Big Maps and RAM

This question isn't so much Civ related as hardware related, but I bet there's some good advice to be had from the knowledgeable here.

I currently play Civ5 on a MacBook Air (1.7 GHz, I think times two cores?). I am by no means an expert in these matters; if it works it works.

Anyway, I have to play no more than 8 civs on standard maps and I'd like to try some of these larger maps and scenarios. I'm winning consistently on Immortal now so it's time for a new challenge. Even on later turns in these games I experience long long turn times and severe lag. I do play with the Quick Turns mod. If I try a super-huge map with 20+ civs or something, I can feel the computer struggling, not playable.

What would you folks recommend as a good PC purchase?

There are a few important questions to ask beforehand (and you really shouldn't make these decisions for civ's sake):

Do you want to stick with Apple?
Do you want to stick with a laptop?
What's your budget for this?

It is my work computer so should probably make the switch anyway..

Do you want to stick with Apple?
Not necessarily; more familiar with Mac OS, but I now the PC option is likely cheaper.

Do you want to stick with a laptop?
Probably, yes.

What's your budget for this?
Is <$500 in the ballpark?

Another though is do you really want an OS designed for tablets (Windows 8) for a full powered machine? (The Windows 7 GUI is still better for traditional computers with real monitors than Windows 8)

joncnunn said:

Another though is do you really want an OS designed for tablets (Windows 8) for a full powered machine? (The Windows 7 GUI is still better for traditional computers with real monitors than Windows 8)

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Doesn't really matter what it's designed for? What can I buy for <$500 that'll handle what I'm describing (as well as other games)? Downloaded EUIV when it was on sale and it's virtually unplayable.

As a Mac user I say keep your Mac. It's plenty capable of playing this game. And how much RAM do you have. The subject line was about the RAM but you never said how much you have in your laptop. And what are the specs for your video card?

You will notice less lag if you set your graphic preferences to normal or low for this game. Some folks like it high so they can admire what the city looks like, but I personally don't care about that. I guess I don't get that totally immersed.

And even folks on PCs have issues with large maps and late game playing.

<$500 is quite low budget if you want a decent pc, I'd rather go for ~$800 as a minimum if you want a machine that can still run games that are released a few years from now.

Civ5 however isn't that taxing for your hardware. Ram isn't that important, it's the cpu that's doing all the work and slowing down the game. However, even a high-end-cpu won't lead to reasonable processing times on large maps.

i play civ bnw with 21 or 22 (whichever it is) on the giant earth maps 180x90 (think the biggest). the graphics is set lowest on everything, and i do have to wait 30-50s or more very late in the games, but i wouldnt say its unplayable. i have dell inspiron 15 with integrated intel HD graphics, celeron 887 1.5ghz dual core, 4 gb ram, win 8.1 64bit laptop. i will admit by atomic or information age i have time to catch some tv late game with all 22 civs still in the game tho. i guess what i am saying is, this laptop i have will be the absolute lowest i would recommend for playing civ with the largest possible map and the max number of civs. the fan will be running high by end game. i guess you can use this as the absolute lowest spec machine to run the game playably. (depends how slow you are willing to accept at end of turn. maybe its because of how long i have been playing games, and remembering the original civ and civ 2; but i would be worried if end of turn is TOO quick. i have the illusion at the moment that the slow end of turn means the AI is pretty thorough making its decisions rather than just doing random actions very quickly.)

If you aren't doing graphics arts work, there is really no reason to bother with a mac, they are such strange things, twice as expensive as they need to be and twice as hard to make do anything else. I know as far as cheap systems that perform well I have heard good things of the Toshiba Satellite series.

Illinus said:

Doesn't really matter what it's designed for? What can I buy for <$500 that'll handle what I'm describing (as well as other games)? Downloaded EUIV when it was on sale and it's virtually unplayable.

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Yes, what OS are designed for does matter. Windows 8 initial release had it virtually impossible to have more than one window open at a time.
Even Windows 8.1 requires you to enter "desktop mode" to do something that Windows 7 is always in. [If you have a real computer with a real screen why would you NOT want the OS default to be in desktop mode?]

Here's an article on where to find new machines that come installed with Windows 7:
http://bgr.com/2014/01/22/windows-7-pcs-sale-where-to-buy/

Usually.. the ram you are running is like the minimum specifications.. The recommended specifications to run ram on is a bit larger.. The game box has this information