Are My Computer Specs Good Enough?

So I just bought Civ 5. Installed it and played it to only found out that Civ 5's graphic is bugging me. Here's a pic:
or


So is this just a problem with my specs? Here are my specs:
Windows 7
Processor: Intel (R) Core (TM) i3-2100 CPU @ 3.10GHz
RAM: 2GB
412GB Free in Hard Disk
Video Card: Nvidia Geforce GT 430 (2773MB)
Screen Resolution: 1366x768

I hope it's not a problem with my video card. The webpage about this video card supports that it can player Civ 5 well. But I put all the video options to the lowest, and it's still having that weird red graphics.
Or is it just a problem with another game? This is just a hypothesis, but is Skyrim affecting my computer? I have Skyrim installed and it had the same problems before I adjusted the options. Skyrim worked fine after changing the options. I forgot how I really did it, I just found out that I managed to fix it after opening it. Well I changed the screen resolution then turned off the anti-aliasing and it's fine. But that doesn't seem to be working for Civ 5.
Is Skyrim doing something with my computer that Civ 5 can't perform well. Sorry, that's just my hypothesis. I really don't know if they really have connections. So please help me. What should I do?

THANKS AND MERRY CHRISTMAS

The card is around the minimum requirements, it should work (unless tokala or timtofly say something else).

You might want to check if your drivers are up to date, and if any driver specific settings are activated.

That card should work fine on low to med settings.

Looks to me as if some 3D mode is active, might be something messed up with the video driver.

You might try to reset the driver settings to default, if that doesn't do the trick, try to reinstall the driver, preferably the latest version.

You should be sure to run it on DX9.

I am running an AMD-ATI HD 6870 ($215 when it was new, $160 now) and I could run it on DX10/11, but it runs much more smoothly on DX9. CIV5 is a game where the quality of the graphics doesn't really matter to me.

I highly suggest setting anything related to shadows low (Fog of War keep on medium, because anything lower you will get some really ugly black graphic instead). Keep anything with a multiplier off or at 2x.

But my biggest suggestion is running it on DirectX9, as even I do that with an impressive graphics card, just because the lagging really gets to me and bugs the everliving **** out of me.

@Gratz Tokala on 1000 posts!

tokala said:

That card should work fine on low to med settings.

Looks to me as if some 3D mode is active, might be something messed up with the video driver.

You might try to reset the driver settings to default, if that doesn't do the trick, try to reinstall the driver, preferably the latest version.

Click to expand...

This is 3D mode, and a pair of glasses should make that picture pop off the screen. I am about to obtain that card and put it in a computer. However there should be a setting under the game itself that turns 3D off. I will have a better grasp on this after I get the card up and working myself. Civ 5 was coded for 3D, but this is the first that any one has mentioned it working. It probably defaulted to that setting and just needs to be unchecked, or try a pair of glasses?

@ Echo090

I am curious, does your monitor support 3D? Are you using an HDMI connection or just DVI? This card is supposed to be for games that are built from the ground up for Direct X11. It also supports Bluray drives and plays 3D movies.

Thanks.

Morpheas said:

You should be sure to run it on DX9.

I am running an AMD-ATI HD 6870 ($215 when it was new, $160 now) and I could run it on DX10/11, but it runs much more smoothly on DX9. CIV5 is a game where the quality of the graphics doesn't really matter to me.

I highly suggest setting anything related to shadows low (Fog of War keep on medium, because anything lower you will get some really ugly black graphic instead). Keep anything with a multiplier off or at 2x.

But my biggest suggestion is running it on DirectX9, as even I do that with an impressive graphics card, just because the lagging really gets to me and bugs the everliving **** out of me.

@Gratz Tokala on 1000 posts!

Click to expand...

This is a directx 11 card!! In fact on the box it shows that 2K used this card in developing Civ5. Now this may be false advertisement, but this card should work just fine. Will give a test soon to let you all know.

My below specs laptop handles the highest settings (allowed) of graphics just fine, because it was developed to handle HD graphics. Changing the quality does not effect the speed or change the lag I have at all. It is only when I reach a certain point city wise, and even the settler unit, that causes the game to lag even beyond my threshold. The game should not lag on any computer (even the best), but it still does, because it cannot handle or release computer resources properly, and hopefully they are working on these issues and getting all the bugs, coding wise, worked out through patches. Due to steam, you can run the validating file procedure to also fix corrupted files that tend to plague this game.

Thanks guys. I turned off the 3D thing in the Nvidia Geforce gt 430 windows and it's all okay now. Except that after one day, Steam now shows that the game is currently unavailable. -.-

@Tim: I have a DirectX 11 card as well, and my performance is IMMENSELY better on DX9. I can barely tell a difference between the two. The only real annoying thing is that the terrain is blurry for 2-3 seconds before updating.

Echo090 said:

Thanks guys. I turned off the 3D thing in the Nvidia Geforce gt 430 windows and it's all okay now. Except that after one day, Steam now shows that the game is currently unavailable. -.-

Click to expand...

I think that steam can recognize hardware changes and update the game accordingly. The servers have been busy due to holiday traffic.

You do have to use the card settings itself to turn on/off the 3D settings. Once on using ctrl-t will toggle the game from 3D to regular and back again. I still have to play with some texture though. The colors are too yellow in 3D. The mouse is a little sluggish too. It is a novalty, but sorta cool if one likes looking at things stereoptically.

@ Morpheas

I have everything on the highest settings in 11. So far everything is smooth and fast, I have just started a game though, so it will take awhile to get to the slow down part. I am running an AMD Athlon II X2 2.6 with 4 GB ram. Will keep posting later.