Official System Requirements

[May Day 10]

This is my laptop:
Dell XPS M1530, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.5GHz/800MHzFSB, 6M L2 Cache)

4GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm, for XPS M1530

256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT

250G 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive

EXPRESSCARD SOUND BLASTER X-FI XTREME AUDIO Laptop

Vista


Anyone got any ideas on decent upgrades that would get me closer to the recommended? It runs civ 4 easily on full tilt and in full resolution.

 

[Thrallia]

Well, I guess I'm going to end my Civ career at Civ 5. I will never own another desktop. It's been maybe 12 years since I've actually used one. Just too impractical for my work and life.

Not going to spend 500 bucks to play this game.

Maybe somewhere down the road laptops will have specs which will support this, but I'm dubious. Gaming rigs are always overpriced, and underproduced making deals few and far between.

:violin:

that's odd. My laptop is over a year old, cost me $400 at that time, and easily meets the minimum requirements for Civ 5. If your laptop doesn't then you really should be upgrading anyway.

 

[bhavv]

I simply dont understand why people who buy low specified £500 laptops expect to be able to play a new current game released in September 2011 on them.

The Recommended spec for Civ 5 really isnt high end by todays standards.

Here we go, £500 gets you the recommended spec, plus a much higher than recommended graphics card:



OFC its not a laptop.

 

[Thrallia]

you forgot the operating system But that shouldn't raise it more than another 100 pounds or so.

 

[Conspirator]

Not really Thrallia. The general consensus seems to be that the graphic requirements are very high (for laptop prospective players). Most people meet the ram, and processor requirements, but seem to be lacking on the graphics department. I find this very puzzling considering that Civ isn't a graphic intensive game.

 

[bhavv]

you forgot the operating system But that shouldn't raise it more than another 100 pounds or so.

Oh yea, I forget that those cost so much. I'm enjoying my Windows 7 Professional that only cost me £89 on the pre order special prices.

I also wouldnt ever use a PSU that comes bundled with a case for that cheap, but it does reduce the cost a lot.

Not really Thrallia. The general consensus seems to be that the graphic requirements are very high (for laptop prospective players). Most people meet the ram, and processor requirements, but seem to be lacking on the graphics department. I find this very puzzling considering that Civ isn't a graphic intensive game.

It definately looks a lot more graphics intensive than Civ 4 though

And the maps do look very highly detailed and lush. The reason why most people seem to be lacking on the graphics department is because they are posting laptop specs with integrated graphics, or close to integrated. On desktop PCs, most people who play games have a capable graphics card, which you can see on the steam surveys:

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/videocard/

that's odd. My laptop is over a year old, cost me $400 at that time, and easily meets the minimum requirements for Civ 5. If your laptop doesn't then you really should be upgrading anyway.

I'm just wondering, what graphics does that laptop have? Because it doesnt seem likely for a $400 laptop to have 7900 GS / 2600 XT equivalent graphics.

Also, Im thinking that 7900 GS is a typo for 7600 GS.

 

[nokmirt]

I simply dont understand why people who buy low specified £500 laptops expect to be able to play a new current game released in September 2011 on them.

The Recommended spec for Civ 5 really isnt high end by todays standards.

Here we go, £500 gets you the recommended spec, plus a much higher than recommended graphics card:



OFC its not a laptop.

About $778 in American dollars. I may try to do this!

 

[sumoworm]

on a recent ustream live play of civ 5, 2 programmers from t2 crashed their graphics card during the game and had to reboot.

Guess what guys, it won't matter what your specs are on your systems. T2's programming will need patching before it will be stable. Just like civ 4 - remember that launch?

T2 can't even demo the game live without it crashing! What does that say about their product?

Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of civ 5. I ache to play it. But I'm not dropping $60 on this game and another couple of hundred bucks to upgrade my system AGAIN - for a game that t2 was kind enough to demo for me as crap!

 

[Vlade Divac]

I simply dont understand why people who buy low specified £500 laptops expect to be able to play a new current game released in September 2011 on them.

Well, I guess I kind of fall into this camp then, but I don't think I did anything any other normal consumer wouldn't do.

Back last November, when I was shopping for a laptop I knew I wanted one that would handle all the normal stuff you want from a laptop and easily be able to handle Civ 4. I'm pretty much a one game-series guy (obviously Civ) and knew nothing of Civ 5 coming out obviously. I'm certainly no technological savant, but I did my homework enough to know that I definitely wanted to pay a little extra to make sure it came with a dedicated graphics card. My laptop has a 512MB ATI Radeon 4570. It did everything I wanted, handled Civ 4 awesomely and following when I've bought desktops in the past I figured I future proofed myself at least a year or two with the dedicated card. Needless to say when the announcement for CiV came out (Jan? Feb? I can't recall at the moment other than I knew it was well after I bought my laptop) I was pumped and figured I'd have no problems. The specs came out and, while I'm decently above the minimums on everything else, my GPU is apparently even a little below the min. (Frankly I still can't completely figure that out which shows how ridiculous these numbering conventions are...clear as mud). This is on a laptop I bought 8 or 9 months ago. It was definitely middle of the road on price and nothing remotely bargain bin. All I knew was that if I had a dedicated card I would probably be ok for awhile. I was able to download Mafia 2 and play the demo so I'm hopeful, but its kind of ridiculous I'm sweating Civ 5's demo on a game whose graphics don't look as intensive as a FPS as Mafia 2.

Needless to say I'm gonna EXTREMELY bummed if I can't play CiV and I totally understand culdeus' POV. I thought I made a safe purchase at the time...what are you gonna do? :shrug: Here's hoping though....wish me luck.

 

[bhavv]

My laptop has a 512MB ATI Radeon 4570. It did everything I wanted, handled Civ 4 awesomely and following when I've bought desktops in the past I figured I future proofed myself at least a year or two with the dedicated card.

Its good of that card to handle Civ 4 well, but that is the laptop equivalent of ATI's lowest desktop card in the HD 4000 range and really wouldnt be able to handle much better.

I'm pretty much a one game-series guy (obviously Civ) and knew nothing of Civ 5 coming out obviously.

Ah, well I can see how you would be upset with the Civ 5 specs. Unfortunately however, that is how video games are. A game released towards the end of 2010 will usually require specifications that are mid range at its current time of release.

 

[civ_king]

Well, I guess I'm going to end my Civ career at Civ 5. I will never own another desktop. It's been maybe 12 years since I've actually used one. Just too impractical for my work and life.

Not going to spend 500 bucks to play this game.

Maybe somewhere down the road laptops will have specs which will support this, but I'm dubious. Gaming rigs are always overpriced, and underproduced making deals few and far between.

:violin:

If you get an AMD laptop next year with Zacate it will beat minimum specs

Not really Thrallia. The general consensus seems to be that the graphic requirements are very high (for laptop prospective players). Most people meet the ram, and processor requirements, but seem to be lacking on the graphics department. I find this very puzzling considering that Civ isn't a graphic intensive game.

My two and a half year old GPU beats recommended (except for DX 11 obviously) so uh...

 

[bhavv]

An ATI 4850 or Nvidia Geforce 9800 GT isnt a high graphics spec for games released today, most people who play video games as a hobby will have had something like that or better for around 2 years by now.

However, it is a very high specification for laptops. To get a laptop comparable to the £500 PC spec I posted above, you would have to spend more than twice as much, and it still wouldnt be as good as that spec.

Personally I like that Civ V looks like a modern game with good graphics.

 

[Vlade Divac]

An ATI 4850 or Nvidia Geforce 9800 GT isnt a high graphics spec for games released today, most people who play video games as a hobby will have had something like that or better for around 2 years by now.

However, it is a very high specification for laptops. To get a laptop comparable to the £500 PC spec I posted above, you would have to spend more than twice as much, and it still wouldnt be as good as that spec.

Personally I like that Civ V looks like a modern game with good graphics.

I hear you. Hey, as a guy who definitely seems to know his stuff let me ask you. I was able to download the Mafia 2 demo and it played well on the default settings (no noticable lag of slowdowns). Here's its minimum GPU specs: Nvidia 8600 / ATI Radeon HD 2600.

Do you think that I (with a ATI Radeon Mobility 4570...all other specs are above minimums) will have a decent shot of it playing? Just want your opinion...

 

[bhavv]

I hear you. Hey, as a guy who definitely seems to know his stuff let me ask you. I was able to download the Mafia 2 demo and it played well on the default settings (no noticable lag of slowdowns). Here's its minimum GPU specs: Nvidia 8600 / ATI Radeon HD 2600.

Do you think that I (with a ATI Radeon Mobility 4570...all other specs are above minimums) will have a decent shot of it playing? Just want your opinion...

It might then, because Mafia 2 has the same min specs?

Just try and download the demo on the 21st and give it a try.

 

[civ_king]

It might then, because Mafia 2 has the same min specs?

Just try and download the demo on the 21st and give it a try.

It is also produced by 2k Games so I'd suspect that it might be similar

 

[culdeus]

that's odd. My laptop is over a year old, cost me $400 at that time, and easily meets the minimum requirements for Civ 5. If your laptop doesn't then you really should be upgrading anyway.

I guess. I mean for me my Dell D630 plays Civ4 perfectly and I can do everything I ever need at work including managing 2 unix servers remotely, remote desktop to my home PC, all the MS stuff, and stream audio/video on 4 monitors without really breaking a sweat.

The real thing that gets me is how laptops now basically mandate you get a 15.5 inch screen to dispense with integrated graphics cards. Try finding a i5 with non integrated GPU for any dollar amount in 14.1". I contend this isn't possible, but I may be wrong.

It is sad for me to see how Civ went from a game of the masses to one for the hardcorez. It happens from time to time. I guess I'll stick to consoles for now.

 

[bhavv]

civ Vs recommended specification is not hardcore, Its lower than a current £500 PC.

A quadcore, 4 gb, and an Ati 4850 is a 2 year old spec now.

 

[anirudh6k]

Sorry for all these posts in a row!

Greg, or anyone knowledgable, I have a dx10 card, will Civ V run in dx 10, or only in either 9 or 11? I ask because 9 is minimum and 11 is recommended, and there is no mention of 10.

If you hae a dx 10 card ,it will support dx 9.
So no problems there

 

[gfanikf]

Oh....please, come on... give me some other answer... i have pre-ordered it...

Do I have at least a chance?

I did too. I couldn't pass up the D2D $10 coupon. Hopefully mine should just look like Civ4, which I can live with.

 

[nokmirt]

on a recent ustream live play of civ 5, 2 programmers from t2 crashed their graphics card during the game and had to reboot.

Guess what guys, it won't matter what your specs are on your systems. T2's programming will need patching before it will be stable. Just like civ 4 - remember that launch?

T2 can't even demo the game live without it crashing! What does that say about their product?

Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of civ 5. I ache to play it. But I'm not dropping $60 on this game and another couple of hundred bucks to upgrade my system AGAIN - for a game that t2 was kind enough to demo for me as crap!

Are you kidding? What terrible news this is.