PC Gamers; Need recommendation

[Thursday]

I haven't played PC video games in at least a decade and when I did the games were all strategy that didn't require a dedicated graphics card i.e. Age of Empires, Command and Conquer etc...

Lately I've been reminiscing those old strategy games with a friend and I've been bitten by the bug to play again. There's a new strategy game called Total War Rome 2 that I'm now eagerly anticipating to play when it's released.

I built a basic computer about a year ago and didn't bother with a graphics card, but now I need one to play Rome 2 at full settings. Nothing more, nothing less, just Rome 2. The cheaper the better.

If I fall down the PC-gaming rabbit hole I'll start a full build from scratch and breakout the wallet.

Computer Specs:

3rd Gen Intel i5 3570K 3.4 GHz
ASrock z77 Motherboard
8 Gbs RAM
120 GB SSD
380 W Powersupply


Also what's the deal with Steam? Is this where I should purchase the game?

 

[HEMIHUNTER]

I play Half Life 2 deathmatch on Steam sometimes Steam has issues but for the most part its good. There is a huge games cache on Steam from $5 on up

 

[MovingZen]

I don't really know the specs of that game but gtx 760's are coming in around $250. I'd worry about your power supply, make sure it can drive two six-pin auxiliary connectors. I don't know that 380 watts will be enough, you didn't mention how many hard drives or optical drives you might have.
I'm not a big fan of steam, it's just another piece of software taking up space. I am kinda old school though and I really like having a cd or dvd media for my games. Other people I know love steam though:shrug:

 

[Torch10th]

The game you're looking at doesn't look to be too graphics intensive. a GTX 5 series will probably be more than adequate for your needs. It will also run more graphics intensive games as well.

On my gaming rig I currently run an i5 3750k, overclocked to 4.1Ghz, 16 gigs of ram, 250gig SSDD along with a 500gig traditional storage HD. For graphics I run a GTX 670FTW. Pretty basic setup but it runs most games on ultra graphics.

EDIT: I didn't see your power supply. You're not going to be able to run much of a graphics card with a 380 watt unit. I run this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

Any of the "70" cards (570, 670 etc) will require something like a 500 watt supply with at least 30 amps on the +12v rail. That doesn't take in to account other hardware power requirements though. That 380 you have is probably struggling to keep up with just the 3570k you're using.

Remember, the less your power supply has to work, the cooler, quieter and more efficient your system as a whole will run. If you're stepping up to a dedicated graphics card, do yourself a favor and put a quality power supply in the rig.

 

[Smacked_in_ATL]

If you are just playing those types of games, get a 4th Gen Haswell Core i5 with Intel HD Graphics 4600....that would probably be enough, if not get a video card. If you plan on playing heavy first person shooters, you may need a dedi video card. The Haswell chips are going to be pretty sick though, give them a try.:thumbsup:

Steam is good and you can catch a lot of sales. Also look at Amazon and buy keys you can redeem through Steam.

My gaming PC, just so you don't feel like I'm feeding you BS.

 

[nitemarestang]

agree with torch. a gtx 580 or 600 series would be fine unless ya wanna spend extra for a 700 series. might wanna boost ur power supply up tho just to be on the safe side.

 

[Torch10th]

My gaming PC, just so you don't feel like I'm feeding you BS.

Tits.

I don't have that much attention to detail. That's why I buy closed cases!

How's the water cooling? I've never found that I need it personally. an EVO 212 sink gets me to 4.1Ghz safely on an i5 3570k. I also don't play a lot of games that are incredibly hardware intensive either. BF3 is currently my most intensive game. I run it easily with the 670FTW and i5 combo on ultra.

My system for reference:

 

[truefiveo]

I haven't played PC video games in at least a decade and when I did the games were all strategy that didn't require a dedicated graphics card i.e. Age of Empires, Command and Conquer etc...

Lately I've been reminiscing those old strategy games with a friend and I've been bitten by the bug to play again. There's a new strategy game called Total War Rome 2 that I'm now eagerly anticipating to play when it's released.

I built a basic computer about a year ago and didn't bother with a graphics card, but now I need one to play Rome 2 at full settings. Nothing more, nothing less, just Rome 2. The cheaper the better.

If I fall down the PC-gaming rabbit hole I'll start a full build from scratch and breakout the wallet.

Computer Specs:

3rd Gen Intel i5 3570K 3.4 GHz
ASrock z77 Motherboard
8 Gbs RAM
120 GB SSD
380 W Powersupply


Also what's the deal with Steam? Is this where I should purchase the game?

1.If you ever get the itch to do some real high end gaming, go with an Nvidia GPU they have the best driver support.

2. Steam is notorious for being hacked for personal billing/CC info, use Paypal or a Prepaid Debit Card as purchase options.

As far as my setup

i5 2500k with a stable air cooled 4.7Ghz,
8Gb ram 1600mhz
Aftermarket heatsink fan Asus P8P67 motherboard
Nvidia GTX 560 1gb DDR5 w/ 3D Vision
Case is Rosewill Future Gamng with 5 fans
Antec 550W Silver 80 certified Modular Power Supply
Windows 7 64Bit

When I get home Ill be putting in either a 690GTX or Titan, I'm not a fan of SLI anymore.

 

[astrodudepsu]

I haven't played PC video games in at least a decade and when I did the games were all strategy that didn't require a dedicated graphics card i.e. Age of Empires, Command and Conquer etc...

Lately I've been reminiscing those old strategy games with a friend and I've been bitten by the bug to play again. There's a new strategy game called Total War Rome 2 that I'm now eagerly anticipating to play when it's released.

I built a basic computer about a year ago and didn't bother with a graphics card, but now I need one to play Rome 2 at full settings. Nothing more, nothing less, just Rome 2. The cheaper the better.

If I fall down the PC-gaming rabbit hole I'll start a full build from scratch and breakout the wallet.

Computer Specs:

3rd Gen Intel i5 3570K 3.4 GHz
ASrock z77 Motherboard
8 Gbs RAM
120 GB SSD
380 W Powersupply


Also what's the deal with Steam? Is this where I should purchase the game?

How big is your monitor?

This is very important. What GPU you need depends heavily on how many pixels it needs to push.

That being said, the new GTX 7 series is probably what you want. A 760 would fit you nicely and keep you relevant for the life of Rome2 (which I too will be playing).

Now, you will need a new power supply as well. Frankly the PSU is the most important part in the whole system, and it's not a place to cut corners. With just one 760, a GOOD 500w PSU will be fine. A lot of people go overboard with PSU capacities which actually lead to a less efficient system.

I'd recommend this PSU:

SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com

Or something similar. Seasonic is one of the best, and their 80 plus gold units are top performers.


I just finished up my new rig last week. And the Haswell chips are beastly.

i5-4670k (Haswell) @ 4.5Ghz (Vcore 1.18V)
Gigabyte Z87-UD4H
16GB of Kingston HyperX at 1866MHz @ 8-8-8-24 (yeah, timings are back with Haswell)
7970 OC'd to 1150 core
Samsung 840 series 256 GB SSD
2x WD Caviar Black 1TB drives
2x Optical Drives
Noctuna NH-D14
Seasonic 660W 80 plus platinum psu
Wrapped in a HAF 932

27" 2560x1440p primary with a 24" 1920x1200p secondary.

 

[LUBaseball2]

Amazon.com: ASUS VG248QE 24-Inch Screen LED-lit Monitor: Computers & Accessories

I have had this monitor for a couple months and love it

 

[WireEater]

You can build a nice mid range gaming machine for around 600$. Don't build something for what you want to play now though. Build it for something you might want to play in the future.

 

[S8ER01Z]

For the money the Nvidia 560ti is hard to ignore... I paid 150 for mine (EVGA Superclocked Newegg) and it does not disappoint. I always try to get at least the x60 series cards (460,560, 660, etc) but like you I have a budget and have to get what I can.

There is also the 650 ti boost card that seems to be good.
GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost Review: A Budget-Oriented GK106-Based Boss - GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost: Kepler Rides Again
Newegg.com - EVGA 02G-P4-3658-KR GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST SuperClocked 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card

As mentioned by others you will need a PSU upgrade... I think 550 is recommended for even these budget cards... with two 6-pin connectors (650ti boost appears to only need one 6-pin and a 450w psu).

 

[BlueSnake01]

For the money the Nvidia 560ti is hard to ignore... I paid 150 for mine (EVGA Superclocked Newegg) and it does not disappoint. I always try to get at least the x60 series cards (460,560, 660, etc) but like you I have a budget and have to get what I can.

There is also the 650 ti boost card that seems to be good.
GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost Review: A Budget-Oriented GK106-Based Boss - GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost: Kepler Rides Again
Newegg.com - EVGA 02G-P4-3658-KR GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST SuperClocked 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card

As mentioned by others you will need a PSU upgrade... I think 550 is recommended for even these budget cards... with two 6-pin connectors (650ti boost appears to only need one 6-pin and a 450w psu).

I rather do something like this, find it pointless buy a new expensive vid card when in less than a year itll drop dramatically. I bought my 465GTX over a year ago for $80 in craigslist, unlocked it to a 470GTX (which was still over $250 in its time) and OC, still plays most games in 1080P in all high settings or mid high in higher resolutions.

My next card will be a 670GTX but ill wait till it drops a bit more, got no hurry. My rest of the system is still future proof.

 

[S8ER01Z]

Great point as well.. the higher series cards last a long time..if you can get ahold of a 70 or 80 series for cheap (catch someone else upgrading) I would jump on it.

 

[JD03Cobra]

Actually your PC has decent specs, plenty for the game. Obviously like others have said you will need a video card and a larger power supply. If it were me I would not buy a high end video card for this game, I would wait to build a new higher end PC from the ground up. But for Rome 2 you will only need a $150 video card (assuming your not on a 30" Dell monitor) and $40-$70 power supply.

I just finished up my new rig last week. And the Haswell chips are beastly.

Nice setup, any reason why you didn't go with a Corsair liquid cooler for your processor? They work amazing for the money.

 

[JerryC]

This is $179 after rebate, GTX660SC
Amazon.com: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SUPERCLOCKED 2048MB GDDR5 DVI HDMI DP Graphics Card 02G-P4-2662-KR: Computers & Accessories

Get the Seasonic power supply listed above, it's got more than enough power and it's quiet and efficient (saves money, makes less heat).
Here it is at amazon:
Amazon.com: SeaSonic G Series 550-Watt ATX12V/EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply SSR-550RM: Electronics

Your system with this video card will use about 270-300 watts at full load with the video card drawing about half of that. You current power supply is too close to that limit for comfort, and it's very likely that with the way loads are distributed it wont be able to handle them even though the total watts is lower than 380.

 

[S8ER01Z]

Wow that's a nice deal on that card.

 

[Torch10th]

But for Rome 2 you will only need a $150 video card (assuming your not on a 30" Dell monitor) and $40-$70 power supply.

Like this one?

This is actually my work rig.

i7 2600K @ 4.2GHz (air cooled)
32gigs of ram
GTX570
7.5Tb storage capacity on a raid array
200gigs SSDD for operating system and editing software

I have an additional 20Tb's of storage on my desk with the use of an external eSATA enclosure.

Peripherals are the Dell Ultra-Sharp 30" monitor with M-Audio LX4 powered reference monitors for audio processing.

I'm actually going to be redoing this system later this year. Going a with a i7 Hexacore processor like this one.

Amazon.com : Intel Core i7-3930K Hexa-Core Processor 3.2 Ghz 12 MB Cache LGA 2011 - BX80619I73930K : Electronics

Will also upgrade to an NVIDIA Quadro 4000 like this.

Amazon.com: NVIDIA Quadro K4000 3GB GDDR5 Graphics card (PNY Part #: VCQK4000-PB): Electronics

We're switching over to RED and 4K cameras so I'll need more processing and rendering capability.

 

[JD03Cobra]

Like this one?

Lol yeah that...I actually have one myself but run a 680 GTX to play Battlefield 3.

 

[Dave_6]

Here's my build FWIW: Dave_6's Completed Build - Intel Core i5-3570K, Sapphire Radeon HD 7970, Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) - PCPartPicker

It's currently hooked up to my 60" Pioneer plasma in my living room with my 5.1 HT setup. I'm about to buy this monitor (Newegg.com - ASUS VG248QE Black 24" 144Hz 1ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD 3D Monitor Height&pivot adjustable 350 cd/m2 80,000,000:1 Built-in Speakers) and move it to my extra bedroom where my other PC is.

I still have a lot to learn but it's nice to finally play games at 1080p60!