When i Load civ the movie skips its crappy its prob my video card but i uploaded n posted all this for feedback..is my system crappy?
also should this comp have vista or Xp?
And finally what should i fix..(if its indeed crappy) Im convinced its crap atleast the video card is...Anyway please help tell me what to look for..
or even if u think im an idiot feel free to post that as well!! :lol:



Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz 3200 Mhz 1 core(s) 2 Logical Processor(s)
Total Physical Memory 1,014.75 Mb
Available Physical Memory 498.76 MB
ToTal Virtual Memory 2.23 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.47 GB
Page file space 1.28 GB
Os name Microsoft(R) Windows Vistam Home Basic
Display.. Name Intel(R) 82945G Express Chipset Family
Adapter Ram 256.00 MB
32 bits/pixel
Memory (RAM) 1015MB
System type: 32-bit Operating System






http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v388/d0pe111/test.jpg

It the...Intel(R) 82945G Express Chipset Family

Is that my video card or a driver for my card?
HELP!!

Does the title of this thread seem rude...if so. sorry not my intenchion

Edit:.. i dont know if this is considered off topic..
I just posted it here because i'm asking the question because of civ movie and unit movements aswell..all choppy..

I'd go with XP ...
The graphic card will burn you in vista and also I'd add some RAM.

How much crappy? Your CPU/GPU are ok. Here is my suggestion.
100% crappy with 256MB Physical Memory. (Give up!)
50% crappy with 512MB Physical Memory. (Unplayable!)
25% crappy with 1GB Physical Memory. (Fine!) <- Here you're on
12% crappy with 2GB Physical Memory. (Great!)
6% crappy with 3GB Physical Memory. (Fantastic!)
3% crappy with 4GB Physical Memory. (Amazing!)
2% crappy with 4GB Physical Memory + 512MB Graphic Memory. (Incredible!)
1% crappy with 8GB Physical Memory + 1GB Graphic Memory. (Impossible!)

Your computer is good enough for CIV. Even if marginal in RAM and video. It just looks like your setup could use a little tweaking. Try lowering your video settings. 1G of RAM works for XP but Vista uses up more especially with AERO enabled and surely you can get better video performance from a card rather than integrated.

A lot of people are experiencing problems with Vista. Go to the Technical Support forums section and see if you can find any help there.
It looks like you are using onboard video and your computer might be a little light on RAM. Try to resolve any compatibility issues with Vista before you address any hardware issues. Make sure your game is patched.

I have my civ settings on low everything..
it still sucks n chops the video..
To get it at the amount of physical memory avail.. i had to delete allot of
videos n music. (if that even makes sence)




Thanks for the comments n help.

so im at 25% crappy.


Im embaressed to say........(here goes ) im renting this computer
its costing me way more then its worth...

but the thing is i had a diffrent one i was renting..it
frim rent a center...lol

and it played civ fine now this new one from a diffrent place (not gonna plug them)

and its acting like junk.

i know renting is dumb i hear it all the time..

also when i had the computer from rentacenter... it was a dell dimension something it was skinny like half the size of this tower i have now...but the weird thing was i had xp i played LONG games of warlords and civ4 n never got1 maf ever...
Edit...n the video was also very clear..

It sounds like you are confusing physical memory (RAM) with hard drive space. I don't think you needed to delete anything.

Computers aren't cheap. Coming up with the money to buy one can be a challenge for some people. You would save a lot of money, though, if you could buy one instead of renting or renting-to-buy. Do some looking around and try to save some money. Deals can be found especially online.

Thanks man i really appreciate your help

I know i should send my computer back..n tough it out by saving the money to build a nice system for the same price as i would pay.

..lol i cant be comp less till i achieve that goal.


i really really should though

It sounds like you are confusing physical memory (RAM) with hard drive space. I don't think you needed to delete anything.

Computers aren't cheap. Coming up with the money to buy one can be a challenge for some people. You would save a lot of money, though, if you could buy one instead of renting or renting-to-buy. Do some looking around and try to save some money. Deals can be found especially online.

Total Physical Memory 1,014.75 Mb
Available Physical Memory 498.76 MB


Thats why i thought it was like that cause when i deleted things it made that physical memory go up

How much crappy? Your CPU/GPU are ok. Here is my suggestion.
100% crappy with 256MB Physical Memory. (Give up!)
50% crappy with 512MB Physical Memory. (Unplayable!)
25% crappy with 1GB Physical Memory. (Fine!) <- Here you're on
12% crappy with 2GB Physical Memory. (Great!)
6% crappy with 3GB Physical Memory. (Fantastic!)
3% crappy with 4GB Physical Memory. (Amazing!)
2% crappy with 4GB Physical Memory + 512MB Graphic Memory. (Incredible!)
1% crappy with 8GB Physical Memory + 1GB Graphic Memory. (Impossible!)

Total Physical Memory 1,014.75 Mb
Available Physical Memory 498.76 MB

Am i actually at 50% crappy (Unplayable)?

Total Physical Memory 1,014.75 Mb
Available Physical Memory 498.76 MB

Your physical Memory is 1GB. Available Physical Memory 498.76 MB. Normally VISTA uses about 400MB of 1GB itself.

Am i actually at 50% crappy (Unplayable)?
Yes, XP is better than VISTA. You lost 400MB because of Vista.

12% crappy with 2GB Physical Memory. (Great!)
That means about 1.7GB is Available Physical Memory
512MB with XP = 1GB with Vista
Why don't you use XP? I have no reasons to use VISTA.

I'm gonna get xp on it tomorrow

Vista is a real pig. I honestly wouldn't try running anything but Vista Basic without 2 GB of Ram...and even with that much RAM I've seen Aero really bog a system down. The guts of Vista are nice but the features they are trying to sell are really just bloat. I'll move away from XP as my Windows Desktop of choice when they stop supporting it entirely.

Anyway, I can't really tell but I'm guessing that your Video Card is embedded and uses Shared Memory, which will also cut into your Physical memory. If you have 1 GB of Ram (Approx. 1000 MB) and you have a 256 MB Video Card with shared memory, you actually have more like 750 MB of RAM to start with. If this is the case, plop an actual video card in or add more RAM. This computer should be fine or close enough to fine that a reasonable amount of money won't fix.

Another thing to watch for with a Dell or any other bigger name PC is that it usually comes loaded with a bunch of garbage that starts up when the computer starts up. I've seen Gateway computers with trash they include with the system gobbling up 300 MB or so of memory. ugh.

Another thing to watch for with a Dell or any other bigger name PC is that it usually comes loaded with a bunch of garbage that starts up when the computer starts up. I've seen Gateway computers with trash they include with the system gobbling up 300 MB or so of memory. ugh.

This is part of the reason that I build my own now. I once bought a Dell and couldn't stand wathing it start up.

Dopedot,
If you are going to spend money to get XP another gig of RAM would be less expensive. We're all going to have to switch to Vista eventually.
If you can. I forgot your computer is a rental.

Good Luck. You will enjoy CIV IV when you finally get to play it.

Short answer: It's a decent system with a horrible GPU

Vista Basic uses about the same amount of memory as XP from what I've seen in the stores. Getting XP shouldn't make a noticeable difference.

Is it just the movies that is choppy? If so, you can disable them in the Civ4 options (Advanced>Options from the main menu). Sure, it's preferable to have them, but it's much more fun to disable them than to watch them move terribly slowly - I've had that and it is not fun. You also might want to try re-installing Civ in case your video files got corrupted (although usually they won't play at all if that happened).

If the whole game is choppy, then it is an inadequate hardware problem. The easiest solution is playing at a smaller map size - the smaller the map, the less demanding.

As to the video card, as it is integrated it is using system memory - 256 MB according to your post. So that effectively leaves you with 768 MB RAM - somewhere between "Unplayable" and "Fine". It's probably enough for a Standard size map.

You also might want to see what you can get for the same price as you are paying now on a pay-by-the-month plan for a new computer. Be sure to read the fine print and see how long you will be paying for, though. I think 3 years is the standard now, so consider if it would be better to buy one and pay per-month or keep renting and upgrade the rental specs every so often over the three years. Also be sure you can continue the payments for that long - it's probably easier to end rental payments than buying payments.

Or you could buy a really cheap computer - I've seen $200 at the store refurbished - and save after that till you can get better. That's assuming you can be without Civ for that time, though.

Also consider Civilization III - it should be far less demanding on your system. I think its price is $30 now.

Thanks for everyones help. im not sure what the final decision will be...if i keep renting i will make sure im renting something better then this..
if i buy i'll just get something decent that can be expanded nicely in the future

(The only thing i like about renting is..) when im renting for 3 years n my comp becomes fairly old after 2 but before the end of the contract
i could easily switch it out for an upgrade.. If for some reason this one may catch a nasty virus or blow up (muaaaahhhhh hahaha)
Then they replace the one i have with something new not many ppl actually get there outdated stuff replaced before the contract runs out..if they did they would change that rule quickly

Reason to buy a new computer... and for the future as well this is what I've been doing for so many years and I've never really fallent that far beind in technology and been able to keep a fairly "up to date" system.

I'm no tech freak that buys the newest hardware when it comes out at 800$ a piece so maybe you can relate to my own experience ... of course you need some basic knowledge on how to setup everything yourself!

You needa good basic system... either AMD or Intel, doesn't matter, though keep in mind that at the moment Intel reign supreme in the cpu market, both performance and price wise.

Get a good motherboard, there's some really decent one at around 125$-150$
Then grab the cpu, once again you'd be set at around 150$ for something better than what you currently have.
2 gig of rams goes for less than 100$ at the moment and that's for 6400.
Video card you can get once again something decent for 200$
Hard drive are so cheap it's a joke get a 250gig for 100$
What's missing?

If you need a screen, get a 19inch or 20inch widescreen for 250$

So basicly you have an up to date system, for what... 1000$ or so.

Now... if you have to uppgrade something in 2-3-4 years you just switch that piece and there you are.

CPU can last a while so does ram... basicly when you want more ram you add another 2gig and you're set... it's only 100$ after all.
Same goes for the graphic card just swap it for something better... though if you buy ... let's say a 8800GTS it should last you for a while especially if you play game like civilization (it's more a cpu game than a gpu game)

hope this help... if you're in the us :

newegg.com

in canada :

ncix.com


good prices always ;)

I had that same processor, a 3.2ghz monocore, best thing I ever owned. Lightning fried it one night and now I have two 3.2's, same as you! This is a awesome engine you got man!. Dual and a great fan, now over-clock that son of bit#t!

Since relucently going to dual engines I been doing a lot of that sh#t. 4.2 the other day and it actual made performance much better on Civ 3's 'god awful' sized maps. Damn! and I figured it couldn't get any better! (Im talkin maps 230x230 deley free the whole game-no bs!)

IM not down with last nights gadgets but from what I do know, Only Athlon FX trumphs and the twin 3.2's come close if you wanted to overclocked to 5.4, its now done all the time with ease
I'll find the link when challenged-mind you IM not sure what new tricks intel's comp has come up with latly

I won't get into g cards cuz others have said plenty. All I want to say is be proud of that processor its an oldy but goody!