List of what does work - maybe it will be usefull for someone still having problems.

[Joaorv]

Civ 4 is running very smooth for me both at home and in the office (sshhh). Patch 1.09 has solved performance problems and i changed a few settings, first time i played after i installed, pre patch, i had crashes to desktop, reboots, slow downs, choppy wounder movies, etc, etc, so it's not like it worked off the box but here is a list of what does work maybe this can help some of the people still having trouble. Post your computer/ settings that run the game smooth for others to take a look.

Home:
OS: Windows XP
CPU: Pentium IV - 1.8 GHz
RAM: 1024 RAMBUS
GPU: GeForce 6600 GT 128MB, 4xAGP(cause of older motherboard does not allow 8x)
Driver: nForce 81.95
Game Version: 1.09
Mods: Blue Marble terrain
Game Mode: Full Screen

Office:
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2
CPU: Pentium IV - 2.8 GHz
RAM: 768 (Not sure what type of RAM)
GPU: GeForce FX5200 128MB 8xAGP
Driver: nForce 81.95
Game Version: 1.09
Mods: Blue Marble terrain
Game Mode: Windowed (i enabled allow screen scroling)

Other Settings:
in game resolution: 1024x768
Graphics detail: All set to Medium
anti aliasing: 0
Other settings: Quick Moves, single unit graphics, no combat zoom, low resolution textures (i'm trying this one to see if it helps with performance, i don't notice significant quality loss anyway so no biggy)

Notes:
After 1.09 i notice that advisor screens and map grid load up much faster, game load is also faster and performance on maps above standard is better. I also installed nForce 81.95 at same time so it could be from both.

Game runs smooth and i don't notice any significant slow down as the game progresses. Huge maps are playable although the Europe AD 1000 mod takes 5 minutes to initialise. Rhye's map is faster, arround 2 minutes. I can scroll the screen prety smooth.The game does not run super fast but it's 100% playable.

I have not experienced another single reboot and i only experienced one single crash to desktop on my home computer after the patch, i can play for hours on end with no problem.

I did not install that xfire stuff that came with the patch.

Before the patch i had changed a bunch of things in the ini file but after the patch i restored the old init and just changed the grahic settings and that was about it, so i'm not going to post my ini file it's basicaly the default settings apart from what you can change ingame.

 

[Chiefwiggum]

OS: Windows XP
CPU: Pentium IV - 3.6 GHz
RAM: 2048 RAMBUS
GPU: GeForce 6800 GT 256MB
Driver: nForce 81.95
Game Version: 1.09
Mods: None
Game Mode: Full Screen

I'm not able to play on huge maps for very long before the game becomes choppy. Usualy after a move popup. Odd that you home system can play it without any problems. Anything equal or lower than standrard maps runs great.

 

[Joaorv]

OS: Windows XP
CPU: Pentium IV - 3.6 GHz
RAM: 2048 RAMBUS
GPU: GeForce 6800 GT 256MB
Driver: nForce 81.95
Game Version: 1.09
Mods: None
Game Mode: Full Screen

I'm not able to play on huge maps for very long before the game becomes choppy. Usualy after a move popup. Odd that you home system can play it without any problems. Anything equal or lower than standrard maps runs great.

Great computer you have Have you tried installing the blue marble graphics mod, i noticed a considerable performance improvement with it, also try and change the graphics to medium, you wont realy notice a big quality change and it might improve performance a lot.

 

[racerx007]

well my system specs aren't all that different from yours...

P4 1.8GHz
RAM 768
GeForce 2 MX 64Mb
Game Version 1.09
Mods: None
Game Mode: Full Screen

i can run the game, but lately it's been crashing my copmuter...i've been noticing that it takes up a lot of memory when it runs, but releases it after i close the game

does that blue marble mod really work that much better?

i can also try some of the changes to game play that you've made, sounds like that might help

the only real problems that i've experiences while playing the game is slow choppy movies with stuttered speech, and as the game progresses, it slows, but that is understandable with more of the map visible

 

[Atol]

well my spec will show up automaticly. But what funny is My Intel laptop runs on par with most 3.6ghz computers due to the L3 2mb cache.

And My amd system seem to be faster in any Games vers my Intel laptop. Nothing choppie or anything. But one thing to try. Make two screen names when you boot up. One that will boot up just the basic of windows so the game runs Processes

 

[hanterp]

P4 2.4 ghz
GPU: Geforce 4 Ti 4200 [driver 71.89 (!)]
SB Live 128 PCI
512 MB DDR SDRAM PC 3200
V. 1.09
Motherboard: Asus P4P800

I never had crashes, but when you move quickly around the maps, things get choppy. I intend to buy an extra gigabyte memory to solve this.

 

[VimesUK]

Well I play on....

AMD Opteron 146 ran at 10x280-2800mhz
2GB RAM
ATI 850 XTPE

I always play on huge maps at...

1280x1024 with 2xAA and all the eye candy on.

Even on the very late stages of the game I never wait for more than 5 seconds in-between turns. The movies play and sound fine and I have zero problems.

The 2GB of RAM enable me to alt-tab with no slowdowns of any sort.

Whilst some might find this thread useful, and the intentions of what it is meant to achieve is great, I would doubt it will have any real value to help people as there are far too many permutations of hardware that you will see running this game. There are many people having zero problems with a lot lower spec of hardware than others who are having some real difficulties with some top end kit.

The configuration of the PC is every bit as important as the hardware that it is built with.