Building/Upgrading a PC for TS2
MxxPwr:
Quote from: DrBeast on 2006 October 17, 08:37:01
Not perfect...should switch to 800MHz DDR2 RAMs to achieve perfection...
*DrBeast can't believe he just said that!
If it's using the board I'm thinking it's using (some form of the Intel P865), then you can't have the 800MHz DDR2 with 4gigs. It slows down to 667MHz.
vilia:
I'm looking at getting a new computer which will be built by one of my techie mates. I'd appreciate it if someone could look at my thoughts on components and give me some advice. I want a pc that I don't have to upgrade (too much) for a while and will happily play my games.
I am on a budget so could not really afford to go much above these requirements unless I sacrificed something else. If I can save equivalent of US$50 then I can afford to get a sound card.
CPU - Intel Core Duo E6300
Motherboard - ASUS P5NSLI
Memory - 1GB generic
Graphics - 1x nVidia GeForce 7600 GT (working on the assumption that when I have more money I can purchase another one)
Hard drive - Seagate 7200.9 160 GB
CD/DVD-Rom - Pioneer DVD-111DBK
Case - Antec Sonata II
OS - Windows XP Home
Monitor - 17" LCD
Basic Mouse & Keyboard
(already have speakers)
KatEnigma:
You might want to reconsider that Nvidia card. There have been lots of problems with Nvidia's drivers and TS2 over the past year+ Now, that may be Maxis' fault rather than Nvidia's, but it doesn't really matter if you want to play TS2. ;) ATI cards haven't had those kind of issues.
I'd also go with 2 GB of RAM.
vilia:
Ok, thanks, I'll take that on board. :)
Karen:
Quote from: brat on 2006 September 13, 22:57:40
XPS 410
Intel ® Core™2 Duo Processor E6300 (2MB L2 Cache, 1.86 GHZ, 1066 FSB),
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition with re-installation CD Unit Price
Memory 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
Monitor 19 inch E196FP Analog Flat Panel
Video Card 256MB nVidia GeForce 7300 LE
Hard Drive 250GB
CD or DVD Drive Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ dbl layer write capable
Sound Cards Integrated Sound Blaster®Audigy™ HD Software Edition
I am considering a Dell XPS 410 with the above configuration but I'm wondering about the graphics card. I know the Nvidia cards have had problems with TS2 lately. I've always used ATI cards (my current one is a Radeon 9600 XT which I've been very happy with). Dell's other graphics card option on this model is an ATI X1300 Pro (256 MB). I looked at the charts on Tom's Hardware and it seems to suggest the X1300 Pro is at the bottom end of the spectrum, quality-wise. But would it be enough to run TS2 + all EPs? I can always upgrade later if necessary.
One of my main motivations in upgrading to a new system is to speed up the load time of the game. Currently (with a Pentium IV 2.4 GHZ with 1 GB RAM) it takes 15 minutes to load the game, plus about 5 minutes to load the neighborhood. I certainly hope this system would run a lot faster than that.
Any advice would be appreciated.
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