Min System Requierment
- Thread starter GenMarshall
- Start date
Sark6354201
Warlord
Bast said:
Unfortunately, no...
That rage 128 is a terrible video card compared to other modern video cards. You have very little RAM, and your processor is too slow.
The only way you can 'do without' a video card is by using integrated graphics on your motherboard if it has it. Integrated graphics are almost always slow and nothing more than a cheap solution so that a video card does not have to be added in.
You'll have PCI slots and be able to find a PCI video card that will be better than that Rage 128 by leaps and bounds. You can also upgrade your RAM to 512 most likely. If you upgrade to a PCI card (fx 5200 comes to mind) or can find a AGP card that will work with the AGP slot you have (IF you have one) and you upgrade your RAM, Civ4 should be PLAYABLE.
But really, it's not worth it... unless you cannot absolutely afford a new system and really want to play the game, don't waste money upgrading the machine. Forgot to add in, if you check the motherboard manual for the socket type of the board, you might be able to find a used processor of that socket type that would be faster than the 1.3ghz CPU you have in there now.
RKR
Chieftain
Sark6354201 said:NOT true, you should not need to spend a 1000$ on a machine to play Civ4. Especially if you are not buying a monitor.
For 7 or 800, you can get a nice machine that will for sure be able to handle Civ4.
Things to look for when buying a machine:
Athlon or Pentium for gaming, don't go crazy over the clock speed or rating either. Moderate jumps in clock speed (like a 3.2 P4 to a 3.4 P4) can cost a lot of money without giving comparable benefit.
At LEAST 512 RAM
An ATi or Geforce video card that is not a budget card (mx 4000, radeon 9200) Try to avoid the FX series of the Geforce if you can. But at the very least just make sure it has a video card.
Past that, adequate cooling (case fans) and a case that has good ventilation (side vents) if you can find one.
Try to get a machine with a PCI-Express slot, as then you can upgrade to future video cards, since AGP is now defunct.
I would say those are the main things... hope that helps
Here is a system I just put together based on recomendations from ArsTechnica
http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion...=1708943&WishListTitle=ARSTECHNICA+BUDGET+BOX
$689 plus shipping
AMD64 3000+
2gb ram ddr 3200
160 gb hd
GeForce 6600
Antec Case
MSI Mobo
Sark6354201
Warlord
RKR said:
Nice system, although I have heard bad things about MSI boards. Supposedly they have a higher failure rate. But that's all talk... any motherboard could fail from any manufacturer really. Just depends, always back up your data though
I_batman
Emperor
I am wondering if my laptop will handle Civ IV:
IBM T42, with 1 gig memory, 1.60 Ghz processor, and ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 video card.
I think the card can handle DirectX 8.1.
I am fearing the video card won't handle it.
IBM T42, with 1 gig memory, 1.60 Ghz processor, and ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 video card.
I think the card can handle DirectX 8.1.
I am fearing the video card won't handle it.
BearMan
One More Turn...
How will my computer run it ?
Not that good, right ?
1.7 Ghz Athlon
512 Mb Ram
Geforce FX 5200, 128 Mb ram.
And my Girlfriends computer is out of the question, right ?
Pentium III 1.1 Ghz
256 Mb Ram
8 Mb Mobility Radeon.
Not that good, right ?
1.7 Ghz Athlon
512 Mb Ram
Geforce FX 5200, 128 Mb ram.
And my Girlfriends computer is out of the question, right ?
Pentium III 1.1 Ghz
256 Mb Ram
8 Mb Mobility Radeon.
Sark6354201
Warlord
@I_batman, I'd say it should do fine. Especially since that IBM has a Pentium M processor correct? The video card is weak however, so I could see some lag if there are a lot of graphics on the screen at once... hard to say though, but since you can always upgrade your video card, I wouldn't worry too much.
@Bearman
It's tough to say how 'good' it will run the game, if i had to guess, I would say it will be alright early on but will probably slow down later... Upgrading the RAM and that Geforce would help out the performance of the game quite a bit, both are easy upgrades. The processor is a bit slow, but isn't bad considering what your girlfriend is running. No way that thing could run it unless you upgraded the video card at the very least.
@Bearman
It's tough to say how 'good' it will run the game, if i had to guess, I would say it will be alright early on but will probably slow down later... Upgrading the RAM and that Geforce would help out the performance of the game quite a bit, both are easy upgrades. The processor is a bit slow, but isn't bad considering what your girlfriend is running. No way that thing could run it unless you upgraded the video card at the very least.
Is 512 mb ram a bit optimistic? I have a p4 3gz, with a geforce5700 (i think) but only 512 ram, and it still laged a bit with 31 civs on a huge map in civ3. Granted there were no lags of over half a minute, but there were still lags, and civ4 will be in full 3d...
Does anyone know if this video card/chip will support the transform and lighting?
VIA/S3G KM400/KN400
I have a sinking feeling it wont. I read elsewhere it was a chip, not a card. Althogh it passed all the dxdiag.exe test. Sorry, I am a total noob.
VIA/S3G KM400/KN400
I have a sinking feeling it wont. I read elsewhere it was a chip, not a card. Althogh it passed all the dxdiag.exe test. Sorry, I am a total noob.
jameson
Emperor
maples45 said:
No stress, I've been getting quite the education in figuring out if and how to add RAM and with what type to upgrade with. Some googling turns up that your graphics card probably won't hack it - the VIA/S3G is an onboard ( i.e. integrated on the motherboard) graphics chip which wasn't designed to do fancy graphics stuff.
Fredric Drum
Civilizator
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2001
- Messages
- 270
Do you guys think this will be enough?
AMD X2 4400
2GB OCZ Platinum RAM
Club3D 7800GTX
I don't want to waste money on CIV4 if I can't run it.
AMD X2 4400
2GB OCZ Platinum RAM
Club3D 7800GTX
I don't want to waste money on CIV4 if I can't run it.
jameson
Emperor
I'm quite certain it will.
Somebody also posted a link to a site which checks your hardware against the sys requirements for a series of games; it's at http://www.srtest.com/. Check there if you want to be sure.
Somebody also posted a link to a site which checks your hardware against the sys requirements for a series of games; it's at http://www.srtest.com/. Check there if you want to be sure.
dannyevilcat
DESTROYER OF FURNITURE
jameson said:
FYI, he's bragging.
Bast
Protector of Cats
Hi. Thanks for the suggestions.Sark6354201 said:
If I upgraded my RAM to 512MB and got a new video card like a Radeon. That would be enough?
I don't have to get a new motherboard because I have plenty of HD space. Like 20 Gb and I have a DVD-Rom as well so it's enough for me.
If I can upgrade, I'll just upgrade. Otherwise I have to swap HD spaces etc...
And I really can't be bothered.
Sark6354201
Warlord
varwnos said:
That 'lag' was due to really poor coding of the game. Take scenarios for instance, and their ridicolous times between turns. Doesn't mean your machine is bad, just that Civ itself is doing a poor job of executing tasks efficiently itself.
@Bast
A motherboard is not a hard drive. Simply put, it is a huge chipset that 'holds' everything. It has your PCI slots, your AGP or PCI-E slot, your socket for your processor and so on. If you wanted to upgrade your processor for instance, you would have to find a processor that fits in the same socket type and has the same front side bus (or a supported one) that your motherboard will take.
You can find this information out in your motherboard manual.
Upgrading your RAM to 512 would be a good first step, finding a good, and I emphasize good video card would also greatly help. However a good video card is going to be bottlenecked by your slow CPU. In other words it will be an inefficient pairing.
Realistically, I believe it would be a lot easier to just buy a new machine.
Nexushyper
Warlord
Talk about low specs
(Sarcasim) Hehe... but yeah my PC can handle this EASILY (64 bit CPU BTW) Fredric Drum
Civilizator
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2001
- Messages
- 270
dannyevilcat said:
Pretty obvious too
I like to call it a joke, though...
jameson
Emperor
Heh, now that I look at it I see why I wouldn't even begin looking at the 7800GTX as an upgrade . Price range and all...
I work tech support for an ISP (pretty basic stuff) and you wouldn't believe how frequently people say they bought a new system when they couldn't get online with the previous one. And in those cases , the problem usually has something to do with firewall settings or their computer name (which is used for DHCP) :shakehead.
I work tech support for an ISP (pretty basic stuff) and you wouldn't believe how frequently people say they bought a new system when they couldn't get online with the previous one. And in those cases , the problem usually has something to do with firewall settings or their computer name (which is used for DHCP) :shakehead.
Sark6354201
Warlord
jameson said:
What ISP? I work at MilwaukeePC and do tech support a lot as well...
Similar threads
