Official System Requirements

[Jamesds]

So I tried Will It Run and that was of no help at all. I would really like to know if I can run Civ5, even if the graphics are a little subpar.

Intel Core-i5-450M Processor 2.4GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 2.66GHz
Nvidia G310M Graphics Engine with 1 GB DDR3 Dedicated VRAM and OptimusTechnology
4 GB of DDR3 1066MHz DRAM

Please HELP ME!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'm going to run my head over with a bus if I can't figure this out. All the new graphics crap is totally beyond me.

Firstly, welcome to the forums! Secondly, calm down .

It's hard to say for certain, but I think you have a good chance of running Civ5 on minimal settings. Your CPU and RAM are certainly up to the job, and I think your graphics may make it too. You'll have to give the demo a try when it comes out though as that'll be your best indicator - we can only speculate on the information given to us.

Oh, and if you're gonna run your head over with a bus, just make sure it's not a PCI-E 2.1 bus as they pack a real punch.

 

[tokala]

I would really like to know if I can run Civ5, even if the graphics are a little subpar.

Should run okayish on "low" graphics setings, CPU is decent for a laptop.

 

[aMoralAtheist]

So I tried Will It Run and that was of no help at all. I would really like to know if I can run Civ5, even if the graphics are a little subpar.

Intel Core-i5-450M Processor 2.4GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 2.66GHz
Nvidia G310M Graphics Engine with 1 GB DDR3 Dedicated VRAM and OptimusTechnology
4 GB of DDR3 1066MHz DRAM

Please HELP ME!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'm going to run my head over with a bus if I can't figure this out. All the new graphics crap is totally beyond me.

Yes you can. You are above minimum.

 

[civ_king]

So I tried Will It Run and that was of no help at all. I would really like to know if I can run Civ5, even if the graphics are a little subpar.

Intel Core-i5-450M Processor 2.4GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 2.66GHz
Nvidia G310M Graphics Engine with 1 GB DDR3 Dedicated VRAM and OptimusTechnology
4 GB of DDR3 1066MHz DRAM

Please HELP ME!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'm going to run my head over with a bus if I can't figure this out. All the new graphics crap is totally beyond me.

Do you have an Express Card 34 or 54?

 

[mikeemike]

I'm pretty confident that all my other specs are at least up to par on the recommended specs, but I'm just curious about my graphics card, which is an ATI Radeon 5450... Will this be able to handle the game on maximum settings?

 

[Jove]

Sorry, I didn't scan all 30 pages of the thread, this may be a repeat question...

What if now is the time to upgrade my computer? Let's say Civ V is one of the things I want to do with it. What should I get if I want a nice set-up?

 

[cardgame]

I'm pretty confident that all my other specs are at least up to par on the recommended specs, but I'm just curious about my graphics card, which is an ATI Radeon 5450... Will this be able to handle the game on maximum settings?

maximum? I doubt it.

Pretty decently? I think so.

 

[civ_king]

Sorry, I didn't scan all 30 pages of the thread, this may be a repeat question...

What if now is the time to upgrade my computer? Let's say Civ V is one of the things I want to do with it. What should I get if I want a nice set-up?

1) save up lots of cash
2) wait until February to build/buy computer (build is better for cost to performance)
3) Sandy Bridge+Radeon 6000 series

 

[tokala]

Sorry, I didn't scan all 30 pages of the thread, this may be a repeat question...

What if now is the time to upgrade my computer? Let's say Civ V is one of the things I want to do with it. What should I get if I want a nice set-up?

See this thread for a solid build from scratch. What's your current system?

I'm pretty confident that all my other specs are at least up to par on the recommended specs, but I'm just curious about my graphics card, which is an ATI Radeon 5450... Will this be able to handle the game on maximum settings?

No, it won't. It will be closer to minimum settings. The HD 5450 is not a card meant for gaming. you would probably need at least a HD 5670, which is about 4 times as powerful as yours, for running at or close to maximum settings.

 

[Hustapha Thool]

Here is a nice graphic card hierarchy chart http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-460-radeon-hd-5570-gaming,2697-7.html

just FYI you can see the 5450 is pretty far down there, which would be a good card for gaming about 4 years ago

 

[trevort]

Oh, and if you're gonna run your head over with a bus, just make sure it's not a PCI-E 2.1 bus as they pack a real punch.

 

[BreasticleeS]

Firstly, welcome to the forums! Secondly, calm down .

It's hard to say for certain, but I think you have a good chance of running Civ5 on minimal settings. Your CPU and RAM are certainly up to the job, and I think your graphics may make it too. You'll have to give the demo a try when it comes out though as that'll be your best indicator - we can only speculate on the information given to us.

Oh, and if you're gonna run your head over with a bus, just make sure it's not a PCI-E 2.1 bus as they pack a real punch.

Ahhhh. I can feel the icy goodness of your advice cooling my mini-freakout. So anyways, I also have another laptop that may be more capable, here's the specs for my other system:

Intel Core i7 720QM
4GB DDR3
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 w/ 1GB DDR3 VRAM

Please let me know if you think this might be a better system to run on because not playing this game is not an option for me. I have been a dedicated Civ fan since the 256 color days, and NEED this!

 

[BreasticleeS]

Oh, and if you're gonna run your head over with a bus, just make sure it's not a PCI-E 2.1 bus as they pack a real punch.

Well played sir Jamesds...well played.

 

[Jamesds]

Ahhhh. I can feel the icy goodness of your advice cooling my mini-freakout. So anyways, I also have another laptop that may be more capable, here's the specs for my other system:

Intel Core i7 720QM
4GB DDR3
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 w/ 1GB DDR3 VRAM

Please let me know if you think this might be a better system to run on because not playing this game is not an option for me. I have been a dedicated Civ fan since the 256 color days, and NEED this!

I don't know if that's dedication or addiction - probably somewhere between the two , but yeah, that system is definitely more capable. The CPU will be perfect as it's quad-core with hyper-threading (8 logical cores) and the GPU is quite high-range for a laptop. I think you'll be able to run it happily on medium (or medium-high ... edit: probably not medium-high, on second thoughts) settings.

If anything, I think your only problem might be keeping that laptop cool!

 

[Jove]

1) save up lots of cash
2) wait until February to build/buy computer (build is better for cost to performance)
3) Sandy Bridge+Radeon 6000 series

I am making plenty of money these days, so that won't be a problem

Wait till February? No way, I won't want to wait to play Civ V that long.

As for the Sandy Bridge, I guess the newest CPU's are going to be 8-cores, and current GPU's don't support that many threads?

 

[BreasticleeS]

I don't know if that's dedication or addiction - probably somewhere between the two , but yeah, that system is definitely more capable. The CPU will be perfect as it's quad-core with hyper-threading (8 logical cores) and the GPU is quite high-range for a laptop. I think you'll be able to run it happily on medium (or medium-high ... edit: probably not medium-high, on second thoughts) settings.

If anything, I think your only problem might be keeping that laptop cool!

Now should I be worried that the i7 720QM is only 1.6MHz per core?

 

[Jove]

See this thread for a solid build from scratch. What's your current system?

My current system is a bit of a Frankenstein. It is a pretty fast AMD dual-core, but I think the motherboard is maxed out at 1 GB of memory. The GPU is a 256MB Nvidia, apparently just enough to meet the minimum requirements. I did have to replace the power supply, now I have the TR2 RX-550PP, presumably a 550 watt device, so I could see transplanting at least that much... though if I get all new stuff I can have two separate computers... Anyway, I could stick with my GPU for awhile if there really is something better coming along.

I am really no expert with this stuff. I just want something that won't go obsolete for as long as possible.

 

[Jamesds]

Now should I be worried that the i7 720QM is only 1.6MHz per core?

Nah, it's still very fast. Turbo-boost can bring it up to about 2.8GHz I think depending on the circumstances. Basically if the CPU has only one core under load (i.e. a single-threaded application is using it) it will boost the clock speed of that core to compensate.

For Civ5 turbo-boost won't make much of a difference as it should be using all the cores, but the fact it's got 8 logical cores should more than make up for it's lack of clock speed.

Btw, I've got that CPU in my laptop, so when I was speaking about potential cooling problems, that was coming from experience . Before I got my desktop I would stand the laptop up on cubes of cue chalk to play TF2 or other games, otherwise I'd get throttling halving my frame rate for the whole game.

 

[BreasticleeS]

Nah, it's still very fast. Turbo-boost can bring it up to about 2.8GHz I think depending on the circumstances. Basically if the CPU has only one core under load (i.e. a single-threaded application is using it) it will boost the clock speed of that core to compensate.

For Civ5 turbo-boost won't make much of a difference as it should be using all the cores, but the fact it's got 8 logical cores should more than make up for it's lack of clock speed.

Btw, I've got that CPU in my laptop, so when I was speaking about potential cooling problems, that was coming from experience . Before I got my desktop I would stand the laptop up on cubes of cue chalk to play TF2 or other games, otherwise I'd get throttling halving my frame rate for the whole game.

Do you feel that a cooling pad would help offset the potential heat build up?

 

[tokala]

My current system is a bit of a Frankenstein. It is a pretty fast AMD dual-core, but I think the motherboard is maxed out at 1 GB of memory. The GPU is a 256MB Nvidia, apparently just enough to meet the minimum requirements. I did have to replace the power supply, now I have the TR2 RX-550PP, presumably a 550 watt device, so I could see transplanting at least that much... though if I get all new stuff I can have two separate computers... Anyway, I could stick with my GPU for awhile if there really is something better coming along.

I am really no expert with this stuff. I just want something that won't go obsolete for as long as possible.

There is always "something better" coming along

Two suggestions (in any case Win7 64 bit)

system 1 :
core i5-760
LGA 1156 board in the $100 class (e.g Asus P7P55D)
2x2 GB DDR3
GTX 460 1GB

system 2:
core i7-950
LGA 1366 board
3x2 GB DDR3
HD 5870

System 1 is the "reasonable" one, it will deliver a very respectable gaming performance. Anything more powerful will get disproportionally more expensive. It will work with the old PSU.

System 2 would be the "maximum" system. Above that things will get really expensive and potentially troublesome. The CPU will in most games be only marginally faster than for the first system, and the additional RAM will make no difference whatsoever in todays games. This might change in the future, but then it will take a few years. The GPU is almost 50% faster than the one from system 1. Again, you won't notice any difference in todays games, but this will change during the next 2-3 years.
This increased performance potential will be bought by almost doubling the price and the power consumption of the system, the old PSU will probably not work anymore with system 2.

The upcoming HD 6000 series will be an evolution of the HD 5000 series. For this you will usually get slightly higher performance at slightly reduced power consumption at a given pricepoint. It might be worth the wait it you plan to get a ATI/AMD GPU more powerful than the HD 5770, but they will be available not before november.