Which computer specs do you have to play this game decently?

[HistoricalFan]

I realized you need a very powerful machine to run the latest historical Total Wars (Rome II, Attila). I've just bought a new desktop computer but not for gaming since I still have a gaming laptop but I had a hope to run up to Rome II decently using my old Steam account that I had in my previous desktop computer. Summarizing, my specs are:

CPU: AMD A10-7800 Radeon R7 3.50 GHz
Memory: 16 GB RAM DDR3
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 750 2 GB VRAM DDR5 DirectX 12

I always struggle to run Total War games even exceeding the recommended settings. My gaming laptop is even better with i7-6700HQ processor, 16 GB RAM DDR4 and Nvidia GTX 970M 3 GB DDR5 and even in this one I am not able to put this game maxed.

I guess in order to have a great experience with most recent Total War games you need to invest about 3000 to 4000 USD in a computer with the very best components. Just curious to know, which computers do you have to run it maxed and more than 40 fps in performance test (which is what I get with my gaming laptop)? Sadly and frustrating, I realized I will be always about 6 to 10 years backward in terms of playing Total War games. My computers (bought on 2016 and 2017) can only play decently up to Shogun 2 (a game dated from 2011!). Following this logic, hopefully I will be able to play Rome 2 decently in... 2019 and Attila in 2021!. Can't believe that even most of the current computers can't run even a game from 2009 (Empire Total War). It's been a long time I am researching for reasons, why? why even computers from 2017 can't even run a game from 2009? I need an explanation.

[Red]

$4000!?
My Laptop runs this and Attila very well, not the best it could possibly be. But certainly good enough. I run it at max, only in very large battles does the game need to dile back the graphics. Never lags.
I have:
Intel i5 2.4ghz
8 gb memory
GTX 850M

My laptop is 4 years old and cost me £700 at the time, which is probably around $900 - $1000 American.

[MANWHATADONGA]

My computer cost $1600.00 Australian.I5 4570 CPU 3200 8.0GB.Nvide GTX660.Run every thing on ultra 120- man infantry.Does lag in battle with 4 20 unit armies nothing to concern

[HistoricalFan]

I fail to understand why I am not able to put Rome II on ultra. Is there anything else you did to improve your fps?

[Mama Baffy]

you are crying because you can't play smoothly on ultra with a pc that has pretty dated specs? you say you can't play it "decently". I don't think you know what decent is. decent is medium graphics or maybe even low to some people as long as they have smooth fps.

[HistoricalFan]

Originally posted by -V-:

you are crying because you can't play smoothly on ultra with a pc that has pretty dated specs? you say you can't play it "decently". I don't think you know what decent is. decent is medium graphics or maybe even low to some people as long as they have smooth fps.

What would you consider smooth fps? I've only been making performance tests and I am interested to know how much fps is good enough to have a good gaming experience (aside settings)

[BananaBob]

your waek point is the CPU / APU get a ryzen or an intel of 6. or 7. generation

[Migz - DH]

Originally posted by HistoricalFan:

What would you consider smooth fps? I've only been making performance tests and I am interested to know how much fps is good enough to have a good gaming experience (aside settings)

Have you turned off the Vegetation Alpha setting yet? If not, give that a try. It's a huge performance drain, accounting for a significant drop in the benchmark test, for very little benefit.

[HistoricalFan]

Originally posted by BananaBob:

your waek point is the CPU / APU get a ryzen or an intel of 6. or 7. generation

I think you are right. I recently realized that Total War games, contrary to other games need a very powerful cpu. The problem is that I don't have any idea how to replace a cpu. I know some things such as if stock computer came with AMD, I can't put an intel cpu unless I replace motherboard. A solution to this would be going to a place where they can sell me a better AMD cpu and also replace the one I currently have. How much this work can cost to me? 50 € maybe...

[Seraphim Stratus]

I built a PC for a friend like 3 years ago, and I just bought it back off him for the cost of the parts, which was about $450 USD including Win 8.1 Pro 64-bit.

AMD FX 6100 3.3Ghz (6-core)
8GB RAM
Gigabyte Motherboard
nVidia 9800GT 512MB (old AF I know but....)

I can play with 120 man units with most settings on high, have the option to go ultra but I dont for FPS sake. I can play large battles perfectly fine. If you buy the components and put it together yourself, you can put together an awesome gaming desktop for well under a grand, certainly no 3-4k!!!

[Destin Faroda]

AMD Ryzen 7 1700X
Asus ROG STRIX RX570
2x8 GB DDR4-RAM 3200 CL14
Asus Prime x370 Pro
Asus Xonar Essence STX II
2x WD Black HDDs
M.2 Samsung Evo 960 Evo

Game runs well with over 90 FPS.

[똑똑한]

i5 7600k
Gigabyte 270z
8 gig ddr4
RX 480 8Gb Red Devil
1tb ssd

easily 75+ fps with 10k troops on screen at 2k resolution w/ DeI mod and all settings maxed.

Youre almost certainly being thermally throttled if youre playing on a laptop. Total war games tend to run for a long time and never really dial down the resource draw much, so anything not designed for that (laptop) is almost guarenteed to overheat, especially if youre running an i7 with hyperthreading enabled

For your desktop though, your specs just aren't that good tbh. AMD processors hit way below their weight, especially with Total War games for some reason, its been a known problem for quite a while. I switched from a Vishera to the i5 and nearly doubled my framerate despite keeping the same clock speed. And a 750 is an old budget card at best. Id really recommend upgrading your card first since its probably the cheapest option.

[HistoricalFan]

Thank you for your answers. I have been testing with different graphical settings and with performance test and despite I can play the game in very high - ultra with 36 fps, is just enough for me. I only wanted to know which computers can run this game with everything maxed (It was a mistake saying decently, sorry for the confusion) to take in consideration in the future (I don't have much money at this moment by the way).

What is more important to have a good performance in Rome II Total War? cpu or gpu?

[kekkuli]

i5 7600k
970 gtx 4gb
16gb ram

For me the campaign map is very laggy (20-25 fps) when i select agent/army. Battles are ok as far as i don't zoom very close in larger battles (4000+ men) in which case my fps always dips to 15-25 or so. Not running everything on max. Had to turn AA off and lower shadows a bit. Most other settings are maxed or close to maxed.

In warhammer i have no problems in campaign map but the battles are about same as in rome 2.
I had to lower some settings though because game kept telling me that my video memory is running low.

I think your problem is mostly your gpu. Upgrading that cpu wouldn't hurt though. I had 560 gtx before 970 and it was like night and day when i swapped them. But upgrading from i5 4460 to i5 7600 didn't have such a big effect.

[Red]

Originally posted by HyunAhri:

Youre almost certainly being thermally throttled if youre playing on a laptop. Total war games tend to run for a long time and never really dial down the resource draw much, so anything not designed for that (laptop) is almost guarenteed to overheat, especially if youre running an i7 with hyperthreading enabled

I don't have an i7 but mines never overheated from long stretches on Total War. It's got a good cooler inside but nothing special. Even so my laptop does get bloody hot when playing this, despite the inbuilt cooler so you're probably right.

[Red]

Originally posted by HistoricalFan:

What is more important to have a good performance in Rome II Total War? cpu or gpu?

Correct me if i am wrong.
Both are equally as important as the other really. The GPU will effect the overall performance (frames) more then the CPU. A better CPU will speed up those load times. In theory the waiting period between turns should be faster for higher end processors.
I've always said it sucks that my favourite genre is grand strategy while i have a rubbish processor.

Gets to a point on this for me where i'm waithing something like 1 - 2 minutes for my turn.