Can I successfully run Civ 5 G&K on this laptoP?

[Prince24]

I have a Lenovo Win7PC, Pentium Dual Core 2.20GHz, 3.0GB RAM.
I just bought this game and run it on Divx9 because it won't load on Divx10 or 11 even though it says "recommended".
Anyway, it is a painfully slow game to play. I am standard game world size and on all the default settings. It is all about waitiing, waiting, waiting between units and waiting, waiting, waiting setting production in the cities.

any thoughts or suggestions how I could optimize my laptop or game settings would be greatly appreciated.

I really hope to play this game on at least standard world size and not be stuck on small everything. I don't mind some waiting as I suffered Civ IV for a long time. But this is simply too much.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Heerlo]

If you're not running on battery alot it might help somewhat to make sure that your PC is set for max performance mode, and not for power-saving.

I guess smaller maps would probably run faster, but I understand you wanting to play bigger maps. You could turn down the graphics somewhat. I don't know if that would make the turn times any faster, but it might make the game smoother during your turn.

 

[Prince24]

I don't have a game special graphics card. I'm not sure I have any kind of graphics card at all. I looked at My Computer and I can't see a graphics card listed. Would that help? I don't do any games except Civ so I am not optimized for any "shooters" or games demanding of fancy systems.

Gosh, who would have thought that a snail-paced strategy game would bring my laptop to a halt!

 

[Heerlo]

Your PC probably has onboard graphics, which isn't really a graphics card, but it's just a graphics processor built in to the laptop. I don't know if it's possible to put a graphics card in a laptop, but if the problem is your laptop taking a long time to process AI turns, then the graphics card probably wouldn't help with that, anyway.

Sorry I don't know anything else to tell you, but you really just need a better PC.

 

[Prince24]

Would additional RAM be of service?

I don't care a whit for graphics so perhaps a graphics card might not serve me. By better I believe you address my core processor. Seems I am found lacking...

 

[Heerlo]

More RAM would probably help somewhat, because that would give your PC more memory in order to keep up with everything that's going on in the game faster.

Do you know how to install RAM?

 

[Prince24]

I have no experience installing additional RAM. Is this something I should consider learning how to accomplish? Also, I notice that there are now external video cards. Would these be of service to my laptop?

 

[Heerlo]

It might be best just to get a whole new computer(a desktop maybe) with a better processor and more RAM, but if you cannot afford that, you could try to put some new RAM in your laptop. I personally have no experience putting RAM in a laptop, but you could probably find a good tutorial for this on the internet somewhere. But just consider everything carefully, because anytime you do something to the inside of a computer it's not without it's risks. It's up to you.

I'm not sure what you mean by external video cards. Where does your computer show these?

 

[The_J]

A DxDiag (what?!?) would help to determine what graphics card you have.
Because it's most likely the part which slows down the game (in your case).

I'd not recommend adding more RAM, since it's a bit complicated with laptops, if it's even possible.
For external graphics cards...a new desktop computer might be a better investment.