sunrisewatcher
Chieftain
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2006
- Messages
- 2
Planning to buy a laptop and will play Civ4 from time to time. Just want to know if I will get decent graphics with this integrated graphics. Thanks.
sw
sw
How well will Intel GMA 950 handle Civ4?
- Thread starter sunrisewatcher
- Start date
Considering that:
* I play with rather older Intel graphics 82852/82855
* there were 2 more releases of Intel chips between mine and 950
* Intel GMA 950 should be ready for Windows Vista
I think the 950 should work OK for Civ4.
Now, if you wanted to play Oblivion on the laptop... I'd reconsider...
* I play with rather older Intel graphics 82852/82855
* there were 2 more releases of Intel chips between mine and 950
* Intel GMA 950 should be ready for Windows Vista
I think the 950 should work OK for Civ4.
Now, if you wanted to play Oblivion on the laptop... I'd reconsider...
MrCynical
Deity
Some of these integrated chipsets can run Civ 4 to a playable extent. I've also got the game to work on an old computer with an Intel chipset, but you will probably need to do the following:
Patch to 1.52 (the terrain will probably not display under 1.0)
Turn all graphics options to the minimum and enable low res textures
Turn off wonder movies
Avoid playing Huge maps
Civ 4 is not going to run that fast, but it should be playable assuming the laptop in question has a reasonable amount of RAM.
Patch to 1.52 (the terrain will probably not display under 1.0)
Turn all graphics options to the minimum and enable low res textures
Turn off wonder movies
Avoid playing Huge maps
Civ 4 is not going to run that fast, but it should be playable assuming the laptop in question has a reasonable amount of RAM.
Russe
Chieftain
IGMA950 as any integrated graphics is VERY weak and cant handle any modern ( and not very modern too ) games. You will get awful speed and maybe crashes, graphical anomalities and other compatibility issues. Integrated graphics is not for gaming, it is for "displaying information on the screen" and nothing more.
I recently replaced my older notebook with a new HP Pavillion DV4000 series.
I too was hopeful that I could now play Civ4. My new setup works but with the expected exceptions.
Video:Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset Family (I think it is the next lower one to the 950. It is capable of sharing up to 128Mb of memory)
Memory: 1 Gigabyte. Really helps.
After getting the new computer, I downloaded the Demo to see what would happen. It actually ran pretty well. Graphics were kicked down to Medium and resolution was lowered somewhat from the machine default. Trying the native resolution looked a little better, but leaderheads went AWOL.
With this under my belt, I bit the bullet and purchased Civ4. I installed and then let it download the 1.52 patch. After patching I did a quick checkup to see if it was still functioning. I had to manually set the Graphics to medium again. I then replaced the exe with a certain well known third party patch.
My first game was single-user with all the default options, except cranking it down to chieftain level. The game was brisk enough, even with more civs than I usually use. I tried the tutorial at some point, but it crashed. Since I had gone through the demo tutorial, I really didn't miss it. I haven't tried the new 1.61 patch yet but will wait till the third party patch is available.
The bottom line is that the game is playable. I do not consider myself a serious gamer but merely a Civ junkie. YMMV. For me the compromise is perfectly acceptable and beats spending twice as much for a "gaming" notebook.
I am not usually this long winded, but I wanted to get my experiences on the record for those in a similar situation.
I too was hopeful that I could now play Civ4. My new setup works but with the expected exceptions.
Video:Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset Family (I think it is the next lower one to the 950. It is capable of sharing up to 128Mb of memory)
Memory: 1 Gigabyte. Really helps.
After getting the new computer, I downloaded the Demo to see what would happen. It actually ran pretty well. Graphics were kicked down to Medium and resolution was lowered somewhat from the machine default. Trying the native resolution looked a little better, but leaderheads went AWOL.
With this under my belt, I bit the bullet and purchased Civ4. I installed and then let it download the 1.52 patch. After patching I did a quick checkup to see if it was still functioning. I had to manually set the Graphics to medium again. I then replaced the exe with a certain well known third party patch.
My first game was single-user with all the default options, except cranking it down to chieftain level. The game was brisk enough, even with more civs than I usually use. I tried the tutorial at some point, but it crashed. Since I had gone through the demo tutorial, I really didn't miss it. I haven't tried the new 1.61 patch yet but will wait till the third party patch is available.
The bottom line is that the game is playable. I do not consider myself a serious gamer but merely a Civ junkie. YMMV. For me the compromise is perfectly acceptable and beats spending twice as much for a "gaming" notebook.
I am not usually this long winded, but I wanted to get my experiences on the record for those in a similar situation.
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