Rate my Rig...Recommended Game Settings

[joyous_gard]

Based on my reading it sounds like my processor (tied to mediocre motherboard) may be holding me back. I crash sometimes (at least once during a game but the when appears variable)and the whole game feels sluggish (17 seconds to load game. Slow game response to cycle through actions. Some amount of time (varies) between turns that can really get extreme in late game. I also still see those red splotches.

What settings should I be playing with? DX10 should be supported but is DX9 more stable? Any idea on how to setup my graphics? I guess I want the best possible graphics that will not cause a major deterioration in processing speed.

I have read posts where people are getting into the game in 4 or 5 seconds. You know, it's a breeze to zip through turns and get good game response and low lag between turns.

My specs are below, what is holding me back?


Windows 7 Home

AMD Athlon 64X2 5400+ at 2.8 ghz

ASUS M2A-VM motherboard

4 GB RAM at 622 MHz

NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB RAM

Civ V is installed on a 100 GB OCZ SSD

I have adequate fan cooling.

 

[civ_king]

Your CPU is weak, if your RAM is running at 311 MHz it is weak...

 

[joyous_gard]

Your CPU is weak, if your RAM is running at 311 MHz it is weak...

Is that what is deteriorating my Civ V playing conditions? I am not really shopping for a new PC, but I need to know!

EDIT: Oops my RAM is at 622 MHz I forgot to double data rate. Thanks for reading!

 

[civ_king]

Is that what is deteriorating my Civ V playing conditions? I am not really shopping for a new PC, but I need to know!

EDIT: Oops my RAM is at 622 MHz I forgot to double data rate. Thanks for reading!

Yes, that is what is screwing up performance

 

[tokala]

RAM has only a miniscule influence on performance. Sounds like you have DDR2-666 modules, with a bit of luck those might run at DDR2-800 with a bit slower timings. Expect to get 1 or 2 percent better performance out of that.

Regarding the "zip through turns and get good game response and low lag between turns", nobody gets that unless you are talking about early game/smallest map size.

The 9800GT is probably your biggest problem for Civ5, it works not very well with the DX10 mode.

 

[Mark Havel]

But I doubt it has a great influence to slow down turn processing. Anyway, your machine seems like it's a bit outdated to run the game smoothly. And unfortunately, the engine is not that well optimized and runs pretty poorly for a turn-based game.

 

[Lord Errorprone]

What do you have the graphics options set at?

 

[timtofly]

It looks like you need a new system to let that 100 Gig SSD flex it's muscles. If you did not have that going for you. you would be in bad shape. It probably does a better job with the game than your RAM does.

 

[Lord Errorprone]

my desktop has 4 gb of 800 mhz ram. it runs great.

 

[timtofly]

That is great to hear.

 

[Lord Errorprone]

I'm saying if I have slightly faster ram and mine runs fine then ram is not his problem.

 

[joyous_gard]

What do you have the graphics options set at?

My graphics are at "auto" I forget what exactly they are but mostly mediums if iirc.

 

[joyous_gard]

It looks like you need a new system to let that 100 Gig SSD flex it's muscles. If you did not have that going for you. you would be in bad shape. It probably does a better job with the game than your RAM does.

LOL, yeah I need a new system to take advantage of some of the parts I have picked up. I am trying to make it to this summer. In the meantime I am attempting my first case mod and that is taking a lot longer than I anticipated.

 

[Lord Errorprone]

Your graphics card cant do Directx 11 so if you have terrain tessellation on, its going to cause a large bump in performance.