I just got a new system as well. It rocks for Civ IV (much faster load times and turn lengths). We need more details! Specifics please! Oh, and enjoy the crud out of it.
Dude, I'm getting a Dell.
I've had good experiences with Dell; my wife has a Dell laptop which required service lately, and our experience with that was excellent. The Dell on-line ordering system beats the crap out of their competitors'. (HP's is good in the US, but the Canadian one lacks the customization capabilities.) And as usual with Dell, it's hard to beat their price.
The new system is (or will be, when it arrives) a Dimension 9200C desktop PC. It has an Intel Core 2 Duo proc (4 MB L2 cache, 2.66 GHz), 4 MB RAM, a 320 GB hard disk, an ATI Radeon 256 MB X1300 Pro video card, and Windows Vista.
Oughta run Civ just fine, don't you think?
Coincidentally, the old system gave of the ghost today shortly after I ordered the new one--out of spite, perhaps?

I'm pretty sure the motherboard failed. It's been giving me problems lately--severe slowdowns and system instability--hence the urge to get a new system.
Sadly, however, this means the next ALC will not start until the new system arrives.

My work laptop, which I am using to write this, is incapable of running Civ (which is probably a very, very good thing).
Sisiutil, why don't you just insert your current hard drive into the new PC rather than reinstalling everything?
He doesn't wish to give his Windows installation a massive heart attack?
Depending on the magnitude of the changes, that doesn't always work.
I'll probably try to add the old disk as a slave in the new system just so I can easily get to my old data, but I won't boot from it. There's something to be said for starting fresh. If the old drive works, I might see if moving my page file over to it to see if that helps performance. Tough to say, it's an older disk so it will probably be slower.