Advice for updating my PC for Total War?

[GRAVE]

My PC has clocked on quite a few years now. It has served me well enough with many games, however the Total War franchise has been my favourite, but arguably the most strenuous for my PC to handle.

It has reached a point where I believe I either need to update my specs or possibly go out my way to buy a whole new one, but I am unsure which is more applicable/financially smart.

I would ideally like to run the more modern Total War games (Warhammer) on high settings, but nothing too fancy. I don’t require everything to be perfect.

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on some new specs that I could implement to my current PC, or even a new PC in general?


(Please don’t laugh, but these are my current specs…)



Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six-Core Processor, 3400 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM): 8.00 GB
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
Drive: SSD

[Jack Greedy]

Get 32gb of fast ram, and maybe a faster gpu like 3000 series or something.

[TheAlmightyProo]

No laughing here, we've all been there.

What resolution are you thinking? Budget etc?

You can do a lot better for not too much if you're willing to go last (RDNA2/Ampere) gen etc.

[Count von Bunnyhopven]

Those specs are pretty bad, not gonna lie. If you can wait a bit I would sit by a couple of months until the RX 7600 and RTX 4060 releases and then try to buy an entirely new computer with one of those cards already installed. Nothing in your current rig is worth salvaging tbh.

You should also make sure that you have at least 16 gig memory in the new computer and a reasonably new processor.

[chickabumpbump]

a 3060 would be enough for the total war games really.

Despite you saying you dont need anything fancy, be prepared for people to suggest 4090 ti super ultra editions and DDR5 Ram thats faster than light. I have been in your position lol

[GRAVE]

Originally posted by TheAlmightyProo:

No laughing here, we've all been there.

What resolution are you thinking? Budget etc?

You can do a lot better for not too much if you're willing to go last (RDNA2/Ampere) gen etc.

Lets say I have no budget, but cheaper the better...

[Count von Bunnyhopven]

Originally posted by DaddyChill:

Originally posted by TheAlmightyProo:

No laughing here, we've all been there.

What resolution are you thinking? Budget etc?

You can do a lot better for not too much if you're willing to go last (RDNA2/Ampere) gen etc.

Lets say I have no budget, but cheaper the better...

You should probably spring for the -60 -600 classes of GPUs if you are on a budget. If only because the RTX 3050 was so terrible that is not worth the cost even cheap as it is. And the newer version has not even been anounced yet so I have little hope for it.

Alternatively, the Intel A750 only cost about $250 and will beat all its competition at that price point. Sometimes. The drivers are terrible so you'll be taking a big gamble with how it performs in different games.

[Longman]

I've bought 5600X since at the time it was outperforming even 5950X in TW games. Here's a link to gamernexus video on that: https://youtu.be/01EhbmJAW-k?t=501 Haven't had an issue with this CPU and I'm quite happy with it. I did invest in a proper cooler though, Noctua-DH15S.

GPU wise, it's dependent on the resolution you're playing at. As others said, 3060-3070 should be more than enough at 1080p at the very least. RAM-wise, 16GB DDR4 is something you should be looking at as the bottomline.

[diogoqv83]

you shouldnt buy new hardware just to play this ♥♥♥♥. It will crash and put your new equipment in risc.

[kekkuli]

Originally posted by diogoqv83:

you shouldnt buy new hardware just to play this ♥♥♥♥. It will crash and put your new equipment in risc.

Have to agree, after 3.0 my gpu started running hot AF when playing this game, even though i'm limiting to 60 fps. Didn't happen before 3.0.

[GRAVE]

Originally posted by Count von Bunnyhopven:

Originally posted by DaddyChill:

Lets say I have no budget, but cheaper the better...

You should probably spring for the -60 -600 classes of GPUs if you are on a budget. If only because the RTX 3050 was so terrible that is not worth the cost even cheap as it is. And the newer version has not even been anounced yet so I have little hope for it.

Alternatively, the Intel A750 only cost about $250 and will beat all its competition at that price point. Sometimes. The drivers are terrible so you'll be taking a big gamble with how it performs in different games.

So, at very minimum, you'd recommend a new processor and another stick of RAM, that is what i'm gathering from all...

[chronobomb]

I recommend this website. You can see how each Gfx card did with Warhammer 3. Then you can go to the bottom and see how specific configurations handled Warhammer 3.

Once you find a spot you are comfortable with wait for the back to school sales in August or black Friday/Cyber Monday in November and you can probably get a 30% more PC for the same price.

https://openbenchmarking.org/test/pts/tww3

[KoboldUtopian]

You don't need so much hardware for this game. I've got a 10 year old Intel i7-4770K CPU, 32gb RAM, and a used 1070ti I picked up for like 200$. Playing on high graphics settings without issue.

I find unit size is a much bigger stressor than graphics settings so I play on large instead of ultra but again, rarely face problems unless I'm playing a large battle at 3x speed.

[Cuthalion]

1050 Ti + 8gb + SSD is OK for FullHD + Large Armies + Medium graphic settings.
I play at such settings and it's enough for me. So if you are OK with it and you do not have other reasons than TWW3 to upgrade, you can as well save a bit of money.

[TheAlmightyProo]

Originally posted by chronobomb:

I recommend this website. You can see how each Gfx card did with Warhammer 3. Then you can go to the bottom and see how specific configurations handled Warhammer 3.

Once you find a spot you are comfortable with wait for the back to school sales in August or black Friday/Cyber Monday in November and you can probably get a 30% more PC for the same price.

https://openbenchmarking.org/test/pts/tww3

Huh. Not a bad site that. Better than UBM anyway.
No UW resolutions benched, not for this game anyway (even if most games run UW/21:9 at least fine these days) but at 3440x1440 going between the 1440p and 4K results for battle benchmark at ultra isn't off by more than margin of error.
So yeah, nice one for mentioning that.

As for awaiting sales etc re PC parts (as well as games) absolutely agreed.
I'd add some (personal research needed) configurators can also be very good.

Being left without a GPU in my previous 2016 build and it being about upgrade time anyway, I did a part config build from a reputable firm in May 2021. When GPU prices and availability in particular were INSANE, and ended up saving £300 vs pcpp prices on a high standard, generously open warrantied build that I then added a better priced/sourced GPU, fans and storage to (which they either didn't have as options or, in the case of GPU's, had only intermittent stock and choice)

Overall, I saved enough with this 6800XT against the 50-100% higher 3080 price (£1200 vs £1800-2400, still over MSRP but a no brainer) to allow better CPU, RAM etc for the same initial budget too. All in all, even against the prices at the time which I was expecting to some degree, I ended up with far better than I had initially thought I might for the budget. And even then I still had enough left to make a peripherals budget to go ham on some shiny new ones to go with the build.

And all cos I took a breath, planned and shopped smart.
I actually ended up getting far more for £2800 in 2021 than I did with £2200 in 2016, even comparing price vs spec etc in that 5 year difference and that being a nightmare year for GPU prices.

[Comrade Rat]

Originally posted by DaddyChill:

My PC has clocked on quite a few years now. It has served me well enough with many games, however the Total War franchise has been my favourite, but arguably the most strenuous for my PC to handle.

It has reached a point where I believe I either need to update my specs or possibly go out my way to buy a whole new one, but I am unsure which is more applicable/financially smart.

I would ideally like to run the more modern Total War games (Warhammer) on high settings, but nothing too fancy. I don’t require everything to be perfect.

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on some new specs that I could implement to my current PC, or even a new PC in general?


(Please don’t laugh, but these are my current specs…)



Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six-Core Processor, 3400 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM): 8.00 GB
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
Drive: SSD

Whats your budget???? This os kind of required