Are these good specs, do I need a video card?

[OBizz]

I just got my computer in from Dell but there was no option to choose a video card. I still haven't got the game and am planning on playing it over the Thanksgiving holiday when I have some free time. How does this look:

Dimension E310 - P4
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 521 w/HT Technology (2.8GHz,800FSB), Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition Qty: 1
Unit Price: $829.00
Dimension E310 Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 521 w/HT Technology (2.8GHz,800FSB)
D521H
[222-0102]

Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 400MHz -2DIMMs
1GB4
[311-5378]

Keyboard and Mouse Bundles Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
EKOM
[310-5234]
[310-6477]

Monitor SAVE $50!! 17 inch E173FP Analog Flat Panel
E17350
[464-6629]

Video Card Integrated Intel® GMA 900
IV
[320-4530]

Hard Drive 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
160S
[341-2776]

Floppy Drive and Media Reader No Floppy Drive Included
NFD
[341-2782]

Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition
WMCE
[420-5646]
[412-0688]
[412-0721]
[420-4927]
[463-2282]
[420-5460]
[420-5476]
[420-5598]

Mouse Mouse included with Keyboard purchase
NONE
[310-5678]

Network Interface Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
IN
[430-0412]

Modem 56K PCI Data Fax Modem
DFAX
[313-3515]

Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
AAREAD
[412-0705]

CD or DVD Drive Single Drive: 16X DVD-ROM Drive
16DVD
[313-3753]
[420-5079]

Sound Integrated 2.0 Channel High Definition Audio
IS
[313-2758]

Speakers Dell A215 Speakers
A215
[313-3207]

Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed) No Productivity Suite - Corel WordPerfect® word processor only
COREL
[412-0803]

Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) No Security Subscription
NOTM
[420-5638]

Digitial Music Musicmatch® Jukebox Basic
MMBASE
[412-0813]

Digital Photography Corel Photo Album™ 6 Starter Edition - Organize and Edit your photos
DPS
[412-0845]

Hardware Warranty 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr At-Home Service, and 1Yr Technical Support
S111OS
[902-9210]
[950-3337]
[950-9797]
[960-3249]
[960-6380]
[983-2207]

Dial-Up Internet Access 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
AOLDHS
[412-0687]
[412-0625]
[420-3224]
[412-0787]
[420-5256]

Miscellaneous Award Winning Service and Support
D47F1
[463-5391]

Operating System Backup & Recovery PC Restore recovery system by Symantec
PCR
[464-5503]

The video card listed is Integrated Intel® GMA 900 which I'm not sure is worth much. Do you think this would play Civ IV. If not what is recommended to get?

 

[bhsup]

<nvm>

 

[Bast]

I don't know too well about Intel chips but 1 Gb Ram should do you well.

 

[Chopperhead]

Not sure myself on whether it would work but I also have a dell mines kinda old though but it came with a GF4 mx440 that was like 4 years ago. Call and find out what video cards are available. Dont just check the website actually call them. If I recall corretly Dell makes computers however you want with whatever you want so Im sure they can put in a very powerful card like GF 7800GTX if you want them to.

 

[Gregules]

try this -

http://www.srtest.com/referrer/srtest

I was not sure about my PC either. neat site, very easy

 

[HounddogLGS]

I would say grab a decent video card, and you'll have great system. The GMA 900 is supposed to be a vast improvement over previous onboard graphics, but I've never seen one that would outperform a decent video card. Besides that, you run in to the same old problem that the integrated graphics is sharing your system memory, probably as much as 256 mb.

Edit: Kinda odd they didn't give you an option to upgrade the video. Make sure your mobo has an AGP or PCX slot before you buy a card!

 

[OBizz]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm really not a computer guy at all. I use it for internet and e-mail and such but the only PC games I've ever really been into have been Civs 1-3. I can't wait to get my hands on 4 - just hope it works. I'll let you guys know how it goes