NEVER buy a new single core system in the current market. It's just a waste of money. Single core chips are all based on older architecture that run much slower than dual core chips of slower clock rates. ie my 2.14Ghz Core 2 duo is WAY faster than my old 3.2Ghz P4 even in games that only use one core.
I think the real factor with Civ IV is the RAM. When I upgraded to 2gigs from 1gig I felt a significant improvement in Civ IV's turn performance. I would imagine that > 2gigs would help even more on gigantic maps. (I generally play 34 civs with the default "huge" size, I know, I'm a wussy )
And I don't want to transform my thread into a war over Vista, but Vista runs Civ IV just fine.
I think the real factor with Civ IV is the RAM. When I upgraded to 2gigs from 1gig I felt a significant improvement in Civ IV's turn performance. I would imagine that > 2gigs would help even more on gigantic maps. (I generally play 34 civs with the default "huge" size, I know, I'm a wussy )
And I don't want to transform my thread into a war over Vista, but Vista runs Civ IV just fine.