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Upgrading my computer for this game.


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Hullo ladies and others.

So it seems my comp is too gimpy for this game...

(and too gimpy for ToW as well)

So I'm shopping for upgrades.

Getting the GeForce 6800 or Radeon x850 to replace my Intel 82865G

Getting more RAM.

Getting a better CPU. (3.5GHz or better)

I will finaly be able to play ToW. (I've had it for 4 years)

Cant wait for CM;BN to come out.

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I think I'll be OK for cpu and RAM but it's time to get a video card.

Apologies for my ignorance, but do I understand correctly that the game requirements are NOT particularly stringent according to common hardware these days and contemporary games?

I mean, I know that gamers have a wide range of hardware but haven't the GeForce 6800 / Radeon x850 been out for 5-6 years now? Are those models even still available? Is it true that almost any Video Card you'd buy new today would exceed the requirements:

Video Card: GeForce 6800 or Radeon x850 (256 Megabyte VRAM or better and must support 1024x768 or higher resolution) in OpenGL
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I'll go further and state that if you don't play CM:BN as an RTS but rather as We-Go you can get by with a far lesser system than in other games.

During the playback of the turn you can't do anything other than watch, anyway, so high FPS is not of critical importance.

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So is mine, it doesn't have many of it's original parts.

Nathan, that post just reminded me so much of "Only Fools and Horses" sketch about the broom. For those that don't know it, Trigger, a not so gifted roadsweeper, is telling his mates how he's had the same broom for 20 years. It's had twelve new handles and 7 new heads!!

Really, really funny, but I'm too pushed for time to link the youtube clip that I've no doubt exists!

Cheers, Darren

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The implication of saying 6800 or X850 to me is that the game is only a DX 9 game and that you could get by with a Radeon 5570 for about $50-60.

Actually, CM2 games are OpenGL, not DX.

As for upgrading your card, you have to be careful about whether your motherboard can support the more modern PCI-Express graphics cards or the older AGP cards. My PC from 2 upgrades ago (8 years old) can only have a AGP graphics cards, and I'm pretty sure they stopped making new ones a few years ago.

Just something else to bear in mind (apologies if this is actually stating the bleedin' obvious, but not everyone is a gpu-grog here :D)

Edit: Originally I said PCI cards instead of AGP - silly boy.

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I'm not sure whether I should ask the question here or start a new thread.

What would the optimum computer makeup look like?

At 1st I wasn't too concerned but I'm anticipating that 4km by 4km maps might be a system hog.

It sounds as if Open GL will be the bottleneck which the game speed must go through. If this is so what would need to be looked at in order to get the most Open GL performance? I have an ATI 5850 card. From many experiences I have seen that ATI often short changes their Open GL. Is there something out there that might shine above all others with Open GL performance?

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Sounds like a bad plan.

From the sounds of it you have a Pentium-4 or whereabout with DDR1 memory. DDR1 memory used is so much more expensive than DDR2 that you can almost upgrade mainbaord, CPU + RAM to something like a Core2 area Celeron or similar decaf CPU.

Along the same lines but worse, if you have APG graphics you can forget about getting a decent AGP card cheap.

Almost certainly your power supply will not handle a faster CPU, much less a power-hungry Pentium-4, nor a real graphics card.

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I Just bought a second generation Core i7 2600k with a GeForce 580GTX and 8 gigs of ram. So it will be interesting to put the new computer through a stress test with CM just to see how far I can push it.

It's been 8 years since my last build, and I'm just now looking around at what's out there.

I noted that i7 2600k is at a really good price, but if I'm understanding the relationship between the elements correctly, is it utilizing an integrated GPU that would require a game designed to offload calculations from a video card in order to utilize that integrated GPU?

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It's been 8 years since my last build, and I'm just now looking around at what's out there.

I noted that i7 2600k is at a really good price, but if I'm understanding the relationship between the elements correctly, is it utilizing an integrated GPU that would require a game designed to offload calculations from a video card in order to utilize that integrated GPU?

If you have a discrete graphics card like i have it automatically shuts off the on die cpu graphics. Contrary to what intel wants you to believe the integrated graphics while okay for email and video on youtube is not the best solution for serious graphics intensive games. The gpu on the 2600k will still suck away system memory and be slower. But you should still be able to play CM:BN. I just went nuts on this pc because I wanted to play Total War: Shogun 2 at the highest settings and that GeForce 580 GTX allows me to do that. I paid an arm and a leg for that though. The best deal you can get right now is the GeForce 570 its just a small step down from what I got and its around $350.00. I paid $500 for my 580 GTX.

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Yeah it's an odd bird - from what I understand, the onboard gpu can run video and play games, but in almost every case a half decent discrete card will do these things anyway and do them better. My pc has an i5 2500K and a gtx570, and I'm pretty sure the onboard gpu is doing nothing when I'm gaming or otherwise.

Whether it requires a programme specifically written to utilise this integrated gpu or not I couldn't say.

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Whether it requires a programme specifically written to utilise this integrated gpu or not I couldn't say.

Graphical programs use a special programming interface and the calls to that interface are then handled by the graphical drivers of the OS and the card.

For Windows there is DirectX and for more systems there is OpenGL (which is used by CM).

What part of the operations is handled by the GPU and how, that can be vastly different depending on the card and its drivers.

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If you have a discrete graphics card like i have it automatically shuts off the on die cpu graphics. Contrary to what intel wants you to believe the integrated graphics while okay for email and video on youtube is not the best solution for serious graphics intensive games. The gpu on the 2600k will still suck away system memory and be slower. But you should still be able to play CM:BN. I just went nuts on this pc because I wanted to play Total War: Shogun 2 at the highest settings and that GeForce 580 GTX allows me to do that. I paid an arm and a leg for that though. The best deal you can get right now is the GeForce 570 its just a small step down from what I got and its around $350.00. I paid $500 for my 580 GTX.

I figured the integrated gpu was crap for games and would necessitate a new card. Its still running multi core at 3.4 ghz right? Why is it so much cheaper than i7 980x?

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Nah, the performance of ATI (AMD) video cards under OpenGL is on par w/Nvidia (though it's true this wasn't always the case.) I have a 5770, and run 1920 x 1080, so I'm curious to see how well the larger battles look... if I need some extra horsepower, I'll get another and run Crossfire. It's a lot cheaper than getting a higher-end 6000 series card.

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I just put together a new rig not only for gaming but for some web development work, but I have to admit CM:SF and CM:A scream on it with all the highest details and shadows, plus it runs CMAK, and CMBB without any graphic (text) issues... plus it kicks ars with Adobe CS5 suite...

Phenon II 955 Quad (3.2)

MSI 870A-GS4 Motherboard with SATA3

16GB PC12800/1600MHz memory

Geforce GTX 560 Duel Head upgraded 2GB ram

(2) 2TB Seagate 6GB 7200 SATA3 64mb (Raid 0) w UHD Cooler - Fanless with Heatpipes

Sound Blaster X-FI Extreme PCI

LG Blue Ray / Lightscribe DVD Burner SATA Combo

THERMALTAKE 800W TR2

Duel Case FAns 120MMx2

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I just put together a new rig not only for gaming but for some web development work, but I have to admit CM:SF and CM:A scream on it with all the highest details and shadows, plus it runs CMAK, and CMBB without any graphic (text) issues... plus it kicks ars with Adobe CS5 suite...

Phenon II 955 Quad (3.2)

MSI 870A-GS4 Motherboard with SATA3

16GB PC12800/1600MHz memory

Geforce GTX 560 Duel Head upgraded 2GB ram

(2) 2TB Seagate 6GB 7200 SATA3 64mb (Raid 0) w UHD Cooler - Fanless with Heatpipes

Sound Blaster X-FI Extreme PCI

LG Blue Ray / Lightscribe DVD Burner SATA Combo

THERMALTAKE 800W TR2

Duel Case FAns 120MMx2

Hmm that's interesting, my CPU is almost exactly the same, so I'm thinking my 4890 is definitely holding it back because it struggles with larger battles.

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I just put together a new rig not only for gaming but for some web development work, but I have to admit CM:SF and CM:A scream on it with all the highest details and shadows, plus it runs CMAK, and CMBB without any graphic (text) issues... plus it kicks ars with Adobe CS5 suite...

Phenon II 955 Quad (3.2)

MSI 870A-GS4 Motherboard with SATA3

16GB PC12800/1600MHz memory

Geforce GTX 560 Duel Head upgraded 2GB ram

(2) 2TB Seagate 6GB 7200 SATA3 64mb (Raid 0) w UHD Cooler - Fanless with Heatpipes

Sound Blaster X-FI Extreme PCI

LG Blue Ray / Lightscribe DVD Burner SATA Combo

THERMALTAKE 800W TR2

Duel Case FAns 120MMx2

This thread is interesting to me, as I know nothing about computers.

I want to purchase a new new system that will play my old CMBB and CMAK games, but will handle the new Combat Mission game (and make them all scream, as well).

Since I play only "We-Go" style Combat Mission (no time for other games), which of the above example is most important for purchasing a new system...? (Bear in mind, other than surfing the web, I don't use my computer for much else).

My old Dell is getting long in the tooth, and wonder if anybody offers an off the shelf package suitable for the above. I see Dell offers computers for gamers, but I'm not sure I need alienware type stuff to make it happen.

Thanks in advance,

Ken

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