Is this game CPU or GPU demanding?

[Jørgen]

I have an old computer with a newer graphics card.

An AMD FX-8350 8c/8t at 4 GHz paired with an nvidia GTX 1070 FE and 16 GB of 2400 MHz DDR3 RAM.

The game runs fairly smooth as long as there's not too much commotion going on, but it can get laggy if I play against seven other enemies at once.

So what kind of component should players of this game prioritize; a powerful GPU or a powerful CPU? And what kind of CPU is best for this game; a CPU with high thread count, such as the 16c/32t AMD Ryzen 3950X, or a CPU with fewer threads but higher IPC, such as an Intel 10900K at over 5 GHz or an AMD 3800XT?

[Vonklyce]

CPU and RAM intensive, your GPU is more than enough and a better one wouldn't make any difference, since this game is entirely made of pre-rendered 2D sprites.

[FloosWorld]

With my specs the game runs fine @ 60 FPS with the UHD DLC enabled:

i7 3770K 3.5 GHz
16 GB RAM DDR3
AMD RX 580 (8 GB)

[Lennart]

From my experience since the launch; It seems mainly to depend on the amount of ram and vram. 16gb ram and 2gb vram is fine for a smooth 60 fps with UHD pack at 1080x1920, though the fps can drop slightly in extreme scenarios though. Something like several pop capped late imperial age style armies fighting each other at the very same spot on the map all at once can feel a little slow. (1 player 7 hard/hardest/extreme AI's)

CPU doesn't seem to matter that much as long as you have something not built by the ancient romans, mine is an i7 with 4 cores at 2.8ghz, from 2012 or something like that. Never had any problems related to it with DE. I thought this input might be usefull for someone who might be using older CPU and low end graphics card.

Also I have seen a few threads on the forum from people with PC setups far, far beyond my specs who are having problems with very low frame rates or crashes so I think there are other factors than just the hardware specs to think about. Like drivers, temperatures and interfering software for example.

[ilam]

Most of the time it requires much on GPU and graphic rams. This game demands the graphics specs in high priority.
2nd is the RAMs require 8gb at least but i recommend 16gb for running perfectly.
Hard disk will affect loading game/match/saves speed.
Only a match with extremely large number of units on the map will cause pressure on the CPU.

[Psyduck]

Vs 7 maxed out AI's or actual enemy players? What does the task manager say?

[Jørgen]

It doesn't use that much RAM when I play, about 1.5 GB RAM during intensive battles. I game at 1440P 144 Hz monitor.

[Blegh]

Originally posted by Vonklyce:

CPU and RAM intensive, your GPU is more than enough and a better one wouldn't make any difference, since this game is entirely made of pre-rendered 2D sprites.

I'd say more GPU. My laptop had good ram and CPU but my GPU suffered. So I got it on my PC and it runs fine

[Duck Twacy]

CPU

[Empty1958]

I have an Intel i7 7700k and a Nvidia GTX 1060. My CPU with the computer at rest runs about 5% load and with the game running 25-30%. I only have temp to gauge the GPU. With the fan off and at rest the temp is 37°c. With the game running and fan off it is in the high 40°s. My monitors are 1080 @ 60hz. Other games I've run push the GPU into the high 50°s to low 60°s.

With 6 players and V-Sync on it has never hesitated.

[BoredWolf1]

I don't have a gaming computer in absolutely no way. My current setup is based on a 2016 Intel i3 with onboard graphics. The game runs smoothly most of the times. It is very CPU intensive when there's lots going on (lots of armies fighting, or a giant map with 8 players), but the problems I face are often with VRAM, AOE seems to be highly dependent on that to run smoothly. Also, there's difference on how the game runs on HDD versus SSD.

I mean, an update to Ryzen would not be a bad thing. But you should also take a look at your GPU specs, or a SSD upgrade for better saving/loading times, and maybe explore the options you have on the NVIDIA Control Panel, sometimes a software change could improve a lot your experience.

[Kamiyama]

The CD version will run on a toaster but the DE has HD graphics and is really demanding. I have a 2GB Radeon R7 265 and it lags a little bit when I start it up. Once the game is running it does fine but the textures must take a bit to load up.

[Jørgen]

I don't get any noticeable difference between max graphics settings and lowest, which leads me to believe that this game is mainly CPU bound, hence my question as to what CPU ya'll suggest for this game.