Buying a new PC - what minimum specs should I get?

[Rob2020]

As the header says.

I have no idea what to look for, regarding technical aspects, for an okay/decent gaming computer nowadays. I have an excellent local place that builds their own and they have several models to choose from, ranging in price from about $650 to a little over $3,000. I don't want to spend more than about $1,200, and I m not inclined to buy something from a big box store or similar.

The Battlefront games will probably be one of my primary gaming endeavors, as I was a fan of the original Combat Mission games, 20 years ago. I figure if I get a computer that can play these newer games, I'll be able to play anything else that might interest me. Primarily a wargamer, I figure the various games by other publishers like Matrix wouldn't be a problem if I can run the newer Battlefront games.

In short, what specs do I need to meet to play your latest games, and perhaps a couple/few years down the road? What is your latest game with the most demanding specs?

Here are a couple options I have for pre-builts:

The Stealth, for $649.99: https://www.shopsws.com/stealth

The Premier i3, for $1,199.99: https://www.shopsws.com/premier

Here's their page of pre-built models, which are all out of my price range except for the two listed above: https://www.shopsws.com/desktops

[37mm]

You'll want to avoid AMD for Combat Mission so that means The Premier.

I will point out that this costs the same as the Premier i3 except it's an i7 with a beefier CPU & comes with a much better graphics card & more power (although the i3 is more modern & has better potential for future upgrades).

Either should smash CM however CM is a badly optimized game running on an old engine... I doubt it'll ever be amazing.

[Vacillator]

For what it's worth I just bought a slightly more expensive laptop (so screen etc. included compared to a desktop) with an Intel i7-13700H and an Nvidia Geforce RTX 4060.  It runs the CM WW2 titles very nicely, plus the occasional diversion to Sniper Elite 5 and such things.

[Rob2020]

On 9/2/2023 at 10:42 PM, 37mm said:

You'll want to avoid AMD for Combat Mission so that means The Premier.

I will point out that this costs the same as the Premier i3 except it's an i7 with a beefier CPU & comes with a much better graphics card & more power (although the i3 is more modern & has better potential for future upgrades).

Either should smash CM however CM is a badly optimized game running on an old engine... I doubt it'll ever be amazing.

Thanks for the heads up re AMD versus Intel, although if you say the CM engine is already old, would AMD really make a big diff? I had an AMD computer prior to the one I have now, and I never had any issues. This goes back more than 15 years, of course.

Thanks also for the link.

 

On 9/3/2023 at 1:38 PM, Vacillator said:

For what it's worth I just bought a slightly more expensive laptop (so screen etc. included compared to a desktop) with an Intel i7-13700H and an Nvidia Geforce RTX 4060.  It runs the CM WW2 titles very nicely, plus the occasional diversion to Sniper Elite 5 and such things.

Thanks for your response, but I'm not getting a laptop - no way, no how. I like a separate keyboard, monitor, etc. Plus, I have a very comfortable computer chair and need to be able to lean back and look at a large monitor, due to spinal problems, instead of being hunched over a laptop. I don't consider laptops to be gaming-compatible, nor compatible with being on the internet all day long. Also, I have absolutely no need for the compactness or "mobility" of a laptop, which to a very large degree is what you're paying for.

 

So, I'm about ready to head to that local computer store I linked to in my OP, so I'll be asking the techs there a lot of questions, one of which will be, where the hell is the CD/DVD drive? LOL.

Hope you all had a nice weekend. I'll be back here if I have any more questions, and I'm always open to more suggestions.

[Vacillator]

20 minutes ago, Rob2020 said:

but I'm not getting a laptop - no way, no how

Hi Rob

That was not what I was suggesting, just giving an idea of the components in 'my laptop' that work well with CM.  In a desktop you can buy the same or better components for less money, so go for it.

22 minutes ago, Rob2020 said:

where the hell is the CD/DVD drive?

I've not had one of these for a few years now, they're not needed for new downloadable stuff but if you have older games / movies etc. I get the question.

[37mm]

8 hours ago, Rob2020 said:

Thanks for the heads up re AMD versus Intel, although if you say the CM engine is already old, would AMD really make a big diff? I had an AMD computer prior to the one I have now, and I never had any issues. This goes back more than 15 years, of course.

Currently the top pinned thread in Tech support is " AMD 22.8 series breaks game again"... you will note the "again".

I also just noticed that the Stealth option has no dedicated graphics card & so would rely on the integrated AMD GPU.

I'm pretty sure BFC officially recommend avoiding integrated GPU's whilst the GTX 3050 from the Premier is ~600% faster than the Vega 7/8.

[Rob2020]

13 hours ago, 37mm said:

Currently the top pinned thread in Tech support is " AMD 22.8 series breaks game again"... you will note the "again".

Ah, that's where I should've put this thread - sorry.

If the admins want to put it there, do it.

13 hours ago, 37mm said:

I also just noticed that the Stealth option has no dedicated graphics card & so would rely on the integrated AMD GPU.

I'm pretty sure BFC officially recommend avoiding integrated GPU's whilst the GTX 3050 from the Premier is ~600% faster than the Vega 7/8.

I won't be buying that rig.

In fact, I might not be buying any rig in the near future because the techs at the store yesterday made me aware of something I hadn't known, namely, that they're pretty sure I can still upgrade my Win7 to Win10 for free. Until now I've been under the impression that I long ago missed out on a deadline for that. If that works, I'll happily rumble along with my 15-year-old "Beast" (literally what they called it when it was built, it was near top of the line) for a few more years. Heck, I might even still try CM 2, since I'm about half-way between "minimum" and "suggested" specs.

So, lets put this thread to bed, for now.

In the meantime, I'll be perusing the CM2 tech support forum.

Edited September 6, 2023 by Rob2020

[Redwolf]

Make sure you understand that AMD graphics cards (GPUs) are bad for CM and other older games, but AMD CPUs are not.

[BFCElvis]

13 minutes ago, Rob2020 said:

 

In the meantime, I'll be perusing the CM2 tech support forum.

I've moved it to the Tech Support forum. 

 

If you decide to get a new rig, good luck.

 

The integrated graphics bit only applies to laptops. For a desktop there shouldn't be an issue. Almost every laptop, even ones with AMD or NVidia  dedicated cards, have Intel integrated video cards. Laptops will often try to run the games on the Intel cards, rather than the dedicated cards to conserve power. Running the games on the Intel cards can be spotty at times. That's why I recommend to anyone getting a laptop (not you, Rob) that you get one with a dedicated video card. 

[Vacillator]

45 minutes ago, BFCElvis said:

Laptops will often try to run the games on the Intel cards, rather than the dedicated cards to conserve power

Having recently set up my new laptop, I totally agree.  I had to manually tell it to use the RTX 4060 for CM games, after which it has been absolutely fine.  It was very obviously not fine when using the Intel card...

[BFCElvis]

6 minutes ago, Vacillator said:

Having recently set up my new laptop, I totally agree.  I had to manually tell it to use the RTX 4060 for CM games, after which it has been absolutely fine.  It was very obviously not fine when using the Intel card...

I have to do it with mine as well. Sometimes after a Windows update it will revert. The most common issue is blurry text with the integrated cards. But I've also seen people not even being able to play the game.

[Heirloom_Tomato]

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

CM uses a single core cpu, so while multi cores might be good for other games, high single core performance matters the most for CM. Find the processors you are looking at in the pre-built rigs in the list above and choose the one with the best performance.