CPU and GPU advice

[Roxnpt]

I'm planning to buy a new PC and don't know which CPU and GPU will be good enough for late game in Paradox games especially VIC3, CK3 and in the future EU5. My budget for CPU is something around ~200-250€ (230-300$) and for GPU up to ~600-640€ (700-740$).

 

[AndrewT]

We can't advise on particular vendors or prices. You can see the minimum and recommended CPU and GPU for each game in its Steam store or Paradox store page.

In general you want higher speeds rather than more cores.

 

[Roxnpt]

We can't advise on particular vendors or prices. You can see the minimum and recommended CPU and GPU for each game in its Steam store or Paradox store page.

In general you want higher speeds rather than more cores.

I've got one more question: it will be better if CPU got extra V-cache or faster single-core speed?

 

[TheLoneGunman]

I've got one more question: it will be better if CPU got extra V-cache or faster single-core speed?

In most gaming applications, the additional v-cache tends to outperform faster core speed.

 

[Roxnpt]

Okay, thank you both for your advice!

 

[rubert]

I'm planning to buy a new PC and don't know which CPU and GPU will be good enough for late game in Paradox games especially VIC3, CK3 and in the future EU5. My budget for CPU is something around ~200-250€ (230-300$) and for GPU up to ~600-640€ (700-740$).

Basically any modern CPU or GPU will be "good enough". The actual "best choice" for you depends on your budget, preferences and if you play any other games. For PDX games particular (CK3, Stellaris, EU4 etc) faster CPU is better than faster GPU. Currently, as the poster above said, CPUs with large cache namely AMD's x3D CPUs likely offer the best performance for PDX games and many other CPU bound games (Factorio, World of Warcraft etc).

Over on the Stellaris forum I have posted links to some benchmarks which use Stellaris and compare multiple CPUs. Link below to the most recent one:

Performance Megathread

This thread is for all discussions related to performance in the game. In order to prevent this forum from getting flooded with threads discussing the same topic, all Performance discussions will now take place here. Until further notice you...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

Very general advice:

• For the latest big AAA and AA games: more focus on GPU
• For CPU bound games like PDX, WoW, Factorio etc etc: more focus on CPU
• Neither is absolute and depends on your budget, what's available and if other factors are important (eg. productivity).

 

[RomVlad]

I'm planning to buy a new PC and don't know which CPU and GPU will be good enough for late game in Paradox games especially VIC3, CK3 and in the future EU5. My budget for CPU is something around ~200-250€ (230-300$) and for GPU up to ~600-640€ (700-740$).

I upgraded 12700K to 9800x3d.
And ran a test in all paradox games.
In Crusader Kings 3, I got the following results.
Start date 1.1. 1000, then we wait 3 minutes, and get
12700K: from 2743 to 2854 days (on average 2812)
9800x3d: from 3826 to 3916 days (on average 3885)

Of course, I tested processors not from your price range, but maybe this will help you somehow. I would take 7800X3D, I think you can find it for that kind of money.

Regarding the GPU. Paradox games do not require a powerful GPU at all.

 

[Roxnpt]

Thank you again guys! I think I will cut some budget from GPU and invest more into CPU.