New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (Full Version)

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DonCzirr -> New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/5/2019 4:59:13 PM)

Looks like the time is coming for me to retire "old reliable" - my 8 GB Win 8.1 Laptop - and is time to pick up a new rig.


Looking at "Gaming PCs" available from various vendors, I see that they are oriented towards 3d shooters and things like Fortnite".


Being primarily a Wargamer, I have little need of 3D graphics but do have the need to process substantial maps and number crunching - examples : AGEOD Pride of Nations / Alea Jacta Est,

War in the East, Strategic Command WIE and WaW.


Any recommendations then for folks that may have gone through a recent exercise?

I'm thinking with Windows 10, 16 GB RAM is a good start ... and perhaps a SSD Drive .... any other Wargamer friendly tips ?



Kuokkanen -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/5/2019 5:17:48 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: DonCzirr

I'm thinking with Windows 10, 16 GB RAM is a good start ... and perhaps a SSD Drive .... any other Wargamer friendly tips ?

At least half-decent graphic adapter. BATTLETECH is one wargame which requires one. My second newest desktop (I'm typing this with it) is little above min spec and is still struggling with long loading times. So definitely go for SSD. Otherwise BATTLETECH's recommended requirements ought to be enough for great majority of other wargames. At least for turn-based games. Say, GTX 1060. Cheapest ones go around $250 new and you may get used ones for much less.



Anachro -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/5/2019 5:20:53 PM)

Well, I don't think you'll be needing a RTX 2080 Ti, if that's what you want. What is your budget? Answer that and I can put together a PC for you accordingly.



DonCzirr -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/5/2019 6:18:40 PM)

Thanks - I was looking at around $800 USD ...

My initial find was :

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DNT2HTX/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1


RAM was low (8 GB RAM) and no SSD - so was thinking to go a couple of hundred dollars higher and go with 12 or 16 GB RAM and perhaps a SSD.


As to the video card - pretty sure I don't need the Battle tech level of performance ....

I do play Sanctus Reach on my current Laptop without any issues with 8 GB RAM and a Nvidia GT820M ...


That is about as 3D and graphical as I am likely to get [:)]





Kuokkanen -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/5/2019 6:54:42 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: DonCzirr

As to the video card - pretty sure I don't need the Battle tech level of performance ....

In that case you may want GTX 1050 or AMD equivalent. I bet 99% of the games will work on it when you crank settings and resolution down enough. My GTX 580 from 2012 play Doom from 2016 just fine with reduced resolution, and newer BATTLETECH and Project Cars 2 are perfectly playable in HD.



budd -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/5/2019 6:56:24 PM)

I'd insist on an SSD, the bigger the better, and I'd cram as much memmory as I could into it.



Anachro -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/5/2019 7:03:17 PM)

My take. The RX 570 will be able to do any wargame you throw at it, even the more graphically demanding ones and should last you a decent amount of time. Feel free to go lower and get a GTX 1050 as suggested above if you wish. The minimum specs for that game you play is a 512mb card with DX9, so a 570 or 560 or 1050 will be fine. Honestly, I put 16 GB of RAM in this build, but that might be overkill depending on how you use your computer. Will you be using it for other applications such as work or will it just be for wargames? Do you like to have many programs open at once? You could probably get by with 8 GB depending. I didn't include a monitor in this build as I assume you have one, so add that to cost if you need.

[image]https://i.imgur.com/wVThIfC.jpg[/image]



Zap -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/5/2019 7:06:25 PM)

While Don Cizirr is asking and in response to your point. A few have suggested dual drives because SSD drives are costly and capacity is small. Not sure how ell that combination works? Because I too am in the market for a new laptop.



Hoeist6634 -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/5/2019 7:20:38 PM)

I wouldn't go to high on spec's because pc gaming is going to change dramatically over the next coming years with major players launching their game streaming services which will require less high end hardware from the consumerside.



wodin -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/5/2019 8:27:15 PM)

I'm using Win 10 64bit. Ryzan 1600 cpu, AMD 480 8 gig graphics card, 8 gig memory. Don't have one but suggest SSD hard drive.

This runs wargames including ones like Battletech with no problems.



wodin -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/5/2019 8:28:43 PM)

I'd drop the memory abit and get a RX580

You probably have memory overkill.

A system with those specs the 570 stands out as a why? 580 8gig. 8 or 12 gig system memory.

Far better


quote:

ORIGINAL: Anachro

My take. The RX 570 will be able to do any wargame you throw at it, even the more graphically demanding ones and should last you a decent amount of time. Feel free to go lower and get a GTX 1050 as suggested above if you wish. The minimum specs for that game you play is a 512mb card with DX9, so a 570 or 560 or 1050 will be fine. Honestly, I put 16 GB of RAM in this build, but that might be overkill depending on how you use your computer. Will you be using it for other applications such as work or will it just be for wargames? Do you like to have many programs open at once? You could probably get by with 8 GB depending. I didn't include a monitor in this build as I assume you have one, so add that to cost if you need.

[image]https://i.imgur.com/wVThIfC.jpg[/image]




berto -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/5/2019 8:45:46 PM)


In my computer setups (we have 9 PCs and 3 Macs around here), I prioritize

  • RAM (the more the better)
  • CPU speed, multi-cores
  • dual monitors (or perhaps a single, large 4K monitor)
  • capacious physical hard drives

    I have little need for SSDs. I prefer to spend my money on RAM (devoting whatever excess RAM there is to RAM drive usage, also virtual machine hosting).

    I don't do any graphics-intensive gaming, so GPU speed and video card memory are not so much at issue.

    YMMV.



    • demyansk -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/5/2019 10:23:14 PM)

    I bought my computer 9.5 years ago from Digital Storm and I have had no problems. Plus, it only cost me a few hundred dollars more than building for myself. I didn't have time to build. I play all the FPS games, max with a 1070 card.

    I like the fast gpu, Ssd drives, fast ram and make sure you get a large power supply.



    JReb -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/6/2019 12:11:02 AM)


    quote:

    ORIGINAL: Hoeist6634

    I wouldn't go to high on spec's because pc gaming is going to change dramatically over the next coming years with major players launching their game streaming services which will require less high end hardware from the consumerside.


    Now there is an idea. A $10 monthly subscription to a Slith / Matrix streaming channel to have access to their entire catalog of games. Oh yeah baby! [:D] [8D]



    Hoeist6634 -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/6/2019 7:15:40 PM)


    quote:

    ORIGINAL: JReb


    quote:

    ORIGINAL: Hoeist6634

    I wouldn't go to high on spec's because pc gaming is going to change dramatically over the next coming years with major players launching their game streaming services which will require less high end hardware from the consumerside.


    Now there is an idea. A $10 monthly subscription to a Slith / Matrix streaming channel to have access to their entire catalog of games. Oh yeah baby! [:D] [8D]


    Couldn't agree with you more![:D]



    Gilmer -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/7/2019 12:34:10 AM)

    I built this. You could go with a lesser video card and it would be a lot cheaper. It might give you a few ideas? If you're thinking desktop.

    Gilmer's/KurtC's computer



    Kuokkanen -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/7/2019 7:17:22 PM)

    quote:

    ORIGINAL: KurtC

    Gilmer's/KurtC's computer

    Some old tech there. I recommend i7-8700 in place of 6700K. And appropriate mother board for it.



    tcarusil -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/7/2019 9:04:22 PM)

    Coincidentally, I read an older article on RAM this morning. Faster is not necessarily better. The specs of the motherboard and the cpu need to be taken into account to make sure that all the RAM you pay for gets used. I found the section about cpu specs particularly interesting. I have been looking at putting together a system and discovered that the cpu I was looking at would not take max advantage of the RAM I was considering. Like a lot of things, its all a matter of properly balancing the components.

    https://www.pcsteps.com/7932-real-ram-speed-mhz-cas-latency/

    TomC



    wesy -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/7/2019 9:28:21 PM)

    I just picked up a Lenovo Legion Y7000 laptop at Costco (online) for $999. I know it's a bit above budget, but specs are good (not a ton of battery life, but it's not an ultrabook). Build quality is good and I like the matte screen.

    Intel® Core™ i7-8750H Processor 2.2GHz
    16GB DDR4 RAM
    1.0TB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive + 256GB PCle Solid State Drive
    No Optical Drive

    Graphics & Video:
    15.6" Anti-glare IPS LED Backlit FHD (1920 x 1080) Display
    6GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Graphics



    Capt. Harlock -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/9/2019 12:14:26 AM)

    quote:

    I'd insist on an SSD, the bigger the better, and I'd cram as much memmory as I could into it.


    I hear from my computer-savvy co-workers than RAM beyond 12 GB gives less of a boost.

    Assuming you're not buying a laptop, I'd go half-and-half with hard drives: a 120 or 240 GB SSD for the C: drive for fast boot-up and Windows tasks, and a big regular hard drive for the data and large apps. My own homebuilt is set up this way, and seems to work pretty well.



    Kuokkanen -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/9/2019 4:02:28 PM)

    quote:

    ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

    Assuming you're not buying a laptop, I'd go half-and-half with hard drives: a 120 or 240 GB SSD for the C: drive for fast boot-up and Windows tasks, and a big regular hard drive for the data and large apps. My own homebuilt is set up this way, and seems to work pretty well.

    Cheap working alternative. However costs of SSD drives have came down hard and may still be falling. At the moment terabyte SSDs are available around 200 € around here (Finland)



    Greybriar -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/10/2019 1:11:27 PM)

    I bought a new gaming PC a couple of years ago--500GB solid state system drive and a 6TB drive to install games on. Default settings for Windows 10 are for a single hard drive, so if you have Windows 10 as your operating system, you might want to adjust your settings for an additional hard drive to account for your D:\ drive. Otherwise all your installations, downloads, etc. will be directed to your C:\ (system) drive.



    Gilmer -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/11/2019 12:11:04 AM)


    quote:

    ORIGINAL: Kuokkanen

    quote:

    ORIGINAL: KurtC

    Gilmer's/KurtC's computer

    Some old tech there. I recommend i7-8700 in place of 6700K. And appropriate mother board for it.


    Yeah, i know it's a little older, but I only said it is for ideas. :)



    Zap -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/13/2019 3:40:29 PM)

    I'm off to buy a laptop for the wife. She does not need a gaming level computer but I found that the one I'm looking at has intel Optane Memory. Which increases speed on conventional drive (almost to the level of SSD drives, at least reviews say so). I'm still undecided on a gaming laptop for myself though I am tending towards the Costco laptop suggested by Wesy.



    Crossroads -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/13/2019 4:06:05 PM)


    quote:

    ORIGINAL: DonCzirr

    Looks like the time is coming for me to retire "old reliable" - my 8 GB Win 8.1 Laptop - and is time to pick up a new rig.


    Looking at "Gaming PCs" available from various vendors, I see that they are oriented towards 3d shooters and things like Fortnite".


    Being primarily a Wargamer, I have little need of 3D graphics but do have the need to process substantial maps and number crunching - examples : AGEOD Pride of Nations / Alea Jacta Est,

    War in the East, Strategic Command WIE and WaW.


    Any recommendations then for folks that may have gone through a recent exercise?

    I'm thinking with Windows 10, 16 GB RAM is a good start ... and perhaps a SSD Drive .... any other Wargamer friendly tips ?

    I have custom built two rigs form my kids who enjoy their graphics intensive FPS games, while also built one for myself, with emphasis towards memory intensive hex-and-counters wargames.

    I'd actually pretty much go what you said there. SSD for one, I'd not consider a system anymore without a primary SSD drive. Fast, quiet, quite inexpensive nowadays. So I'd definitively have that.

    Then, I'd actually future proof my PC with 16GB RAM as well. While RAM is something that can be added later, the newer chips are not necessarily compatible with old, and as our PCs are a few years old and had DDR3 RAM, instead of the latest DDR4 standard, it was a bit difficult to find a decently priced upgrade to 16GB from the original 8GB. Thing with RAM is that your motherboard, in a years to come, will not likely support the what ever is the next spec, so it might be if not difficult then at least more expensive to upgrade later.

    Graphics cards are easy to upgrade, so I'd not worry about that for now, and if I'd want to save money somewhere, and given you said your gaming preference is not GPU intensive, well there you go. So what ever left I'd invest in a CPU.

    To recap, my priorities would be:

  • SSD from the word go, with a less expensive large secondary HDD possibly later.
  • 16GB RAM
  • CPU
  • GPU



    • Kuokkanen -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/14/2019 4:57:17 PM)

    A word about RAM and SSD: money is best used for quantity rather than quality. Still it doesn't hurt to read up on it from computer magazines. I recall reading about a cheap SSD that performs significantly slower than only 30 € more expensive ones. Still even that one is likely better than any easily found HDD.



    Gilmer -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/15/2019 1:36:32 AM)


    quote:

    ORIGINAL: Kuokkanen

    A word about RAM and SSD: money is best used for quantity rather than quality. Still it doesn't hurt to read up on it from computer magazines. I recall reading about a cheap SSD that performs significantly slower than only 30 € more expensive ones. Still even that one is likely better than any easily found HDD.


    I always go for the quality. It makes things so much better.

    Perfect example. I had an HP or a Dell and it had a cheap wireless card. Could not stream ANYTHING on it without getting the buffering icon. I built my new computer and "splurged" for a good wireless card and streaming is so smooth now.



    Crossroads -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/16/2019 10:38:53 AM)


    quote:

    ORIGINAL: KurtC


    quote:

    ORIGINAL: Kuokkanen

    A word about RAM and SSD: money is best used for quantity rather than quality. Still it doesn't hurt to read up on it from computer magazines. I recall reading about a cheap SSD that performs significantly slower than only 30 € more expensive ones. Still even that one is likely better than any easily found HDD.


    I always go for the quality. It makes things so much better.

    Perfect example. I had an HP or a Dell and it had a cheap wireless card. Could not stream ANYTHING on it without getting the buffering icon. I built my new computer and "splurged" for a good wireless card and streaming is so smooth now.

    Agreed, there's items where one should shop for quality, and areas where it matters less in itself. Power unit is probably at the one end where the cheap alternative is not a good choice, then, as Kuokkanen mentioned, those RAM chips available seem to be in general all good (enough) quality, and there's little gain for shopping for the fastest possible RAM chips, for instance. Especially when on budget.

    Of course, when building without budget, or with a large budget, it is a different matter. Just like with cycling, shaving out those last grams from your bike frame is what really costs you [:'(]



    Kuokkanen -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/17/2019 6:28:56 AM)

    quote:

    ORIGINAL: KurtC

    I always go for the quality. It makes things so much better.

    DonCzirr doesn't want to pay more than $800 for entire computer. Quality motherboard cost more than that.



    Gilmer -> RE: New PC for a Wargamer - Recommendations? (3/18/2019 10:53:23 PM)


    quote:

    ORIGINAL: Kuokkanen

    quote:

    ORIGINAL: KurtC

    I always go for the quality. It makes things so much better.

    DonCzirr doesn't want to pay more than $800 for entire computer. Quality motherboard cost more than that.


    Whoa now, there's quality and then there's quality. I'm going for the quality.... the cheaper quality. More like $300.



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