How does CivIV run on an HP Pavillion zd8000 laptop?

[LoneStarHero]

I have the HP laptop arriving on my doorstep in about ten days. I have noticed people with similar desktop configurations having a whole spectrum of problems. Here are my specs...

HP Pavilion zd8000

-Intel Pentium 4 630 w/HT (3.0 GHz);
-1GB Memory (2x512MB);
-Microsoft Windows XP Home w/SP2 ;
-100 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
-256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X600

I still expect to have some problems when I get this since the laptops don't have the dual processor power the desktops do.

For the last 12 days I have played Civ IV on my parent's desktop with specs:

Dell Dimension DIM4600

-Intel Pentium 4 (2.8 GHz)
-1 GB Memory
-Windows XP
-NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 (not sure on the memory of this graphics card)

The only problems I had was crashing during the Wonder videos that was remedied with a driver update and the really annoying glitch of the game crashing on a huge map (however the standard and large maps worked just fine). I was able to play the game normally on huge with a crash every ten turns well into the Medieval age. After that it became unplayable.

I think that such a system shouldn't have any problems unless the GeForce FX 5200 is an inferior video card which I don't believe it to be.

Has anyone had trouble firing this baby up on a zd8000?

I won't be too angry as long as a patch comes pretty soon.

 

[AgentJones]

The FX5200 has either 64MB or 128MB and it's a very inferior card.

Hopefully, your machine will run fine, but as you know, Civ4 has some issues with ATI cards.

Good luck.

 

[LoneStarHero]

The funny thing is when I bought the game the clerk at EB Games said that if my own machine (1.8 Celeron/256MB RAM/ 64 MB Video Card) could run Counterstrike, it could run Civ IV because first person shooters are supposed to eat up more memory than Civilization. How wrong he was. No problem I was going to get a new computer anyway.

 

[Zumino]

Haha, thats why you find someone who works at EB/BB/CC/Fry's who knows WTH their talking about and annoy them. The average Goober there don't know much, but every store has that 1-4 folks in the department who know WTH their talking about.

That said, you should be fine powerwise, the only worry is the ATI card, and I gather most of Civ's issues with them are worked out at this point. The processor's better then what I have, same amount of RAM(though mine is dualchannel). Just word of warning, go pickup one of the Base fan units. That laptop's goign to heatup serious like, and could cause issues if your playing for a long time at a pop(and who has the ability to only play short games of Civ?)

 

[dp777]

I'm using an HP nx9110 with the same specs as yours except for the video card, (you've got the superior video system, I've only got 128 MB). You shouldn't have any problems, but you stand a good chance of having to patch up to 1.52 to get it to load and if you've got the soundmax digital audio system that HP is rather fond of you're probably going to have to disable voice over IP capture and playback to get audio to work. I haven't experienced any slowdowns on my machine even at endgame and the highest graphics settings though there was a bit of graphics flicker at the end of the turn. The 3 GHz Pentium 4M is probably going to be running at close to maximum capacity while you play, so make sure you've got good ventilation.

 

[Coreymas]

LoneStarHero,

I have exactly the machine you have (except that i have 2 gig ram instead of 1 gig) and all i had to do was go to an older set of drivers (mind you that was pre-1.09) have not tried the newest video drivers with 1.52.

I have noticed significant performance improvements with the 1.52 patch so dont forget to install that.

Good luck,

Corey

HP Pavilion zd8000

-Intel Pentium 4 630 w/HT (3.0 GHz);
-1GB Memory (2x512MB);
-Microsoft Windows XP Home w/SP2 ;
-100 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
-256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X600

 

[LoneStarHero]

LoneStarHero,

I have exactly the machine you have (except that i have 2 gig ram instead of 1 gig) and all i had to do was go to an older set of drivers (mind you that was pre-1.09) have not tried the newest video drivers with 1.52.

I have noticed significant performance improvements with the 1.52 patch so dont forget to install that.

Good luck,

Corey

HP Pavilion zd8000

-Intel Pentium 4 630 w/HT (3.0 GHz);
-1GB Memory (2x512MB);
-Microsoft Windows XP Home w/SP2 ;
-100 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
-256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X600

No heating problems for you as of yet? Is the soundcard alright?

I'm so excited right now, as it has just shipped. It's in Shanghai right now, so just a half a world away to Houston.