Looking for PC that can play Civ 5

hi everyone, I am new to civ, and I need a computer that can play civ 5. I would prefer a laptop, it whatever works, the only reason for this is for civ and school... Thx.

400$ budget, could push to 500$ only if necessary

My brother seems to have one. But he only buys custom made PCs. I thought I had a high end PC, but the game still seems slow. So yeah. It's OK as long as you run the game on Quick Speed. As to a laptop I'm clueless.

There's a lot of computers that can run CiV, especially if it's relatively modern. Should be able to just check out the system requirements, and then start your search from there. Here's the first link I found. http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/CYRI/Requirements/civilization-v/10985?p=r

Not a big hardware guy, don't know the typical going rate for various specs or anything, so I can't offer much else that isn't anecdotal. Desktops are better than laptops for gaming, but I'm able to get CiV to work with my laptop just fine. It's quad-core, 6GB RAM, Win7, but has the bare minimum graphics card, which I think might be the most important part in getting the game to run smoothly. Still, I'm able to play on huge maps with lots of civs without crashing or lagging or anything, though late-game turns do take awhile to process. I got mine for I think around $800 almost 3 years ago, so you can probably find something similar now that's within your budget. I'd recommend a better graphics card though and probably going desktop unless you don't mind waiting around a bit

Would this laptop work?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A94444K/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=

Seems good enough to my eye. Don't know much about graphics cards at all, but if the site I'm using for reference is correct, it outclasses the one I have, so you should be good there. Processor and RAM are definitely fine -- they exceed not just the minimum requirements but the recommended too. It's quite a bit above your budget though unless you're getting the used one, don't know if you noticed that or not.

Any new computer will have better specs than the average computer did when Civ V was first released, and so will be able to run Civ V.

l62l x Hagelin said:

400$ budget, could push to 500$ only if necessary

Click to expand...

You will have trouble finding a decent gaming laptop at that price. While Civ5 is not a big game it still is resource heavy if you want to play something else than small maps...

700 would be more reasonable for a laptop (new).

If you already have a screen you can probably build a decent desktop for 400-500$ that can play Civ5 no problem. Harder if you have to buy all peripherals though (KBM, Screen, speakers etc).

l62l x Hagelin said:

Would this laptop work?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A94444K/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=

Click to expand...

It has an integrated GPU but at least it's way better than the usual intelHD 4000 that most other laptop in that price range get. Not sure where it stands for Civ5, I'd guess Civ5 is more CPU demanding than GPU so it would be fine (don't quote me on this) but you wouldn't really be able to go very high in bigger 3D games. Maybe wait for someone to tell his experience with it.

The next step would be a real gaming laptop with a dedicated GPU but that is way above your price range (800$ and more, new).

I dislike HP though but maybe that's just me.

better buy a desktop, you'll get a lot more for your money ...

Even my old desktop from 2008 or so can run Civ V. The main catch is that I play entirely in Strategic View because the 3d graphics are too laggy and slow.

bought a lenovo ideapad for 500. Handles big maps fine. Make sure to buy a portable fan to place underneath.

Thing with laptops, and computers in general is that buying mid-range means anything new released becomes very frustrating. You mention just Civ and school (terrible combo by the way ), so you can probably find a decent laptop in that price range. Make sure it has a decent graphics card and ALSO a decent CPU, since Civ is a CPU heavy game and laptops like to try and go with lower end CPU's to preserve battery life.

Laptop power has caught up a bit with desktops, so you can actually get some decent set-ups. My current laptop outclasses most gaming deskstops, and I did the math on what I would have saved if I had built my own desktop (something I have done in the past). Overall amount wasn't all that much. So if you are set on laptop I definitely will back you up on the decision. The convenience of taking your comp anywhere is awesome, and you can still get some good gaming options if you get the right one.

with limited $$ would definitely recommend desktop over laptop. Civ 5 is pretty CPU heavy, and low end laptops don't have good great cooling to deal with that. if you have your heart set on a laptop you can put a fan under it like dashwinner says, but still wouldn't recommend. performance per dollar is always better on a desktop in general. The good thing about civ is the graphics aren't that crazy, you don't have to spend much on graphics card. just get a decent mobo/cpu/ram/cooling.