RTW video card requirement

[Cebei]

Do you think RTW can work on a 64mb video card or do I have to have a 128mb?

[ah_dut]

I should think 64 MB would be all right on lower graphical settings, but get a 128 MB card to witness RTW in it's (historically inaccurate) glory http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif

[Trax]

Minimum requirement will be 16MB as one of the developers said in a recent interview.

[bighairyman]

i don't have a graphic card, i ahve intel extreme graphics. and it has up to 48MB. Do you think RTW will work on my PC? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif

[Spino]

Quote[/b] (bighairyman @ June 14 2004,14:45)]i don't have a graphic card, i ahve intel extreme graphics. and it has up to 48MB. Do you think RTW will work on my PC? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif
I am unaware of the capabilities of your Intel graphics chip (I assume it is integrated into your motherboard?) but I think it is safe to say it is not a good 3D gaming chip. Generally speaking the only decent onboard 3D chips on the market are made by Nvidia or ATI. I am guessing that the 48megs of available ram is shared with the system memory. In this situation your system's performance will compare poorly to systems equipped with 3D video cards with onboard, dedicated higher speed video ram. To be quite honest I think you will be sorely disappointed with the performance of RTW on your system. If you could give me a few more details about your system then I might be able to better answer your question. A good place to start is to tell us how well your system runs Medieval Total War and what resolution do you use when you play it? When did you buy your system? What brand is the motherboard? Does the motherboard have an AGP slot? If your motherboard does have an available AGP slot then you can upgrade to a reasonably priced current generation 3D card that will run RTW wonderfully smooth. Give us lots of details.


Quote[/b] ]Do you think RTW can work on a 64mb video card or do I have to have a 128mb?

I think a 64 meg video card should be ok. If it is a GeForce3/Radeon 8500 level card or better you should be fine. What is your processor?

[Vanya]

GAH

Vanya got MTW to work once on a pc with one of them "integrated" thingies and using an old monochrome monitor

That chirping 286 never had it so good Sure it had like 1 frame per day... but when youz have eternity on your side, what's a "day" really?

GAH

[Cebei]

Quote[/b] ]I think a 64 meg video card should be ok. If it is a GeForce3/Radeon 8500 level card or better you should be fine. What is your processor?

The department is renewing the computer systems, and thank god, I will also be getting a new laptop. They asked me to specify a system, so (as RTW will be the only thing I will ever play) I will give them the system requirements of RTW http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

So what kind of a system would run RTW smoothly?

[bighairyman]

Quote[/b] (Spino @ June 14 2004,16:01)]
Quote[/b] (bighairyman @ June 14 2004,14:45)]i don't have a graphic card, i ahve intel extreme graphics. and it has up to 48MB. Do you think RTW will work on my PC? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif
I am unaware of the capabilities of your Intel graphics chip (I assume it is integrated into your motherboard?) but I think it is safe to say it is not a good 3D gaming chip. Generally speaking the only decent onboard 3D chips on the market are made by Nvidia or ATI. I am guessing that the 48megs of available ram is shared with the system memory. In this situation your system's performance will compare poorly to systems equipped with 3D video cards with onboard, dedicated higher speed video ram. To be quite honest I think you will be sorely disappointed with the performance of RTW on your system. If you could give me a few more details about your system then I might be able to better answer your question. A good place to start is to tell us how well your system runs Medieval Total War and what resolution do you use when you play it? When did you buy your system? What brand is the motherboard? Does the motherboard have an AGP slot? If your motherboard does have an available AGP slot then you can upgrade to a reasonably priced current generation 3D card that will run RTW wonderfully smooth. Give us lots of details.


Quote[/b] ]Do you think RTW can work on a 64mb video card or do I have to have a 128mb?

I think a 64 meg video card should be ok. If it is a GeForce3/Radeon 8500 level card or better you should be fine. What is your processor?
Well it's a HP pavilion 752n. I bought last october before last october. It has 2.0Ghz. 512MB of DDRSDRAM, 60 GB. and cd-rw. I have no clue about my motherboard. basically i'm hardware illiterate. btw. i run Mtw in map, 800x. but it's 1200something X on the battlefield, and i play with huge units, and it runs very smoothly. Any more help will be appreciated. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-book2.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/medievalcheers.gif

[Nelson]

Unless folks are comfortable with low res graphics and small units, I think that there will be some disappointed people around here when Rome runs like a slide show during a big battle. I still believe that the game will want at least a 2.5ghz CPU and a Radeon 9800 PRO or equivalent to look good at 1024x768 with the largest units. I hope I am mistaken but I don’t see how anything like the movies we’ve seen will demand less. In Medieval, my Athlon 2000XP with a GeForce4 is not satin smooth at 1024x768 and huge units when the armies are maxed out at 16+. R:TW will surely be slower yet. I have no doubt that I will need to upgrade for Rome to play it the way I want.

[hoom]

I think a 9800pro will only really be necessary for resolutions > 1280 & running with everything maxed + AA/AF.
I expect 1280 should be fine on a gf4 4200 or 9600pro etc possibly with a bit less detail but hardly noticeable.
But yeah, those with older cards are likely to need to run with less detail & smaller units.

I don't think performance of Medieval tells you much at all about performance with Rome since there is such a huge difference between a sprite based engine & a fully 3d engine.
For example, I fully expect Rome to run much better on my 9800non pro because radeons are somewhat weak on sprites but plenty powerful at 3d.

[Spino]

Quote[/b] (Cebei @ June 14 2004,20:25)]
Quote[/b] ]I think a 64 meg video card should be ok. If it is a GeForce3/Radeon 8500 level card or better you should be fine. What is your processor?

The department is renewing the computer systems, and thank god, I will also be getting a new laptop. They asked me to specify a system, so (as RTW will be the only thing I will ever play) I will give them the system requirements of RTW http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

So what kind of a system would run RTW smoothly?
Consider a 1.5Ghz P4 or Athlon XP 1500 to be the absolute minimum spec. Shoot for a 2Ghz processor if you can. No less than 512megs of system ram. Since you're getting a laptop try and persuade your department to get you one equipped with ATI's mobile version of the 9600 or 9700 chips. They offer shockingly good performance for mobile chips, so good that they are comparable to their desktop counterparts. Good luck pulling it off... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif


Quote[/b] ]Well it's a HP pavilion 752n. I bought last october before last october. It has 2.0Ghz. 512MB of DDRSDRAM, 60 GB. and cd-rw. I have no clue about my motherboard. basically i'm hardware illiterate. btw. i run Mtw in map, 800x. but it's 1200something X on the battlefield, and i play with huge units, and it runs very smoothly. Any more help will be appreciated.

Well that is good news. Your processor, system ram and hard drive are good to go. Being that you can run Medieval's tactical battles at 1280x1024(?) I think you might be ok. The thing that worries me is that Medieval's tactical battles are chock full of 2D animated sprites, not 3D animated polygons. This means Medieval's performance may not be the best measure of your 3D chip's abilities. Anyway, the best thing to do is wait until RTW is released and then try it out on your system. If you're unhappy with the performance then you're sure to get a great deal on the mid-low priced versions of the current state of the art 3D chips which are sure to be out by September (provided, of course, your system has an available agp slot).

[SpencerH]

Quote[/b] (Spino @ June 15 2004,22:11)]Anyway, the best thing to do is wait until RTW is released and then try it out on your system. If you're unhappy with the performance then you're sure to get a great deal on the mid-low priced versions of the current state of the art 3D chips which are sure to be out by September (provided, of course, your system has an available agp slot).
Good advice, especially since I was just about to say the same thing. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[ah_dut]

I think that, there needs to be at least 2 GHZ and 512mb ram.

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

Quote[/b] (Vanya @ June 14 2004,17:57)]GAH

Vanya got MTW to work once on a pc with one of them "integrated" thingies and using an old monochrome monitor

That chirping 286 never had it so good Sure it had like 1 frame per day... but when youz have eternity on your side, what's a "day" really?

GAH
ROTFL http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-laugh4.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif

[Xiphias]

Quote[/b] (Spino @ June 16 2004,04:11)]
Quote[/b] (Cebei @ June 14 2004,20:25)]So what kind of a system would run RTW smoothly?
Consider a 1.5Ghz P4 or Athlon XP 1500 to be the absolute minimum spec. Shoot for a 2Ghz processor if you can. No less than 512megs of system ram. Since you're getting a laptop try and persuade your department to get you one equipped with ATI's mobile version of the 9600 or 9700 chips. They offer shockingly good performance for mobile chips, so good that they are comparable to their desktop counterparts. Good luck pulling it off... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif
I beleive the 1.x Ghz Mobile Pentiums are pretty powerful too. There isn't actually a mobile version of the 9700. The mobile chip bearing the 9700 label is actually based on the mobile 9600. It's still fast though.

As to the original question the best 64mb card is several times faster than the worst. The amount of memory, while important for storing the pretty pictures doesn't tell you whether a card can draw then fast enough.

[bighairyman]

Quote[/b] ]Well that is good news. Your processor, system ram and hard drive are good to go. Being that you can run Medieval's tactical battles at 1280x1024(?) I think you might be ok. The thing that worries me is that Medieval's tactical battles are chock full of 2D animated sprites, not 3D animated polygons. This means Medieval's performance may not be the best measure of your 3D chip's abilities. Anyway, the best thing to do is wait until RTW is released and then try it out on your system. If you're unhappy with the performance then you're sure to get a great deal on the mid-low priced versions of the current state of the art 3D chips which are sure to be out by September (provided, of course, your system has an available agp slot).

Ok, i counted my money yesterday, i had $110. i presume RTW will be around $40 to $50. So that leaves $60-$70 for a graphic card. What is the best graphic card i can buy with that money. And um, where do i look to see if i have a AGP slot. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-oops.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-help.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-help.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shogunshame.gif

[MR EGG]

AMD64 3000+ with 9200 se should be enough http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

Quote[/b] (MR EGG @ June 19 2004,17:06)]AMD64 3000+ with 9200 se should be enough http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
Maybe a 9600 would be preferable...

[Spino]

Quote[/b] (bighairyman @ June 18 2004,10:15)]
Quote[/b] ]Well that is good news. Your processor, system ram and hard drive are good to go. Being that you can run Medieval's tactical battles at 1280x1024(?) I think you might be ok. The thing that worries me is that Medieval's tactical battles are chock full of 2D animated sprites, not 3D animated polygons. This means Medieval's performance may not be the best measure of your 3D chip's abilities. Anyway, the best thing to do is wait until RTW is released and then try it out on your system. If you're unhappy with the performance then you're sure to get a great deal on the mid-low priced versions of the current state of the art 3D chips which are sure to be out by September (provided, of course, your system has an available agp slot).

Ok, i counted my money yesterday, i had $110. i presume RTW will be around $40 to $50. So that leaves $60-$70 for a graphic card. What is the best graphic card i can buy with that money. And um, where do i look to see if i have a AGP slot. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-oops.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-help.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-help.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shogunshame.gif
Well since you won't need to buy a new 3D card for another three months I must assume you will have more than $110 saved when the time comes to upgrade.

Check your user manual to see if you have an available AGP slot for expansion purposes. If not then you'll have to buy a new motherboard.


Quote[/b] ]Quote (MR EGG @ June 19 2004,17:06)
AMD64 3000+ with 9200 se should be enough

Maybe a 9600 would be preferable...

Exactly. Do NOT consider anything less than a 9600Pro or 9600 XT. In fact you might want to look into the newest X600 Pro and X600 XT cards now that they're hitting the market.

[bighairyman]

Will some cards under $100 work? i really can't afford much more than that, cause i'm getting a car. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/angry.gif

[hoom]

Quote[/b] ]you might want to look into the newest X600 Pro and X600 XT cards now that they're hitting the market. But only if you've got a PCI Express motherboard http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif