Compiling minimum & recommended system requirements for EB: post PC specs!

[Aemilius Paulus]

1. System specifications:

* CPU: AMD Athlon X2 3800+ (64bit) - 2.0 GHz
* RAM:960 MB
* Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE
* OS: Windows XP 32bit
* Monitor resolution: ?

2. RTW settings:

* The highest possible in every category. I play on Large Unit Size though. Mainly because anything less than 80 men in an average infantry unit is too little and 160 men in an average infantry unit with 240 men in a large infantry unit is simply too much for those narrow streets in the siege battles, which are the most common type

3. Ballpark figures:

* Turns take: no more than 1 minute with EB v1.1, script enabled and no mods
* Loading game: 4-8 minutes.
* Loading saves: ~ 1 minute.
* Activating the script: 2-10 seconds.
* Navigating on the campaign map: smooth except when viewing the northern regions (mostly Germania) with all of those trees.
* Navigating on the battle map: very smooth
* Transitioning to/from event cut scenes (general fallen, etc.): very choppy, freezing up for as much as 10 seconds at times.
* Stability: Perfect. I almost never have any CTDs and I keep EB running for as much as a week straight. The only ones I get are all of the same type: my graphics card gets stuck
* Running other programs in the background (using the -ne switch): no problems, can easily switch back and forth, but a switch takes 10-30 seconds.

4. System oddities (inexplicable settings which improve system stability/performance)

* For some reason, my EB began running exceptionally fast after a month of use. I guess my computer just got used to it . Anyway, my turns are incredibly fast, and my battle performance is splendid. All this on a really crappy desktop. I simply don't know why my performance is so fast! I frequently heard other people complain about slow performance on computers many times better than mine.

5. EB rating: 'smooth'.


I just bought a 4 GB RAM, 500 GB Hardrive, and 3 GHz custom-built desktop for $400 USD though, and I have not had time to try it out yet as I still lack a monitor for it. I guess I'll use it for Empires:TW .