Ideal Graphics Cards for RTW

[Woad Warrior]

I was having a look at a Hardware Guide over at the Total War Center. Apparently, a GeForce 6200 Graphics Card is for the "Ultra Low End" section of gamers.

On my computer with its in-built graphics card, end-turns on EB take half and hour. So, I've ordered a GeForce 6600 Graphics Card. Is this still a very basic graphics card, or will it be capable of running RTW smoothly on medium settings?

Also, I've ordered 2x 1GB 400Hz RAM to replace my current 256MB RAM, will that help?

[hoom]

That should be a big improvement, 6600 & 2GB ram is much better than integrated anything & 256mb ram.
Possibly a bit overkill on the RAM though, whats your CPU?

[orangat]

I was having a look at a Hardware Guide over at the Total War Center. Apparently, a GeForce 6200 Graphics Card is for the "Ultra Low End" section of gamers.

On my computer with its in-built graphics card, end-turns on EB take half and hour. So, I've ordered a GeForce 6600 Graphics Card. Is this still a very basic graphics card, or will it be capable of running RTW smoothly on medium settings?

Also, I've ordered 2x 1GB 400Hz RAM to replace my current 256MB RAM, will that help?

RTW is quite cpu limited so there is only so much a video card upgrade can do. In your case of half hour rounds, it sounds like _any_ upgrade would be a phenomenal improvement.

If you're spending around $100 for a 6600, you might as well get a 6600gt or better yet get a x850xt for the same price. If you have a pcie interface, get the 7600gs.

[Woad Warrior]

My computer has an Intel Pentium 4 Processor 515, so will the graphics card and RAM make a big difference when playing RTW, and will the processor allow these to be used to their full advantage?

BTW, I spend £75 on the GeForce 6600 Graphics Card and £65 on the RAM.

[hoom]

P4 515 =2.9ghz?
Then that should be good, how ever did you get a 3ghz CPU with only 256mb ram
You would have been having massive page file thrashing with 256mb, this will now be reversed with 2GB such that almost the whole time, about 3/4 will be completely unused (this is much faster :) )

[Beirut]

Same opinion as always; stick with a Gig of RAM for now and use the cash saved towards a better video card.

Mind you, if you already ordered the RAM, it will absolutely help and you won't have to upgrade that part of your system for a long time.

[x-dANGEr]

You will think you bought a new computer..

[Woad Warrior]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

@ hoom, thats how my computer came, with the P4 515 Processor and 256MB RAM. Is my processor actually quite good then? I was told it was pretty crap, and it was a fairly cheap computer, around £600 I think.

[hoom]

Well, yeah its a P4 but at 3ghz its not that bad.
That 256mb ram will have been your main bottleneck, then the 6200 so you've upgraded the right bits

[The Spartan (Returns)]

Lucky man. im stuck with my Intel 96 MB graphic card.

[hoom]

<shudder>

[The Spartan (Returns)]

well its not that bad. i cant put the graphics on high (a bit no grass) on large but i will still have little lag or lag.