Game Performance- what would help?

[MedievalMan]

I have an:

Althon 2400 XP
ATI 9800 XT
512 DDR

The game was fine until too much stuff started happening.

I'm into the thick and thin of things now, after playing on medium difficulty and taking over 2 or 3 civs with my Roman Praetorians (giving them all +20% bonuses to city attack really helps, do normal swordsman get this upgrade option?) . I'm in the Ren. age now, with so many neighbours, the game is bogging down unbearably (2 mins to load / reload, lots of time between turns as AI does their thing.)

The game seems to take a really long time to load, and struggles sometimes between turns.

Barring buying a new system, would more RAM help significantly? Also, any settings to recommend.

Thanks.

MAtt Lawson

 

[Zertez]

More Ram would help the most for the cheapest amount.

 

[Willem]

When was the last time your defragmented your hard drive? If it's been awhile that would help, at least a little bit.

 

[walt526]

More RAM is a no brainer. I wouldn't want to run Civ4 without at least 1GB.

 

[LogicSequence]

More RAM, u might also up the alottment on your PF (windows page file. Virtual memory). Even if you can't get more RAM, make sure u up your PF alottment to around 2 GB. Also, cut out useless background proggies with task manager.

 

[foods]

Since it's working for you at the early stages, I'd say it's all about map size. Having a small amount of memory, you'd have to play medium or smaller maps.