Machine Spec

The images on total war.com are very nice and have a lot of detail. I assume that they are all from ingame shots and not hand draw single images.

Would it be possible for CA to let us know what spec machine these images have been produced on.

Its seem to me that once I upgrade my machine, usually at the point in-time that CA release a new game,that the new machine gives me far better results on my old game than my previous machine. MTW was a totally different game when I purchased my most recent machine, I could hardly believe the differences. Yet my previous machine was a quiet high spec machine in comparison to the spec detailed on the box.

It would be interesting to know what spec of machine this game is being developed on, tested on etc......

ie graphics card, memory, proc etc......

I would believe if your machine can run BF2 well at full settings, then it will run MTW2 well.

BF2 is the benchmark for machines running new games nowadays.

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Originally Posted by ShadesWolf

It would be interesting to know what spec of machine this game is being developed on, tested on etc......

ie graphics card, memory, proc etc......

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Well as far as the screenshots go i have no doubt theyre taken on an absolute top of the line system. Those screens represent the best that MTW2 can look (at this point in developement).

Although im sure MTW2 running on RTW-high equivalent settings will still look very impressive.

I agree, the screen have probaly been produced on the same cray computers that they made Decisive Battles on.

While they claim the any computer you can run rome well on can handle M2TW, I will definately be upgrading lest my motherboard explode when the gothic knights enter the field.

What interests me is what is the make up of the battles ! Are they 1v1 on full unit size ie Huge.

Or are they 3v3 armies and therefore how does the machine respond to the battles. I have played the demo of BF2 on full settings and on line and my machine responds well to it. So in theory I should have no problems with MTW2. But I would still like to know the spec these are tested on.

I am one of the poor slobs that will have to upgrade my machine to run MTW 2, for me the timing will be very good as next year after the hollidays I was going to upgrade.

However my intemtion was to go with a lap top, so any info on specs would be appreciated, info on lap top compatability would be appreciated as well.

Well at least it's only a small hop rather than a slam dunk leap like in RTW.

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Originally Posted by Odin

However my intemtion was to go with a lap top, so any info on specs would be appreciated, info on lap top compatability would be appreciated as well.

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IMHO I would suggest that you dont go with a laptop and stick with a desktop for your games. Unless u intend to keep upgrading the laptop to the next best machine every year or so.

Dependant on how your money situation is buy a cheap laptop to use as a laptop and then have a good spec PC that u plays your games on, for the next few years all u will need to do is add memory and change the graphics card.

Im onto my third laptop in the past 5 years and as far as im concerned the outlay is just not worth it for games. Whereas my PC is 24 months old and all ive had to do is get a cheap new graphics card.

I'd recommend against a laptop also, unless you're in a situation where you're going to be moving around frequently, like college, or a job involving tons of travel.

My daughter-in-law just got a high-end "gaming" laptop from Voodoo. It's a screamer, but it's also huge, heavy, and runs pretty hot. It makes sense for her because she's still in school, currently studying in Japan (post-grad video game design, of all things), and she can't drag around a desktop setup. But for anything short of that situation, I think desktop gaming boxes make more sense.

The bang-for-buck ratio is usually much better, too. That Voodoo laptop was pricey, and you can't assemble a reasonable cost gaming box from parts, like you can with a desktop. Any laptop that's a capable gaming platform for something like MTW2 is going to be expensive, big, and heavy. But like I said, it may make sense for people who do travel frequently, or don't have a permanent home base for a desktop rig.

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Originally Posted by ShadesWolf

The images on total war.com are very nice and have a lot of detail. I assume that they are all from ingame shots and not hand draw single images.

Would it be possible for CA to let us know what spec machine these images have been produced on.

Its seem to me that once I upgrade my machine, usually at the point in-time that CA release a new game,that the new machine gives me far better results on my old game than my previous machine. MTW was a totally different game when I purchased my most recent machine, I could hardly believe the differences. Yet my previous machine was a quiet high spec machine in comparison to the spec detailed on the box.

It would be interesting to know what spec of machine this game is being developed on, tested on etc......

ie graphics card, memory, proc etc......

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I imagine it's being tested on a server, maybe a HP server. And really, all what matters is RAM (Me thinks), and those servers can have 20 Gs of RAM, and even more..

@Shadeswolf and Zenicetus

Thanks for the advice. I have heard from a lot of people that Lap tops have issues running high end games. Financially I certainly can get more for my buck buying a desk top, however I have two issues that play into this. The first is my family is growing and I am running out of room, my kids are going to take up my "parlor" soon and dad gets a small closet after that :)

Next is I need to be more mobile for work, and a Lap Top will allow me time to work at home, my thought was to combine those needs with the ability to play the limited games that I do. MTW2 (barring disaster from CA) is a definate buy for me down the line.

I looked at a few of the Dell high end Lap Tops that were made for gaming, and I think I read Dell bought alienware as well. So I need to run a microsoft suite, and my 3d games on one machine. I have about 2000.00 american to spend.

I can get a functional desk top, with good specs for 1000.00, but sacrafice mobilitty. So the real question for me is, can I run Word, Excel, and a 3d game like MTW on a laptop for 2000.00 for 18-24 months (the desired life of the lap top) ? I have never owned a lap top, so I dont know how they perform at all.

I think yes you can. Though, you might want to not use the battery a lot..

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Originally Posted by Odin

@Shadeswolf and Zenicetus

Thanks for the advice. I have heard from a lot of people that Lap tops have issues running high end games.

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Well, that's basically just another way of saying that when comparing a laptop to a desktop at the same price point, the desktop will usually blow away the laptop in game performance. However, if you have money to burn, you can get a purpose-built gaming laptop that can rival just about any desktop system. My daughter in-law's Voodoo PC is a screamer, and it easily keeps up with my Alienware desktop gaming machine. But it's also a $5,000 laptop. And in a year or two, my Alienware desktop rig will beat it, because I can more easily upgrade the graphics with a next gen video card. In fact I could do that now, just by adding a second graphics card on my SLI buss.

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Financially I certainly can get more for my buck buying a desk top, however I have two issues that play into this. The first is my family is growing and I am running out of room, my kids are going to take up my "parlor" soon and dad gets a small closet after that :)

Next is I need to be more mobile for work, and a Lap Top will allow me time to work at home, my thought was to combine those needs with the ability to play the limited games that I do. MTW2 (barring disaster from CA) is a definate buy for me down the line.

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I can see the rationale for a laptop, but do you really want to commute with one of the larger and heavier laptops that are best for gaming? A true gaming laptop is a beast to haul around... it almost defeats the purpose. If it were me, I'd put as much money as I could into a decent desktop gaming machine, and then get the cheapest possible, very lightweight laptop for commuting and working at home. Maybe even a used one. Most business applications don't need a powerful laptop. In fact, you might consider just getting a tiny USB thumbdrive, and use that to carry files home to work on? This is assuming you already have a computer at your workplace.

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I looked at a few of the Dell high end Lap Tops that were made for gaming, and I think I read Dell bought alienware as well. So I need to run a microsoft suite, and my 3d games on one machine. I have about 2000.00 american to spend.

I can get a functional desk top, with good specs for 1000.00, but sacrafice mobilitty. So the real question for me is, can I run Word, Excel, and a 3d game like MTW on a laptop for 2000.00 for 18-24 months (the desired life of the lap top) ? I have never owned a lap top, so I dont know how they perform at all.

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A $2k USD laptop will run Word and Excel just fine, but you're not going to get a great laptop for gaming at that price. I think you'd be much better off spending this on a desktop computer. Don't get the fastest processor... buy a few steps down on processor speed, sink money into ram (2 gigs if possible) and get a hot graphics card. If your budget was closer to $3k-$4k, I'd say you could start thinking about a gaming laptop from Alienware or Voodoo, or one of the more powerful Dells.

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Originally Posted by Zenicetus

A $2k USD laptop will run Word and Excel just fine, but you're not going to get a great laptop for gaming at that price. I think you'd be much better off spending this on a desktop computer. Don't get the fastest processor... buy a few steps down on processor speed, sink money into ram (2 gigs if possible) and get a hot graphics card. If your budget was closer to $3k-$4k, I'd say you could start thinking about a gaming laptop from Alienware or Voodoo, or one of the more powerful Dells.

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Thanks again for all the advice I appreciate it.

2K USD is a max number I have to spend on a new rig, or rigs. The Lap top desire is predicated on an approach to get the maximum impact from my mext computer purchase. That said, it seems from all the input I am getting the lap top I would require would be far out of my price range, and run counter to my desire for portability.

I will still look into some of the Dell's, you can get a decent lap top for 2k that should be able to handle the load. Thinking about it a bit more, Approx 65-70% of my PC usage is for business usage, IE letters and spread sheets. The other 35-30 % consists of some home applications (quicken, turbo tax...) so really I use my PC about 10-25% of the time for games. Sadly the games I want to play are graphics intensive so I am kind of caught with how to spend my cash. On the one hand the 65-70% work need is important, but has less value to me then the games played.

Thanks again for all the imput, at the end of the day, a desk top gets me all that I want (except portability) for the lesser amount of cash.