Massive Freezing Problems

[Malian Warrior]

Ok so I recently bought Civ5 and updated it off Steam. Come to find out, the game starts in a small box (not full screen) and keeps freezing to the point that I can even start the game. The intro movie works fine until you try to click it, then it freezes. The main menu even comes up after a time, but again the moment I press my mouse the game freezes. Think it may be a graphic card problem, but I'm not sure.

OS: Windows 7 Home, 32-bit
Model: Inspiron 530
Processor: Intel Pentium Dual CPU E2160 @ 1.80 GHz
System Memory: 2.00 GB of RAM
Graphics: Intel G33/G31 Express chipset family
Graphic Memory available: 256 MB

 

[tokala]

Yupp, that old intel chipset graphics is the problem. ANY dedicated card will be better than that, and all DX11 cards should be good enough to run Civ5 at least decently. Your CPU is pretty weak, too, so a video card above $100 would not make much sense. Civs graphics is also pretty demanding for the CPU

 

[Malian Warrior]

Yupp, that old intel chipset graphics is the problem. ANY dedicated card will be better than that, and all DX11 cards should be good enough to run Civ5 at least decently. Your CPU is pretty weak, too, so a video card above $100 would not make much sense. Civs graphics is also pretty demanding for the CPU

So should I just upgrade my processor? Wouldn't that also update my graphics? Say for instance if I simply bought Intel Core i3. Fix two problems with one upgrade.

 

[tokala]

Yes, a i3 has an integrated graphics that meets the "minimum" requirement. You would also need a new mainboard and memory, though.

 

[Malian Warrior]

Hmm. Is there a processor I could get without going through the headache of upgrading my entire motherboard? My computer is also 32-bit, I should've bought the 64-bit Windows 7 upgrade, but anyway the Intel i3 is 64-bit only

 

[tokala]

"64bit" processors are actually 32bit processors with a 64bit extension. They run a 32bit OS just fine, actually your CPU now is a "64bit" one
But that's not the problem you face, but rather the fact that i3/5/7s are not compatible with your mainboard. So upgrading would involve getting a socket 775 CPU, but apparently your board only supports dual-core CPUs, and it will be quite tricky to find out exactly which models will work on it. For $100 you could get a CPU that would be roughly twice as fast as the old one IF IT WORKS.

But for ~$50 you could get a video card that will work most certainly and will be at least ten times faster than your old one. And for ~$80 you will get already a pretty good one, which you could probably use for years to come, even if you decide to upgrade the rest of your system one day.

 

[Malian Warrior]

"64bit" processors are actually 32bit processors with a 64bit extension. They run a 32bit OS just fine, actually your CPU now is a "64bit" one
But that's not the problem you face, but rather the fact that i3/5/7s are not compatible with your mainboard. So upgrading would involve getting a socket 775 CPU, but apparently your board only supports dual-core CPUs, and it will be quite tricky to find out exactly which models will work on it. For $100 you could get a CPU that would be roughly twice as fast as the old one IF IT WORKS.

But for ~$50 you could get a video card that will work most certainly and will be at least ten times faster than your old one. And for ~$80 you will get already a pretty good one, which you could probably use for years to come, even if you decide to upgrade the rest of your system one day.

Thanks. I may just upgrade the video card then. Any suggestions? I don't mind paying $80-$100 for a good one.

 

[tokala]

If you have a normal sized case, that one would be my personal recommendation, it's $80 after rebate and has a very good cooling system.
If you have a small form factor case, you would need a low profile card like that one.

As your processor uses very little power and both of these cards are not very power hungry either, you should be able to run them with your old PSU. More powerful cards might require a better PSU.

People who got a 5670 for Civ5 are pretty happy with it, and the 5550 DDR3 is a slightly stripped down variant based on the same chip.

 

[shinkicker]

I read this thread with interest since I am having a constant, recurring freeze-up problem with Civ5. Usually it doesn't happen until about turn 300 or so. I run large maps exclusively because huge is too big and anything smaller just isn't any fun for me. All my video settings except for FOW are on low. FOW is on medium.

I have a 3.0Ghz E8400 duocore and I just bought an NVIDIA gtx460 1gb card. I'm running Vista 64bit. The game will only run for me in DX9 (understandably).

So lately I've started wondering if it's time to replace the motherboard and go with something more current, or if this is something I can expect Firaxis to remedy in a coming patch?

I can't even finish my current game - 2 turns and it freezes up on me. End Process, restart, load quicksave, 2 more turns. Freeze.

 

[tokala]

Late game freezes are probably not directly hardware related, even people with state of the art machines seem to have problems there. Why would the game only run in DX9 mode for you? Your hardware and software support dx10/11, and it reportedly runs bettter in DX10/11 mode on fast machines
And with the current state of Civ5, it would not make much sense to upgrade your processor/mainboard.

 

[Malian Warrior]

For Intel Core i3, you said I would need a new motherboard...would this work?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5635016&CatId=4721

 

[tokala]

Yepp, should do
But you will probably need new memory, too. Unless you have already DDR3 memory in your old system.