Want to play Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

[Techmarine90]

Hello,
I've been looking everywhere for some information on a system that can play Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood well, but all I find is a lot of what doesn't work! I really want to play AC: Brotherhood with good graphics if I can. I'm not looking at $2,000 or even $1,000 rigs necessarily; instead, if I can either upgrade a desktop setup from Dell or somebody else or get a laptop that will play it, that would be great.

Some of the systems I've been looking at:

Laptops: (low end) ASUS Silver 14" U45JC-A2B Laptop PC with Intel Core i3-370M 2.4 GHz 3 MB cache 4GB RAM NVIDIA GeForce 310M "with 1GB DDR3 dedicated graphics memory" (I understand that's an exaggeration...); or (high end) Asus Silver 14" U41JF-A1 Laptop PC with Intel i3-380M 2.53GHZ 4GB RAM NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M "with 1GB DDR3 memory" (there it is again!)

Desktops: (low end) Dell Inspiron 580 Desktop with Intel Core i3-550 3.2GHz 4MB cache 6GB RAM Intel HD Graphics; or (high end) iBUYPOWER Black Gamer Power WA528D3 Desktop PC with AMD Phenom II x4-955 3.2GHz 4GB RAM AMD Radeon HD6450 Graphics "with 1GB of video memory" (but then, so do they all, apparently...)

None of these systems break the $800 dollar mark but they look good. I'd prefer a laptop but I will go with the desktop option if it will allow for a significant increase in performance. Also, can the Dell I listed be upgraded with a video card that would allow it to play? I can spend $150 or $200 for a video card upgrade if that will help on that Dell.

Thank you so much for looking at my post! If you need more info, just post and I'll be looking. Any suggestions would be most welcome!

 

[Supernova1138]

None of those systems are going to be able to run the game well, mostly due to the weakness of their graphics cards. The "higher end" desktop and "higher end" laptop you listed would probably be able to run the game, but you would probably have to use low graphics settings to get an acceptable framerate.

If you are interested in PC gaming you are probably best off building your own system. If you look at the system builder marathon articles on this site there are $500 systems that they have built that would blow any of the computers you listed out of the water when it comes to game performance. Laptops capable of gaming reasonably well do exist, however they are quite pricy. If you go the laptop route, look for laptops that have higher end mobile GPUs like the GTX 360m or Mobility Radeon HD 5770 or better. You will get much better bang for your buck building a desktop though, so consider whether you really need a mobile computer capable of gaming.

 

[Techmarine90]

Wowza! What was I even thinking!? I've never built a desktop before, but I'm game to try!

I looked up some pieces. How do these components look?

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 840 (3.2 GHz)
4GB DDR3 RAM (1333 MHz)
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 1GB
Microsoft 7 64-bit

I could save a little and use an ATI Radeon HD5670 512 MB or an NVIDIA GeForce GT 430 1 GB video card. Might be better to stick with the better one, though.

The price is nowhere near $500 (I don't see how they could get there when 4GB of RAM almost costs that much!), but it's certainly doable if it will play ACB.

 

[Gman450]

well,the systems you just mentioned with the phenom 840 and a gts 450 is good enough for playing games like acb. Also, might i suggest you a better pc if you're really into gaming ?

 

[Supernova1138]

You need the following components for a gaming desktop:
Case (last thing to pick out, make sure that your motherboard and video card will fit. Avoid slimline cases like the plague, they really restrict your options when it comes to power supplies and video cards.)
Power Supply (Something from a reputable brand, lots of bad PSUs out there, better brands include Antec, Seasonic, Corsair, something around 400 Watts, though that will vary depending on which video card you pick)
Motherboard
CPU
RAM
Hard Drive
DVD Drive
Video Card

The 500 dollar SBM builds do not include the cost of an Operating System unfortunately, so add another $100 for Windows 7. It's possible to get something decent around the $500 mark for parts (not including OS), though you have to be on the lookout for deals. Look at the online retailers for computer parts like newegg or tiger direct, don't go looking for computer parts at Best Buy or other big box stores, they put huge markups on all of their stuff. The AMD build is probably the best for a tight budget, a Phenom II X4 still does fairly well for gaming. The intel i3 2100 is also a very good gaming CPU, though intel motherboards do tend to be pricier than AMD's. RAM is actually not all that expensive right now. A couple of 2GB DDR3 sticks will probably run around $40 right now. A 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive will cost somewhere between 40 and 50 bucks. A DVD drive without a burner can be had for about $20.

The big expenses are going to be the CPU and the video card. As for which card to get, it would help to know what resolution your screen is. Lower resolution screens do not require as much graphical horsepower as higher resolution. The Radeon HD 5670 and GTS 450 are the entry level gaming video cards. They perform well at lower resolutions like 1280x1024. Don't bother considering the GT 430, it isn't really geared towards gaming, and even at lower resolutions you would have to turn graphics options down to get decent framerates on most modern games.

 

[Gman450]

^agree about the video cards.
Might i suggest that you get a better cpu and vid card ?
Maybe a 965 BE and a hd 6870 ?

 

[Gman450]

forget what i said earlier about getting the 965 and 6870. i didn't check your budget. so how much are you planning on spending for a new rig ? if you're sticking with rig you mwntioned with the gts 450, then you'll need a good 400 to 450 w psu. corsair, antec are some good brands. i wouldn't recommend a coolermaster for 400 w's because they usuallly fail on heavy loads. look for psu's that have 80+ efficiency ratings on them. don't bother getting a gt 430 or anything similar. they won't give you much performance boosts.

 

[Techmarine90]

To Gman450: I would like to stay in the $500 to $600 range, but I could go up to $800 if I really needed to. Any suggestions would be most welcome!

To Supernova1138: My screen resolution will be 1440x900. I'd prefer to stick to the monitor I have (Compaq WF1907) just to avoid the additional cost.

I looked on newegg and found this deal for the new AMD 8 APU with a package deal. How does this look?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.679507

Even after adding the OS, this fits very nicely into my price range. Does the fact that the AMD 8 APU has a different sort of memory change the performance?

 

[Techmarine90]

My alternative system build if that package doesn't look good is:

CPU: Intel i3-2100 (which is better, the i3-2100 or i3-550? Same price where I'm looking.)
PSU: Antec 450W
RAM: 4GB (2x 2GB EDGE Tech 2GB PC310600 204-pin DDR3 SODIMM)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB Desktop Internal Hard Drive, 7200RPM SATA 8MB Cache 3.0Gb/s
DVD drive: 8x DVD R/RW DL USB 2.0 Slim External Drive
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD6850 1GB DDR5
Case: Raidmax SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower
Motherboard: P4M80-M4

Any changes? This build turns out very similarly priced to the $500 system Supernova1138 mentioned.

Also, I have an external hard drive (seagate). Can I take that apart to make it an internal? I know it has plenty of space and that would shave a corner on price. Additionally, all the games I play are downloaded directly from Steam. Do I even need a DVD drive if I'm sure that's all I'll play? Losing those two items would take the edge off of the OS price if I can use what I have.

 

[Supernova1138]

My alternative system build if that package doesn't look good is:

CPU: Intel i3-2100 (which is better, the i3-2100 or i3-550? Same price where I'm looking.)
PSU: Antec 450W
RAM: 4GB (2x 2GB EDGE Tech 2GB PC310600 204-pin DDR3 SODIMM)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB Desktop Internal Hard Drive, 7200RPM SATA 8MB Cache 3.0Gb/s
DVD drive: 8x DVD R/RW DL USB 2.0 Slim External Drive
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD6850 1GB DDR5
Case: Raidmax SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower
Motherboard: P4M80-M4

Any changes? This build turns out very similarly priced to the $500 system Supernova1138 mentioned.

Also, I have an external hard drive (seagate). Can I take that apart to make it an internal? I know it has plenty of space and that would shave a corner on price. Additionally, all the games I play are downloaded directly from Steam. Do I even need a DVD drive if I'm sure that's all I'll play? Losing those two items would take the edge off of the OS price if I can use what I have.

This build looks pretty good for the most part, you will have to look at different RAM, SODIMMs are for laptops, you need normal sized DIMMs, which are 240 pins rather than 204. You're going to need a DVD drive to install the operating system unless you have a sufficiently large USB drive lying around to make a bootable USB drive to install the OS.

It's generally not a good idea to use external drives to run games or operating systems. They tend to be the slower 5200 RPM drives, while it would probably work if you could get the drive out of the enclosure, performance would be poor. If you have parts you can cannibalize from an existing system like a DVD drive or a decent internal hard drive, that can also help keep the cost down. (If you go that route, check to see if those drives are SATA or IDE, if they are IDE you may have to look for a mobo that has an IDE header, not all boards have them now) IDE drives use a wide ribbon cable that connects to the motherboard, SATA drives use a narrow cable to connect to the motherboard.

i3 2100 is the better CPU, it requires an LGA 1155 board. Make sure not to confuse that with LGA 1156, the two sockets are not compatible.

The GPU you picked is quite good, and will easily max out most games at your resolution of 1440x900

 

[Gman450]

^+1
You shouldn't use your external hard drive as an main one. They're slower than the main ones. The main ones released these days are at 7200 RPM.

And yeah, the built you have mentioned is a good one for $500. Since you have 1400X900 screen resolution , a HD 6850 is an overkill, but would be able to max out any game.

 

[bliksem175]

halo,
ik wil graag assasin's creed brotherhood kopen en ik vraag dat mijn laptop het spel aan kan


Operating System
» Legitieme Windows® 7 Home Premium
Processor & Chipset
» Processor producent: Intel
» Processortype: Pentium
» Processormodel: P6100
» Processorsnelheid: 2 GHz
» Processorkern: Dual-core
» Chipset Producent: Intel
» Chipsetmodel: HM55 Express
Geheugen
» Standaardgeheugen: 3 GB
» Geheugentechnologie: DDR3 SDRAM
» Type: DDR3-1066/PC3-8500
» Geheugenkaartlezer: Ja
Opslag
» Harde schijf capaciteit: 320 GB
» Harde schijf interface: Serieel ATA
» Harde schijf RPM: 5400
» Type drive: DVD-brander
» Optische-mediaformaten: DVD-RAM/±R/±RW
Beeldscherm
» Schermformaat: 39,6cm (15,6")
» Schermtype: Active Matrix TFT kleuren-LCD



dit is wat mijn laptop bevat.

graag zo snel mogenlijk een antwoord. 😛

 

[Gman450]

In English please, sir.
Also, if you want to post your question, you should make your own thread, otherwise you'd be highjacking others' threads.

 

[rocky41]

I think if you want a gaming pc then you should avoid laptop first of all as the chances of upgrading your system are nil. The most important thing here should be to make your own gaming pc which will be cheaper then the one companies offer for you. And the configuration that you have have is quite good but i think you should get a i5 as the game that will be coming in future are going to put pressure on your processor as well.

 

[Techmarine90]

Okay, sorry I haven't posted in awhile, but I was allocating funds for this comp.

As I looked around the internet, Newegg seemed to be the most reliable and best deals for DIY kind of work, which I'm interested in. I put these parts in my cart and plan to buy them next Saturday unless someone sees a flaw that will make this build unable to play Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood or Mass Effect II.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 555 Callisto 3.2GHz
I understood that quad-core wasn't really necessary for the most part as long as the power of the cores were good, hence the dual-core choice. The reviewers also said that this CPU could be unlocked to four cores anyway.

Motherboard: Asus ASUS M4A78LT-M AM3 AMD 760G HDMI Micro ATX
Seemed like a pretty good choice for the price; I was trying to balance upgrade-ability with pricing.

GPU: GTS 450 Fermi 1GB Superclocked 128-bit GDDR5 SLI Support
I plan to use this alone at first but perhaps get the SLI option later.

Memory: Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333 Dual Channel
Enough for most gaming, I hope.

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM 6.0Gb/s
I actually don't need nearly this much memory since this computer will be only for games (I have about 80GB of them). I tried to get an SSD with smaller memory but the price of those is still not very helpful for budget-eers like me! (Nearly $2 per GB. Youch.)

Power Supply: Antec Basiq 450W

Case: Antec 100 Black ATX Mid Tower

Even after including Windows, the price is about $550. VERY nice for my budget! Now, a few questions that I would really appreciate any assistance on:

Does this include EVERYTHING I need to build a functioning computer? I didn't list Windows 7 but I will have a copy when I order this build. I just really don't want to add $100 for tools or pieces or what not. I have a decent supply of "normal" tools like mechanics or carpenters would use, but do I need specialized equipment?

Will this adequately run ACB, Mass Effect II, and similar games? The research I did on the parts indicated that there would be decent performance at high settings, but if anyone actually has similar parts and would like to comment, please let me know! Any and all assistance would be appreciated. Also, would this build be "future-proofed" for games like Mass Effect III or AC: Revelations? If not, can this build be upgraded easily in terms of compatibility?

I may want to use NVIDIA's SLI technology if the games I play get more graphics heavy. What is required to use that besides another graphics card? Do I already have the necessary pieces and ports in this build?

 

[Supernova1138]

The motherboard you selected does not support SLI, if you want to go that route you're going to have to find a different one, one that specifically states in the features that it supports SLI, most boards don't support SLI due to nvidia charging rather high licensing fees to use the technology, Crossfire support tends to be much more common. The board you selected also doesn't have 2 PCI-E x16 slots, so two video cards isn't even possible.

You are also missing an optical drive in your build, you're going to need that to install Windows unless you have a spare lying around or you plan on putting the Windows 7 installation data on a different medium.

The dual core CPU should be okay for now, but you are better off with a quad in the long term, do not depend on being able to unlock cores, cores disabled on AMD chips are usually disabled for a reason, a lot of the time the disabled cores won't work at all or are unstable, the chances of a successful unlock are probably about 50% at best.