How are these specs?

[Miss Scarlett]

I just bought a new computer b/c I realized my old one was just never going to run anything decent and I didn't feel like upgrading it. Oh well my ex husband can have it. Anyway, I also bought Civ IV but haven't installed it yet, in fact, I haven't even set up the new computer yet. I am worried about all the problems everyone seems to be having. Can someone please let me know if these specs should be fine to run it? Will I need to update the ATI video card even though it's brand new???
Here it is (Dude I got a Dell):
Intel Pentium D 820 (2.8GHz) w/Dual Core Technology
1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
256MB ATI Hyper Memory PCI-Express X16 (DVI/VGA/TV out) Radeon X600 SE
80GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

I couldn't afford to get the top-of-the-line video card, but I did upgrade from the standard model. I just hope this one isn't already obsolete. I'm not really techy so I'm REALLY hoping I won't run into a lot of trouble. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Coreymas]

You are doing just fine, just upgrading your video to a PCI Express is a very good move.

RAM you can buy more of later if you need it

The HardDrive is nice and again you can upgrade that if you need to later on.

The dual core technology processor is also very forward thinking of you and this PC should do you very well for the next few years.

Corey

 

[Xink]

The spec of the PC that you have bought is fine.
I haven't got a clue what you have paid for it, and so assume you got it at a bargain price, but I would have looked for a single core AMD rig rather than buy an Intel one as you would have got better performance for your money.
However that doesn't mean that you haven't bought a good machine and you should be able to run all but the large and huge maps without much slow down of Civ 4 (depending on your game settings), I found 2GB of memory helped a lot to make the huge maps run great.

Best of luck.

 

[Harkonnen]

A lot of memory and CTD issues were resolved by this fix:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=146309

 

[Smidlee]

Intel Pentium D 820 (2.8GHz) w/Dual Core Technology

Most games now don't use/need dual core that much yet. I'm sure your processor will run over 50% with Civ4. The only games that seems to use more than 50% ( I've got athen 3800+) is flight simulations. So your processor is overkill.

1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz

Huge maps in Civ4 can use more than 1GB of ram so your pc will swap files between your hard drive and your ram. Civ 4 handles memory poorly so the less file swapping the better civ 4 runs. Thankfully, Harkonnen made a patch will help huge maps run as smooth as if you had 2gb of ram so now you don't need to buy more ram.

256MB ATI Hyper Memory PCI-Express X16 (DVI/VGA/TV out) Radeon X600 SE

your graphic card is as you know on the low end unlikely the rest of your pc. Still you should have no trouble run civ 4 with this card. Playing a latest FPS like F.E.A.R. your want to keep the graphic settings on low with this card. With pci-express you have no trouble upgrading later.

80GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

good hard drive so loading up with be fast.