Low cost PC for Civ 5 in 2014

I run Civ 5 on an old E8500 dual-core which was one of the last of that line. I don't have the graphics settings real high but yes I think clock speed is the main thing to look for in a gaming PC.
Mine runs at a base of 3.16 GHz but it can easily be ramped up to 4 GHz, and despite being an old machine it still performs very well.

I would say make sure you have at least 4G of ram.
 
Yeah, that is the one. Let us know what setup you are going to be getting and we will be able to tell you whether or not extra power supply is important. Normally, when people get old powerful (back in the day) desktops to use as gaming computers, the first thing they upgrade is the graphics and the second is the power supply.
 
GL12 said:
It looks like the mini-tower has the 305 watt power supply, so not sure if this is needed.
Click to expand...
The system you linked will do fine, and no, you do need neither an aftermarket CPU heatsink/fan nor another power supply.

That system, together with a 750 will draw at maximum about 150W from the PSU, and that peak will not even be reached while playing civ5.

The PSUs in those brand name office machines are generally of decent quality, and will easily deliver enough power, even after a few years of use.

For reference, some people here got comparable systems when Civ5 was published, and they worked without a problem with 300W and even 200W PSUs.
 
You can never have too much power. I always go a little extra on my psu for future use. And 4 gig of Ram should be plenty although I was lucky enough to go 12 gig (although 12 gig is way overkill).
 
Anything over 2gb of ram on a 32bit OS is overkill since a 32bit OS can only utilize 2gb.
 
NASAROG said:
Anything over 2gb of ram on a 32bit OS is overkill since a 32bit OS can only utilize 2gb.
Click to expand...
Any one 32 bit Windows application can only use 2GB (3 with a bit of tinkering on a 32 bit OS, 4 on a 64 bit OS), a 32 bit Windows can use close to 4GB physical memory.

One of my old machines had 3.75 GB available for Windows XP, with LAA flagged Forged Alliance using close to 3 GB of those.

Civ5 is LAA, too, so in principle it can use up to 3GB RAM on a 32 bit Windows.

Some more info: http://forums.2k.com/showthread.php?115825-64-bit-and-you
 
I use 64 bit Win 7 which allows much more ram (64 gig if I want). Yea, and it`s 3 gig of Ram not 2 gig on a 32 bit system.
 
Thanks everyone! I can now confidently purchase this system. I appreciate everyone's helpful advice and expertise. Happy Civving!
 
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