Performance Guide for Potato PC [WIP]

Notes On Specs

!SSD IS A MUST!

My specs from ancient times, are as follows:

Motherboard: MSI Z270 GAMING M3 (MS-7A62)

CPU: Intel i3-7100 3.90 Ghz / 2 logical cores

CPU Cooler: Good ol’ air (and some dust)

GPU: GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB Vram

RAM: Kingston ??? DDR4-2666 Mhz C16, 8 GB total // XMP overclock in bios ON

Storage: Samsung SSD 850 EVO (500 GB / 255~ GB Free Space)

Monitor: Samsung ???, Native 1920 x 1080, 60 Hz

OS: Windows 10 (version: 21H2 Build: 19044.2846)

Game ver: 3.0 / 20118.2893064

As seen above, they are almost bare minimum except the GPU. But I’ll assume you have the bare minimum as specified in the game’s store page requirements and guide you accordingly.

Total War: Warhammer III Minimum System Requirements

OS: Windows 7 64-bit

Processor: Intel i3 / Ryzen 3 series

Memory: 6 GB RAM

Graphics: Nvidia GTX 900/AMD RX 400 series | Intel Iris Xe Graphics

DirectX: Version 11

Storage: 120 GB available space

Game Settings

To be able to get best Nvidia Image Scaling [NIS] graphics / performance ratio, we chose the resolution as 1632 x 918 and Fullscreen Mode, as minimum specs can still run with 85% scaling.

In Advanced Tab, these settings will be complimented by Nvidia settings and NIS. That is why most of them are unticked.

Low grass isn't that much of a problem graphically, but medium lightning has big impact on low end systems. Even with medium VFX, there are still mini freezes in impactful areas, occasionally. So, in order to keep Large unit size, these were the trade-offs.

Nvidia Settings

First, we start with Managing 3d Settings spesifically for Warhammer3.exe. Press Add and chose it among your folders into the Nvidia Program Settings. The rest of the options will be just like in the pictures.

Remember we changed the resolution to 1632 x 918? This is where this Image scaling option come in handy. Nvidia drivers and Windows 10 handles image scaling automatically. So all you have to do is to set a game's resolution to accordingly in the table down below and chose Image Scaling option to around 20, depending on the game.

Now we lock the FPS to 30, as potato PCs can not run it in 60 fps anyway. But this is only the first lock. Later, in Riva Turner, we'll double lock the fps to stabilize frametimes.

V-sync is disabled in the game. This is because Adaptive Half-Refresh Rate V-Sync of Nvidia has less stutter and better results at 30 fps lock. That is, if your monitor is 60Hz.

It is important to set your GPU to handle physics, rather than your CPU (if your CPU is the bottleneck like mine)

Fully unlock the Dynamic Range results in better 3D colors, rather than washed up colors of Limited Range.

Don't forget to Apply your settings after.

Image Scaling Resolutions For 1080p

If you chose one of these resolutions [in Fullscreen Mode] in any game, Windows 10/11 will automatically upscale the lower render resolution to your display's native resolution and sharpen accordingly to percentage you defined in Manage 3D settings.

1632 x 918 - 85% Scaling

1477 x 831 - 77% Scaling

1280 x 720 - 67% Scaling

1129 x 635 - 59% Scaling

You can read more info in here[nvidia.custhelp.com] .

Nvidia Developer Settings -Optional

This is where developer settings start. We'll change power settings of explorer.exe and desktop windows manager into performance.

You can completely skip this part, if you don't wanna mess with dev settings. But all it does is to change Windows Explorer and Desktop Manager's power saving mode into performance mode. If you are using a laptop, this may cause more power consumption and has negative impact on battery life in the long run, so beware.

[h1~]Optional~[/h1]

Riva Turner Settings

This is a 3rd party program that helps monitoring resources for PCs. But we'll use it for second fps lock to stabilize frametimes (less stutters).

You can find it in: https://www.guru3d.com/files-get/rtss-rivatuner-statistics-server-download,17.html

Benchmarks

85% Nvidia Image Scaling, 1632 x 918: Immortal Empires Benchmark 30 fps lock

85% Nvidia Image Scaling, 1632 x 918: Battle Benchmark 30 fps lock

Additional Info

This guide is a work in progress, so feel free to comment suggestions.

Things I'll add later: Nvidia Profile Inspector Settings

Two new 3rd party software to help dump excess RAM usage, and automatically set the warhammer3.exe affinity to high for more performance.

One last software to enable Message Signal Interrupt on all Nvidia GPUs.

Will test some performance mods and add them to here with benchmarks.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2971552352					

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