Can this computer run RTW:BI & M2TW?

[PelicanMan]

Hey Guys,

Here's the skinny.
I'm married. 2 Kids (very young). I work 55 hrs a week. So this cancels out learning how to build a computer.

My question is this:
Can Medieval 2 Total war run on the new Alienware X51 basic setup or your recommendations to have all the highest settings?
Same goes with RTW - EB

link - http://www.dell.com/ca/p/alienware-x51/fs

I basically do not have the time to even play much (maybe twice a week), but I do want to enjoy it while I do get to play once in a while. My current computer barely runs it with horrible lag and I have dealt with it for a long time. I really do not want to hear that I should build a computer and save money. The time I spend learning (literally from scratch) how to build a computer will end up costing me theoretically much more then the PC itself. So please, give me a honest answer and keep in mind I do not want to build one.

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks everybody!!!

THE P-MAN

[rickinator9]

Although I am not a computer expert, that PC will easily run the games fast and beautifully. I am able to with a worse pc so... You might run into some troubles with the newer Operating systems(Win7/Vista) though. You will have to hear that from other peeps.

[vartan]

Hi P-MAN. You're the fellow who has been posting his campaigns recently, right? I really enjoyed those! As for your question... I followed the link you provided and the page showed me four computers called X51. Are you referring to the least expensive one that runs on an i3 processor, with 4GB RAM, and 1TB hard drive? If so, I have reason to believe you will run the game just fine. I've never used this X51, so I'll just go by specs and compare it with my computer.

I run EB on a laptop that has a Core 2 processor (antecedent to the i3). I too have 4GB RAM, but the RAM on this X51 can only be faster (my computer is two years old). The HDD is standard and you shouldn't have problems with it. All that remains to speak of is the video card that will render EB's graphics. To get an idea for relative performance of video cards, I check a benchmark repository (http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/). I see that my Mobility Radeon HD 4650 video card has a performance rating (G3D) of 522 (higher is better). The video card on the lowest-end X51 is a GeForce GT 545. That has a benchmark rating of 1207.

I don't have skipped frames when I play EB. It has been a while, so I don't recall if the frame rate is locked at 30 or if it runs as high as 60 (or if there is no lock). I can't remember (probably because I'm sick and have a headache). But even when recording videos of gameplay I would not skip frames. So presumably, from the standpoint of technical specifications, if I'm getting such a smooth frame rate so as not to have any sort of lag, imagine how this X51 machine would run the game. I'm led to believe it would be a good experience.

Best of luck P-MAN.

[PelicanMan]

Hey Vartan.
I'm happy to know that you enjoy my campaigns. I plan on getting much more in depth with good descriptions and similar like campaign plans and battle plans. I always like to hear input; helps me improve. I plan on updating the SABA campaign as soon as I can get on it (real life is quite busy).

Anyways, I also am looking at the third tier one upgraded to 8gb ram and the GeForce GT 555. I kind of assumed that RTW would run fine. My main concern will be when EBII comes out and it will not run so well on that computer. I think I am going to go with the third tier, I just want to make sure. Do you run M2TW decently on your rig?

THE P-MAN

[vartan]

Anyways, I also am looking at the third tier one upgraded to 8gb ram and the GeForce GT 555. I kind of assumed that RTW would run fine. My main concern will be when EBII comes out and it will not run so well on that computer. I think I am going to go with the third tier, I just want to make sure. Do you run M2TW decently on your rig?

THE P-MAN

I anticipated that question as I was reading that paragraph! Yes! I have run M2TW (and Kingdoms expansion) and several mods (including Third Age Total War and Stainless Steel) very smoothly on medium-high settings.

[ulpinus]

Actually MTVii with any mods I tried runs smoother on my computer than EB. Practically no loading screens, CTDs or start-up time compared to EB. So I hope EBii will work similarly.

[Intranetusa]

If you want to purchase a Digital Storm, Ibuypower, and Cyberpower offers far more options that are better and cheaper than Dell Alienware. Their PCs are much more customizable.

ie. http://www.digitalstormonline.com/