Best Computer to buy for CM:BN

[Macisle]

My current rig (no OC'ing or cooling system, either) is DIY and I'll never go back to pre-built. It was very easy to do. The only part I sweated was putting in the processor because it took a lot more force than I was expecting and I was afraid of breaking the pins. Turned out fine, though.

You may not save any money up front (will likely cost more), but you probably will over time. With DIY rigs, you can make sure you get quality components (they still can die, see below, but are easier to get replaced than dealing with a pre-built) and set yourself up for easy case-by-case component upgrades.

My Antec case will likely last ten years or more. My power supply was replaced once under warranty, but assuming the second surves, it should last many years. Speaking of which, mines an 850 and I've never come close to needing that much power. My first graphics card (died just after the warranty expired) was an Asus GTX-470. That sucker drank power. That's one of the main reasons I went with a 550 Ti for my replacement. It uses much less power, making for monthly savings. I notice ZERO difference between the cards when playing CM and the 470 had more horsepower.

Along these lines, I'm very glad I went with the less expensive and power-thrifty "Ti" model. In the recent thread testing rigs against the game, I'm only getting 1-3 fps less than people with monster rigs purchased very recently. Mines over two years old. Specs in sig.

So, unless you're playing other games that really need the horsepower, you may want to consider a less power hungry card for a "CM" rig. Electricity is expensive where I live and my 550 Ti is paying for itself every month.

Go with a powerful CPU and good MBO, though. And of course, at least 6 gigs of high-quality RAM (these days, everyone goes for more than that).

[Erwin]

Messing with expensive components scares the cr%$ out of me as I have no instincts for assembling this stuff. IKEA is bad enuff.

I usually get mine built by XI computers in California. They do high end machines akin to Falcon.

I always think I will upgrade rather than buy new. But, after 4-5+ years of troublefree use, I figure it's time for something bad to happen so I'll probably buy all new again. I just hope I can still get Win 7.

[Childress]

I just hope I can still get Win 7.

I wouldn't narrow my choices if I were you. Apps to reproduce the Windows 7 desktop in Windows 8 are all over the place. My 2nd laptop has W8, which is really designed for tablets, imo, however it loads significantly faster.

[Erwin]

That's interesting re Win8. I guess will have to look into it. Not sure I need touchscreen features though. What other advantage does Win8 have?

[Hister]

You may not save any money up front (will likely cost more), but you probably will over time. With DIY rigs, you can make sure you get quality components (they still can die, see below, but are easier to get replaced than dealing with a pre-built) and set yourself up for easy case-by-case component upgrades.

Assembling your own rig yourself is always cheaper then buying approx. similar pre-assembled rig where I come from (Slovenia). Same case is in Italy where I bought my components from and didn't even need to pay tax (purchasing via own firm from Slovenia in Italy enables you not have to pay tax so every component is 21% cheaper then what casual Italian buyer has to hand out).

[sburke]

Building your own is actually kind of fun. I read avidly all the talk on the forum while CMBN was still being prepped for release, copied down the specs of folks who seemed to have no issues and then went to Fry's, bought the components and built it myself. It isn't rocket science. Though I am sure there are folks who could tweak my machine and get even better results out of it, my rig has handled anything I have thrown at it in CM and what it couldn't handle has usually been determined to be a bug.

I spent about $1000 on it, but I wanted two 2 terabyte drives, one for my use and one to auto backup. I also got a blue ray disc player etc. After almost 2 years now I think I have definitely gotten my money's worth out of it.

[Macisle]

Yeah, it was pretty fun actually and went very smoothly. There are a ton of videos on YouTube about how to do it. Newegg has its own tutorials and is a great place to shop and/or gather info and price compare, BTW.

And one beautiful thing not yet mentioned:

If you're installing Windows, you get to load a nice, clean copy of the OS, minus all the crap that the pre-built folks load on there. And, if you need to load it again at any time, you're covered without your hands being tied by the restoration disc/drive thing.

[Redwolf]

Hey fellas,

My computers are crashing when trying to play CM:BN, so i need to pick up a new computer. What computer do you guys recommend to use for playing this game? Price isn't really a concern. I'm out of NYC.

I play ARMA2 and ARMA 3 as well so i like to be able to play my CM:BN as well as my ARMA game with this computer.

Thanks for the help.

Can you be more specific than "crashing"?

[Erwin]

if price is not an issue, (and you are a klutz at putting em together yourself) I do recommend custom builders of high end quality machines like XI Computers in CA. I have never had any problems with their desktops or laptops. I think am on my 3rd or 4th. (I give my old ones to my mother-in-law after 4 years use and her techies still drool over them.)

[togi]

I have built new one at weekend with fx8320 amd 8 core processor and radeon hd 7870 xt gpu. this is great f/p product. Ihave fallen in love again with CM

[iMolestCats]

I built my PC and im planning on upgrading my motherboard and CPU once the 4th gen come out later this year. Building is the best way to go, but if you want a pre built PC then get one from maingear. The last computer i got from them lasted 6 years before building my current PC.

[kohlenklau]

My 16 year old son started his own custom PC business. he had a restaurant job and made cash to buy components for 3 different tiered performance machines. Sadly, nobody in this area of rural Texas wanted anyhoo such a device so right now he uses "God's own machine", his 13 year old brother, my other son has "the beast" and ol' Dad is stuck at hind end teet with "mini-beast." But it plays CM just dandy.

Building your own is the a great way to go.

[Mike Churchmoor]

I'm about to buy a new laptop which I'll also be playing CMx2 -games.

I'm quite sure i5 processor and 8 GB of memory are enough but how about GPU?

Is this GPU enough?: http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-730M.84681.0.html

How about Windows? I would prefer Win 7 but Win 8 is installed in all of those rigs I have looked. Will there be problems running CMx2 -games in Win 8?

[Redwolf]

I'm about to buy a new laptop which I'll also be playing CMx2 -games.

I'm quite sure i5 processor and 8 GB of memory are enough but how about GPU?

Is this GPU enough?: http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-730M.84681.0.html

How about Windows? I would prefer Win 7 but Win 8 is installed in all of those rigs I have looked. Will there be problems running CMx2 -games in Win 8?

"i5" doesn't say anything about clockspeed.

Any NVidia with a "3" in the second digit is "barely playable".

If you don't take control of your OS you are asking for trouble.

[easytarget]

If you don't take control of your OS...

your OS will take control of you...

[MikeyD]

My machine gives up the ghost occasionally too but it seems to be more a memory management problem than anything else. I've opened and closed too many apps in the background, checked my email too often during a battle. Plus I have a nasty habit of keeping Photoshop running all the time. After awhile the old 'punter throws up its hands and surrenders. It takes a full restart to guarantee that its going to behave itself again. I can't recall the last time I just ran CM without funky stuff going on in the background.