COH: Europe In Ruins

So, Shogun 2 releases on the 15th March. I'm in a different part of Canada away from home. I get back on the 17th and Shogun 2 will destroy my current computer while eating wheaties and laughing.

Lets say for theoretical purposes that I've got $1500-$2000 to Either build(takes longer) or buy a computer which can run the game with no issues. I don't have the time or the internet to browse myself soI'm asking you-the community- for assistance and suggestions.

I have not had to upgrade my home computer in a while because I play EiR and other less graphically intense games. In the past I've sided with ATI cards but I'm been out of the loop for too long I don't know whats good and cost effective.


Suggestions on an entire machine would be greatly appreciated but I will take suggestions on singular parts too.

Minimum Specs (Required for playing Total War: Shogun 2):

- 2 GHz Intel Dual Core processor / 2.6 GHz Intel Single Core processor , or AMD equivalent (with SSE2)
- 1GB RAM (XP), 2GB RAM (Vista / Windows7)
- 256 MB DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card (shader model 3)
- 1024x768 minimum screen resolution
- 20GB free hard disk space


Recommended Specs (Recommended for optimum game play of Total War: Shogun 2):

- 2nd Generation Intel® Core™i5 processor (or greater), or AMD equivalent
- 2GB RAM (XP), 4GB RAM (Vista / Windows7)
- AMD Radeon HD 5000 and 6000 series graphics cards or equivalent DirectX 11 compatible graphics card
- 1280x1024 minimum screen resolution
- 20GB free hard disk space

I beat the minimum req. by a small margin I did for Empire too but it was ugly as sin to play and slow to load.

I would go with amd and ati. Why because you will be able to upgrade multiple times while using the same motherboard. It is also very cost effective compared to intel. Sure intels chips r faster right now but you can get a kick ass amd chip for half the cost of an intel one.

AMD phenom II x6 1100T black edition thuban 3.3ghz: $229.99

GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX
HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard:         $134.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB)
240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666):             $46.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 /
EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready
Active PFC Power Supply:                                               $139.99


XFX HD-695A-CNFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit
 GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready
CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity:               $289.99
 
I personaly own the card above and its awesome. This set up would rock everything for the next 2 years and beyond that you could always get another 6950 to crossfire. Plus the fact that amd always makes their new chips backwards compatible with the last cpu socket and sometimes with the last two cpu sockets. I didn't list a case but you would need a full tower to fit the graphics card in because it's huge. Also i figured you would be using your old hard drives but  if not they are not expensive unless you plan on going with an ssd. When it comes time again to upgrade my system i will be ditching intell for amd because it is a waaaayyy better value. You could also go with the top of the line amd card but its like 700 bucks and you could blow it away by using two 6950's in crossfire.

Wow, great work Jodomar. I'll check these out first when I get home and see what I can do. If those prices are correct I could easily buy that with the money in my back pocket

Been using the i5-2500k from intel for a month now and I gotta say AMD can't match it.

And the $100 difference to step up to the i7-2600k to enable hyperthreading didn't appeal to me but if ya do a lot of video work it would be great for ya.

And I also have the 2gb XFX 6950 :) Awesome card.

Yea, I'm with Wild on this.  The i5-2500k is way better than the AMD x6.  Here is some reference.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/15

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=203
i5 2500k vs AMD Phenom II X6 1100T BE.

Plus, the i5-2500k is 10 dollars cheaper at 219 than the AMD Phenom II X6.   ;)

Happy building!

Almost every part in my area is cheaper then I expected.

No interest in an SSD, everyone I know who has one has had it fail on them.

The i5-2500k is $60 moreexpensive then the x6 where I live. but I've only checked a few places. I've had issues with AMD cards overheating in the past

I would go with the X6 for a couple reasons, i have never had a problem with AMD.

ATI cards are designed with AMD in mind and sync perfectly together.

Nvidia's patching process can be quite fail at times, especially with 'older' games (hence the pro-ati choice)

No you won't; the currently introduced am3+ sockets are a dead end the followers to bulldozer (next gen cpu wich will need am3+ socket) will need a new socket again

it was the case in the past of am2+ socket that was upgradeable to current phenomII cpus



the phenomII cpus have a very bad IPC (instructions per clock) and multiple cores are useless when 99% of software especially games have trouble to even use more than 2 cores

i would recommend the sandy bridge i5-2500 (if your not going to overclock) or the i5-2500k (if you want to overclock)

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i5-2500-2400-2300_7.html#sect0

as graphics card i would recommend the nvidia GTX560 (that good deal for the bucks) or the GTX570

if poor graphic graphic quality like flickering because of bad texture filtering no physX support and bad drivers doesn't hurt you you could get the ati 6870

i recommend to stay away from multi GPU like xfire because of micro lags and the need for driver profile fixes for games to support it

i already have gotten screwed by intell once and it will not happen again. I love my amd card way better then my nvidia. The fact is nvidia cards/mobo's run on the hot side of life and tend to overheat, plus their cards use up more power. It comes down to preference and if you plan to overclock but i'm staying away from intel for now on. It's easier and safer to overclock an amd chip/gpu then it is it's intel counterpart. The fact that you can take most dual core chips n unlock them to quad cores is pretty awesome. You can even unlock the 6950 into a 6970 for now. I haven't really been reading whats going on in the world of chips lately so if they r building a new architecture that will not utilize am3 socket then that does kind of blow. But I bet you that new architecture will support the next 3 generations of amd chips unlike shittell which usually changes every year. My rage comes from purchasing the core 2 duo with upgrading in the furture in minc. When it came time to upgrade I purchased a quadcore with the same socket as my motherboard only to find out that it really isn't the same socket because they changed it every so slightly without really telling anyone, while keeping it the same socket number. So i had to buy a complete new motherboard which really pissed me off. I'll be good for another 2 years but i'll defenitly be going with amd when the time comes.

wait you love your computerparts?

reminds me to

(http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/917/monitorjerk.png)

 ::) ??? :-\

teeheee my computer is gonna om nom nom on shogun 2

AMD is great, cause as mentioned cheap and really good at the same time.. Intel 7 is just some overpriced bs.

Phenom II looks nice i intend to buy the same.

And please dont go ATi, nVidia kicks ass.