Official System Requirements

[zangief]

Hey friends!

So I'm looking to pick this beast up, but the problem is just that. It's a beast! I have checked out the requirements for the game, but I've been able to play other games that say my computer sucks too much to not be able to play it. So, here we go!

AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3500+
2.21 GHz
2GB Ram
GeForce 7600 GT

I understand that I will most likely have to play on the lowest settings (if I can at all), as well as the itty bitty tiny maps.

I managed to download/install the demo off of steam and I can play it with everything on the lowest. My only concern is, 100 turns from now?

I appreciate all help you guys can give me! Thanks!

 

[heljik]

Ok, may setup:

win7 home prmium 64
gigabyte GA p55-usb3
core i5 660 dual core
4 G ramCL9
Sapphire radeon HD 5550
seagate barracuda 7200 rpm 1G
Benq 24" full HD

Will it be able to play the game at high res and speed, or just low end?

 

[tokala]

Ok, may setup:

win7 home prmium 64
gigabyte GA p55-usb3
core i5 660 dual core
4 G ramCL9
Sapphire radeon HD 5550
seagate barracuda 7200 rpm 1G
Benq 24" full HD

Will it be able to play the game at high res and speed, or just low end?

Probably mostly medium settings with some "high" ones possible (unless the 5550 is a DDR2 version). CPU is probably the one best suited for Civ5 at the moment

 

[heljik]

it's a HD 5550 DD3. Funny thing is my new pc is a budget model with a lot of compromises to keep cost down. Cheapest pc ever for me. and the third one bought solely for a new version of Civ...

 

[cyborgasm]

My apologies if this is already posted prominently someplace else, but since I haven't seen it here yet, here's a link to gamespot's review and recommendations on system specs particular to civ V:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6279244/index.html

 

[cyborgasm]

Some of their interesting findings were that having a quad core doesn't seem to offer much advantage over duo core. They also found something like a 20% decrease in between-turn wait if you switch to strategic map view at the end of your turn. Their recommended rig for running Civ V on the cheap is:
"Full System:

• Intel Core i3 540 - $125 / Phenom II X4 955 - $140 / Phenom II X2 555 - $90
• Socket 1156 Motherboard - $90 / Socket AM3 Motherboard - $45
• Radeon HD 5770 - $140 / GeForce GTS 450 - $130 / Radeon HD 5670 - $85
• 4GB DDR3 RAM - $75
• 500GB Hard Drive - $50
• Case + Power Supply - $70

Total System Cost - $415 to $550 "

 

[cyborgasm]

Which brings me to my question. I was actually planning on spending $800-900 on a new system. Given everything that's been discovered about Civ V's actual performance (as opposed to speculations on the reported system reqs.) would anyone hazard an educated guess as to what bits would be worth spending a bit more on above and beyond the system above that would actually be worthwhile for seeing increased Civ V game performance?
Thanks!

 

[tokala]

Jupp, tried already to raise attention in the main forum, but people seem to be more interested in blasting Civ5 for not being Civ4.5 over there
You will also find a link to another useful article in this thread.

If your goal is a computer solely optimized for Civ5 on a limited budget, you will need a fast i3/i5 dual core, a GTX460-768MB and 3-4GB RAM. Should be doable for $600-700. If other modern games are also targeted, I would recommend a i5-760. That will be all running comfortably with a brand name 450-500W PSU. You might even be able to squeeze a small SSD as the OS drive into your budget, but be aware that it won't make much of a difference for civ5, i still recommend it highly for general usage.

 

[cyborgasm]

Cool, thanks. I know nothing about SSD's. Are they much faster? Or are you recommending them just because you think they're cool?

 

[tokala]

I recommend them, because they are cool
Got myself a X25-M. Best computer upgrade since the voodoo graphics

 

[zangief]

Hey friends!

So I'm looking to pick this beast up, but the problem is just that. It's a beast! I have checked out the requirements for the game, but I've been able to play other games that say my computer sucks too much to not be able to play it. So, here we go!

AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3500+
2.21 GHz
2GB Ram
GeForce 7600 GT

I understand that I will most likely have to play on the lowest settings (if I can at all), as well as the itty bitty tiny maps.

I managed to download/install the demo off of steam and I can play it with everything on the lowest. My only concern is, 100 turns from now?

I appreciate all help you guys can give me! Thanks!

 

[Mesopotamian]

i hate this game

can't play a decent match with the following specs WTF
Intel® 2.8GHz T9600 Core 2 Duo™ Processor
4GB Ultra Fast DDR3 RAM
DUAL 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® 260M GTX (that is a 2GB graphic power)
1TB (2x 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drives) in RAID0
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

it's an alienware M17X



when i play a large map with 9 other civs and 11 city states ( and that is on the lowest setting) it crashes and lags big time which is frustrating


what do you guys think is the hold back here ? any ideas

 

[civ_king]

i hate this game

can't play a decent match with the following specs WTF
Intel® 2.8GHz T9600 Core 2 Duo™ Processor
4GB Ultra Fast DDR3 RAM
DUAL 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® 260M GTX (that is a 2GB graphic power)
1TB (2x 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drives) in RAID0
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

it's an alienware M17X



when i play a large map with 9 other civs and 11 city states ( and that is on the lowest setting) it crashes and lags big time which is frustrating


what do you guys think is the hold back here ? any ideas

Probably the over priced shoddily made POS laptop AKA Alienware a wholly owned subsidiary of Dell

PS considering how hot it gets I recommend getting it cleaned of dust

 

[tokala]

Civ5 doesn't run properly in SLI, and runs horribly even on a single 260. And with that many civs, ANY computer struggles. And no, it's NOT 2GB graphics power (not that it would matter for civ)

 

[Mesopotamian]

Civ game makes any computer look like a POS when playing big maps loads of city states and players etc


since posting the reply and up until thirty minutes ago i was playing a game (8 civs & 8 city states)

okay i probably nag too much the waiting time between turns was like 15 second or 20 in the modern era, but still that's not acceptable to me it wrecks the gaming experience and piss me off

civ_king what's wrong with dell, i like
as for heating mine didn't heat much at all, in fact i was playing on my bed and fans are in the bottom blocked by the sheets and stuff, still no problems with temperature

tokala then what dose it mean having a dual graphic card each 1GB and a dedicated memory of 2GB



i get the feeling that a desktop with the same exact spec of a laptop preforms better when gaming


screw it now, better get back to study before the one more turn thing creep in to my mind again

 

[tokala]

For cards running in SLI the vast majority of the VRAM data is identical for both cards. The memory benefit of SLI is not that you effectively get MORE VRAM, but rather that you get FASTER VRAM, as the memory bandwidth doubles. Fortunately faster VRAM is way more important than more VRAM if you already have 1024MB

Oh, and desktop and laptop hardware with the same designations usually have not the same specs. A mobile GTX260 is pretty much the same card as desktop 9800GT, with the desktop GTX260 almost twice as fast

But I can assure you, even the desktop GTX260 is not good enough (supported) for smooth play in Civ5

 

[civ_king]

Civ game makes any computer look like a POS when playing big maps loads of city states and players etc


since posting the reply and up until thirty minutes ago i was playing a game (8 civs & 8 city states)

okay i probably nag too much the waiting time between turns was like 15 second or 20 in the modern era, but still that's not acceptable to me it wrecks the gaming experience and piss me off

civ_king what's wrong with dell, i like
as for heating mine didn't heat much at all, in fact i was playing on my bed and fans are in the bottom blocked by the sheets and stuff, still no problems with temperature

tokala then what dose it mean having a dual graphic card each 1GB and a dedicated memory of 2GB



i get the feeling that a desktop with the same exact spec of a laptop preforms better when gaming


screw it now, better get back to study before the one more turn thing creep in to my mind again

Shoddy components like screws that break when removed and horrible customer support when stuff breaks, I don't know how the Alienware support is, but they treat small scale workstation users like we aren't worth their time.

The main fans are on the back so they work even harder and get more dust

PS SLI VRAM is almost like RAID 0 so it is basically twice as fast (well 90% faster). Also Civ V doesn't like multiGPU solution ATM

 

[Creep508]

The requirement rig for modern pc gaming really isn't that complicated and don't believe some hype you read over certain components. Ofcourse more $$ means prettier gaming but thats life....$$.

Assuming you are not made of cash but are willing to pay a fair amount heres some simple points in non tech talk:
CPU
- Avoid quad cores, you can get more power for your $$ when gaming on all dual-cores tbh. Games are almost non existent that fully utilise 4 cores that it really isnt worth the $$ if oyu are on a budget

Memory
- Ram is important, and cheap. Get atleast 3GB+. If you are on a budget dont pay for overpriced RAM that costs $400 for the same GB's. Yes its better ram (it costs more) but you can save money here. However, don't skimp big time and buy self branded RAM from Wallmart or Macdonalds. Brand does matter with important electronics if you want you're purchase to not live a short life. E.G - corsair is good RAM brand.

Graphics
- The most important component for gaming. Although all components have a role to play in the stability of a game, graphics determines how well it runs on those pretty graphics. Personally I don't ever skimp here, if you are planning on spending $700+ on a rig the biggest portion of $$ should be on graphics, you can get top GFX nowadays for 200$ or slightly less even. Yes you can pay $1000+ for top of the range but hey, we aint Bill Gates.
BTW - SLI graphics is not a requirement for running a damn game in top GFX. Infact, alot of the time unless you are rich it really is not worth the cash. Just do research on these things before you buy. tomshardware and such are great websites for learning whats worth it and whats not. E.G. Sometimes its a cheaper option or much better value to actually run older cards in SLI than to run a very recent a new card on its own

I can't be bothered to go into every little component required to make the above things actually "work" but one more thing worth mentioning is your PSU or powersupply. Just make sure it has enough spunk to run your gizmo's and dont buy unknown brands. A selfbranded Wallmart PSU will simply die at some point and take all your expensive components with it. Trust me, pay a little more.


I don't really know why I wrote this all out and it has nothing to do with Civ 5 specifically, there just seems to be alot of people here who are surprised they cant run a modern game with good stability when they have a "brand new PC" with intergrated $50 graphics .

All I can comment on is my experience from playing this game on max settings.
I run 3GHZ dual core, 4GB DDR2 RAM, and a HD5770 ATI Card. It runs very smoothly. The only reason some parts of this game don't run smoothly is all to blame on the game. My friend has a $3000 rig, and his turns still take forever to pass so there you go

 

[Mesopotamian]

PS SLI VRAM is almost like RAID 0 so it is basically twice as fast (well 90% faster). Also Civ V doesn't like multiGPU solution ATM

what's that RAID thing ? i was messing with the BIOS and i think i saw something like that

from the BIOS i overclocked the laptop processor to 3.06gGHz and finally i can get a decent match on a tiny map with 5 other Civ's & 5 city states, delay only starts to appear in the latter eras.

but still i sometimes get crashes which says (application has stopped working) but that's fine sense it's the only way that makes me stop playing this game , usually next day i resume from the auto-save files ... such a good game, in fact the perfect one if it wasn't for the high spec demand & stupid random crashes ... & also steam.

PS i consider a 5 second waiting between turns a delay

it might seem like nothing but when playing on epic and assuming that the last 500 turns will have a delay of 5 seconds

that's a whole 41 minute gone JUST WAITING in between turns, amount of time will be more. i only assumed the (at least) amount some people will have like 5 times more than that, like 2 or 3 pure hours doing nothing but waiting between turns in a single game

that's why CIV is such a time eating thing

 

[black3car]

Unfortunately I'm disappointed. I was really looking forward to Civ 5 but the system requirements are actually quite a stretch for a turn based game. I guess I will stick to Civ IV and be happy with what I have. I just can't rationalize buying a new computer or making several upgrades to an existing computer to play a game...a turn based game. I'm sure it's a great game and I hope everyone enjoys it. This post is not suppose to come across as whining...it is just a matter of fact in my case.