Civ V probable system requirements

[merockstar]

Hi there,

I got into Civ IV kind of late, and I would like to get in on Civ V at ground level.

Unfortunately, I suspect my computer isn't going to have the balls to do it.

The only rumored system requirements I can find are at this site.

But I have a couple questions about them.

The first is how likely are these specs to be accurate?

It says "Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz," now at first glance 2.66 ghz doesn't seem like much, but what does Core 2 Duo mean? My chip (dorito) is an old Pentium 4 Socket 478 3.2 Ghz, based on the core 2 duo standard, will that get the job done?

If you think I'll likely need to upgrade my chip, how do I know what kind of chip will fit into my motherboard, an ASUSTek P4SD-VL AGP motherboard? Or is the damn thing so old I have to buy a new motherboard (i.e., whole new freaking computer).

I hope that my chip doesn't need to be upgraded, because that would just mean I need to buy a new video-card. According to the previously referenced site, I would need to upgrade my now nearly museum worthy Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 to something 8800 GTS equivalent or above. I'm perusing tigerdirect for something right now, anybody have any recommendations?

Money is a total issue for me, I don't have much of it, but I have enough at the moment that I'm seriously thinking about putting some into a new video card today. What do you guys think?

 

[Tylerryan79]

Well start with your video card. Newegg.com isn't bad place to look. Also i'm sure ur CPU would run it, but it won't be that good. Also to upgrade ur CPU you need to get one that's the same socket #. Your best bets to get a new graphics, then slowly buy new hardware, like a new mb, new ram, new CPU, new psu. Oh ya you may need a new psu depending on what graphics card you buy. Research every part so you don't buy crap without realizing it.

Also the core 2 duo means basicly it's like two CPUs instead of the one. Civ v will be able to use up to 8 threads, so the more CPUs the better. Also you'll have to see how much ram. If you have enough ram and a decent graphics card you will be able to barely swing it. But like I said think about slowly buying parts for a new pc over time.

 

[merockstar]

Well, I've already got the RAM that this motherboard can support maxed at 2 gigs, (I think it's DDR2 if I remember correctly).

So Core2Duo 2.66 does in fact means 5.34 Ghz?

I guess that means what I'm asking is if there is an equivalent to that chip available for a socket 478 motherboard.

What is a PSU again?

 

[Windsor]

I'm sorry to say it, but your motherboard only supports old AGP-cards which got replaced by the new PCI-Express interface a few years ago. Buying an AGP-card today doesn't give you much performance for the money and you can't keep the card if you choose to upgrade the motherboard later.

I would either try to get a used AGP-card cheap or try to get enough for a new computer(motherboard,ram,cpu,gfx).

And PSU = power supply unit

 

[Tylerryan79]

No you don't add it up like that. If there are 2 cores(CPUs basicly) and your surfing the net only one will be used. So it's 2.66. If your playing civ v it will use one core at 2.66 and then run another thread at 2.66. Also whatever else you have running at the time will be on the CPUs. It's not like one giant CPU monster. On certain things ur 3.2 may seem faster for instance.

 

[Lillefix]

I can't really see that a game like Civ5 would require a dual core cpu. It's basically a boardgame. As long as the video card can handle rendering the graphics, it should be okay. Although it would probably mean waiting a long time between turns.

And to quote the recent Dennis Shirk interview

One thing we didn’t even talk about in the demo is the strategy view. If you turn it on, it makes everything into a flat 2D hex grid – just like you’re playing a boardgame. Or, if you’re on a plane or something and you don’t want to worry about the high-end graphics, just turn on the grid and it’s totally playable on this 2D map. Like you’re playing Risk or something.

 

[Willem]

Well, I've already got the RAM that this motherboard can support maxed at 2 gigs, (I think it's DDR2 if I remember correctly).

So Core2Duo 2.66 does in fact means 5.34 Ghz?

I guess that means what I'm asking is if there is an equivalent to that chip available for a socket 478 motherboard.

What is a PSU again?

Don't bother confusing yourself with all these details right now. The bottom line is that you need a new computer, everything about your system is old and obsolete. Just take what money you have and buy yourself a whole new rig, and don't worry about upgrading your current dinosaur. About the only things you can salvage from your current system is your RAM and your hard drive. Even then, there's better drives available these days, and the ones you have are no doubt reaching the end of their life span. Your RAM is becoming obsolete as well since many motherboards these days use DDR3 cards.

 

[Tylerryan79]

Your best bet is to 1. Wait for official minimum specs 2. Buy the game an see if you can run it as is 3. Save save save, build a new pc.

 

[Willem]

Your best bet is to 1. Wait for official minimum specs

This is your best advice, though I wouldn't go by the minimum specs. Go for the recommended instead.

 

[civ_king]

get or build a new computer, i3 will work, i5 is definitely better, and i7 is awesome

if you build a computer (or have someone build you one) the Core i7-875K 2.93GHz is BEAST (it's $330)

 

[Tylerryan79]

Well if he wants to play it as it was meant to be, go for recommended. If he just wants to play it(eye candy turned off, no videos etc) go for minimum. Also you can often play below minimum in a lot of games. It all depends on what your willing to deal with. I have played bioshock 2 on a pentium 4 with 2 gb DDR and a gt120(not sure what that was before they rebranded it to the gt120). The card wasn't that bad and it played better on that then on my 2.33 quad core with 8gb ddr2 ram with the same card. However civ iv played better on the quad. Probably due to more ram. I really don't know.

 

[leif erikson]

Those system requirements sound interesting in light of this:

This article talks about scaling system resources to allow the game to play on lower end systems with integrated graphics.

The full article can be found here. just scroll down to find "Firaxis' Civilization 5: A Case Study in Scalable Game Performance" given by Dan Baker.

 

[Gyokuran]

The GeForce FX5200 was the worst model of one of the worst lines of graphics cards ever released, I wouldn't count on it running any modern game. I also do not recommend upgrading anything, you will be paying a large premium for hardware thats been obsolete for several generations (especially with AGP video cards). The fact of the matter is your current system is 7 year old hardware, and if you want to play modern games its time for a whole new system. If you're willing to build it yourself, you should be able to build a high end gaming rig for about $750 (sans monitor).

 

[merockstar]

I should wait for the minimum specs to come out, and as I'm doing that save up for a whole new rig.

That's interesting that there's going to be a low graphics option for civ V, that may save me having to splurge on new computer parts for a while, but I would like to play it as it's meant to be experienced. I was just assuming I'd have no other choice, lol.