New PC - where to focus upgrades for Paradox games?

[thecjm]

New build time is coming soon, and on my budget ($700-$800) I know I'm not going to be able to build a system that is amazing at everything. Instead I'm looking to focus my parts spending on the kind of games I spend the most time with - Strategy games!

Most hardware review sites focus on the latest FPS for framerate comparisons, and while I enjoy a round of Titanfall, what I really care about is how quickly my new PC can run strategy games and sims that might not have the best graphics but run a lot of simulation in the background

What should I be focusing on to best run Paradox games like Crusader Kings 2 or sports sims like Out of the Park 2015? An i5 instead of i3 for more cores? 16GB of RAM instead of 8GB? A big SSD to get as many games on it as possible instead of just Windows?


I've already got a R9 270x and a recently purchased 2TB HDD to put in the new system, but everything else in this build is up in the air right now.

 

[LumberKing]

CPU, these Grand Strategy games are processing whores so you're going to want to have a nice CPU. Then I'd go for GPU and RAM. 8GB should suffice, but 16GB wouldn't hurt either. SSD instead of HDD (or just go Cheetah/Raptor) especially if you play Ironman mode a lot, since Paradox games aren't that big to begin with. Other than, it's a matter of personal preference.

 

[Augustus93]

Your graphics card is good enough. 8GB of RAM is enough. SSD is not necessary but it will decrease loading times, but it will not contribute much to gameplay speed. You should definitely get a nice CPU, probably i7 or i5, I would not get a i3 or maybe you can pick up an AMD processor. Get a good cooling system as that is very important.

 

[WeissRaben]

CPU, GPU, RAM. CPU and RAM look obvious enough; GPU, instead, looks out of place until you learn that Paradox games offload a lot of calculations unrelated to graphics on the GPU, presumably to have more calculating power at once.

 

[the cool guy]

Consider an i7 for Pdox games.

 

[Viperswhip]

A clean pc. No Itunes, no MS Office, no crap Firewalls or Virus Scanners (I use Bit Defender, highly recommended), just a nice clean PC. I have an I5 pure gaming machine, run this off a 7200 RPM HD with a nice cache, and 32GB of Ram. I don't have any issues. Paradox games are not graphically taxing. In fact the only game I am worried about coming up is the insanely huge galaxies they are promising for Gal Civ 3.

 

[keneticpest]

A clean pc. No Itunes, no MS Office, no crap Firewalls or Virus Scanners (I use Bit Defender, highly recommended), just a nice clean PC. I have an I5 pure gaming machine, run this off a 7200 RPM HD with a nice cache, and 32GB of Ram. I don't have any issues. Paradox games are not graphically taxing. In fact the only game I am worried about coming up is the insanely huge galaxies they are promising for Gal Civ 3.

That seems a bit overkill. While I would recommend a nice CPU and a high amount of RAM, I don't particularly see the need for not having iTunes or Office, especially considering that those programs can just go away entirely with a few clicks in the task manager.

 

[Ciaphas Cain]

Consider an i7 for Pdox games.

An i5 will be enough. They don't use the additional hyper threaded threads.

 

[smeggy]

CPU. I had a 8gb ram machine with an old cpu and expecailly the saving in ironmode ck2/eu4 was horrible. Added a SSD, no improvements, recently got a new i7 PC and all runs smooth and I hardly notice any saving.

 

[Viperswhip]

That seems a bit overkill. While I would recommend a nice CPU and a high amount of RAM, I don't particularly see the need for not having iTunes or Office, especially considering that those programs can just go away entirely with a few clicks in the task manager.

It's not turning them off that's the problem, it is the nearly 1000 registry entries between them.

 

[AppoX]

God, I think I will go bankrupt, are there any cheaper alternative relatively good processors? For PDS games of course. I'm thinking about upgrading soon too. Because damn Vicky 2 doesn't run fast enough on my 5 year old laptop :l

Cheaper as in cheaper than an i5....

 

[LumberKing]

God, I think I will go bankrupt, are there any cheaper alternative relatively good processors? For PDS games of course. I'm thinking about upgrading soon too. Because damn Vicky 2 doesn't run fast enough on my 5 year old laptop :l

Cheaper as in cheaper than an i5....

If you can't afford Intel CPUs then go for an equivalent AMD APUs (or even the older CPUs). It doesn't score as high on the benchmarks, but in terms of what it needs to do for games, it should be fine.

 

[Mythtern5]

CPUs are by far the most important component for Paradox games. What country are you in? I'll look up a few sites for you and do some recommendations. Intel>AMD, as paradox games aren't multi thread optimised and that's where AMD shines. So yeah, an i5 is probably your best option - are you willing to overclock?

 

[wolfing]

God, I think I will go bankrupt, are there any cheaper alternative relatively good processors? For PDS games of course. I'm thinking about upgrading soon too. Because damn Vicky 2 doesn't run fast enough on my 5 year old laptop :l

Cheaper as in cheaper than an i5....

There is another option that may work for you if you have a good desktop PC. You can do Steam streaming so the game runs in the desktop and you play in your old laptop.

 

[BasileusIX]

I'm also getting a new computer, how much of a performance gain can I expect upgrading from a i7-4702 2.2Ghz to a i5-4670k 3.4Ghz?
Generally I think a SSD is always nice, when you use mods like M&T for EUIV and stuff like that you really want to decrease the waiting time.
Also you really dont need a high end GPU for Parado games...