Experience with Old computer

[suneee]

Hey.

I just wanted to give my update on how Civ 4 runs on a very old computer.
My system specs are:
P3 900mhz
256mb ram
geforce 4 mx440 128mb ram
some kind of onboard sound card
80gb harddisk, standard. running ntfs.
newest graphic driver, directx9.0c

Starting the game goes with no problem.
Starting a new game, takes forever. Details all set on the lowest. takes like 5-10 minutes to start new game.
Game runs with some lag. Takes time for units to move, 1-2 seconds lag. the different advisor windows, i keep from entering... can stall the game entering foreing window.
Otherwise i can see all the movies, graphic has no errors. and i do mean none what so ever.
Exiting the game also takes like 5-10 minutes. I've just edited the ini file so i hope it will run a bit more smooth for now.
So people. if you have as old a machine as me, you should be able to run the game. If you cant, then you ****ed up some system stuff.
I want a new computer so i can play the game with no problems. I am one of the few who has played the game since Civilization 1, and a huge fan. it had a part in making me interested in politics and society, and im current studying it at a university. Now some of us dont have the financial assets to invest in new computer hardware or even a new computer, as its expensive to study, and proberly have to wait a couple of years until the time comes to put this machine on retirement home. please give us a thought, when you play this game with no problems, or just say "thank you" to whoever who gave you the possibilities to get a big computer that is fast enough to run the game.

Regards
Sune Nielsen

 

[The Beastmaster]

This is from the READ ME file that starts up with the game:

Minimum System Requirements
Operating System:

Windows® 2000/XP

Processor:

1.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent

Memory:

256 MB RAM (Windows 2000) / 512 MB RAM (Windows XP)

Hard Disk Space:

1.7 GB Free

CD-ROM Drive:

4X Speed

Video:

DirectX 9.0c-compatible 64 MB video card with Hardware T&L support (GeForce 2/Radeon 7500 or better)

Sound:

DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card

DirectX®:

DirectX® version 9.0c (included) or higher



Recommended System Requirements
Operating System:

Windows® 2000/XP

Processor:

1.8 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent

Memory:

512 MB RAM

Hard Disk Space:

1.7 GB Free

CD-ROM Drive:

4X Speed

Video:

128 MB Video Card w/ DirectX 8 support (pixel & vertex shaders)

Sound:

DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card

DirectX®:

DirectX® version 9.0c (included) or higher
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Sune, You didn't list what operating system you are using, but if it's Windows XP, then 256 RAM is below the minimum system requirements which may have something to do with it... as well as the processor speed's minimum lists as Pentium4 1.2GHz or equivalent... you are listing that you have a P3 900mhz which is lower than minimum. 80(

 

[bugmenot17]

Hey.

I just wanted to give my update on how Civ 4 runs on a very old computer.
My system specs are:
P3 900mhz
256mb ram
geforce 4 mx440 128mb ram
some kind of onboard sound card
80gb harddisk, standard. running ntfs.
newest graphic driver, directx9.0c

Starting the game goes with no problem.
Starting a new game, takes forever. Details all set on the lowest. takes like 5-10 minutes to start new game.
Game runs with some lag. Takes time for units to move, 1-2 seconds lag. the different advisor windows, i keep from entering... can stall the game entering foreing window.
Otherwise i can see all the movies, graphic has no errors. and i do mean none what so ever.
Exiting the game also takes like 5-10 minutes.

Yeah. Thanks, Firaxis.

 

[Jove]

I went out to buy a new gfx card, and it turns out that my motherboard won't support anything good. I'm fine with upgrading, the time has come anyway, but here's my question:

I need a new motherboard. I currently have a 1.7GHz Celeron. Should I save money and keep my processor, or should I get say an Athlon64 board and chip?
-Also, should I go with the faster DDR2 memory? PCI or AGP? 512MB or 1GB? How fast an FSB should I shell out for? What other factors might affect how things work? I want to save money, but I need to end up with a machine that runs the apparently-now-benchmark Civ4 smoothly.

 

[suneee]

Well. I see some similarity in all the posts.

The ati problem have been fixed, and i dont even have such card, so i dont want to say anything about that.

After what i read, i think it is possible to conclude, that machines with less than 512mb ram will experience slow gameplay on windows xp machines. and after some gameplay, 1-2 hours, the game will slow down even more.
So what do you need to play the game properly?

Well. i think with my machine i woul possible to play the game perfect, if i upgraded to 1gig of ram.
Thats what i get out of all the posts with other users problems and experiences.

funny thing. i started a new game about 9.30pm last night. and ended the game at 1.30am.
I pressed resign and the game stated that i had been playing for 1 hour and 10 minutes... is that a sign of how much it lags? then everytime civ thinks its been playing for 1 minute, it has actually been running for 4 minutes. is that correct read? then i got HUGE LAG
and this machine still plays FIFA 2006 without lag. only problem i have is with civilization 4. other games runs perfect. with graphic on low ofcourse.

 

[suneee]

oh yeah... forgot. since i got this old machine i adjusted my pagefile to 2gb. i seem to have a better running windows.

 

[Rabid Bunny]

Sunee,

My gameplay doesn't lag at all, but it also said that I had been playing for 3 hours, when in fact I had been playing for 6+ hours. Not a big deal to me, just thought it was a little strange.