Computer Advice?

[doomiedoom]

My Eu4 game is running on the famous my 5 speed is your 2 and I'm not sure what to do. My desk top is almost 5 years old I was thinking of just adding some Ram and seeing if that would help or just say screw it and buy a new one. If I did buy a new one any reccomdendations? I know I want something with a Intel processor because these games are processor hungry.

My Specs:

Amd A8 7600
Radeon R7 1gb
Memory: 8.0 GB DDR 3 although there is 6.9 left the Windows Os gets theres :(

I was on a budget at the time and got something that was decent and reasonbly priced.
Now i can finally afford something kind of fast
I'd say I'm willing to spend no more then $800 unless i can fiance it for a year.

[Infinity]

For PDS games, generally CPU is more important than other factors.

Ram and GPU are not that important.

[Jan Arma III]

Hey man, CPU is usually the reason behind that, and its one of the more expensive parts, and it looks like you're needing a new one. That being said, if you get a brand new current gen CPU, you're gonna need a new motherboard and DDR4 ram as well. That all together will cost 500-600 if you wanna get top of the line stuff, and I suggest you use microcenter if you do decide to get new stuff. Micro center will take off $30 if you buy a cpu and motherboard together, as well they will do price match, so you can find stuff for cheap and price match to order it. Hope I helped incase buying some new parts is what you decider to do. Good luck!

[tonypa]

There has not been much increase in CPU speeds in last 5 years tbh. Intel CPU you can buy in 2018 is pretty much same CPU you bought in 2013. AMD has jumped forward much more but mostly on the integrated GPU side, much less in pure CPU power.

I am not saying new PC for $800 in 2018 will not be any faster then PC from 2013 with same cost. It just is not THAT much faster, only slightly.

Perhaps the problem is WinOS if you have not upgraded to W10 yet.

[Wan Yao]

I'm running on a low end laptop. It's a bit newer than your PC, but odds are not much more powerful. The game is noticably slower than what I see on video let's plays, but it's still fine. (Most of those guys probably have high end machines, ftr. ) It's nowhere near as slow as what you're describing.

You need to turn down the graphics settings. Lower resolution and turn down multi-sampling. Then turn off all the unneeded visual effects. This will help immensely. Then make sure you go into task manager and close down every unnecessary app. Shut down everything I mean EVERYTHING except basic text websites (like the EU4 wiki...) Even leaving youtube videos open but not playing seems to slow the game down. Steam needs to be running but don't leave it active and open.

I think this will help a LOT.

[doomiedoom]

Thanks guys for all the great advice so far! Its much appreicated! But I'm running Windows 8.1 and its somewhat of a resource hog not as bad as Windows Vista (terrible in my opnion) To answer Wan Yao I have all of the graphics settings turned down and I have several Mods to lower graphics. Although lifespan for a desktop is Min 5 years and I have gamed pretty hard on this one. I first bought eu4 when i got this one and well i have almost 800 hours.

Tbh I was considering getting something new and just adding a better graphics card probably the nvida 1060. Alot of the higher priced desktop towers around $800 or so come with I7 processors and 16gb of ram but intergrated graphics cards with makes no sense at that price range.I agree with Maxwell a good cpu is expensive and for a few hundred more I could get a new computer. I've always said if i had a faster computer I could play alot more Eu4 and get alot more achievements done faster! lmao

[tonypa]

I only have prices with Euros (if you got specific store in mind, gimme a link and I could take a look there) but something like this should be notable upgrade without paying for something you will never need (prices from www.caseking.de):
- AMD Ryzen 3 1300X (has cooler included) - 115EUR
- MSI A320M Grenade MB - 65EUR
- DDR4-2400 2x4GB - 95EUR
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC - 190EUR

465EUR in total

And really, get Win10 already. It is faster, crashes less and free.

[Rooter]

Set processor priority for eu4 to high in task manager.
If you have multiple cores, limit them to the first 2.
Shutdown other programs in task manager that use resources.

[billy]

Originally posted by Rooter:

Set processor priority for eu4 to high in task manager.
If you have multiple cores, limit them to the first 2.
Shutdown other programs in task manager that use resources.

when you have to do stuff like this you know you need a new PC :(

OP buy whatever I5 or I7 you can afford , i went for an I5 when i had to choose as i had a budget and i think its better value and still good enough.

Dont buy less than a 1060 , i'd avoid the 1050 unless you cant afford a 1060 , you would regret it. Unless you dont play any games that need the better GPU , in EU4 it wont matter.

[kronos]

5 speed is choppy on my machine too (Intel Pentium G4560 processor), but 4 runs smoothly.

I only run 5 speed in short bursts anyway, using spacebar to pause time and 5 speed for troop movement.

edit: also, to the poster above me, my 1050 ti is less expensive (or was when I purchased last year) and I have never run into problems with it. Even BF1 runs smoothly at high settings.

[doomiedoom]

Yeah I was comparing prices between the cards and the 1060 is a much better bang for your buck then the 1050. I'm hoping theres a sale on desktops and pick up a intel 7 and add a gracphics card if its a crappy intergrated one. I wonder how the new i9s are.

[Risen Wukong]

i wouldn't settle for less an than I7 processor and at least a 2GB GFX Card and 12GB-24GB Ram because video games these days most the devs are to lazy to do optimizing and increase performance for lower end machines and with an I7 + 2GB-4GB GFX Card and 12GB-24GB ram you can pretty much play any high end game on medium-high at max resolution. And you can pretty much run EUIV at 60fps consistently with that.