http://www.srtest.com

Try it out:

1. Select Game.
2. Click "Can You Run It?"
3. Click 'Yes' to pop up window(nothing harmful)

---

Civ IV: System Requirements

MINIMUM

* Windows 2000/XP with SP1 or higher
* Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon CPU with at least 1.2 GHZ
* 256 MB RAM
* 64 MB graphics card with Hardware T&L (GeForce 2/Radeon 7500 or better)
* DirectX 7 compatible soundcard
* DVD-ROM drive(Europe only)
* 1.7 GB free hard disk space


RECOMMENDED

* Windows XP with SP1 or higher
* Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon CPU with at least 1.8 GHz
* 512 MB RAM
* 128 MB graphics card with DirectX 8 support (pixel- and vertex shaders)
* DirectX 7 compatible soundcard
* DVD-ROM drive(Europe only)
* 1.7 GB free hard disk space

---

Suggested Compatible Video Cards:(Please do your own research before purchasing one of these cards.)

$45-$55 Range (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Manufactory=&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&description=&MinPrice=45&MaxPrice=55&SubCategory=48&Submit=Property)
(Recommended: SAPPHIRE Radeon 9250 256MB DDR AGP 4X/8X (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102404))

$80-$120 Range (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?submit=PROPERTY&SubCategory=48&minprice=80&maxprice=120&bop=and&Order=rating)
(Recommended: POWERCOLOR Radeon 9800SE 256MB 128-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814131296) or AOpen Geforce 6600 256MB 128-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814135164))

---

that such a cool tool thanx for posting it

Its neat but it got my CPU speed and Memory wrong

By any chance Firaxis will lower the RAM :)

That thing is inacurrate... it says I cannot run Battlefield 2(a game which I own and can run PERFECTLY!)

That thing is inacurrate... it says I cannot run Battlefield 2(a game which I own and can run PERFECTLY!)

That means theres hope for the ram to be lower :)

never said it was perfect :p lol

it worked for me though...oh well...sry

hmm it says i cant run battlefield 2. and its right. damn you video card!!!

hmm it says i cant run battlefield 2. and its right. damn you video card!!!

haha... :lol:

I can run civ4 (but i already knew that), my graphics card just falls short of the reccomended setting though.

It says I can run Batle Feild 2 when I cant.

for the recomended it says you should have a 1.5 ghz processor but i only have 867mgz yet i passed

I passed. :goodjob:

Double. post. (damb.)

I already know what I am lacking-Video Card and RAM, but I am getting those next week, so BRING IT ON Firaxis, I'm ready for ya ;)!
Hmmm, might actually get Doom3 too, now that I will have the necessary RAM :) .

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

SRTEST tells me that I have everything that I need to run CIV IV but when I go to see if it is optimized it tells me that my graphics card (128 MB GeForce 5200) is not good enough. But it does like my dual 2.8 GHz P.IV processors and 768 MB RAM.

It thinks my AMD 3500+ is overclocked to 3.5ghz. (I wish!) :lol:

It failed me for running XP x64 :shakehead

That test needs some updating, methinks.

Video Cards seems to be the sticky points for recomended. it doesn't matter if your cards has ALL the "recomended" pure stats : if it's lower than a certain number in the GeForce (5600) or Radeon (9800) lines, you auto-fail.

3.5 Gigaherz. Sheesh, and here I was thinking my 2.4 Gigaherz CPU was fast :mischief: !! Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

Video Cards seems to be the sticky points for recomended. it doesn't matter if your cards has ALL the "recomended" pure stats : if it's lower than a certain number in the GeForce (5600) or Radeon (9800) lines, you auto-fail.
My Radeon 9600 passed just fine.

Congratulations, your system will Rock this product! Wish we had a system that hot you lucky dog.
Hell yeah!

It thinks my AMD 3500+ is overclocked to 3.5ghz. (I wish!) :lol:
Well it said my AMD 3000+ was overclocked to 3.0ghz, and thats kinda true, cus thats why its called 3000+, its supposed to run Like a 3.0ghz pentium.

Well it said my AMD 3000+ was overclocked to 3.0ghz, and thats kinda true, cus thats why its called 3000+, its supposed to run Like a 3.0ghz pentium.
I know. ;)

I still wish I could up my actual clock speed to 3.5 from its current 2.2.

Nice function there! must try it when I come home too. But it shouldn't be a problem. My work computer can run it on recomanded settings... :D

My system passed well with "your system will Rock this product!" Lol :king:

This tool is ace!

P.S. I can run CivIV OH YEAH!

I posted a similar question - specifically about the video card requirements. I'm planning a full upgrade to an HP Pavilion zd8000 with an ATI Radeon X600 video card (other stuff meets recommended min requirements). Down side is that I can't use this link until I buy the damn thing and run the test. Oh well... :sad:

Woohoo... my GeForce 5700 LE passed :cool:

My GeForce FX 5200 passes by two lines, and it tells me some drivers can be upgraded.
The only problem with my video card is that I have to spend money to get a card with half the allocated power.

works good, although it tells me i failed, cause my videocard is missing one feature:

Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card

Video RAM: Required - 32 MB , You have - 64 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - No

Not good holy :eek:
I believe this means you cannot run the game as civ4 uses this feature for its gfx engine and it states in the minimum requirements that T&L is required :/

Video RAM: Required - 32 MB , You have - 64 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - NoOn my laptop I have exactly the same. Can anyone explain what is Transform & Lighting, and why it is so important?

Thanks.

In short: T&L is a type of video technology that takes all the 3D information that used to be handled by the computer processor and gives it to the GPU. This enables for a more complex 3D environment by adding a higher polygon count and improving the lighting at the same time it allows the computer processor to handle other tasks.

My school computer didn't pass!

works good, although it tells me i failed, cause my videocard is missing one feature:

Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card

Video RAM: Required - 32 MB , You have - 64 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - NoNot good holy :eek:
I believe this means you cannot run the game as civ4 uses this feature for its gfx engine and it states in the minimum requirements that T&L is required :/

That might not be entirely accurate. Civ4 utilises the same graphics engine as Pirates! does. My laptop uses an Intel Extreme graphics chipset which does not support any form of HW Transform & Lighting. However, my laptop runs Pirates! on the highest graphics settings with no flaws and at least a 30fps Framerate. Pirates! also requires HW Transform and Lighting, by the way.

Its strange that they have it in their minimum requirements if it works without but its only good if thats the case.
I checked the Pirates requirements and it too says card must have T&L support, strange :coffee:

Some software allows the CPU to handle the T&L calculations instead of the GPU at the expense of overall processing speed. It's just a matter of whether or not the software's resources check doesn't automatically stop the program from running once it knows the GPU does not have the right hardware architecture to handle T&L. The gamebryo engine (at least the iteration used for Pirates!) does not stop the program from running, and the game then relies on the speed of your computer to get the needed fps with the extra bells and whistles.

This is how I understand it works, at least.

That might not be entirely accurate. Civ4 utilises the same graphics engine as Pirates! does. My laptop uses an Intel Extreme graphics chipset which does not support any form of HW Transform & Lighting. However, my laptop runs Pirates! on the highest graphics settings with no flaws and at least a 30fps Framerate. Pirates! also requires HW Transform and Lighting, by the way.Sounds my laptop is not unlike yours. We'll have to wait and see, then. There is still hope and all that.

Sounds my laptop is not unlike yours. We'll have to wait and see, then. There is still hope and all that.

My laptop's a good piece of hardware. A Toshiba Satellite A15. 2Ghz CPU and 1GB RAM. The only problem with it is the subpar GPU. Intel 852/855s just don't hold up anymore. I will be converting this machine in the near future entirely into a business unit. At least until I do, it should be able to handle Civ4 just fine.

My desktop pass's with flyin colors but my laptop fails due to the graphics card................is it difficult to update a graphics card on a laptop? my lap top passes execpt for the lighting part

Unfortunately, there is no way to upgrade your laptop's GFX card. Until they can cram the equivalent of an ATI x300 onto a PCMCIA card, you're SOL. You'll have to buy a whole new machine (which is what I've done).

My desktop pass's with flyin colors but my laptop fails due to the graphics card................is it difficult to update a graphics card on a laptop? my lap top passes execpt for the lighting part

If everything else passes except for the TL, you may be fine ok run it. Don't be going out and buying a new laptop until you've tried the game first is my suggestion

I'm in a good mood. Just got notification that my new computer should arrive sometime on October 5th. Guess I won't be running Civ IV on my laptop afterall. :)

I ran it again with my new 7800GT for fun... it rated it only 2 green bars above the passing level :lol:

I have an AMD Athalon 9550, I think that'll be sufficient. ;)

However, while I passed with flying colors it seems, I am confused by one blurb:
You Have: 2.17 GHz Overclocked To 3 GHz

What the hay does that mean? Thank goodness Civ Iv will run just nicely.

Battlefield 2 is so much fun! DOWN WITH (insert faction I'm opposing here).

i dont think the specs are final yet on civ 4 so we really still dont know what specs we need

by the way moose box thanks for this web site

HA, it said that my processor (on my good comp) is at 3.4ghz but it doesnt pass, even though civ 4 needs only 1.5 or so for recommended. First it passes me when im under, now this

by the way moose box thanks for this web site

hey no problem...just thought it would cut down on the many "can I run it" threads...which will probably start coming more often now with the release date inching closer.

unfortunately it turned out to not be 100% perfect...but whatever... :crazyeye:

I am on Athlon64@2Ghz with 1GB RAM and GF6600 :) I think It will run even in a VM :)

My video card is supposedly not good enough.

I have a Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controlle..I figured it could play Civ4 because it can handle The Sims2..

My system seems to pwn the system requirements. The only thing even close to the line was my video card, and I could buy a better one for cheap.

Passed for the minimum, failed the recommended because of the video card (NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440). Only thing I'm worried about is the disc space requirement, because the test says I have 3GB free space (although checking C: tells me I have 3.87GB).

No worries the program might just take 1GB at a time to measure and your pc is correct for sure :thumbsup:
If you would need more space, just delete some programs to free up space.

It said i have 1.6 GHz Overclocked To 2.8 GHz, but that's FAAAAR more than i have. But anyway, it's the RAM that gets me. I only have 190.

Great tool.

"Congratulations, your system will Rock this product! Wish we had a system that hot you lucky dog."

That's the message it gives me. :D

Athlon 64 FX-55,
Geforce 6800 Ultra,
1Gb RAM.

Can someone reccomend a good PCI graphics card that will run civ IV? This is practically the only game I will play on my cpu so I'm only looking for something in the range of 50 bucks, yea i know sounds really cheap (and maybe it is :D ) but I really don't need and can't afford a top of the line graphics card.
Thanks.

SAPPHIRE 100112-BK Radeon 9250 128MB DDR PCI Video Card - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102522#DetailSpecs) $49.99

High Minimum Pass! Woo Hoo!

Ill be able to play it, but it cant ID my cpu (AthlonXP Barton 2500) and i was suprised that my crappy video card (Sapphire Radeon 9500) not only passed the civ4 test with flying colors, but also the San Andreas recommended settings. And i was gonna upgrade :) (probibly still will)

"Congratulations, your system will Rock this product! Wish we had a system that hot you lucky dog."

I got that quote too. :woohoo:

How do you install a graphics card? need help.

Mine is slightly below the Recommended bar...
Wish I had a better system

How do you install a graphics card? need help.here's help: http://att.com.com/4520-3118_7-5023982-1.html


i have a hardware question myself: i've got a pentium M 1.6ghz, ati radeon mobility 9700 and 512mb ram (i passed the test program, but graphic card is only slightly above minimum). from what i've read here, i think i'm going to add some ram. i have one free ram slot.

512 ram (333mhz, 2.5v) is at about 60 euros (1 euro is roughly 1 american dollar). this would make total ram 1024mb

1gig ram (333mhz, 2.5v) is about 150 euros. this would make it 1536mb of total ram.


will it make a difference to have 1536mb instead of 1024mb for playing civ4?

what would you do? i just can'T decide...

So it said my computer failed because I have windows ME, and I need to have XP instead. Could this be true?!

So it said my computer failed because I have windows ME, and I need to have XP instead. Could this be true?!
some newer games require windows xp, however there may be ways around this; however chances are not...

@ vStauffenberg - 1024 will be plenty, you may not even notice the difference with more than that. If you get a stick that matches your current one, you may be able to run in dual channel mode if your motherboard handles it. That would be my choice.

I generally recommend 256 for every 1G of processing power. Much more than that is usually overkill. Even 512 would be plenty in your case.

I'll have absolutely no problems with my current setups.

some newer games require windows xp, however there may be ways around this; however chances are not...

hmm...I just checked the amazon preorder page, and it says that it is for Windows 2000 and XP. It doesn't mention ME. Guess I may be out of luck...

@ vStauffenberg - 1024 will be plenty, you may not even notice the difference with more than that. If you get a stick that matches your current one, you may be able to run in dual channel mode if your motherboard handles it. That would be my choice.

I generally recommend 256 for every 1G of processing power. Much more than that is usually overkill. Even 512 would be plenty in your case.

I'll have absolutely no problems with my current setups.

thanks for the clear advice! i'll buy a 512 stick then...

but what's "dual channel mode"? is that faster? i have an asus a3823glh notebook. it needs ram type SO-DIMM DDR333, PC 2700, CL2.5
can you tell by these specs if it is dual channel compatible?

@ vStauffenberg - 1024 will be plenty, you may not even notice the difference with more than that. If you get a stick that matches your current one, you may be able to run in dual channel mode if your motherboard handles it. That would be my choice.

I generally recommend 256 for every 1G of processing power. Much more than that is usually overkill. Even 512 would be plenty in your case.

I'll have absolutely no problems with my current setups.
That is not absolutely true. Very general guidelines, mainly for workstations that don't run specialized apps --- such as graphic intensive games ( let's not even go into servers, cpu and RAM requirements... ;) )
Very good place to start, but you also need to take into account things like Video shared memory if the card requires it.

I take a different philosophical approach - I reccommend to my customers that they buy as much RAM as they can comfortably afford depending on their usage needs. It DOES make a difference if you are running any apps that page intensively... I have found that XP itself likes 512 the best just for itself...and recomend at least 1 GIG total for a P4 equivalent system - 512 for XP and 512+ for apps. I run 1.5 Gig on a 2 mhz AMD processor XP machine...and I did notice a difference when I added the extra 512 over and beyond a gig.

The key is to buy what you feel comfortable with spending within reason ... and having more allows for easier future upgrades of your processor or OS. (Vista is on the near horizon...). However, take into accout that 64bit mainboards are going to be really affordable and mainstream in about a year or so...so don't overbuy for this reason alone as it will not do you much good because the whole mainboard will need to be upgraded then anyway.

All in all, because of the new 64bit architecture, for the next year or so we are at a tech cusp like the one in the late 80's/early 90's when the 386 architecture went mainstram and revoulutioized the pc...be careful upgrading 32bit machines for the next 18 months or so...(I got caught back then by being an uneducated consumer - talked into buying a 'deal' on a 286 machine...that was totally obsolete the month after I bought it when the 386's first appeared in the marketplace. Never again...)

thanks for the clear advice! i'll buy a 512 stick then...

but what's "dual channel mode"? is that faster? i have an asus a3823glh notebook. it needs ram type SO-DIMM DDR333, PC 2700, CL2.5
can you tell by these specs if it is dual channel compatible?

Yes you can. "DDR" stands for "Dual Data Rate", or dual channel. I'm assuming you're running a laptop due to the ATI Mobility GPU you've listed. If that's the case, you'll need to be aware that not all laptop RAM is compatible with all laptops. I would suggest you keep handy the exact brand and model laptop you own, along with the type of ram it requires. Do a brand search on laptop RAM from an online store you trust. Once you've got a good list of companies that provide laptop RAM, you can check out their company websites. These sites usually possess a search function that will let you specify the type of RAM you need for a specific model of laptop. That'll tell you what brands and models of RAM is compatible with your machine.

Yes you can. "DDR" stands for "Dual Data Rate", or dual channel. I'm assuming you're running a laptop due to the ATI Mobility GPU you've listed. If that's the case, you'll need to be aware that not all laptop RAM is compatible with all laptops. I would suggest you keep handy the exact brand and model laptop you own, along with the type of ram it requires. Do a brand search on laptop RAM from an online store you trust. Once you've got a good list of companies that provide laptop RAM, you can check out their company websites. These sites usually possess a search function that will let you specify the type of RAM you need for a specific model of laptop. That'll tell you what brands and models of RAM is compatible with your machine.
And be careful..not all RAM is equal. Good quality gold Ram is much preferred over cheap silver RAM. Make sure you find a good supplier - it's a relationship that can last a lifetime. ;) Always ask the supplier who made their RAM...and google the manufacturer to see if it is a good deal after all.

Kingston is among the best, but expensive. I've had good price to quality ratios with PNY. There's another half dozen standard brands on the market, but I can't remember them all.

Dual Channel and DDR (Double Data Rate) are NOT the same. They are independent technologies. Dual Channel works by using identical RAM modules simultaneously in pairs (A and B channels). DDR is the method of reading and writing data to and from the actual chips contained on the modules.

@ vStauffenberg:

If your motherboard IS Dual Channel compatible you will be able to run both standard DDR and Dual Channel memory just fine. If on the other hand your motherboard is not Dual Channel compatible you will not get any benefit from installing Dual Channel memory, it will be fine but will operate in normal Single Channel mode.

I hope this makes sense. :cool:

Thanks for the thread! It hadn't even occurred to me there might be problems. :) But I'm good. The video card isn't the best (same as Quentin's), but that's an easy enough fix if it turns out to be necessary.

thanks for all the help on the ram issue, everyone...

Dual Channel and DDR (Double Data Rate) are NOT the same. They are independent technologies. Dual Channel works by using identical RAM modules simultaneously in pairs (A and B channels). DDR is the method of reading and writing data to and from the actual chips contained on the modules.

@ vStauffenberg:

If your motherboard IS Dual Channel compatible you will be able to run both standard DDR and Dual Channel memory just fine. If on the other hand your motherboard is not Dual Channel compatible you will not get any benefit from installing Dual Channel memory, it will be fine but will operate in normal Single Channel mode.

I hope this makes sense. :cool:

i was trying to find out if my laptop has dual channel compatability. i couldn't really find out, but i am guessing no, because: if "DDR" means "normal DDR" and "DDR2" means "Dual Channel DDR" then my laptop doesn't have dual channel. can anyone help out again?

thanks for all the help on the ram issue, everyone...



i was trying to find out if my laptop has dual channel compatability. i couldn't really find out, but i am guessing no, because: if "DDR" means "normal DDR" and "DDR2" means "Dual Channel DDR" then my laptop doesn't have dual channel. can anyone help out again?

DDR2 is also independent from Dual Channel. DDR2 is simply a revised DDR with higher clock speed, it is incompatible with DDR because the module has more pins.

I think what Lahdoz meant was that if you added a further 512Mb module to your existing 512 (that's asuming it is one module you have, it could be two 256 modules) then you would be able to use the two modules in Dual Channel mode as long as your motherboard supports it.

I did a quick search for your system, if this (http://www.computeruniverse.net/products/90134944/Asus_A3823GLH_PM_725_WXP_Home_Centrino_1_6GHz_512_ MB_40GB_HD_.asp) (and this (http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=348&l1=5&l2=24&l3=131)) is your system is does not support Dual Channel mode, I also checked the Intel site for details about the motherboard (here (http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/855pm/)). After browsing the Intel site I can say that the i915PM chipset supports Dual Channel but as in your case, the i855PM chipset does not.

If your 512MB is a single module you will be able to simply pop a new module (SO-DIMM DDR333 512MB) in alongside your existing module with no worries.

DDR2 is also independent from Dual Channel. DDR2 is simply a revised DDR with higher clock speed, it is incompatible with DDR because the module has more pins.

I think what Lahdoz meant was that if you added a further 512Mb module to your existing 512 (that's asuming it is one module you have, it could be two 256 modules) then you would be able to use the two modules in Dual Channel mode as long as your motherboard supports it.

I did a quick search for your system, if this (http://www.computeruniverse.net/products/90134944/Asus_A3823GLH_PM_725_WXP_Home_Centrino_1_6GHz_512_ MB_40GB_HD_.asp) (and this (http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=348&l1=5&l2=24&l3=131)) is your system is does not support Dual Channel mode, I also checked the Intel site for details about the motherboard (here (http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/855pm/)). After browsing the Intel site I can say that the i915PM chipset supports Dual Channel but as in your case, the i855PM chipset does not.

If your 512MB is a single module you will be able to simply pop a new module (SO-DIMM DDR333 512MB) in alongside your existing module with no worries.

i really have to thank you for all the useful info! this is exactly my system (asus a3823glh). as i know for sure now that it doesn't support dual channel, at least i don't have to keep searching... :)

important thing is, thank god there's indeed a single module 512 stick in the system, so there's one free slot, in which i will put another SO-DIMM DDR333 512MB as you advised...

i really have to thank you for all the useful info! this is exactly my system (asus a3823glh). as i know for sure now that it doesn't support dual channel, at least i don't have to keep searching... :)

important thing is, thank god there's indeed a single module 512 stick in the system, so there's one free slot, in which i will put another SO-DIMM DDR333 512MB as you advised...
I'm glad to help a fellow civ junkie ;) :goodjob:

Congratulations, your system will Rock this product! Wish we had a system that hot you lucky dog :)

@viz, @Junuxx: I actually am a civ junkie, considering I never would have bought a laptop with 3d graphics if I hadn't heard in february that civ4 was going to be 3D! The only thing I need 3D for!
I never play anything else but civ... :crazyeye:

btw, in general i can really recommend the asus a3823glh, it is now at only little more than a 1000euros if you look hard enough. especially the fact that only one memory slot is used is nice and of course the display (1400x1050), i hope the radeon 9700 will be fast enough for this resolution for civ4, that would be so cool.... (we'll see...)

for anyone now looking for a laptop able to run civ4, probably more recent graphics should be recommended, like the radeon x700 .. of course, those are a lot more expensive, so as always, it depends on budget...

I was considering starting a thread dedicated to cheap compatible video cards. Something like 3 options each for AGP, PCI, and PCI-Express. I just ran out of time and kind of gave up after compiling a list of about 20 different ones. I did see a few decent cards for around $50-$60 USD so there is hope for all.

The Radeon x line is excellent. Even though it broke me for a few weeks, I feel that my x800 Pro has beeen the best investment I've made in my PC so far. It's definitely overkill for Civ IV though.

The 9800 series is great for the price. I set up a couple of 6600s recently as well, and they are strong cards.

Edit : my first "owned" page!

I suspect that once the game hits the streets, we will see many threads about video cards......<g>

Im a lucky dog :)

Great website for figuring out compatibility of ram on your computer. Definitly worth your time. Also gives recommendations for ram. http://www.4allmemory.com/index.cfm?p=135&k=165717

I already know what I am lacking-Video Card and RAM, but I am getting those next week, so BRING IT ON Firaxis, I'm ready for ya ;)!
Hmmm, might actually get Doom3 too, now that I will have the necessary RAM :) .

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

Get quake 4 (comes out the 18th.) Doom 3 sucked. Not that my opinion is fact or anything. :cool:

My new machine will probably eat Quake IV for breakfast, then ask for FEAR as a light snack later.

It'll be nice to have a machine I can have confidence in running whatever software I install into it for the next two-three years.

My new machine will probably eat Quake IV for breakfast, then ask for FEAR as a light snack later.

It'll be nice to have a machine I can have confidence in running whatever software I install into it for the next two-three years.That's what they all say! :p I got my computer several years ago (at least thats what the guy told me!)and now it has trouble running some of the more simpler games, so we will see how it does for me.

The only thing on the new computer I might have to worry about is the CPU, which is a 3GHz processor. The RAM is PC3200. The HD is a 7200rpm SATA from Western Digital. The GFX Card is an ATI Radeon x850 Pro w/256MB onboard. The sound card is an SB Audigy 4. The Motherboard can upgrade to the next class of CPU core, and has the capacity for 4GB of RAM (currently has 1GB at 2x512MB). This will last as long as I need it to. Right now, it's all ahead of the curve. :goodjob:

i pass required but failed recommended on my laptop cause my graphic card is a NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200... did i fail from far (ie: civIV will run but there will be a lot of lag)?

i pass required but failed recommended on my laptop cause my graphic card is a NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200... did i fail from far (ie: civIV will run but there will be a lot of lag)?

I have exactly the same card (64MB version) and I passed the recommended test as well. Though it hit the nail right on the head: my drivers are outdated (the only problem with laptop gaming)

:bump:

This is a useful thread...

It say I .... Oh, Huury UP, I can't wait this long...still waiting...transferring data?...AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!..Hurry UP!...YES!
I pass with all maximums except in Video Card, The same reason for Battlefield 2 not working.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!! :aargh:

What's this? I've got all the video card features, but the test wont approve my video card!

"Video Card
Minimum: 32 MB 3D Video Card with Hardware Transform & Lighting
You Have: RADEON IGP 345M (RS200M AGP (0x4337))
FAIL: Sorry, your video card does not meet this minimum requirement."

"Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card
Video RAM: Required - 32 MB , You have - 64.0 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes" :sad:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!! :aargh:

What's this? I've got all the video card features, but the test wont approve my video card!

"Video Card
Minimum: 32 MB 3D Video Card with Hardware Transform & Lighting
You Have: RADEON IGP 345M (RS200M AGP (0x4337))
FAIL: Sorry, your video card does not meet this minimum requirement."

"Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card
Video RAM: Required - 32 MB , You have - 64.0 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes" :sad:


I just don't think it recognized what type of video card you have. If everything else passed(which it did) then it should work just fine.

I now officially take it upon myself to be the bumper of this thread. I will put a random post on this thread daily so that people don't have to hunt for it on the second or third page. This will continue until two weeks after the release date or until this thread is stickied. PM me if you want to extend the time or think it's a bad idea.

Oh, and by the way: Pass, but doesn't meet recommendations. Close, though.

Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - No

Thats all im missing. Everything else is enough for at least the minimum, but it says I fail outright

I ran the test on my laptop and it got a Fail on the video card (ATI Mobility Fire GL 9000), except it got yes with 64MB video RAM, yes with 3d Acc., and yes with HW Transform and Lighting.

So what does that mean?

Potentially good news.

The Preview by the Beta Tester Thread, author says that Firaxis has made it possible for people with older video cards to still play.

Pounder, I was just about to post that. In fact, here's the quote:

2) Performance: This aspect is still based on a beta experience, so I can’t comment. You are going to need a DirectX 9 compatible graphics card to play at good speeds (although older cards will run the game as well), but beyond that Firaxis has several options available for people without the latest ATI or nVidia. I hope to have an almost-gold version of the game before release to post an update on this.

Please let this mean something good for those of use with decent systems but no hardware T&L.

:bump:

I keep my promises. THIS THREAD MUST NOT BE LEFT IN THE LURCH!

Civilization IV
System Requirements Lab Analysis

Congratulations, you can run this game because your system meets the Minimum requirements. If you want to see how you meet all the Recommended requirements to make this product really fly, look at the Recommended section below.


But recommended, it that derned graphics card :cry:

Video Card
Recommended: 64 MB 3D Video Card with Hardware Transform & Lighting (Radeon 9800+ / GeForce 5600+)
You Have: NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 (GeForce4 Ti 4200) FAIL: Sorry, your video card does not meet this recommended requirement. Upgrading to a more powerful video card will make all your applications look better. Click the 'We Recommend' button to see some great options.
Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card Video RAM: Required - 64 MB , You have - 128.0 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes

Mine says :)
http://www.srtest.com/media/srl/graph_all_7.jpg

My computer is way over kill on this. I just hope My graph card will run homm 5

:bump:
Wherever this is, this should NEVER be lower than the second half of the first page.

STICKY THIS THREAD! I BEG YOU!

My system will handle Civ IV. Same bar graph as Ninja's.

I'm also a fellow HoMM fan. Played Heroes 3 for threes years straight. Hated HoMM4, though.

It's not that accurate. It says I have a 1.5 ghz processor overclocked to 1.7. I actually have just a 1.46 ghz that's not overclocked. Still good enough to run the game though, and everything else is beyond recommended.

Mine says :)
http://www.srtest.com/media/srl/graph_all_7.jpg
Mine as well. :D

My NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 failed the recommended qualification (though surpassed minimum specs).

It's not a big problem though because in few days i shall buy a laptop with an ati mobility radeon X800. I think it should make it.

@viz, @Junuxx: I actually am a civ junkie, considering I never would have bought a laptop with 3d graphics if I hadn't heard in february that civ4 was going to be 3D! The only thing I need 3D for!
I never play anything else but civ... :crazyeye:

btw, in general i can really recommend the asus a3823glh, it is now at only little more than a 1000euros if you look hard enough. especially the fact that only one memory slot is used is nice and of course the display (1400x1050), i hope the radeon 9700 will be fast enough for this resolution for civ4, that would be so cool.... (we'll see...)

for anyone now looking for a laptop able to run civ4, probably more recent graphics should be recommended, like the radeon x700 .. of course, those are a lot more expensive, so as always, it depends on budget...

My boss's laptop with Radeon 9700 runs San Andreas quite good. :)

I have exactly the same card (64MB version) and I passed the recommended test as well. Though it hit the nail right on the head: my drivers are outdated (the only problem with laptop gaming)

Fortunately with Ati-based laptops you can use the omega drivers which are always the latest made from the desktop driver. :goodjob:

http://www.srtest.com

Try it out:

1. Select Game.
2. Click "Can You Run It?"
3. Click 'Yes' to pop up window(nothing harmful)

Enjoy.


Thanks Moosebox. :clap: :clap: :clap:
I really enjoyed reading the analysis after the test was done. Really cool site.

By the way I failed the test. [pissed]

It took a 1024 MD ram chip, and a struggle with a new NVIDIA GeForce FX5500 PCI (I don't have a AGP or PCI express) over three days, but I finally can "rock with this product". $200.00 later, but happy as all can be.....

LOL im 5 bars over the minimum and 2 bars over the recomended

http://www.srtest.com/media/srl/graph_all_unknown.jpg
LMAO. My computer is so good it does not even recognize it. :lol:

I have too little RAM, only 190 MB. Is it a hopeless case, or will it be playable?

If T&L is the only thing failing me, will that be a problem? Everything else is double the minimums, at least...

http://www.srtest.com/media/srl/graph_all_unknown.jpg
LMAO. My computer is so good it does not even recognize it. :lol: Hmmm trying to play from a secret goverment facility? :p

Holy crap dude!
:ack:

Does Win ME suffice for Civ4?? It does for Pirates, and I've read Pirates uses the same 'system' as Civ4.

My boss's laptop with Radeon 9700 runs San Andreas quite good. :)

thanks, that's good to hear...!

http://www.srtest.com/media/srl/graph_all_7.jpg
"Congratulations, your system will Rock this product! Wish we had a system that hot you lucky dog."

First of all HELLO :wavey: to everybody on this forum, forum is great and i read you alot, but this is first time i want to say/ask something.

I still wait for DSL at home so i can't test configuration at home (my job computer failed :cry: :cry: no more civ on work) everything is strong enough except GC i have saphire radeon 9200 with 256 DDR and every single game (including Battlefield 2) work on it. does anyone know or have this card and can say that card will work?

thx

It says I'm OK - but I was really hoping I'd have to buy a new computer like I had to for CivIII. I'll have to check my husband's computer too....:D

It says minimum CPU speed is 1 MHz; I guess a typo slipped in there. I really don't want to imagine how the game runs with that speed :lol:

It sure would be nice if Firaxis posted a listing of the video cards they tested with, and a listing of which cards do and do not get the job done.

It sure would be nice if Firaxis posted a listing of the video cards they tested with, and a listing of which cards do and do not get the job done.
That would not be good enough, because with a good video card but a slow CPU you're still in trouble. But I agree that it would be nice idea if they could come up with a list of typical systems with which the game runs acceptably. But I suspect they would still go over the minimum configurations that some people might be willing to play the game with; stating the current minimum requirements makes sure they won't get too many 'hey you said I could run this game, but it runs like cr*p; I want my money back!' complaints which would be bad publicity.
So I think if you want to be sure if the game will run on your system before you buy there's no other option than to wait a week or so after the game comes out to check on other people's experiences and then decide if you want to buy it after all.

As an alternative they could maybe come up with a benchmark application that simulates the game behaviour and lets you give a feel for how the game would play but I suspect they have more urgent things to do with the release date so close.

Doing my duty...
STICKY THIS THREAD, PLEASE!

Hah, i tried it with my good pc. I passed so badly, hell i had the max bars in every required and recommended category. This is beyond overkill.

Well, it seems from peoples' comments from playing Pirates! that T&L isn't a necessity... I sure hope so!

i know i can run it, at this moment i can run all games and even the upcomming games like FEAR, CoD2, Morrowind: Oblivion all at a pretty high detail lvl.

So i dont think Civ4 is gona give me any trouble.

Well, it seems from peoples' comments from playing Pirates! that T&L isn't a necessity... I sure hope so!


T&L most likely isn't 'required'...but the minimun specs say it is so you never know. All you can hope for is that the game doesn't check your system for T&L and cancel the install if you don't have it.

:hmm: It says that I fail both the minimum & recommended, however I'm above the requirements for both minimum & recommended in everything except video-card.


Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card

Video RAM: Required - 64 MB , You have - 128 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes


Confused by that - my nVidia 6600GT is too slow? :ack: I think I'll take my chances ;)

My PC has only 8 MB of Video memory, and it is a PIII, 733 MHz with 128 Mb of Ram PC133 :sad:. And I have no money for upgrades :cry:

Guess I will just stick to Capitalism II, because I can't stand the thought of playing Civilization III, knowing that there is a Civilization IV that I can't play. :(

i know i can run it, at this moment i can run all games and even the upcomming games like FEAR, CoD2, Morrowind: Oblivion all at a pretty high detail lvl.

So i dont think Civ4 is gona give me any trouble.

Where did you find out you'll be able to run Elder Scrolls: Oblivion at high detail? That's the other game I'm really looking forward to besides Civ4, but with those graphics I'm a bit scared I won't be able to run it with a good framerate and good detail.

My system will rock Civ4 though, which I pretty much expected :D.

SRTest only rates your system compared to the game's Minimum and Recommended Requirements That's fair, what most of us really want to know is if our computers can run Civ4 with all the pretty graphics cranked up to max? And that'll be well beyond even the Recommended req.

Personally, I have an AthlonXP 2100+ with 1/2 gig of ram. I recently upgraded my video card from a GeForce4 to a Radeon 9800, and I'm planning to upgrade my proc to AthlonXP 3000+ and double or possibly triple my memory. But this isn't exclusively for Civ4. I recently bought Rome TW: Barbarian Invasion and the night battles are unplayable at max quality, so I decide to upgrade my PC to the highest proc my motherboard will allow.

I doubt with my current hardware I can run Civ4 at max quality -- regardless of what SRTest says -- but I'm hoping that after I upgrade it'll be adequate.

I have a:
850mhz AMD Athlon
256mb RAM
nVidia GeForce4 Ti 4200 64 mb

I hope it runs with a small map until I can get something better.

i found out i can play that stuff on high detail rather as sort of a guess seeing as games like CoD2 Demo and FEAR demo run smooth at high detail and i got a good 3Dmark score (latest 3Dmark).

If you can meet that i recon morrowind; Oblivion wont be a problem but hoenstly i run most of those games on medium detail to keep teh speed alive and i often fingh high detail uglier then medium as it tries to be to realistic and then it clearly shows that it isnt.

Its like Santaclaus, you know he aitn real but a little xmass story or soem santa gig is still etnertaining. But if someone is trying his freaking best to convince you he IS real its juz anoying.

:bump:

I am a man of my word...

PLEASE STICKY THIS THREAD!

:bump:

I am a man of my word...

PLEASE STICKY THIS THREAD!
Its popular enough that it doesn't need to be stickied.

i found out i can play that stuff on high detail rather as sort of a guess seeing as games like CoD2 Demo and FEAR demo run smooth at high detail and i got a good 3Dmark score (latest 3Dmark).

If you can meet that i recon morrowind; Oblivion wont be a problem but hoenstly i run most of those games on medium detail to keep teh speed alive and i often fingh high detail uglier then medium as it tries to be to realistic and then it clearly shows that it isnt.

Its like Santaclaus, you know he aitn real but a little xmass story or soem santa gig is still etnertaining. But if someone is trying his freaking best to convince you he IS real its juz anoying.
I think I'll be able to run Elder Scrolls IV smoothly, just worried about my video card as a choke point. I don't want to have to turn everything all the way down. Btw, it's not Morrowind: Oblivion, because it doesn't take place in Morrowind. Elder Scrolls 3 was called Morrowind because it took place in the province of Tamriel called Morrowind. Elder Scrolls 4 could be called Cyrodil, since that's where your base is, but since it has to do with Tamriel's hell, Oblivion, that's what they're calling it, since it sounds cooler :devil:.

:bump:

FOR GOD'S SAKE, PLEASE STICKY THIS THREAD!

I've already responded. Stop spamming it.

well i have athlon on 1.67 GHz and 1 GB DDR with radeon 9200 with 256 DDR and i dont want to upgrade my computer cos i play only one game (civilization, all of them, ok that is 3 game for now) and i dont need computer power for my work. i olready preorder game (it is my birtsday present) and now i am scared will game work on my comp????

(graphic lvl is not inportant to me, i just need to run game)

well i have athlon on 1.67 GHz and 1 GB DDR with radeon 9200 with 256 DDR and i dont want to upgrade my computer cos i play only one game (civilization, all of them, ok that is 3 game for now) and i dont need computer power for my work. i olready preorder game (it is my birtsday present) and now i am scared will game work on my comp????

(graphic lvl is not inportant to me, i just need to run game)

It'll work fine...no worries mate

thx mate I am now: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Will this game run on Sempron 2300+, 1GB ram, radeon 9600 XT 128mb?

Thats still a nice pc and civ4 worthy :cooool:

Good news!:D

Me & my rig are ready to go!

I am buying my first DOS computer after twenty years of Macintoshiing.

Will this machine kick ass running Civ IV? Be honest. Your word will be my bond.

Dell Latitude D810
Pentium M 740 1,73 GHz w/ ATI Radeon X600 128MB

Thanks
d
:eek:

Does anyone know if a GeForce 3 ti200 (64 meg) will pass muster for this game (i.e., does it have T&L capabilities)?

I know the game will run on my laptop (1.6Ghz, 512 RAM, Mobility RADEON 9000), but I have no internet in my apartment at the moment to check my desktop. (Other requirements are comfortably satisfied-- 2 Ghz, 512 RAM.)

Frankly, I'm kind of amazed this graphics card has lasted me this long. I was the weakest part of the system when I bought it; there just haven't been any graphics-intense games that've interested me in the past couple of years.

Does anyone know if a GeForce 3 ti200 (64 meg) will pass muster for this game (i.e., does it have T&L capabilities)?


Though it is an older card, it does have an earlier version of Hardware T&L. It might be ok...I'm not that familiar with nVidia cards though, so not sure how well it would preform. With 64mb it won't be anything great.

I am buying my first DOS computer after twenty years of Macintoshiing.

Will this machine kick ass running Civ IV? Be honest. Your word will be my bond.

Dell Latitude D810
Pentium M 740 1,73 GHz w/ ATI Radeon X600 128MB

Thanks
d
:eek:

Should run it on full detail just fine. Though you didn't mention how much ram you have, I'd assume atleast 512mb, probably 1gb right?

its 1.0 GB 533 Mhz DDRII SDRAM, 2 DIMMS-Dual channel. Good enough? I like speed....

Thanks Moosebox! I don't need pretty-- I'm just hoping for stable and not ridiculously slow.

I am buying my first DOS computer after twenty years of Macintoshiing.
Windows XP isn't based on DOS but it can emulate it, albeit not perfectly. DOS is 16bit, XP is 32bit from the ground up you'll be glad to know. :cool:

Does anyone know if a GeForce 3 ti200 (64 meg) will pass muster for this game (i.e., does it have T&L capabilities)?

I know the game will run on my laptop (1.6Ghz, 512 RAM, Mobility RADEON 9000), but I have no internet in my apartment at the moment to check my desktop. (Other requirements are comfortably satisfied-- 2 Ghz, 512 RAM.)

Frankly, I'm kind of amazed this graphics card has lasted me this long. I was the weakest part of the system when I bought it; there just haven't been any graphics-intense games that've interested me in the past couple of years.
The first card to feature hardware transform and lighting was the Original Geforce card (both the SDR and DDR versions). For what it's worth the Geforce3 Ti series is still not a bad series at all, and was the first to feature dedicated pixel and vertex shaders if I remember correctly (together with the later top of the line Geforce2's).

well i have athlon on 1.67 GHz and 1 GB DDR with radeon 9200 with 256 DDR and i dont want to upgrade my computer cos i play only one game (civilization, all of them, ok that is 3 game for now) and i dont need computer power for my work. i olready preorder game (it is my birtsday present) and now i am scared will game work on my comp????

(graphic lvl is not inportant to me, i just need to run game)

Yeah i wouldn't worry mate, your system should be more than fine.

YAY :goodjob: This is a really spiffy peice of kit. I get full bars on everything besides Ram in the recommended specs. "Recommended: 512 MB
You Have: 511.5 MB" And that's still a pass, I don't think I'll lose any sleep over that :) I really do feel sorry for people who won't be able to run it. Before I upgraded my graphic card up to a 256 I couldn't play Empire Earth 2 which was relaly depressing.

;)

</begin gloating>

Yep - I think my new DFI Lan Party NF4 Ultra SlI-DR, Athlon X2 4400, 7800GT, and 2x WD Raptor drives in RAID0 will run it just fine!

</end gloating>

sorry - couldn't help myself.

Is a NVIDIA GEFORCE PCX 5300 any good wre does it rate?

My vid fails Xform+Lighting. What is the cheapest replacement?

ATI RADEON VE DDR (ATI RV100 (QY)) - FAIL

SAPPHIRE Radeon 9250 100112-BK Video Card - Pass?

None of the video card descriptions say "HW Transform and Lighting".

Mine passes all video card req. and still fails!
I still want to know were my NVIDIA GEFORCE PCX5300 rates?

I think someone said any GeForce X* would have T+L.

What line items did you fail?

Mine failed transform and lighting too. Great, I about crapped my pants. I might without reassurance.

The T+L may not be a hard requirement if your CPU can do the work.

We need the graphics card propeller heads to help us out on this.

My vid fails Xform+Lighting. What is the cheapest replacement?

ATI RADEON VE DDR (ATI RV100 (QY)) - FAIL

SAPPHIRE Radeon 9250 100112-BK Video Card - Pass?

None of the video card descriptions say "HW Transform and Lighting".

It took some searching but the Radeon 9250 at least has hardware T & L. Nvidia GEFORCE PCX5300 does so too.

Mine passes all video card req. and still fails!
I still want to know were my NVIDIA GEFORCE PCX5300 rates?

I'm pretty sure its still a decent card. I think the srtest.com program just doesn't know what a PCX5300, it ranks around the same as a FX 5200. It'll be fine.

Well Im good to go came in just under the recomended. I really dont know much about computers so is 511mb of ram, cpu speed of 2.4 ghz, GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X video card good enough to play the game the way it is meant to be or should go get an upgrade or something?

Erm, no, I don't think I will install an unknown system scanner from an unknown company on my system.

Yes, I can run Civ 4, or Firaxis did something really, really bad.

Athlon64 4400 X2
GeForce 6800GT 256mb PCI-E
2gb PC400 RAM
WindowsXP Pro SP2

My card's the only rough thing about this system. Everything else came way above required in the test.

i think that we all have only one problem; Graphic card, and only cos game demand T&L and we even dont know will game work without it.

To summarize the good and bad (and comments):

Good:
Radeon 9250
Nvidia GEFORCE PCX5300

Bad:
ATI RV100

It took some searching but the Radeon 9250 at least has hardware T & L. Nvidia GEFORCE PCX5300 does so too.

Right now really isnt the best time to buy a vid card. I would wait a couple of months for ati to fully release the rest of their new models. So the price on their previous gen will go down.

The ATI x800XL and Nvidia 6800gt cards will give you the most bang for the buck. They are in the middle of a price drop, been dropping for a couple of months and will continue for a couple more. Both cards are a bit of overkill just to run a turn based game, but they are fast enough to supply you with smooth gaming for at least the next year and a half 2 years.

I just saw the post about the FX 5500. DON'T! get the card. Any FX series cards are not good performers overall. Get something that will last, like the 6600, 6800. If you really want to save money, at least purchase a 6200 Geforce.

If Civ is all you play then FX 5500 should be all you need. I have Fx5500 and play Pirates just fine with a few graphic options turn off.( shadows,lighting,etc.). Since Civ is a turn-based game (even unlike Pirates) then fps (frames per second) is not an issue. It would be a waste of money to spend $300 on a graphic cards just to play Civ.

I have a FX5500 because the only slot I have is a PCI (and I don't want to replace the motherboard when the only game I play is CIV). What is the best video card that would fit in a PCI? No option for PCI e or AGP and the card I have is a couple of bars ahead of recommended on the SR test.

(more later)

Does anyone know for sure if Civ IV will run on Windows ME? I have not seen a for sure answer anywhere in this thread. I have checked the pre-order stores and they either say Windows XP/2000 or nothing at all. I couldn't find on the Civ IV site any information either. I will be dissappointed if I can't run Civ IV on ME. I don't have the mula to go purchase the upgrade to XP.

Edit: I just found another thread on the win ME question. Doesn't sound like the game was designed to run on ME, but there is a chance that it will run. Hate to purchase the game and not have it run.

I would also be interested if Civ4 will run on 64-bit Windows XP - or under Wine for Linux. Any beta testers tried either of these?

http://motronline.com/photo/data/media/3/trax_fire_1.gifhttp://motronline.com/photo/data/media/3/Orc_capture_100x100.gifAMD 64 iz da bezt!http://motronline.com/photo/data/media/3/Orc_capture_100x100.gifhttp://motronline.com/photo/data/media/3/trax_fire_1.gif
Pentium - drink poizon!

Potentially good news.

The Preview by the Beta Tester Thread, author says that Firaxis has made it possible for people with older video cards to still play.


Could you post a link? I'm definitely within the number with older cards.

Could you post a link? I'm definitely within the number with older cards.

This might be what he was referring too.

2) Performance: This aspect is still based on a beta experience, so I can't comment. You are going to need a DirectX 9 compatible graphics card to play at good speeds (although older cards will run the game as well), but beyond that Firaxis has several options available for people without the latest ATI or nVidia. I hope to have an almost-gold version of the game before release to post an update on this.

Under Excuses #2
http:///3/170/301/

http://www.srtest.com

Try it out:

1. Select Game.
2. Click "Can You Run It?"
3. Click 'Yes' to pop up window(nothing harmful)

Enjoy.


OMG! You have amde me the happiest 12 year old kid in my country!

If i was a cloud I'd shower you with gratitude and hail you as a hero!


BUT then again it says i cant run Sims 2, which runs perfectly fine... It is kinda weird, i want it to be right about civ but i dont want it to be right about the Sims 2.

Ashlord said: Does anyone know for sure if Civ IV will run on Windows ME?

I want to know that too! That's the only thing the test fails me on.... :(
(except for not detecting my 64Mb graphics card... )

Might as well bump this up since the Requirements are official now and more and more questions are popping up.

My system will crush Civ IV and it's not even top of the line or that beefy (AMD3000, 1g ram, 9800 pro). I can't wait.

I have two laptops, one a PII 2.4 Ghz with 512 mb and a 32 mb Radeon 7500 graphics card, and the other a Centrino 1.7 ghz with that weird intel graphics card 82852/82855 with 64 mb . Is there hope for me, or should I cancel my preorder. Thanks in advance for help.

I have two laptops, one a PII 2.4 Ghz with 512 mb and a 32 mb Radeon 7500 graphics card, and the other a Centrino 1.7 ghz with that weird intel graphics card 82852/82855 with 64 mb . Is there hope for me, or should I cancel my preorder. Thanks in advance for help.


MINIMUM

* Windows 2000/XP with SP1 or higher
* Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon CPU with at least 1.2 GHZ
* 256 MB RAM
* 64 MB graphics card with Hardware T&L (GeForce 2/Radeon 7500 or better)
* DirectX 7 compatible soundcard
* DVD-ROM drive
* 1.7 GB free hard disk space


You just meet the minimun Video card requirement. So you should be able to run it. Just don't expect anything great.

This is great news...

Both my Athlon64 3200+ & Radeon 9800PRO and my new Pentium-M 1.73ghz with a Geforce 6800 Go! will have no issues running it... :) going to need two copies after all.

This is a cool utility, however it doesn't appear to actually _test_ anything... all it does is report information gathered about the system... what we really need is a utility that runs some basic graphics/sound etc. that can actually test the performance of your system... something that can report out response times, cpu usage for 3d graphics, or other advanced gaming features... i'm running a 2.4 ghz laptop, which is not nearly as powerful as a 2.4 ghz desktop, nor is a laptop video card as powerful as a desktop. The number requirements really means nothing. With all the different chipsets etc. you can combine, requiring a 1.4 ghz processor doesn't give you any useful information, except maybe a very rough estimate of what is needed.

Does the dxdiag do any of this?

Does someone have a definitive answer on T&L being necessary?

MINIMUM

* Windows 2000/XP with SP1 or higher
* Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon CPU with at least 1.2 GHZ
* 256 MB RAM
* 64 MB graphics card with Hardware T&L (GeForce 2/Radeon 7500 or better)
* DirectX 7 compatible soundcard
* DVD-ROM drive
* 1.7 GB free hard disk space

Ugh... this is why I ike console gaming better. I can know up front, without getting my hopes up, that my system will or won't play a game.

Now I have to go our and replace my wife's PIII 1GHz, Win ME machine with something better...

JoAT

Ugh... this is why I ike console gaming better. I can know up front, without getting my hopes up, that my system will or won't play a game.

Now I have to go our and replace my wife's PIII 1GHz, Win ME machine with something better...

JoAT


EEEEEK! Windows ME? God save us all, I thought that was eradicated years ago!

Let's see here...

3.4 P4 - pass
2gb PC3200 Dual Channel - pass
6800GT 256mb- pass

I think I'm ready, can I have my game now please? I wonder how fast I'll be able to run turns with huge maps. I used to do 24 civ huge+ maps on Civ3, and it got pretty slow after the middle ages. Although that was on the old 1.8 P4, 256mb, 64mb video card system.

:bump:

PLEASE STICKY THIS THREAD!
Why on earth would this thread need to be stickied? It's just a poll, basically. The thread that needs to be stickied is the one WITH THE SYSTEM REQS in it, which I believe it is already...I think...:scan:

OK...

The test won't access my computer.... just says downloading... and at bottom DONE.. but nothing happens. I have allowed popups but no change..

I have an inspiron 600m 1.5 GH, 1 GB of Ram, Radeon 9000, 32 mb...

I am a Civ junkie but do I need a new notebook???

You are good to go.

There is a handy reference page linked in my 'Video Card Q+A' thread.

It says: T+L ok (Vertex 1.1 + DirectX 8.1)

For the tester, you may have a blocker of some type interferring with the object download.

I passed i neverything but the video card section as well,which is a bit odd. Oh well, I'm sure I can still run the game. >_>

MY SYSTeM ALL PASS!

okay, thinking about buying this to replace our old mobile computer:

AMD Sempron Mobile 1800 MHz,
512 MB
SiS M760GX Graphic

(complete info : http://www.theclickstore.se/product_viewer?product_id=94331)

will this run civ4 fine ?
I don't really know how to rate the graphics on mobile computers ?

(Our stationary passes so it will not be kicked out just yet =)

Passed all :)

I passed the min requirement test. YAY! :)

everything passed with full green except my video card Radeon 9550, it passed with 3 greens :p

Passed! :king:

Video card (ATI X800 XL) got only 5 out of 6 green bars, though.

My PC is coming up to 3 years old but still up to the job, according to this tool, yay! I'm quite chuffed that my gear has done so well - I built this PC myself from scratch. It has a Pentium 4 CPU, which is fine, and a GeForce 4 graphics card which should still be man enough for the job... I've updated the drivers, though.

@bearman - that should do fine, at least for graphics. The CPU is kinda wimpy for the times.

Not sure how much stock I would put into the srtest thing.

I've tested Civ IV and another game with it and it gives me good stats for both.... actually it gives me identical stats for both games.

One thing I'm concerned is how long it'll take for AI to complete 1 turn in late-game(with approx 7-10 civs in action, large map) on AMD 64 3500 Venice with 1Gb RAM and 256GeForce6800GT, if even with thatit'll take minute or so then to hell with that CivIV!

If you have problems then we're all sunk!

Maybe in extreme cases you'll have performance issues, but I would be suprised if you complain about an average game.

One thing I'm concerned is how long it'll take for AI to complete 1 turn in late-game(with approx 7-10 civs in action, large map) on AMD 64 3500 Venice with 1Gb RAM and 256GeForce6800GT, if even with thatit'll take minute or so then to hell with that CivIV!
I guess I won't be playing 7-10 civs on a large map then. :lol:

I guess I won't be playing 7-10 civs on a large map then. :lol:
well, by the late game only 7 or so survive out of almost any number)))

My Radeon 9600 passed just fine.

Strange because mine did not. Maybe its because mine is a laptop video card? It is 64mb though so it *should* be ok. It may just be a tad slow at times like Rome Total War :(

Why on earth would this thread need to be stickied? It's just a poll, basically. The thread that needs to be stickied is the one WITH THE SYSTEM REQS in it, which I believe it is already...I think...:scan:

An even more useful sticky would be a list of reasonably priced graphics cards which are compatible [and not just a lot of "What about this card?" questions].

yay, my atholon 3100+ XP passed just fine, above reccomended on all and perfect on 2/3 :crazyeye: :) :goodjob:

Arrrr, I failed the test. My video card lacks t&l, otherwise it exactly meets the specs. My RAM is only 128MB! I bet my system won't be able to fake it's way around that. Whatever, I'm shopping for something new anyway, regardless of Civ :) But I feel like I'm earning a lifetime number of upgrades achievement award, especially if you count from the VIC-20 or Atari 2600! Will it ever stop?

I fail the minimum requirements on the just the video card, it says:

Video Card
Minimum: 32 MB 3D Video Card with Hardware Transform & Lighting
You Have: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 (GeForce2 MX/MX 400)

FAIL: Sorry, your video card does not meet this minimum requirement. Upgrade to a more powerful video card will make all your applications look better. Click the 'We Recommend' button to see some great options.

Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card:
Video RAM: Required - 32 MB , You have - 64 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes

For some reason it fails on the same thing with other games I can run just fine, anyone know what it has against my poor GeForce2? :confused:

I fail the minimum requirements on the just the video card, it says:

Video Card
Minimum: 32 MB 3D Video Card with Hardware Transform & Lighting
You Have: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 (GeForce2 MX/MX 400)

FAIL: Sorry, your video card does not meet this minimum requirement. Upgrade to a more powerful video card will make all your applications look better. Click the 'We Recommend' button to see some great options.

Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card:
Video RAM: Required - 32 MB , You have - 64 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes

For some reason it fails on the same thing with other games I can run just fine, anyone know what it has against my poor GeForce2? :confused:


Eventhough the Minimum Video card requirement is a GeForce 2, you have a GeForce 2 MX, which is actually below a GeForce 2 I believe. But since the card passes on the 'Features' part, it should be fine, though it is the bear minimum. Good luck

I pass recommended section for every game out there.

So does mine. Call of Duty 2 was the only one that wasn't a perfect score...

Ahh well i failed. ;(

My nice PC blew up (literally), so im running a piece of junk, sempron 2400+,
512Mb Ram, radeon 9250 card (128Mb ).

Shame cos i havent played civ since civ2 and was going to get this, but i cant be sure there will be an option to turn detail down to let me play

Anyone know if Civ 4 will run on windows 98? My other computer meets or exceeds nearly all of the specs but it still has windows 98 on it. I've never had any problems running new games on it so I don't think it'll be an issue but I thought I'd see if anyone knew for sure.

I believe Civ IV requires Win2000 or WinXP. WinME, 98, or 95 do not seem to be supported. I could be wrong.

I believe Civ IV requires Win2000 or WinXP. WinME, 98, or 95 do not seem to be supported. I could be wrong.

Yeah, I noticed it says it 2000 or XP but I know a lot of newer games say that but still generally run on Windows 98.

If you just meet the min requirements for CPU, RAM and Video card, what can you expect from the game?

Will it be slow? Will it freeze?

"Congratulations, your system will Rock this product! Wish we had a system that hot you lucky dog."

CPU:
Minimum: Pentium III or Athlon equivalent
You Have: 2 processors running - Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz (that's HyperThreading)

System RAM:
Minimum: 256 MB
You Have: 1022.4 MB

Operating System:
Minimum: Windows 2000/XP
You Have: Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)

Video Card:
Minimum: 32 MB 3D Video Card with Hardware Transform & Lighting
You Have: ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 (Omega 2.6.71) (ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 (0x3150))

Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card

Video RAM: Required - 32 MB , You have - 128.0 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes

But I already knew that, didn't I... ;) That's a 1600$ Laptop, a degree gift I made myself.

(oh, and now that you mention it... 17 inch screen and full keyboard layout. So, no more forced mouse movement when playing Civ. And that's a f*****g plus! :D)

Ahh well i failed. ;(

My nice PC blew up (literally), so im running a piece of junk, sempron 2400+,
512Mb Ram, radeon 9250 card (128Mb ).

Shame cos i havent played civ since civ2 and was going to get this, but i cant be sure there will be an option to turn detail down to let me play

Is something wrong with the Radeon 9250 card? I don't see [off the top of my head] what's keeping your system from playing Civ IV. I just ordered one of those Radeon cards so I hope that's not the reason.

If you just meet the min requirements for CPU, RAM and Video card, what can you expect from the game?

Will it be slow? Will it freeze?

It really depends on the game. Sometime the minimum requirements will run the game on 'Low' setting, but still be very choppy(ex: FPS like F.E.A.R. or Call of Duty), whereas other games may run fine on 'low' settings if you just meet the minimum requirements.

Chances are that Civ IV, being a turn based strategy game, will run fine on 'low' settings with just the minumum requirements. But picking up some extra RAM is always the best, cheapest and easiest upgrade to make.

I can run civ4 (but i already knew that), my graphics card just falls short of the reccomended setting though.

It says I can run Batle Feild 2 when I cant.


same here my card a ge force fx 5200 falls just one bar short of the recomened:lol: but it should run just fine also because i run age of empires 3 with no problem.

Ahh well i failed. ;(

My nice PC blew up (literally), so im running a piece of junk, sempron 2400+,
512Mb Ram, radeon 9250 card (128Mb ).

Shame cos i havent played civ since civ2 and was going to get this, but i cant be sure there will be an option to turn detail down to let me play

you should have not failed because of the video card,that would not pass rec but i think would pass min,but i think it could be the kind of processor you got :confused:

It really depends on the game. Sometime the minimum requirements will run the game on 'Low' setting, but still be very choppy(ex: FPS like F.E.A.R. or Call of Duty), whereas other games may run fine on 'low' settings if you just meet the minimum requirements.

Chances are that Civ IV, being a turn based strategy game, will run fine on 'low' settings with just the minumum requirements. But picking up some extra RAM is always the best, cheapest and easiest upgrade to make.
Thanks. I am looking for cheap RAM actually. ;)

Apparently my laptop, which I got a month ago, fails! What.

"Minimum: 32 MB 3D Video Card with Hardware Transform & Lighting
You Have: Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset Family (Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset)"

Should I take this at face value?

Apparently my laptop, which I got a month ago, fails! What.

"Minimum: 32 MB 3D Video Card with Hardware Transform & Lighting
You Have: Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset Family (Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset)"

Should I take this at face value?


Did the video card fail in Ram, 3D acceleration or hardware T&L??

Gee whiz, after looking at laptop prices, I'm starting to think of sticking with what I've got for now. I can get 512MB of memory for $40. My Celeron clocks in at 1.7GHZ, the video card is 32MB but lacks T&L. I bet that would be good enough. Or am I wrong???

Athlon 64 3000+
1024 mb of ram (2X512, dual channel)
GeForce 6600GT 128mb

Might add an extra gig of RAM and another 250gb hard disk if the game is a bit slow... I've always upgraded my computers because of Civ, Civ3 took SO MUCH ram with the 2nd patch I think, with the conflict with nVidia cards...

1GB should be plenty...CIV is more CPU than memory intensive.

Moved to CIV Technical.

Apparently my laptop, which I got a month ago, fails! What.

"Minimum: 32 MB 3D Video Card with Hardware Transform & Lighting
You Have: Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset Family (Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset)"

Should I take this at face value?
Yes.

Age is kind of meaningless when it comes to computers. A brand new computer could have a nice processor but only 256 megs of RAM and no video card. You're lacking a video card, you have integrated graphics, which are bad. You need a separate video card unless there are some kind of drivers that can help you. Hopefully your laptop is upgradable -- I don't really know how laptops work, if they can use the same kinds of video cards as desktops or not.

Ellie: That computer's not junk, unless sempron processors are somehow bad. I have a couple friends who would LOVE to own that computer. Throw in another stick of RAM and a better video card, and I'D love that computer. It should run Civ 4 nicely even as-is.

Yes.

Age is kind of meaningless when it comes to computers. A brand new computer could have a nice processor but only 256 megs of RAM and no video card. You're lacking a video card, you have integrated graphics, which are bad. You need a separate video card unless there are some kind of drivers that can help you. Hopefully your laptop is upgradable -- I don't really know how laptops work, if they can use the same kinds of video cards as desktops or not.

Ellie: That computer's not junk, unless sempron processors are somehow bad. I have a couple friends who would LOVE to own that computer. Throw in another stick of RAM and a better video card, and I'D love that computer. It should run Civ 4 nicely even as-is.

Just to clarify i beat the 'minimum' specs barely i only failed the 'recommended' marker. But imho when
i see game specs its best to ignore theoretical minimums and look
at recommended.


As for the pc, well my psu went bang and fried almost everything so i was left with a pc to build on a very limited budget.

Sempron..its not as good as XP processor imho but xp is hard to get nowadays it seems. But it is cheap and cheerful.


I might give it a year, for the athlon64 to drop a bit more then replace mboard / processor and get civ 4.

When civ2 came out i HAD to have it straight away.

After so long not playing civ tho i can wait without it killing me ;op

Thanks for posting the link Moosebox. It said my laptop video card is not good enough, yet it meets all the req's it asked for. As soon as EB games get their shipment i will take a chance that it will run.

Thanks again, this was a huge concern for me.

Cheers

my system seems to be fine BUT i have only 192mb of RAM - am i living in a dream thinking that civ 4 is gonna work on my system?? is it possible to turn off detail and animations in the game??

Mines only failed on the part on the T&L requierment. I dont have a T&L video card :mad:. I doubt that Civ4 would work, eventhough I passed on the other min requierments.

Did the video card fail in Ram, 3D acceleration or hardware T&L??

Hardware T & L. Seems like such a silly thing, if it won't run it then that's the developers' loss. It's a frickin' turn-based game, I shouldn't need to spend more than £600 on a laptop to run it!

oh maaaan - my video card has failed as well. its almost as if they dont want you to play the bloody game!! Mr.Do is right - its a turn based strategy game: we dont need fantastic graphics slowing our systems down. I would have been happy with civIII and some extra features but now i feel like im being kicked out of the civ comunity cos my graphics card cant keep up! years of civing down the crapper - i cant look at civ III now without thinking about how much im missing out on civ4. Im gonna have to find a new home: civfanatics seems very alien to me now, its not like it was in my day. maybe i'll dust off my other games.

I have a....

- Pentium 4 @ 2.53 Ghz
- 1 Gb DDR memory
- ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128 Mb Videocard

So... I am hoping it will work.

My wife who is a Civ 3 junkie has a:

- Athlon AMD 2000+ (1.6 Ghz)
- 768 Mb DDR Memory
- Geforce 4MX 64 Mb card.

I am primarily worried about the graphics card on her PC. I think it supports hardware T&L so I am not too worried about it, but her performance may not be all that great.

civgeneral: thats an integrated card i think?

For 20 to 25 quid you can pick up a radeon 9250
or if you can stretch to 50 you can pick up a 9600xt
which imho is still a nice card.

civgeneral: thats an integrated card i think?

For 20 to 25 quid you can pick up a radeon 9250
or if you can stretch to 50 you can pick up a 9600xt
which imho is still a nice card.


The problem is that I have a laptop and its impossible to upgrade unless I get a whole new laptop :mad:.

I have a laptop too and find it absurd that I can run all the previous versions of Civilization but the latest because of some T&L hardware requirement. CivIV is suppose to reminisce the essence of Classic Civ I yet the video card impedes long-time players of the game from playing. This group of developers who made the game didn't consider Civ to be played on mobile computers so it's not their fault.

My new and upcoming laptop will have an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 and I do hope that "Sid Meier's Civilization" IV will play.

I have a laptop too and find it absurd that I can run all the previous versions of Civilization but the latest because of some T&L hardware requirement. CivIV is suppose to reminisce the essence of Classic Civ I yet the video card impedes long-time players of the game from playing. This group of developers who made the game didn't consider Civ to be played on mobile computers so it's not their fault.

My new and upcoming laptop will have an Intel Media Accelerator 900 and I do hope that "Sid Meier's Civilization" IV will play.
i agree with you in some respects maybe they should have kept it 2d.

The game should be in 3D but without the fancy video hardware acceleration. Civilization is about the gameplay, not the graphics. Well, actually, graphics too but at least let the poor schmuck with a crappy video card play too.

yes i think thats alot for a turn based game, i think am going to stick with my conquest and forget about civ iv for a while cause of that T+L thingy

I agree that graphics are not an issue for me when playing 'CIV' but thats the way all games r going nowadays. The requirements for civ are still lower than many new games.

I just tried this and I didn't expect to fail the minimum settings, but was interested to see whether I would pass the recommended settings. The result is that I passed the recommended settings and ..... failed the minimum settings :crazyeye: (the problem off course being the video card).

For those interested I've got an ASUS Radeon A9600 SE.

Will a Celeron Processor work for the game?
I need to know.

Check this out:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/brownbeard/fail4.jpg

Luckily, my card 'cant run' any other game in their database as well, games that work great on my compute. They dont seem to have this card in their database and its a beefed up 9700 PRO.

Will a Celeron Processor work for the game?
I need to know.It depends on its frequency.
I can play (not very smooth) on a Celeron (Tualatin) 1GHz, 384MB RAM, GeForce 2 GTS/Pro.