, which had a terrible IPC, a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo would be as fast as a 3.6GHz P4, and thats before you consider the second core.

[Polemists]

I think the argument of if you can MTW2 at very high, you can run ETW at high holds, or something similiar.

Not sure how close system specs of MTW2 are, but i'm pretty sure somewhere CA said they were close to specs for ETW

[Sir Beane]

I think the argument of if you can MTW2 at very high, you can run ETW at high holds, or something similiar.

Not sure how close system specs of MTW2 are, but i'm pretty sure somewhere CA said they were close to specs for ETW

I think Empire will run on medium where Med 2 ran on high, etc. So if your system can manage Med 2 on medium then Empire shouldn't be a problem.

[Martok]

Info on system requirements has been updated. Read the official announcement here (http://www.sega.com/empire/gameinfo/news.php?n=2936). :sunny:

[Furunculus]

2.4GHz Pentium 4 single core is the minimum, which equates to an Athlon 2400+ at 2.0GHz.

My personal judgement is that:

acceptable minimum perfomance won't be achieved without a P4 3.2GHz or an Athlon 64 3200+ at 2.0GHz.

and good perfomance won't be achieved without one of the multi-cores listed below:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ at 2.4GHz
AMD Phenom™ X3 8650 at 2.3GHz
Intel Pentium D EE 965 at 3.73GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 at 2.1GHz

[PBI]

My current system:

Intel Core 2 E6400 2.13GHz
2GB RAM
Radeon X1600 graphics card

I'm hoping the processor and RAM are OK, but not sure about the graphics card. Anyone who understands graphics cards able to suggest whether that will be good enough?

[bloodshed]

My system.
Intel core Quad CPU 2.83 GHz 2.83 GHz
4gigs of RAM
Radeon 4800
64bit operating system with Vista.

good enough for max settings?

[Sir Beane]

My system.
Intel core Quad CPU 2.83 GHz 2.83 GHz
4gigs of RAM
Radeon 4800
64bit operating system with Vista.

good enough for max settings?

I'm guessing max or close to max for that paticular setup. :2thumbsup:

[bloodshed]

cool thanks for reply.

[Martok]

I strongly suspect that I'm going to end up needing a new video card. Technically speaking, the one I have now is enough, but only barely. This is unfortunate, as I'm terrified that a new card won't let me run MTW anymore. I'll wait and see, of course, but I worry nonetheless. :embarassed:

[Incongruous]

I strongly suspect that I'm going to end up needing a new video card. Technically speaking, the one I have now is enough, but only barely. This is unfortunate, as I'm terrified that a new card won't let me run MTW anymore. I'll wait and see, of course, but I worry nonetheless. :embarassed:

Well, yes you might need a new card, but this need not end your days of MTW goodness, I am sure you could get yourself another system based on older tech, that is what I am doing.

[Sir Beane]

I strongly suspect that I'm going to end up needing a new video card. Technically speaking, the one I have now is enough, but only barely. This is unfortunate, as I'm terrified that a new card won't let me run MTW anymore. I'll wait and see, of course, but I worry nonetheless. :embarassed:

I have a relatively new card and MTW hasn't escaped me yet. :2thumbsup:

If things get really desperate you could always put together a system based on cheap older tech that could run Medieval just fine. It wouldn't be very expensive at all really since you would be delibarately using out of date technology

Or if that's out of the question then you can try hoping Empire is so good that you forget completely about Medieval. :laugh4:

[cyrus_empire]

my system is
cpu: AMD athlon 64 X2 dual core processor 5600+
ram: 4 gb ddr2
vga: geforce 8600 GT

is it enough for maximum to play?

[Sir Beane]

my system is
cpu: AMD athlon 64 X2 dual core processor 5600+
ram: 4 gb ddr2
vga: geforce 8600 GT

is it enough for maximum to play?

I'd say that that setup should be able to run the game at close to maximum settings with large unit sizes. We don't know the exact recommended specs yet however, so it's only a guess. :2thumbsup:

[cyrus_empire]

whats your guess for max play? (for AMD cpu)

[PBI]

*Ahem*


My current system:

Intel Core 2 E6400 2.13GHz
2GB RAM
Radeon X1600 graphics card

I'm hoping the processor and RAM are OK, but not sure about the graphics card. Anyone who understands graphics cards able to suggest whether that will be good enough?

Apologies for the repeated post, but I think my previous post might've been missed what with being the second-last on the previous page. I really would appreciate any advice regarding the video card since I'm considering ordering ETW in the next few days and it would make sense to order a new video card at the same time, if I need one.

[Incongruous]

Well, I am no sure on the proc, but that RAM will need some work, I'd say take it up to 4 or 6 G's just because it is sooo cheap.

The GFX card will need to be changed, ATI and Nvidia have some really, really good card going for low ammounts of monies.

It say one of those Radeon HD 4850 512mb would be a good choice, or an Nvidia 260?

[satchef1]

Any word on multi-core optimisation? I'm trying to decide on upgrades, got 4GB RAM in my system at the moment along with an ATI x1950 XTX and an AMD BE-2300 (1.9GHz Dual Core). I won't need any more RAM and the graphics card will do, it's the processor that really lets the side down.

I've got a few upgrade options available;

Swap the CPU for an AMD 7750 Black Edition, £64

Upgrade to a Core2Duo E7400 with an IP35 motherboard, £180

Upgrade to a Phenom II 920 and 790GX motherboard, £230

Wait for the Socket AM3 Phenom IIs and see how they're priced

Which one i go for is basically down to whether or not the game has multi-core support. If it'll make use of all four of the Phenom's cores then it's a no brainer, otherwise i'll probably go for the 7750 (the C2D probably isn't worth that kind of money over the AMD chip really).


Apologies for the repeated post, but I think my previous post might've been missed what with being the second-last on the previous page. I really would appreciate any advice regarding the video card since I'm considering ordering ETW in the next few days and it would make sense to order a new video card at the same time, if I need one.

Your processor should have no bother. I'd pop in another 2GB RAM and then replace the video card. Which model you should look at depends on how much you want to spend and what resolution you play at. I'd look at the ATi 4830 or 4850 though, they'll handle reasonably good resolutions (1440x900 easy, might start to struggle at 1080p).

[Incongruous]

Any word on multi-core optimisation? I'm trying to decide on upgrades, got 4GB RAM in my system at the moment along with an ATI x1950 XTX and an AMD BE-2300 (1.9GHz Dual Core). I won't need any more RAM and the graphics card will do, it's the processor that really lets the side down.

I've got a few upgrade options available;

Swap the CPU for an AMD 7750 Black Edition, £64

Upgrade to a Core2Duo E7400 with an IP35 motherboard, £180

Upgrade to a Phenom II 920 and 790GX motherboard, £230

Wait for the Socket AM3 Phenom IIs and see how they're priced

Which one i go for is basically down to whether or not the game has multi-core support. If it'll make use of all four of the Phenom's cores then it's a no brainer, otherwise i'll probably go for the 7750 (the C2D probably isn't worth that kind of money over the AMD chip really).


I am almost certain that ETW is optimised for multi-core cpu's, at the end of their newest traler it says "plays bst on intel core i7" (I believe).

[Derfasciti]

Call this silly but err... how do I access my system info so I can post it up here so I can have you more tech-savvy gentlemen and ladies ascertain whether or not this system could actually run it?

[peacemaker]

umm on windows vista/xp then you go to control panel. then system and maintenance, then under "system" it should have "view how much RAM and processor speed.

[TevashSzat]

Well for RAM and processor speed, you can right click on My Computer and click on properties.

For your videocard, go to

hardware -> device manager

And look under display adapters

[ClaymanVTW]

sorry if theres already a thread, but is there even a search button?

Also How will this comp i customized handle Empire TW? im hoping highest.

CASE: XION II Mid-Tower Case 350Watt W/ Mod Side-Panel Window (BLACK COLOR)
CPU: AMD Phenom™II X4 920 Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
PSU: 650W Logisys ATX12V/EPS12V Silent 12CM Power Supply PS650U12
MOTHERBOARD: GigaByte GA-MA74GM-S2 740G Chipset DDR2/800 SATA RAID PCI-Express MBoard w/ATI 2100 Graphic, GbLAN, USB2.0, & 7.1Audio
MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 896MB 16X PCI Express
VIDEO CARD 2: NONE
VIDEO CARD 3: NONE
LCD Monitor: NONE
HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
Data Hard Drive: NONE
Optical Drive: (Special Price)LG 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
Optical Drive 2: NONE
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
Price: $770.00

[pevergreen]

There is a search button, you may not have access to it, but please at least read through SOME of the threads. This thread is a sticky: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=111612

[ClaymanVTW]

ok sorry

[knoddy]

sorry if theres already a thread, but is there even a search button?

Also How will this comp i customized handle Empire TW? im hoping highest.

CASE: XION II Mid-Tower Case 350Watt W/ Mod Side-Panel Window (BLACK COLOR)
CPU: AMD Phenom™II X4 920 Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
PSU: 650W Logisys ATX12V/EPS12V Silent 12CM Power Supply PS650U12
MOTHERBOARD: GigaByte GA-MA74GM-S2 740G Chipset DDR2/800 SATA RAID PCI-Express MBoard w/ATI 2100 Graphic, GbLAN, USB2.0, & 7.1Audio
MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 896MB 16X PCI Express
VIDEO CARD 2: NONE
VIDEO CARD 3: NONE
LCD Monitor: NONE
HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
Data Hard Drive: NONE
Optical Drive: (Special Price)LG 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
Optical Drive 2: NONE
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
Price: $770.00

looks fine should handle the game fine of course nobody knows for sure yet but its well above the minimal specs


VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 896MB 16X PCI Express

any1 else find this a really random amount of memory for the card to have or is it just me?

also the 4gig of ram is overkill, a 32bit system can only utilise bout 3.8 (somewhere round there i think) worth of ram including ur graphics card. mind u ram is so ridiculously cheap these days that i guess it doesnt really matter.

Cheers Knoddy

[knoddy]

Processor - amd athlon dual core 4800+
ram - 2gig
video - ATI Radeon xt1650 512mb

still runnin XP

my thoughts - should be more than enough to run Empire, however my worry is my graphics card has had cronic overheating issues. I commonly get VPU recovery errors which basically means the graphics card has stopped running for w/e reason but the pc managed to save it. i have my pc with the side off the case and 2 small desktop fans blowing on it and it still crashes on hot days. i managed to stop it crashing while running M2TW by turnin the graphics right down, but its been so hot lately i doubt that will help.

im going to go get some thermal adhesive and take the heat sync off and reattach it see if it helps. but ye i think i should be able to run it :)

Cheers Knoddy

[pevergreen]

yes, but a decent amount is useful to have anyway. You buy ram in gigs, not .8 of one :grin2:

[Pinxit]

I'd say that that setup should be able to run the game at close to maximum settings with large unit sizes. We don't know the exact recommended specs yet however, so it's only a guess. :2thumbsup:

Max settings, probably. I had similar, but slightly better when playing MTW2. You can probably run max and do 5,000 soldiers on screen. More than that and you are most likely not going to make it.

:balloon2:

[Martok]

Threads merged.

[ClaymanVTW]

looks fine should handle the game fine of course nobody knows for sure yet but its well above the minimal specs



any1 else find this a really random amount of memory for the card to have or is it just me?

also the 4gig of ram is overkill, a 32bit system can only utilise bout 3.8 (somewhere round there i think) worth of ram including ur graphics card. mind u ram is so ridiculously cheap these days that i guess it doesnt really matter.

Cheers Knoddy


Yeah the GPU cards memory is random imo as well, haha. And it is a 64 bit. Im thinking highest with this :P got any ideas on what resolution i could play this on with highest settings? Thanks, now im off to :smash: things :P

[Sir Beane]

Yeah the GPU cards memory is random imo as well, haha. And it is a 64 bit. Im thinking highest with this :P got any ideas on what resolution i could play this on with highest settings? Thanks, now im off to :smash: things :P

The resolution can depend as much on your monitor as it does on your GPU. If you are fortunate enough to own a thirty inch widescreen then you could probably manage a rediculously detailed resolution.

[ClaymanVTW]

well i crrently have a 17 inch wich i will use for most of this year, but i do plan pn upgrading to a 20" or 22" later this year as well. Will the comp i customized above be able to handle both monitors on highest with empire? Ive gotten alot of diffrent opinions from other people on other sites too so.

[Sir Beane]

well i crrently have a 17 inch wich i will use for most of this year, but i do plan pn upgrading to a 20" or 22" later this year as well. Will the comp i customized above be able to handle both monitors on highest with empire? Ive gotten alot of diffrent opinions from other people on other sites too so.

I would say almost certainly with a 22" monitor on it's optimum resolution. But by both monitors do you mean both at once? Because I don't have any experience with a multi-monitor setup.

[ClaymanVTW]

Cool, and no not at once, i meant the period i have my 17 inch and my 22 inch. Thanks again btw, im looking at highest for empire!!!!!!!:beam::smash::juggle2::smash::yes::beam::2thumbsup:

[knoddy]

Yeah the GPU cards memory is random imo as well, haha. And it is a 64 bit. Im thinking highest with this :P got any ideas on what resolution i could play this on with highest settings? Thanks, now im off to :smash: things :P

it doesnt matter that ur processor is 64bit, perhaps what i should have said is 32bit windows only utilizes about 3.8 or so gig of ram all up.

64 bit windows is rarely sold afaik

[ClaymanVTW]

uhm yeaaaah, it is a Vista Hoem Premium, 64 bit.

[peacemaker]

my laptop coming in the mail:

* • Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
* • Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual-Core Mobile Processor T3400 (2.16 GHz)
* • 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* • 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 9200M GE
250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive


what do you guys think? I really don't care much about graphics, and I'm planning to put all graphics settings on "low". I'm good with medium or large unit size, do you guys think I'll have much lag?

[pevergreen]

You'll be fine IMO.

I dont like how slow your HD is though. :no: Well I suppose 5400rpm is the standard.

[drewthehuter]

hey people ,, i am new to this Fourm and i was wondering if you could help me.
will i be able to play empire on high with these specs???

processor= intel core 2 Quad cpu 2.40ghz
ram= 4 GB
graphics= Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX 768mb
vista 64-bit


thanks ..

[Ignoramus]

I have a Mac, with Bootmcamp installed. How can I check to see if Empire will run on my machine(I don't know how to check things like graphics capabilities etc.)?

[pevergreen]

As no one else has replied Ig, may I ask what hardware you have? I presume it will be called the same type of stuff. (I have barely any experience with macs)

Is there a hardware section? Something akin to the "System" selection in the control panel?


You go to the main Mac page, (the main page of the computer you're looking for), click 'Tech Specs' and it is under Graphic/Video Cards, or whatever the category is.

So hopefully under that section, there will be the information we need.

[ArtillerySmoke]

My system.
Intel core Quad CPU 2.83 GHz 2.83 GHz
4gigs of RAM
Radeon 4800
64bit operating system with Vista.

good enough for max settings?

Quad core's are still total overkill.

I have an Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 @ 2.67ghz, 8800GT 512mb extreme, 4 GB's of RAM running on Vista 32 bit.

I'll be able to easily, easily max Empire. So you could max it laughably.

[bloodshed]

Meaning what I wont be able to run it on max?

[ArtillerySmoke]

......You can run it easily. Very easily. That's what I'm telling you.

[bloodshed]

Oh lol thanks.

[ClaymanVTW]

WOW u guys are diffrent than these forums!

http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic/39744?page=57

People there think that not even the GTX 260/280/285/STI 4850/ATI 4870 wont be able to run it on highest, but still dont doubt them they have REALLY done their homework! I still think my new GTX 260 will be able to handle it though.

[knoddy]

what makes ya think they done their homework, i read through 2 or 3 pages of that thread and its just people talkin bout overclocking and buying new pc parts.

most of the people here are posting system specs that are much much greater than the minimum that has been posted and as such most should easily be able to run it on medium -> high

Cheers Knoddy

[bloodshed]

I agree with knoddy. I mean if all of your parts double the minimum req. I think they should be able to run it on high if not max.

[gardibolt]

It'd sure be nice to get confirmation that it's optimized for multi-threading, though. An ad for an Intel chip at the end of the preview doesn't inspire much confidence, frankly, and their careful avoidance of the subject in two separate press releases now makes me very nervous indeed.

[knoddy]

hmm its true i havnt yet seen anyting about the game supporting multi threading. and the fact that it states the minimal requirements to be a single core proccesor i would wonder if it doesnt. on the other hand most newer games are supporting multithreading so it seems a bit silly if it doesnt. all in all i guess we will have to wait n see :)

[Sir Beane]

hmm its true i havnt yet seen anyting about the game supporting multi threading. and the fact that it states the minimal requirements to be a single core proccesor i would wonder if it doesnt. on the other hand most newer games are supporting multithreading so it seems a bit silly if it doesnt. all in all i guess we will have to wait n see :)

I'm fairly sure it will. It's good that the requirements don't call for a dual-core, because not everyone had multi-core processor. Personally I am hoping it supports multi-threading, because my processor is a 3.0Ghz dual-core.

[Polemists]

I think for most people the issue will be more graphics then speed. Of course if you don't have speed it hurts just as much, but I think at this point most people have that speed.

As for graphics, sadly alot of people buy cheap graphics cards.

Which may not run ETW

or

The

DEMO

[knoddy]

i agree with the thought about graphics being most peoples probs. i know ill be happy as long as my GPU doesnt give me VPU errors :S. but we must look on the bright side, at least it doesnt require Dx10 and vista lol :)

i hope my pc will run it cos ive pre ordered my collectors edition but i guess i wont know till......






A DEMO!



i should be fine on like medium to low tho :)

[drewthehuter]

hey guys i posted this help on the offcial fourms and got little help, am hoping i could get help for you guys.....:help:


INTEL CORE2 QUAD
NVIDIA 8800GTX
4GB RAM
VISTA 64BIT

will i be able to play on high!?
thanks 4 any help :2thumbsup:

[Sir Beane]

hey guys i posted this help on the offcial fourms and got little help, am hoping i could get help for you guys.....:help:


INTEL CORE2 QUAD
NVIDIA 8800GTX
4GB RAM
VISTA 64BIT

will i be able to play on high!?
thanks 4 any help :2thumbsup:

I'd say almost certainly. :2thumbsup: Providing Empire supports multi-threading of course.

[USS Providence 1972]

What do you think?

Intel 2.2 ghz dual core

3 gb ram

geforce 7100

vista 64 bit

[pevergreen]

You should be fine with that, what level of detail were you wanting to play on?

[Sir Beane]

What do you think?

Intel 2.2 ghz dual core

3 gb ram

geforce 7100

vista 64 bit

I'd say that will probably run the game on Medium graphics. :2thumbsup:

[knoddy]

hey lads after a few technical answers.

so im getting sick of my current card overheating whilst playing the simplest of games and almost certain its a faulty card. im looking at buying a new one my problem is im a bit out of date with the cards and unsure what to get.

looking at a

MSI R4650 1GB VC PCI-E R4650-D1G
http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1652&maincat_no=130

OR i could upgrade to the 4670 for the same price BUT it only has 512MB memory.

also im afraid it mite not be compatible with my current MB. not sure what u actually need so i copied this from the DXDIAG

System Manufacturer: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
System Model: MS-7253
BIOS: )Phoenix - Award WorkstationBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4600+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 2046MB RAM

so my 2 questions are. Which card should i go for, and will i have issues with my motherboard


Cheers knoddy

[pevergreen]

512MB is good, I can't find that card, nor have I ever heard of them before. If you are running vista, could be a good idea to throw some more ram in. Other than that, seems fine.

[knoddy]

512MB is good, I can't find that card, nor have I ever heard of them before. If you are running vista, could be a good idea to throw some more ram in. Other than that, seems fine.

did u follow the link i posted?

[pevergreen]

Didnt work, tried editing the part thats shot, still didnt work.

[knoddy]

wierd link works fine for me, its just the Radeon 4650/4670 but its the msi one :)

[pevergreen]

Now that its a link, it seems to be working fine.

I don't know tons about ATI cards, nor the newest gen graphics cards (i'll bring myself up to speed next week) but that seems like a very high end card. HDMI and blu ray support, that should be good on high no problem.

I'm not really a hardware guy, so motherboards are way out of my league.

[knoddy]

hehe np mate hopefully ill get some other responses

[satchef1]

hey lads after a few technical answers.

so im getting sick of my current card overheating whilst playing the simplest of games and almost certain its a faulty card. im looking at buying a new one my problem is im a bit out of date with the cards and unsure what to get.

looking at a

MSI R4650 1GB VC PCI-E R4650-D1G
http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1652&maincat_no=130

OR i could upgrade to the 4670 for the same price BUT it only has 512MB memory.

also im afraid it mite not be compatible with my current MB. not sure what u actually need so i copied this from the DXDIAG

System Manufacturer: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
System Model: MS-7253
BIOS: )Phoenix - Award WorkstationBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4600+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 2046MB RAM

so my 2 questions are. Which card should i go for, and will i have issues with my motherboard


Cheers knoddy

I believe this is your motherboard:

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/mb_image/features/K9VGM-V.jpg

Open up your case, if it looks different to this then please post back. If it is this motherboard then you're all set!

I'd go for either an ATi 4670 or 4830. Don't pay more than £65 and £95 respectively though, the "pre-overclocked" and "1GB" edition cards aren't very good value for money (extra VRAM only makes a big difference at high resolutions and you can overclock the card yourself easily enough).

[knoddy]

hey satch that is my motherboard :) thnx for the info


i buy from my mate who has his own mini buisniss so i get wholesale. so i can get the 4760 for 120$ AUD
which is the 512. i think the 4830 is quite a bit more expensive and i dont wanna spend alot of money cos im a bit strapped for cash.

is there any real difference between the ATI and the MSI card. i get confused but iirc there both radeon cards but the GPU on the ATI is an AMD and hte GPU on the MSI is and MSI one. is this correct? is there any difference?

Cheers knoddy

[USS Providence 1972]

I'd say that will probably run the game on Medium graphics. :2thumbsup:

Thanks, I guess I'll find out in a month.

[satchef1]

hey satch that is my motherboard :) thnx for the info


i buy from my mate who has his own mini buisniss so i get wholesale. so i can get the 4760 for 120$ AUD
which is the 512. i think the 4830 is quite a bit more expensive and i dont wanna spend alot of money cos im a bit strapped for cash.

is there any real difference between the ATI and the MSI card. i get confused but iirc there both radeon cards but the GPU on the ATI is an AMD and hte GPU on the MSI is and MSI one. is this correct? is there any difference?

Cheers knoddy

Not really how things work. AMD own ATi, who design the graphics cards and manufacture the graphics chip. The assembly and sales are then done by vendors like MSI, Sapphire etc. The cards will be mostly the same as the reference designs made by ATi, they follow the same blueprint. The differences are normally just in the RAM used and the aesthetics of the product (different colout PCB, different GPU cooler etc.).

You'll be buying a card from someone like MSI or Sapphire, very few people get their hands on ATi reference cards (pretty much just reviewers and the vendors). The differences between vendors are pretty minor.

[knoddy]

ah k sweet thnx again for explaining. Ill probs go for the 4670 with 512 but ill look into the 4830 and see wot sort of cost it will set me back.

thanks for the help mate

cheers Knoddy

[lubey]

I just got a new laptop for school. Was wondering what your opinion on it was as far as running ETW goes.

Vista
Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2.2Ghz
4GB RAM
Here's what I'm nervous about: Intel GMA X3100

The GMA meets the shader (3.0) and RAM (512mb) requirements, but I still have heard some iffy stuff about it. Anyone here have any input? I don't know much about video cards. Thanks.

[knoddy]

looks fine cept for the card i honestly have no idea bout it never seen it b4.

[drewthehuter]

am getting mine by STEAM ,, as were i am from MALTA it takes 10 days to come if i order from play.com ,, so am happy getting it on the 3rd :):)

i am new to steam this will be my first buy ,, i woder how long it will take to download,, anyone has an idea????????

[pevergreen]

Steam generally goes at the maximum you normally download.

I normally download 450kb/ps, thats what I get on steam. That goes at about 1gig per hour, so adjust for your speed/empire's size.

[TevashSzat]

Here's what I'm nervous about: Intel GMA X3100


Thats an integrated graphics card.

The memory at 512 MB isn't really 512MB iirc, it just use your Ram (or HD) space to act as graphics memory.

Anyways, its going to be kind of iffy whether that laptop can run the game. I'd start praying as soon as the installation finishes that the game works....

[Vuk]

Do you think it will run with my specs?

3 Gigs RAM
2 Gigs Processor (dual core)

My vid card is ok, but I am wondering about the processor speed. It is only 2 gigs, but it is dual core, and the specs say 2.4 single core. You think they will let me at least try to run it? :P Also, I got more memory than is needed, so that can help.

[The_Doctor]

Will an AMD athlon 64 X2 4200+ be enough processing power? It is the only part of my system I am not sure about.

:balloon2:

[Sir Beane]

Do you think it will run with my specs?

3 Gigs RAM
2 Gigs Processor (dual core)

My vid card is ok, but I am wondering about the processor speed. It is only 2 gigs, but it is dual core, and the specs say 2.4 single core. You think they will let me at least try to run it? :P Also, I got more memory than is needed, so that can help.

You should be able to run the game fine with those specs, don't expect to be able to manage high graphics or really large battles without slowdown however.


Will an AMD athlon 64 X2 4200+ be enough processing power? It is the only part of my system I am not sure about.

:balloon2:

I think this is probably fine. :2thumbsup: You'll probably want to get a second opinion though.

[Vuk]

You should be able to run the game fine with those specs, don't expect to be able to manage high graphics or really large battles without slowdown however.



I think this is probably fine. :2thumbsup: You'll probably want to get a second opinion though.

Thanks Sir Beane. I just wasn't sure if the low number could cut it.

[Sir Beane]

Thanks Sir Beane. I just wasn't sure if the low number could cut it.

While it might be a low number on the face of it, both cores working together should push the power over 3.0 Ghz at least. Of course if ETW does not support multi-core processors then you (and many others) are sadly going to be disappointed.

[lubey]

Yeah that GMA barely runs Medieval 2. Luckily I have another laptop I'm pretty sure will run it.

[The_Doctor]

I think this is probably fine. You'll probably want to get a second opinion though.

Good, thanks.:2thumbsup:

[scipiosgoblin]

I'm in a position to be worried. I have a laptop that is at the top of it's upgrade level. It meets the minimum requirements with the possible exception of the CPU. I have a dual-core 1.6GHz CPU. (this is the part that worries me)

also

2GB of RAM
GeForce Go 7400 which I think meets the video card requirement.
more than half of a 140GB hard drive.

Can anyone tell me if this system will play ETW?

I'm getting ready to deploy to Iraq and don't want to buy the game if I can't play it until I get back in 2010. That would just drive me crazy.

Thanks

SG

[pevergreen]

I would think that it would struggle a lot on low specs. Even if both cores are utilised, it won't be running any big battles.

[scipiosgoblin]

I'm expecting it to struggle. I just wanted to know if it would run it even on the lowest settings. Nice to have some entertainment that can make me forget about work for a bit when I'm a long way from home and work is all have to look forward to for a year or more. When I get back I'm buying a kick-butt gaming desktop, but don't want to buy a new laptop just before I leave.

Thanks.

SG

[knoddy]

you could try the demo and see how u go it should be out soonish.

[peacemaker]

umm..yeah. the Intel GMA x3100 is a very poor video card. If you can't upgrade, I would say you're either running on lowest settings and still some lag, or no playing at all. But that's just me, I can't stand lag

[lubey]

umm..yeah. the Intel GMA x3100 is a very poor video card. If you can't upgrade, I would say you're either running on lowest settings and still some lag, or no playing at all. But that's just me, I can't stand lag

Ok thanks. I have another laptop that'll probably run it.

[Dradem]

I'm hoping to play it decently enough can't wait to try it out :), and if it doesn't run smooth enough I'll have to wait for a couple of months for a new machine :wall:

hoping for the best :2thumbsup:

[Haudegen]

Hi,

I´m thinking about uprading my graphics card for ETW. I´m using a GF 8600 GT (256 MB) at the moment.

Should I go for a Radeon HD 4870?

Or rather a HD 4850X2, which costs nearly the same?

Bonus question: Is my power supply (500 W) sufficient?

[bloodshed]

Hey,
I didnt know where to put this post sorry and I kinda need some help. I am having some I think graphics issues and I was wondering if I could message someone who knows alot about that and tell and show them the problem I am having. I suppose I could just say it on here and you could give your opinion.
The problem I am having is that I am getting alot of little black squares or different color squares that pop up really fast when I play almost all of my games. There are lots of little squares that are really fast that just pop up all over. I updated my drivers and still nothing. Anyone got any ideas? Again sorry I didnt know where to post this.

[Haudegen]

If it´s not a software problem, you should check the temperature of your system. Cleaning the fans may help.

[wolf999]

hmmm i wonder if i can run it on my PC, just ordered collectors edition


Specs:
Intel e8400 3ghz overclocked to 4ghz
4gb dd2 ram 1066mhz
300gb velociraptor 10krpm
4870x2 2gb
24" screen 1920x1200

[Sir Beane]

hmmm i wonder if i can run it on my PC, just ordered collectors edition


Specs:
Intel e8400 3ghz overclocked to 4ghz
4gb dd2 ram 1066mhz
300gb velociraptor 10krpm
4870x2 2gb
24" screen 1920x1200

You'll have no problems at all with those specs. I imagine you'll be able to run the game on very high settings with no lag. :2thumbsup:

[wolf999]

You'll have no problems at all with those specs. I imagine you'll be able to run the game on very high settings with no lag. :2thumbsup:

actully im running medieval 2(+kingdom) with these specs and im getting bugs and the game is crashing when im trying to load a saved game or going into a fight(battle map) and whenever i open the game i get some error from microsoft framework or something like that but i just skip that.
Any ideas?

[Sir Beane]

actully im running medieval 2(+kingdom) with these specs and im getting bugs and the game is crashing when im trying to load a saved game or going into a fight(battle map) and whenever i open the game i get some error from microsoft framework or something like that but i just skip that.
Any ideas?

All I can say is that it probably doesn't have anything to do with the power of your hardware. It sounds like it could be a bad install. Are you running any mods? They can often cause crashes and bugs. Post a detailed description of your problem in the Tech Support forum or the Medieval 2 Fourm. They will be able to help you more than I can.

[Romanus]

Reading through this thread I think my laptop should be able to hande ETW but a second opinion wouldn't hurt.

Intel core 2 duo T5750 2,00GHZ
3 GB RAM 667mhz DDR2 SDRAM
Vista 32 bit
ATI mobility radeon HD3450 256MB

[Achilleslastand]

Hopefully i will be able to run it at high-med......
AMD Dual Core 6000+{each core runs at 3.0}
4 Gigs of DDR2 RAM
ATI 4850 512
XP

[The Hound]

I'm looking to upgrade a tad to hopefully run the game at high settings, and would appreciate some imput.

At the moment I have:

Intel Core 2 Extreme 2.93ghz
2gb Corsair 1066mhz DDR2 RAM
Nvidia 8800GTX
XP

The RAM seems the most obvious thing. Assuming I upgrade to 4gb, will I be alright running the game at high settings (at 1600x1200), or should I perhaps look at getting a quad core CPU as well?

I have heard that in some ways my CPU will work better than with M2, due to Empire's support for multiple cores, so I'm not sure what to do.

Thanks in advance.

[Barkhorn1x]

OK - time to get an opinion on my specs:

- AMD Athlon 64 AM2 3500+ CPU
- 4GB DDR2 PC4200 Memory (4GB x 1)
- GeForce 8600GTS 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express (2 DVI)
- Thermaltake 500W Power Supply

I run MTW2 very well - and that's with 2 Gigs of RAM, not 4 - as I just ordered two more sticks this morning.

Thanks.

[Sir Beane]

I'm looking to upgrade a tad to hopefully run the game at high settings, and would appreciate some imput.

At the moment I have:

Intel Core 2 Extreme 2.93ghz
2gb Corsair 1066mhz DDR2 RAM
Nvidia 8800GTX
XP

The RAM seems the most obvious thing. Assuming I upgrade to 4gb, will I be alright running the game at high settings (at 1600x1200), or should I perhaps look at getting a quad core CPU as well?

I have heard that in some ways my CPU will work better than with M2, due to Empire's support for multiple cores, so I'm not sure what to do.

Thanks in advance.

You could definitely use the extra 2Gb of RAM. Your processor will be fine but it won't hurt to upgrade to a dual or quad core (again assuming that Empire supports multi-threading.). I think currently you'd manage medium settings easily enough. :thumbsup:


Reading through this thread I think my laptop should be able to hande ETW but a second opinion wouldn't hurt.

Intel core 2 duo T5750 2,00GHZ
3 GB RAM 667mhz DDR2 SDRAM
Vista 32 bit
ATI mobility radeon HD3450 256MB

Looks good :2thumbsup:. I'd guess medium.high graphics I think.



Hopefully i will be able to run it at high-med......
AMD Dual Core 6000+{each core runs at 3.0}
4 Gigs of DDR2 RAM
ATI 4850 512
XP

High/medium graphics definitely looks obtainable with these specs. ::yes:


OK - time to get an opinion on my specs:

- AMD Athlon 64 AM2 3500+ CPU
- 4GB DDR2 PC4200 Memory (4GB x 1)
- GeForce 8600GTS 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express (2 DVI)
- Thermaltake 500W Power Supply

I run MTW2 very well - and that's with 2 Gigs of RAM, not 4 - as I just ordered two more sticks this morning.

Thanks.

Looks good! You should be able to managed high I think. :beam:

[Barkhorn1x]

Looks good! You should be able to managed high I think. :beam:

Good news. Thanks.

[tibilicus]

AMD 4200+ x2

2GB of RAM

and an ATI x1600 512mb


I'm going to be crawling along right?

[The Hound]

You could definitely use the extra 2Gb of RAM. Your processor will be fine but it won't hurt to upgrade to a dual or quad core (again assuming that Empire supports multi-threading.). I think currently you'd manage medium settings easily enough. :thumbsup:


Thanks for the reply. I already have a dual core CPU, though. :)

I think the main thing I'm wondering is how benefical for Empire it would be to replace it with a quad core, like a Q9550?

[knoddy]

AMD 4200+ x2

2GB of RAM

and an ATI x1600 512mb


I'm going to be crawling along right?

graphics card a bit low, but i dont see why u couldnt play on medium

[The Hound]

I'm looking to upgrade a tad to hopefully run the game at high settings, and would appreciate some imput.

At the moment I have:

Intel Core 2 Extreme 2.93ghz
2gb Corsair 1066mhz DDR2 RAM
Nvidia 8800GTX
XP

Just wondering...would I perhaps be better off getting another GTX for SLI than upgrading to a quad core?

Which would people say would benefit Empire more?

[ArtillerySmoke]

Just wondering...would I perhaps be better off getting another GTX for SLI than upgrading to a quad core?

Which would people say would benefit Empire more?

I would say upgrading to SLI. Although to be totally honest with you, SLI and Quad-Core are still relative overkill for these games. You really just need a top of the line graphics card and a dual core.

I have played all of the most demanding games on the market, at both my house with core2duo and 1 8800GT and I've also played them on a family members quad core with SLI. Literally, zero difference in any of the games out today. Both PC's maxed the game...and beyond that, there was nothing more that the Quad core could do beyond what the Core2Duo did.

Again though, to answer your question: Go with the SLI. Quad Core is a waste of money right now imo.

[Rufus]

I just meet the minimum for RAM and graphics card, but I'm wondering what "AMD equivalent" means. I have an AMD Athlon 3800+ (I think) 2.21 GHz. Is that likely to fall short?

I'm fine with playing with all settings on low. I don't tend to zoom in and look at the detail on each soldier during a battle anyway. I play M2TW pretty well at a mix of medium and low settings. Lag and crashes are very rare.

What do you guys think? I guess I'll find out soon enough when trying the demo ...

[satchef1]

Just wondering...would I perhaps be better off getting another GTX for SLI than upgrading to a quad core?

Which would people say would benefit Empire more?

Pop in another 2GB RAM. I wouldn't bother doing anything else just yet. Your processor is just fine and the GTX is still a very solid graphics card. Maybe add another if you can find a 2nd hand one sub-£80 (try avforums.com) but i wouldn't bother with eBay or new (both too expensive). The next graphics generation isn't too far away (a few months) and it should give you a much more sensible upgrade from a GTX ;)

[BeeSting]

Here's my system:

Pentium Dual Core CPU 3.20GHz
2.00 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS SLI 512 MB

Question:

At the moment my system tops at medium settings. What do I need to upgrade in order to play at high/very high settings?

[ArtillerySmoke]

Here's my system:

Pentium Dual Core CPU 3.20GHz
2.00 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS SLI 512 MB

Question:

At the moment my system tops at medium settings. What do I need to upgrade in order to play at high/very high settings?

Probably more RAM (4 GB's if you're on Vista) and upgrade the graphics card to an 8800GT

[pevergreen]

yeah, that should fix it. You definately need at least one more gb of ram and a much better graphics card.

[BeeSting]

Many thanks all.

[A Very Super Market]

Alright, the demo is unbelievably choppy for me, and these are my specs

AMD Athlon Dual-core Processor 5400

4 GB RAM

Nvidia Geforce 6150SE

Any help?

[Barkhorn1x]

Nvidia Geforce 6150SE

Any help?

Your GPU is integrated with your mobo - so it i slower and robs your RAM. That is your issue.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Thanks for the reply. I already have a dual core CPU, though. :)

I think the main thing I'm wondering is how benefical for Empire it would be to replace it with a quad core, like a Q9550?

No. That would be a waste of money; money better spent on a high-higher end Dual Core.
A quick google search yields this:

Operating System: Windows XP 32(service pack 2), Windows Vista 32 OS.
Processor: 2.4 GHz Single Core Intel or AMD equivalent processor.
System Memory: 1GB RAM (XP) 2GB RAM (Vista).
Graphics Card: 256MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (shader 2.0 or higher).
Sound Card: Directx9.0c compatible sound card.
Windows compatible mouse & keyboard.
15 GB free uncompressed hard drive space.

2.4Ghz **Single** Core! Since you already have a high end Dual Core, more RAM is likely a cheap value-for-money way to go.

[The Hound]

Cheers for the responses. I've already stuck in another 2 gig of RAM. Managed to run the demo on ultra settings fairly smoothly. I don't think I'll change the processor or GPU for the time being, though I may consider overclocking the former a bit.

[BeeSting]

Here's my system:

Pentium Dual Core CPU 3.20GHz
2.00 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS SLI 512 MB

Question:

At the moment my system tops at medium settings. What do I need to upgrade in order to play at high/very high settings?

OK, so I upgraded by adding the following and it runs smoothly at ultra settings:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 - 1 card
4.00 GB RAM

[Forward Observer]

My new custom system won't be ready until early March because the graphics card I chose is on back order, so I went ahead and loaded the demo on my old P4 single core rig with and aging AGP based Nvidia GT7600.

Surprisingly, the auto-read function set everything to medium. I was able to get decent frame rates on the tutorials, but both the large land and sea battles were a bit choppy even after I lowered the settings.

I moved the last part of my post to another thread since it had nothing ot do with system requirements

[Incongruous]

I just ordered my new comp with a Core i7, the one below the extreme, and I was wondering if anyone with one these wondeful cpu's could tell me how the Demo plays on it?

Also, in terms of DDR3 how much would I be able to get away with since it is soooo expensive?

[Furunculus]

3GB really doesn't make sense on a PC that high spec, so i would go for 6GB if i were you.

[Mailman653]

I can't figure out why my computer shows I have two processors:inquisitive:
I have a Pent 4 3.x ghz.

I'm hoping to upgrade my vid card after Empire comes out, mine is pretty old and has 256mb, the one I'm checking out is a 1gb:beam:

[Rufus]

I have an eMachines T3256 - AMD Athlon XP 3200+ / 2.2 GHz, currently 1G of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce 6200 (256MB). It plays M2TW fine on a mix of medium/low settings. I tried the E:TW demo; it eventually launched (after I looked like this :skull:) and ran but was pretty much unplayable.

I'm willing to consider upgrading memory and/or video card for this game but can't get a whole new PC right now. Wanted to get advice on whether I should upgrade memory (to 2G, the limit on my machine) or video card (looking at a MSI GeForce 9600 GT 512MB Video Card ), or would I have to upgrade both? Or even if I upgrade both, is my processor just too old/slow? My goal is to be able to play at least at medium, hopefully a mix of medium and high.

Thanks!

[Barkhorn1x]

You should do both. Memory is dirt cheap - I just bought 4 Gigs on NewEgg.com for $13.00 a piece. It will help, believe me. Doubt you will get to high tho'.

[Rufus]

You should do both. Memory is dirt cheap - I just bought 4 Gigs on NewEgg.com for $13.00 a piece. It will help, believe me. Doubt you will get to high tho'.

Actually I realized the video card I mentioned is not AGP, and I think I need AGP, in which case for 512 MB I'm probably lmited to something in the GeForce 7300-7600 range. And ... having taken a quick look on google, it seems like most of the cards that are at least 512 MB and use an AGP slot are discontinued/out of stock. This probably means I can't upgrade my video card in my current machine.

In light of that, do you think it's worth it just to upgrade the memory? Would that alone be likely to make E:TW playable at low/medium? I'm hesitant to open up the machine myself, so I'd probably have to pay the Geek Squad at Best Buy to do it, so I'm probably looking at around $200 altogether for the new memory and the installation.

Thanks!

[Vlad Tzepes]

Gentlemen,

Would any of you be so kind to enlight me if I can hope more then medium settings with my specs?

dxdiag gave me this:

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Page File: 492MB used, 3446MB available
Card name: WinFast PX7600 GT
Chip type: GeForce 7600 GT
Sound: Realtek HD Audio Input

Also, if any of you would indulge me with a healthy upgrade recommandation, I will be forever in debt to this honorable community :yes:

[Haudegen]

You definitely need a better graphics card. I tested the demo on a 8600 GT on medium/high settings and had <10 FPS. My CPU is roughly equivalent to yours.

Right now I have a 9600 GT and it runs way better.

You might as well go for a 9800 GT(X) or a Radeon 48XX, but these need much more power. I´d recommend them only if your power supply has 600 W or more. For example, my 500 W PSU couldn´t handle a RADEON 4850.

And doubling your RAM surely will help.

[a-e]

HI, i know nothing about computers for gaming but my specs are:

4gb 677mhz ram
2.4ghz dual core
8800m gtx
7200rpm hardrive
Vista

Will I be able to run this reasonably high? Thanks for your help

[Darklife]

You haven't said what OS you use, but should it happen to be a 64 bit one buy 2 more gigs of RAM. I'd recommend that you buy a new graphics card. I think the above comment about power usage for the 9800 GT( its actually just a rebranded 8800 GT) or the 4850 power requirements is overblown. I currently have a 600 W PSU and a GTX 280 and the power usage rarely jumps to 400.

[quadalpha]

Actually I realized the video card I mentioned is not AGP, and I think I need AGP, in which case for 512 MB I'm probably lmited to something in the GeForce 7300-7600 range. And ... having taken a quick look on google, it seems like most of the cards that are at least 512 MB and use an AGP slot are discontinued/out of stock. This probably means I can't upgrade my video card in my current machine.

In light of that, do you think it's worth it just to upgrade the memory? Would that alone be likely to make E:TW playable at low/medium? I'm hesitant to open up the machine myself, so I'd probably have to pay the Geek Squad at Best Buy to do it, so I'm probably looking at around $200 altogether for the new memory and the installation.

Thanks!
Lots of AGP cards on eBay.

Darklife: is there some software that lets you monitor your power usage?

[Darklife]

Sadly no, what I did is simply look at a card review, such as this one

GTX 280
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3334&p=9

4870 and 50
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22

They're using a QX 9770 in there which is very power hungry. So unless you're using 4 hard drives and 4 optical ones there is no real risk of running out of power, provided you have something above 400 W:beam:.

[knoddy]

sooo upgrading my pc a little, wondering if i can run on high/ultra :D

amd 4800 dual 64 (cant remember the exact name lol)
ATI 4670 512MB
4gig ram
brand new 19 inch flat screen no more CRT! WOOOT


thoughts?

[Haudegen]

Sadly no, what I did is simply look at a card review, such as this one

GTX 280
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3334&p=9

4870 and 50
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22

They're using a QX 9770 in there which is very power hungry. So unless you're using 4 hard drives and 4 optical ones there is no real risk of running out of power, provided you have something above 400 W:beam:.

Darklife,

I´m no technician, but I think you can´t take the numbers from these charts and simply compare them to the number on your PSU.

One week ago, I ordered a Radeon 4850 (1GB) from an online shop. On the box it read: over 500 W recommended.

I installed the card and it worked absolutely fine in 2D, but I couldn´t get any game with 3D graphics running. So I returned the card to the shop and got the 9600 GT, which works very well in my system.

Because of this, I started googling for the possible cause of the problem and I found that,

- PSUs only work with a certain degree of efficiency. That depends on the quality (price) of the PSU. The better ones deliver 80 % or more (of, say 500W) to the PC components. Other ones even less.

- it somehow depends on the electric current that the PSU can deliver on the 12 V line. There are usually charts on the PSU. Mine, for example has 19 Ampere. I´v read in a forum, that in order get a high end Radeon 48XX running, you´d better have 30 Ampere there.


So, what i`m trying to say is: Don´t expect too much from your old 500 W PSUs, like I did. If you have the chance to test a high end graphics card in your 2-year old system, then do it, but don´t be surprised if it doesn´t work properly.

[Vlad Tzepes]

You definitely need a better graphics card. I tested the demo on a 8600 GT on medium/high settings and had <10 FPS. My CPU is roughly equivalent to yours.

Right now I have a 9600 GT and it runs way better.

You might as well go for a 9800 GT(X) or a Radeon 48XX, but these need much more power. I´d recommend them only if your power supply has 600 W or more. For example, my 500 W PSU couldn´t handle a RADEON 4850.

And doubling your RAM surely will help.

Thank you, Haudegen. I'm with a 700 W power source, so that gives me some options. I'll go for an upgrade.

Later edit - hi, guys, just wanted to let you know that after a graphic card upgrade from GeForce 7600 to 9800 GTX the demo looks awesome on ultra (highest possible) settings, with all extra effects boxes checked.

[Barkhorn1x]

Just came into some $$ and can afford to spend approx. $200 to upgrade the old rig. Here are my specs.:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ CPU
4GB DDR2 PC4200 Non-ECC Memory (4GB x 1)
MSI K9N Neo-F V.3 AM2 NVIDIA nForce 560 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
16X DVD+/-R/RW Dual Layer Drive w/Cyberlink
GeForce 8600GTS 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express (2 DVI)
Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU ATX 12V 2.0 500W Power Supp

Found an AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 Dual-Core Processor on NewEgg for $88.00 - will that work with the mobo? And do you think I can upgrade my GPU (Nvidia only) for - say $120?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103272

Thoughts?

[knoddy]

ok i have a couple of tech questions for the computer savvy. i know wot im talkin bout most the time but ive had a few issues.

I upgraded my pc with a second 2 GiG stick of ram, a MSI 4670 512MB GPU. i also updated my power supply. and yet my performance has gone down. my pc is loading slower, and its performance is just alot worse than b4.

so my question is why? the only reason i can think of, is that my mate who is spose to be computer savvy said that the new stick of ram was faster than the older one, would this ruin the computers speed and performance?

also the only other thing is that i had alot of drama's updating the drivers but now they are up to date and its still chugging.

this is not just in game, windows takes ages to load, any game i try and play takes way longer than b4. let me know :)

Cheers knoddy

[ULC]

ok i have a couple of tech questions for the computer savvy. i know wot im talkin bout most the time but ive had a few issues.

I upgraded my pc with a second 2 GiG stick of ram, a MSI 4670 512MB GPU. i also updated my power supply. and yet my performance has gone down. my pc is loading slower, and its performance is just alot worse than b4.

so my question is why? the only reason i can think of, is that my mate who is spose to be computer savvy said that the new stick of ram was faster than the older one, would this ruin the computers speed and performance?

also the only other thing is that i had alot of drama's updating the drivers but now they are up to date and its still chugging.

this is not just in game, windows takes ages to load, any game i try and play takes way longer than b4. let me know :)

Cheers knoddy

Yes, at that point, it does sound like a RAM issue. It could be in my experience one of four things

1) The RAM is a different brand - different brands of ram can cause speed issues, since each company has their own tweaks.
2) Your Using RAM that is faster then the other RAM. Again, this can cause issues as the faster RAM scales down to sync with the other RAM.
3) Motherboard incompatibility - Some motherboards just do not like certain RAM, no matter what you do.
4) Not getting enough power - This is actually an issue on the motherboard, and it can be a short or one of the transistors has gone bad (have you experienced any crashes?)

Someone else may have another suggestion as well.

[quadalpha]

Try taking out your old stick of RAM and only use your new one.

[knoddy]

Yes, at that point, it does sound like a RAM issue. It could be in my experience one of four things

1) The RAM is a different brand - different brands of ram can cause speed issues, since each company has their own tweaks.
2) Your Using RAM that is faster then the other RAM. Again, this can cause issues as the faster RAM scales down to sync with the other RAM.
3) Motherboard incompatibility - Some motherboards just do not like certain RAM, no matter what you do.
4) Not getting enough power - This is actually an issue on the motherboard, and it can be a short or one of the transistors has gone bad (have you experienced any crashes?)

Someone else may have another suggestion as well.

hmm nope havnt been crashing, the ram is the same brand, the same size, just diff speeds.

my house mate says that it mite be a driver issue. cos i had several crashes installing the new drivers

ima try reinstallin the drivers after work, if that doesnt work, ill try taking a stick of ram out, finally ill formatt the pc heh.

[ULC]

hmm nope havnt been crashing, the ram is the same brand, the same size, just diff speeds.

my house mate says that it mite be a driver issue. cos i had several crashes installing the new drivers

ima try reinstallin the drivers after work, if that doesnt work, ill try taking a stick of ram out, finally ill formatt the pc heh.

Hmmmm...only when installing new drivers?

[knoddy]

Hmmmm...only when installing new drivers?

yes i had 3-4 hard locks while installing the new graphics drivers and also ive had a lot of sound driver issues. after i sucessfully installed my graphics ones. im thinking sometime this evenin, ima restart in vga mode, unistall my sound and video drivers and then reinstall them


any other suggestions

Cheers Knoddy

[Lord Godfrey]

Dell Studio Laptop
Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 @ 2.0GHz
4 GB Ram
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650
Vista 32 bit

My only concern is the graphics card and what I can put into a laptop vs. desktop.

[knoddy]

just a quick update on my issues - pulled the older ram stick, made no diff, pc still takes n age to load, WoW which normally takes 10-15 secs to load the log in screen takes 1-2 mins im thinking its a driver issue so ima uninstall/reinstall my graphics drivers tonite.

Cheers Knoddy

[JeromeBaker]

Here are my system specs:

Processor: 1 x AMD Opteron 1218 Dual Core 2.6GHz
· Processor Technology: AMD PowerNow! Technology
· Bus Speed: 1000MHz
· Chipset: AMD 690G
· Standard Memory: 2GB
· Maximum Memory: 4GB
· Memory Technology: DDR2 SDRAM
· Memory Standard: DDR2-667/PC2-5300
· Hard Drive: 1 x 160GB Serial ATA/300 7200 rpm
· Optical Drive: DVD-Writer (Double-layer) - DVD-RAM/±R/±RW (Serial ATA)
· Controller: Quad-channel Serial ATA/300 PCI Integrated RAID Controller supporting 0, 1 RAID Level
· Graphics Controller: nVIDIA Quadro NVS 290 256MB DDR2 SDRAM PCI Express x16
· Network: Broadcom Netxtreme 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet IEEE 802.3ab PCI Express x1 Integrated
· Ports: 1 x 59-pin DMS-59 Display
· Operating System: Windows Vista Business

I got good advice to upscale the graphics card and was going to get a GeForce 9600 512 MB card DDR3. Can you guys tell from what I typed if the GeForce card will work with my setup/mb/and power supply. I know very little about computers and want to run the game on medium at least. Any suggestions are welcome.

[JeromeBaker]

also, should this set up be good enough to run the game on medium.... and maybe even high?

[Belgolas]

also, should this set up be good enough to run the game on medium.... and maybe even high?

Probably not high but medium it should do depending on the resolution. The GPU will work with you current system.

[Belgolas]

just a quick update on my issues - pulled the older ram stick, made no diff, pc still takes n age to load, WoW which normally takes 10-15 secs to load the log in screen takes 1-2 mins im thinking its a driver issue so ima uninstall/reinstall my graphics drivers tonite.

Cheers Knoddy

Your problem screams of bad drivers. But it can also be a lot of other things. If you went from an Nvidia GPU to an ATI GPU then there might be some part of the old GPU's drivers left. Easiest why to make sure you get everything right is to do a fresh install of the O.S. seeing as it could be a bunch of problems like spyware, bad drivers, etc. But if you don't want to do that then make sure you uninstall the drivers the correct way. First unistall them the normal way. Then when it asks you to restart do so. When loading windows back up go into safe mode and use a program called CCleaner to completely remove all the files. There is another step and that is to go into the registry and manually delete any part of the old driver, but if you delete something that you shouldn't have then you will be forced to reinstall windows.

If this doesn't help then I would do a fresh install of windows. And if that doesn't work then you might have bigger issues.

[Belgolas]

Just came into some $$ and can afford to spend approx. $200 to upgrade the old rig. Here are my specs.:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ CPU
4GB DDR2 PC4200 Non-ECC Memory (4GB x 1)
MSI K9N Neo-F V.3 AM2 NVIDIA nForce 560 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
16X DVD+/-R/RW Dual Layer Drive w/Cyberlink
GeForce 8600GTS 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express (2 DVI)
Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU ATX 12V 2.0 500W Power Supp

Found an AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 Dual-Core Processor on NewEgg for $88.00 - will that work with the mobo? And do you think I can upgrade my GPU (Nvidia only) for - say $120?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103272

Thoughts?

I am not to knowledgeable on AMD systems but it should work. Here it isn't on the compatibility list. http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K9N_Neo-F

This is though....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103210



You can get some nice GPU upgrades for that mobo for 120.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187030

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127406


and if you can afford a tiny bit more (less then half the cost of the game) you could get this..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187052

[knoddy]

Your problem screams of bad drivers. But it can also be a lot of other things. If you went from an Nvidia GPU to an ATI GPU then there might be some part of the old GPU's drivers left. Easiest why to make sure you get everything right is to do a fresh install of the O.S. seeing as it could be a bunch of problems like spyware, bad drivers, etc. But if you don't want to do that then make sure you uninstall the drivers the correct way. First unistall them the normal way. Then when it asks you to restart do so. When loading windows back up go into safe mode and use a program called CCleaner to completely remove all the files. There is another step and that is to go into the registry and manually delete any part of the old driver, but if you delete something that you shouldn't have then you will be forced to reinstall windows.

If this doesn't help then I would do a fresh install of windows. And if that doesn't work then you might have bigger issues.

nope didnt go from nvidia to ati, why would i buy that nvidia crap ;)


thanks for the help but ye this was basically my next steep. ima download CCleaner now, and uninstall them and reinstall hopefully it works!

Cheers Knoddy

[knoddy]

ok so ive reinstalled my drivers and it doesnt seem to have helped much at all but im not quite sure lol, it mite have helped a bit but still a bit off.

i have another theory tho, when i install the drivers i get a windows logo testing warning, saying my card isnt tested for XP, is it possible that my issues are stemming from the fact that im running XP for a DX10 card?

Cheers Knoddy

[Polemists]

For those of you considering a new pc, just a few pointers. I found these out when I looked couple nights ago, and it's been a while.

One: Don't buy alienware...not worth it

Two: The I7 is coming, and while not perfect it is supposed to provide more multithreading for games.

Three: If possible, go nvidia (i have nothing against Radeon, but most game companies seem to favor Nvidia)


The bottom line is, if you are planning a brand new pc, to last you 2-3 years, you are better off waiting another 3 months and spending 2k then spending 2k now and finding out in one year it's obselete.

The tech geniuses here could tell you what models work but if your like me and are getting store bought and not custom, your best bet is a desktop. The XPS's are good models and I have not heard many complaints.

Plus main benefit with a desktop is you can switch out the graphics card (it's not hard even I can do it) where as a laptop you can't.

[Barkhorn1x]

I am not to knowledgeable on AMD systems but it should work. Here it isn't on the compatibility list. http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K9N_Neo-F

This is though....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103210



You can get some nice GPU upgrades for that mobo for 120.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187030

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127406


and if you can afford a tiny bit more (less then half the cost of the game) you could get this..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187052

Thanks - great info.

[quadalpha]

Tried cleaning up with Driver Sweeper (http://www.phyxion.net/) before reinstalling?

[Lemur]

If possible, go nvidia (i have nothing against Radeon, but most game companies seem to favor Nvidia)
Really? Hard to favor Nvidia when ATI/AMD is putting out such compelling cards right now. I just upgraded to this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121291), and it's cutting through my games like a hot knife through butter.

I think ATI owns the sweet spot on the price/performance curve right now.

[Eusebius86]

I have XP, 2GB RAM (1066 MHz), an EVGA 9800GT 512 MB, and a e7200 wolfdale dual-core (2.53 Ghz). I'm playing at high settings, 16x antistropic, low shadows, and 1440x900 resolution, and have no problems with fps. I haven't tried increasing graphics yet, because the game takes so long to load as it is, and I just want to play...

[Polemists]

Really? Hard to favor Nvidia when ATI/AMD is putting out such compelling cards right now. I just upgraded to this, and it's cutting through my games like a hot knife through butter.

I think ATI owns the sweet spot on the price/performance curve right now.

I'm certainly not going to argue that ATI has the price/performance advantage, espically since they arn't sold by most major main stream sellers.

However, it has sadly been my experience, back when I owened a ATI, that Nvidia graphically issues get addressed first, before ATI. As nvidia is a game sponsor many times.

If you look at Empire, nvidia is a sponsor.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Once I get my new RAM these will be my system specs:

64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+
465GB Memory
4GB DDR2 RAM at 800MHz
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS

How well should Empire run on my PC?

[peacemaker]

Yeah that should run it

[Lemur]

I wonder if Empire is a big enough deal that the graphics companies will issue special hotfix drivers for it ... assuming any are warranted, that is.

[peacemaker]

lesse...my laptop...broke on the week of release(this week) so I need to send it in..no release date playing for me...:( However, this may be a chance to upgrade some parts. I have:


Vista Home Premium Edition, 64-bit
4gb ram
intel pentium dual CPU t3400 @2.16 GHz
nvidia geforce 9200m GE(256 mb i think)


which would you guys say I should upgrade most on? I probably have a low budget so as little as possible but something that could help play the game at least with unit/texture/effects detail on medium....the other stuff I'm fine with low settings....Oh and I like the large-scale units though I'm kind of disappointed large units only give you 80 men

[Polemists]

I wonder if Empire is a big enough deal that the graphics companies will issue special hotfix drivers for it ... assuming any are warranted, that is.

Well they are saying do to Dawn of War 2's problem that ETW may be the strategy release of the year. So i'd say that's a pretty big deal. Plus the fact no other major title is coming out till June on pc (EA moved all titles back to June, and EA now owns most pc only companies) i'd say you may get one or two.

[Pinxit]

Intel Quad Core 2,4 GHZ
XFX GeForce 9600GT 670M 512MB PhysX CUDA
4 GB RAM

Would this run Empire, at high settings? Or do I need a better GPU?

[Polemists]

Not that tech savy but I can't imagine 512 and a Quad not running it on high.

I mean they do make i7 and a 1gig video card now, but Duo and 512 graphics card run it on ultra, so dunno why your rig wouldn't.

You should be able to run it on ultra no problem.

[Pinxit]

Not that tech savy but I can't imagine 512 and a Quad not running it on high.

I mean they do make i7 and a 1gig video card now, but Duo and 512 graphics card run it on ultra, so dunno why your rig wouldn't.

You should be able to run it on ultra no problem.


I bought a card with similar specs in the 9800-series, instead of the 9600. Hm... somewhere around 130 Euro.

That should do it. If it doesnt, Empire is flawed :viking:

[Noddy The Beefy Egg]

I decided to buy a TW game for my birthday. I also want to buy a 1GB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (shader 2.0 or higher). And an Intel processor. And i could buy M2TW or ETW (My RTW has a cyclic redundancy check, please help!)

[Lemur]

Clone Trooper, you should not buy any video card that has 256 megs of ram. 512 will get you through the day much better, and it's not even terribly expensive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770).

[Leonhard]

Will my processor run this?

AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+ with 2.01 Ghz

[Sir Beane]

Will my processor run this?

AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+ with 2.01 Ghz

It's under the minimum requirements, so I'm afraid I would have to say probably not. :no:

[a-e]

Will this game make better use of multi-threading? If that is not the case will my dual-core 2.4ghz t8300 cut the mustard?

[Sir Beane]

Will this game make better use of multi-threading? If that is not the case will my dual-core 2.4ghz t8300 cut the mustard?

It does use multi-threading and you should be fine with that Processor :2thumbsup:.

[a-e]

Thanks, I hope the rest of it can cope :D

[Pinxit]

Clone Trooper, you should not buy any video card that has 256 megs of ram. 512 will get you through the day much better, and it's not even terribly expensive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770).

I was browsing through a huge number of GPUs and the price did not always seem to fit the megs of ram. Is it such a big deal? The ram. I found some 1 TB cards which were cheaper than 512.

[Lemur]

Depending on how big your monitor is, yes, the amount of RAM on your videocard might be a big deal. For people purchasing right now, I would recommend either an ATI 4850 1 gig (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102802) as a great deal, or the Nvidia 9800 GT 1 gig (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187029).

Note that the Nvidia card will be approximately 10% slower, but some people really like Nvidia, so it's important that they have that option in front of them.

[Belgolas]

Ram is not everything thing. Performance will be worse on most cheap 1gb graphics cards because the memory bus is too small. For the 4850 or 9800 GT just go with the 512mb card because you wont see a benefit with the more ram.

[AussieGiant]

I bought my machines as MTWII was coming out. It was a beast back then so I'm interested to see how it handled E:TW

it's slightly modified.

XP Service Pack 3
Overclocked Dual Core at 3.4Ghz (OC'd from 2.4Ghz)
2GiG's of 800Mhz Ram
Overclocked 8800GTX 768mb ram (running at 8800 Ultra speeds)
150 Gig WesternDigital Raptor 10 000 rpm

I'm hoping I can turn down the AA to x2 and run it on the top level settings in the game.

Fingers are crossed though.

[Lemur]

Ram is not everything thing. Performance will be worse on most cheap 1gb graphics cards because the memory bus is too small. For the 4850 or 9800 GT just go with the 512mb card because you wont see a benefit with the more ram.
I don't remember saying that RAM was everything. At higher resolutions, with AA turned up, you will see a difference between a 1 gig 4850 and a 512 meg 4850. And as games come out over the next two years that use larger and more detailed textures, the difference will become more pronounced.

In my opinion it's worth spending the extra $20 or so to buy more time at higher settings. Obviously you want to get the right chipset, that goes without saying.

[AussieGiant]

In the end it's a relational situation between "through put" and "ram". Getting a balanced card is the best way to go IMO.

I hope that E:TW gets enough leverage in the gaming world for NVidia and ATI to release drivers for us as they do for other big games. I've never seen that to date and it would be great if they did.

[Pinxit]

Intel Quad Core 2,4 GHZ
XFX GeForce 9800GT 670M 512MB PhysX CUDA
4 GB RAM
Vista

Would this run Empire, at high settings? Or do I need a better GPU?

Update: Confirmed! I played it, the demo, and my god, it runs without flaw with everything set to Ultra. AA set to x4. Holy mother of some weird guy in the clouds that does not exist! Its the most beautifull piece of technology I have ever seen. The battles... the drowning soldiers... the damage on the ships... its so.... AWE.

And that means a lot coming from a :viking:

[Prince Bondus]

Hi guys, I'm thinking of buying this laptop, do you guys think it will be able to run E:TW?

Base Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40Ghz, 3MB, 1066MHz)
Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 - English
Memory 4096MB 1067MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
Video Card 512MB ATI® Radeon™ HD 3670 graphics card
Hard Drive 250GB (7,200rpm) Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive

It's a Dell Studio XPS 16.

Thanks guys!

[peacemaker]

first off, I would say Yes definetely. Maybe not on ultra max, but definetely will be able to run it fairly well I would guess at minimum medium settings


I'll ask again since nobody answered my question:smash:Which do you think I should upgrade first-a 256 mb graphics card into a 512 mb or would you say I should upgrade my dual-core 2.16 GHz processor?(cheap laptops ftw)

[Smurflor]

Cant believe I've only just registered here. Been skulking around these boards for years now!

Anyway, down to business. Got empire today and finally after 8 hours of updating (yes, eight) I could play it... but only with settings on low, and frankly its just not the same seeing hundreds of 4 pixel men running around the screen, so I'm willing to spend a fair bit on upgrading my rig, but I'm really not sure what needs upgrading.

Heres my specs:

Windows XP
Intel Core 2 Quad CPU @ 2.4 GHz
3gb RAM
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256mb

I got it 18 months ago and it was pretty expensive at the time, save the graphics card which I intended to upgrade every now and again but never got around to it. Is this the weak link in my setup, or would I be looking at upgrading more than just the graphics card to run it on higher settings? (preferably high, but medium would be acceptable rather than spending £300 or something)

Any help would be appreciated, since I'm bound to go out and buy the wrong thing without advice.

[A Very Super Market]

You should get more RAM, just to be safe because of XP

But your graphics card is seriously old.

Quad-core makes the min. 2.4 well.

[Lemur]

Actually, Smurflor, I'd be surprised if you needed more RAM or more processor. Your initial assessment was correct, the videocard is the weak link in that chain. Moving to a medium- or high-end ATI or Nvidia card would make you happy. If you want to talk specific models, just ask.

[Smurflor]

Alright, thanks for the input. I'll try get a new card sorted in the next few days. Guess I can cope with units that look like they were taken from C&C 1 for a while ~:)

[Sir Beane]

Welcome to the Org Smurflor :2thumbsup:.

[hrvojej]

I think you should add Steam to the first post, as it is required to play the game and is not mentioned in other reviews. People should be informed about what they buy.

[PseRamesses]

Sir Beane, and others ;)

I´m worried that the game doesn´t handle multi threading, any news on that? Here´s the specs for my new PC I bought for christmas.

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz
Graphics: 2xASUS RADEON HD4870 512MB
RAM: 2xKingston HyperX 2GB DDR2 1066Mhz
HD: 2xWestern Digital Caviar Blue 640GB SATA2
Sound: ASUS P5Q Pro

With 4 cores I´m hoping to be able to play on maximum graphic settings. Huge units are NOT important to me. I rather go with medium settings here. What y´all think?

[Squints]

Vista
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.4GHz
2 gb memory
256MB ATI Radeon X1650XT GDDR3

I can only run realistically on low campaign map and medium battle.

I assume it would be because of the graphics card? Maybe could use another gb of ram?

[ZIM!!]

Im upgrading my computer now anyways can someone reccomend a set up that would allow me to play it with everything on ultra

I currently have

2.6 Ghz processor
2 Gb of ram
Pentium 4
XP home edition

Its really slow and choppy playing now.

[pevergreen]

The game supports multi threading.

Get a dual core processor zim, as wlel as a decent graphics card. That is what is holding mine back, I've got an nvidia 8600 laptop card.

One day. One day I will custom build my own computer.

[Squints]

I'm probably going to pick up 1 or 2 gigs of ram and a 512 card today...

[pevergreen]

512 card in what? Nvidia? What series? ATI?

That matters more than the memory on the card.

Also, what type of RAM? :laugh4:

[AussieGiant]

Hey pev,

based on what you are seeing now and what machine you have do you think my machine will be able to handle Ultra settings?

XP Service Pack 3
Overclocked Dual Core at 3.4Ghz (OC'd from 2.4Ghz)
2GiG's of 800Mhz Ram
Overclocked 8800GTX 768mb ram (running at 8800 Ultra speeds)
150 Gig WesternDigital Raptor 10 000 rpm

[Squints]

I just realized my problem may be because of the resolution I'm playing it on. Hmmm... I have a 19 inch widescreen monitor, resolution around 1400 wide. That may be messing with my poor, poor graphics card.

I've had the card for like 2 years now, so I'm gonna upgrade it anyway. If it still can't pull it off, I
m turning the resolution down to 1080 or so, playing in a window so that my screen doesn't bug out every time i run the game.

[Rufus]

I'm considering a "gaming laptop," since this game just came out and we've been considering a laptop for a while. Would GREATLY appreciate any recommendations among these three available at Best Buy. I assume laptops are something where you get what you pay for, more or less, but if the cheapest one ($750) will run E:TW at high settings, I'd like to go for that.

Toshiba Satellite Laptop $750

Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with SP1
Intel® Centrino® Intel® Core™2 Duo Mobile 2.0GHz
WXGA TFT-LCD 15.4" widescreen with TruBrite technology (1280 x 800)
4GB PC6400 DDR2 SDRAM
ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3650 512MB

Asus Laptop $1,000

Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Intel® Centrino® 2 Intel® Core™2 Duo Mobile 2.13GHz
WXGA 15.6" widescreen with 1366 x 768 resolution
4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM
NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS 512MB GDDR3

Gateway FX Edition Laptop $1,150

Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with SP1
Intel® Centrino® 2 Intel® Core™2 Duo Mobile 2.26GHz
WXGA 17" high-definition widescreen TFT-LCD with Ultrabright technology
4GB DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS 1GB GDDR3

Thanks very much for any input!!! All I can humbly offer in return is concise yet thorough AARs, with screenshots provided by one of the PCs above, written in character as best I can! (I love writing AARs but haven't done it on here since MTW1). I'm thinking "The King's Journal" ... "In receipt to-day of a missive from our cousin in The Hague. He has offered to acquaint our Admiralty with a most ingenious improvement in the design of a frigate, strengthening the hull without any sacrifice in speed. I am skeptical, but all he asks in return is a blockade of our mutual enemy's port at Brest, an action whose merit is obvious and one we likely would have done anyway."

[Pinxit]

What the... I run everything on ultra, or max, but the soldiers in the game fade away into 2 pixels when zoomed out, even the slightest. WHY? It looks awful.

[AussieGiant]

Well my machine seems to handle High setting at 1600 x 1200 (21 inch 4:3) with 4 x AA and 16 x AF without too many problems.

Ultra settings drop it to less than 20 fps so it's not playable.

Just though I'd let you all know.:beam:

[ArtillerySmoke]

What the... I run everything on ultra, or max, but the soldiers in the game fade away into 2 pixels when zoomed out, even the slightest. WHY? It looks awful.

IIRC, M2TW was the same way. It's like there are two different models, one for zoomed out and one for zoomed in. This allows for the thousands of troops on screen at once without heavy lag when zoomed out and commanding.

[Husar]

I'll ask again since nobody answered my question:smash:Which do you think I should upgrade first-a 256 mb graphics card into a 512 mb or would you say I should upgrade my dual-core 2.16 GHz processor?(cheap laptops ftw)

I say upgrade the graphicscard, a 512MB card should be better but it's not just the amount of Mb that does the trick, a 512MB GeForce 8600GT is weaker than a 256MB Geforce 8800GTX although I think the latter doesn't exist, but a 512MB version of the same card usually doesn't do a whole lot and is certainly not worth an upgrade.

[Dalthius]

My system is...odd. I bought a powerful laptop right before the new DX10 cards came out, so I'm stuck with a 7950 GTX. Whoa is me.

Anyway, I'm running the following:

Vista x64 Premium
Intel Quad Core 2.4 Ghz
4GB RAM
7950 GTX

I have a 24 inch (or 25 inch, hell, can't remember) monitor. On "high" settings at max resolution I get severe stutter, on medium I get very light stutter but playable. Any recommendations on settings/resolution? I'm thinking that running at max resolution (1920x1200) is probably a no-go with the card I have...

[Pinxit]

IIRC, M2TW was the same way. It's like there are two different models, one for zoomed out and one for zoomed in. This allows for the thousands of troops on screen at once without heavy lag when zoomed out and commanding.

But I had no such experience with the previous games, not in this extent. This is not intended. Its some weird flaw. It must be. The game looks like crap in land battles because of this. I cant even place the camera 20 meters from a unit until it goes 2 pixels. And thats going from Ultra to 2 pixels.

[A Very Super Market]

No, it isn't. It is totally intended.

My comp can't make it past medium, and I barely see them

[pevergreen]

But I had no such experience with the previous games, not in this extent. This is not intended. Its some weird flaw. It must be. The game looks like crap in land battles because of this. I cant even place the camera 20 meters from a unit until it goes 2 pixels. And thats going from Ultra to 2 pixels.

Think about it. When you are zoomed in, the computer is rendering and completing animations of hundreds of troops. It goes slower, when you are zoomed out, its better for everyone if the problem of animating and rendering all that is just turned into sprites with a few frames. Every total war game has used sprites. Zoomed out and watch things walk, they have a 2 frame walk. Go back to Rome: Total War and zoom out while facing the front of Hastati. They will suddenly face a different way, due to the sprites.

It makes the game go better, you can't tell the difference.

[Pinxit]

Think about it. When you are zoomed in, the computer is rendering and completing animations of hundreds of troops. It goes slower, when you are zoomed out, its better for everyone if the problem of animating and rendering all that is just turned into sprites with a few frames. Every total war game has used sprites. Zoomed out and watch things walk, they have a 2 frame walk. Go back to Rome: Total War and zoom out while facing the front of Hastati. They will suddenly face a different way, due to the sprites.

It makes the game go better, you can't tell the difference.

Im going to give you a screenshot of what it looks like when I am able to. I do promise you, either the design is very flawed, or there is something wrong with my comp. Its not supposed to look like that. But since I dont have a screenshot, I am using someone else to make my point. This, below, is how it is supposed to look. In my game the first row of soldiers do look like that, and all is well. But the line behind is a blur on my set up. It isnt on everyone elses. Its crazy.

https://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k286/Barkhorn1x_2006/ETW04.jpg

[ArtillerySmoke]

Im going to give you a screenshot of what it looks like when I am able to. I do promise you, either the design is very flawed, or there is something wrong with my comp. Its not supposed to look like that. But since I dont have a screenshot, I am using someone else to make my point. This, below, is how it is supposed to look. In my game the first row of soldiers do look like that, and all is well. But the line behind is a blur on my set up. It isnt on everyone elses. Its crazy.

https://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k286/Barkhorn1x_2006/ETW04.jpg

That guy probably has a better graphics card then you.

Different cards render in different ways. As Pevergreen pointed out to you - This is a matter of rendering only what it's zoomed in on, so that your performance doesn't suffer.

Your experience with previous Total Wars might not matter. This is Empire and it has significantly higher requirements than previous titles.

For the record - Everything you're describing is something that I, and everyone else I know, dealt with when it came to M2TW. There are basically 2 models - the fully rendered zoomed in version, and the zoomed out "sprites". I don't remember any TW being different except for MTW and Shogun, where it was only sprites whether you were zoomed out or not.

[Hender]

My set-up is pretty low budget, but also pretty recent.

Pentium Dual-Core E2200 2.2GHz
Vista 64 bit
4GB RAM
ATI HD 4670 512MB GDDR3
More than 100GB free on a 7200 rpm hard drive

What sort of settings should I be able to run at?

[Pinxit]

That guy probably has a better graphics card then you.

Different cards render in different ways. As Pevergreen pointed out to you - This is a matter of rendering only what it's zoomed in on, so that your performance doesn't suffer.

Your experience with previous Total Wars might not matter. This is Empire and it has significantly higher requirements than previous titles.

For the record - Everything you're describing is something that I, and everyone else I know, dealt with when it came to M2TW. There are basically 2 models - the fully rendered zoomed in version, and the zoomed out "sprites". I don't remember any TW being different except for MTW and Shogun, where it was only sprites whether you were zoomed out or not.

I didnt have that problem when playing Medieval Total War 2. Not even close. It looked fine at a distance. But this is like they have used sprites models from Shogun.

[pevergreen]

https://img73.imageshack.us/img73/8312/russiabattle.jpg

Most of those units are sprites, I think they look damn good.

Vist 32bit, 4gig ram, 2.4 dual core, 8600 GT.

Playing on Low for nearly everything for FPS increase.

[A Very Super Market]

Hender, probably low-medium

Pinxit, the units go like that all the time. I don't possibly see how you could view that as a problem, since I can barely ever zoom in on a unit without my flank collapsing.

[Leonhard]

Processor: 2.4 GHz Single Core Intel or AMD equivalent processor.


What would be the AMD equivalent of this processor? Tried to find answers on the internet, but couldn't find it.

[Polemists]

Lol I think at this rate we are going to need to change this thread to

What pc can I buy to best run Empire within my budget :laugh4:

[robpa]

Here is what I have, I dont experience much lag at all and I have unit Size on High:



Manufacturer:
BIOSTAR Group
Processor:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
Memory:
2046MB RAM
Hard Drive:
250 GB
Video Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT OC

[beatoangelico]

the game DOES support multithreading, at least dual core CPUs (I have an core duo 2 E8400). I don't know how this legend spread to the forums, but in battles I'm constanty around 60% of CPU occupation. Multicore support doesn't mean having the cpu at 100% occupation all time (even if it would be good, and some engines manages to do that).

If you fight a battle, then exit, restart, set the affinity for only one core in the taskbar (use alt + tab while in the main menu), and then re-fight the same battle, you should see a sensible loss of FPS.

I'd further say that, after you turn off that (badly implemented and as of now useless) SSAO rendering, the game becomes CPU bound for a lot of systems imho.

[pevergreen]

It says it works well on i7 cores, arent they quad cores?

[beatoangelico]

that's marketing gimmicks and probably not much else

intel pay developers to feature that logo and optimize their code for intel CPUs, and in return offer some help with their engineers, but since the engine was a work in progress for so long I really doubt they had the time to make advantage of the new quadcores

[Dalthius]

Well all I know is the game runs like CRAP. I'm running a Quad Core (see my stats page a few posts up), but I think a lot of my problems are due to my 7950 GTX.

I can't seem to find the proper balance with my resolution, either. 1920 x 1200 is just way too much for my crappy card to handle. I'm running somewhere around 1600 now, but I'm not happy with it. The game is certainly playable, but I have everything on low and it looks TERRIBLE. The campaign map still stutters slightly, the occassional video is almost unwatchable (duelling videos I can't watch, and the last video in the RtI campaign....but all the others are fine, weird), and every now and again I get lag in battles.

When I was toying with settings, the game looked GREAT on high but was just unplayable.

Other than sending the computer (laptop, Sager) back for a %^&*#$@ $900 upgrade or building a desktop, anybody have any recommendations for settings?

[beatoangelico]

you just happen to have one of those laptops with huge, high resolution screen and old (or crappy) video card. you have only to blame your system because it's really unbalanced, and either reduce drastically the resolution and live with it or save money to get a decent desktop.

[Dalthius]

I actually have the laptop connected to an external monitor. It's a great laptop (purchased as a desktop replacement) but unfortunately I bought it right before the DX10 cards came out. I was leaving for Iraq in a week and didn't have time to wait for the release, which means I have no one to blame but myself. It was hyped as a "modular" laptop, but they failed to mention that the mobo was NOT modular and I pretty much screwed myself. Only way to upgrade is to send it back, pay for a new mobo and new card.

Crap.

[AussieGiant]

Well all I know is the game runs like CRAP. I'm running a Quad Core (see my stats page a few posts up), but I think a lot of my problems are due to my 7950 GTX.

I can't seem to find the proper balance with my resolution, either. 1920 x 1200 is just way too much for my crappy card to handle. I'm running somewhere around 1600 now, but I'm not happy with it. The game is certainly playable, but I have everything on low and it looks TERRIBLE. The campaign map still stutters slightly, the occassional video is almost unwatchable (duelling videos I can't watch, and the last video in the RtI campaign....but all the others are fine, weird), and every now and again I get lag in battles.

When I was toying with settings, the game looked GREAT on high but was just unplayable.

Other than sending the computer (laptop, Sager) back for a %^&*#$@ $900 upgrade or building a desktop, anybody have any recommendations for settings?


Dalthius,

You are crushing that card of yours running this game on 1920x1200. What size monitor do you have?

You're about where you should be I'd say. You need a better GPU. The rest of you machine is great but the GPU is the single most important component when it comes to games these days and yours is 4 generations old. You can expect anything else I'm sorry.

The other option is to run at 1920x1200 drop everything down to low settings and then start with 2xAA and then begin with some of the check boxes like HRD, Hardware shadows etc etc.

You can pick up the latest cards for around 150 USD equivalent...my recommendation...do it. :beam:

[beatoangelico]

I actually have the laptop connected to an external monitor. It's a great laptop (purchased as a desktop replacement) but unfortunately I bought it right before the DX10 cards came out. I was leaving for Iraq in a week and didn't have time to wait for the release, which means I have no one to blame but myself. It was hyped as a "modular" laptop, but they failed to mention that the mobo was NOT modular and I pretty much screwed myself. Only way to upgrade is to send it back, pay for a new mobo and new card.

Crap.

well thanks for the explanation but that doesn't change much. Your video card can't support those resolutions with this game, maybe you can try something like 1440x900 but probably you'll still have problems. To be honest I don't know any laptop video card that can run recent games in 1900x1200, maybe only some SLI configuration, and anyway it would cost you really a lot.

[a-e]

My laptop is running the game on high/ultra at 1900x1200 and it just has one card

[Terry]

Everyone talks about maxing out the game, but for those of us who have to tweak the settings, I would interested in what order to turn up or down the settings. Which is the most intensive use of system resources etc...

Terry

[Potocello]

i am able to run it with the new 13" in macbook that has
2.0ghz core 2 duo
2 gigs RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB
Windows 7 beta

sure, it runs on low but it's definitely playable.

[Galain_Ironhide]

From what I have read I think my computer should be able to handle this. (Although still a while away from buying - M2TW is fine for now)

The only thing I am worried about is the processor. Can somebody please confirm that this may handle the game?

Operating System: Windows XP (Service Pack 3)
Processor: 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU ( I heard the Duo's are ok is this true?)
System Memory: 3.5GB Ram
Graphics Card: 640MB NVIDIA 8800GTS DirectX 9.0c
Plenty of free space on my hard drive ( over 230GB)

Cheers.

[A Very Super Market]

Yep, dual-cores are fine.

[beatoangelico]

Everyone talks about maxing out the game, but for those of us who have to tweak the settings, I would interested in what order to turn up or down the settings. Which is the most intensive use of system resources etc...

Terry

this is the official word from CA about this http://blogs.sega.com/totalwar/2009/03/05/empire-total-war-graphics-work-shop/

SSAO is by far the biggest FPS eater and the first thing to drop. I've had good success reducing of the grass and particle effects. The depth of field option is another one that can be turned off with little side effects.