is my graphics card good enough?

[RoboPig]

i havent put a graphics card on my computer since buying it (the graphics card is the one the computer shipped with it). will civ4 run on it? i'm betting no ::

 

[RabidMonkeyMan]

how old and what model is your pc/graphics card?

 

[RoboPig]

my pc is a windows xp home edition from 2003

 

[TheDervish]

My computer is from 2002 (and it wasn't even top of the line in those days) and can run Civ IV. Once you have your computer assembled, go to www.srtest.com and choose Civ IV.

 

[muerteverde]

You have to post more info on your comptuer than that. Just syaing the OS and the year tells us nothing.

1) Model of your video card
2) how much ram you have
3) what processor you have

Those are the 3 basics. Pretty much any hard drive int eh last 5 or 6 years should hold it fine along with a ton of other programs, all comptuers now available have keyboards and mice (any that I have seen) and if you didn't have a monitor you wouldn't be reading this. So write down the 3 things above and we will see if you can run it.

My computer at home is from August 2001. It has a Pnetijm IV chip at 1.8 megahertz, it has 768 ram and a Geforce 4 Graphics card. It runs Warcraft III beautifully so I am making the assumption that it will be able to run Civ IV, but I will be able to tell you for sure around Christmas time when I get Civ IV.

 

[RoboPig]

well mine cant run pirates and since pirates has relatively the same requirments do you think it'll run

 

[Willem]

well mine cant run pirates and since pirates has relatively the same requirments do you think it'll run

If you can't run Pirates, you won't be able to play Civ 4. They both use the same graphics engine.

 

[RoboPig]

good, if the graphics engine is the probably the reason then civ 4 will run cause i am getting a radeon 9800 or 8800

 

[Willem]

good, if the graphics engine is the probably the reason then civ 4 will run cause i am getting a radeon 9800 or 8800

I'm using a Radeon 9550 and Pirates runs fine on it, so you should be all set with a 9800. In fact the minimum I believe is a Radeon 7800, or something around there. There's a thread here somewhere that list the requirements. As for the graphics engine, it requires a card that has supoort for Hardware T&L (Transform & Lighting). That's probably why your Pirates won't run. I had to get a new card for it myself.

 

[zeeter]

I've got a NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420. Got no idea of anything about it, however I've never had a problem running any game on it. OTOH, most graphics intensive games I usually get for the XBox, and the more strategic ones (with generally inferior graphics) go on the PC, so I can't say that it runs EVERYTHING.
Does the NVIDIA sound like it will work?
Not sure if it matters, but I upgraded from 256 MB to 768 this AM in anticipation of Civ4. Plus I have a P4 - 2.4 GHz.

edit: I'm running XP Home Edition w/ SP 2

 

[sexytank]

radeon 9800 definately will do it, no problem

but having a computer with
Pentium D @ 3.2GH processor
1GB Ram
250GB total storage
ATI X600 PCL express
is better

 

[RoboPig]

thanks so i need radeon 7800 atleast with hardware t&l

 

[zeeter]

You sure about that, sexytank? That far exceeds not only the minimum requirements, but the recommended, as well. I think recommended was a 2.4 ghz and 512mb. Not sure about the graphics card.

 

[chris88]

Wondering if my PC is going to run this game OK ...

1) Model of your video card - nVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 (agp8x) - upgraded to driver v 67.02
2) how much ram you have - 512 mg of RAM
3) what processor you have - Intel Pentium 4, 2.6ghz.

Never had any troubles running games until NBA Live 2005 earlier this year, which is when I upgraded the graphics driver. Should my PC be OK?

Edit - sorry, running Windows XP...

 

[RoboPig]

You sure about that, sexytank? That far exceeds not only the minimum requirements, but the recommended, as well. I think recommended was a 2.4 ghz and 512mb. Not sure about the graphics card.

graphics card had to be radeon 7800 atleast i think

 

[Willem]

thanks so i need radeon 7800 atleast with hardware t&l

That's the minimum, the recommended is 9600 or higher. Also, the minimum video RAM is 32 but recommended is 64 or higher. I'd go with at least 128 myself.

 

[zeeter]

graphics card had to be radeon 7800 atleast i think

But is the GForce4 MX 420 by NVidia compatible with that?

 

[Willem]

graphics card had to be radeon 7800 atleast i think

NVidia is acceptable as well, though I'm sure what the minimum is there. I'm an ATI guy myself. There's a thread around somewhere that lists the minimum and recommended for both types of graphics cards. I'm too lazy to look for it myself.

 

[Willem]

Wondering if my PC is going to run this game OK ...

1) Model of your video card - nVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 (agp8x) - upgraded to driver v 67.02
2) how much ram you have - 512 mg of RAM
3) what processor you have - Intel Pentium 4, 2.6ghz.

Never had any troubles running games until NBA Live 2005 earlier this year, which is when I upgraded the graphics driver. Should my PC be OK?

Edit - sorry, running Windows XP...

Don't know about the video card, I'm not familiar with NVidia. But your RAM is OK and your processor is above recommended, which is 1.8. Minimum is 1. The main thing that's important about the video card is whether it supports Hardware T&L. It also needs at least 32 meg of video RAM, though 64 is recommended.

 

[Willem]

But is the GForce4 MX 420 by NVidia compatible with that?

Does it support Hardware T&L and have at least 32 meg of RAM? If so then you're good.