Recommend hardware please

[lil_wilde]

I bought a new Pentium 4 to run CIV4. I was told it met all the minimum requirements however the computer has had some problem crashing and not being able to recover ever since I installed it.
I think I need to put in a better graphics card and maybe more ram.
Can you suggest a graphics card thats not too pricey but will be good for gaming for at least a couple years.
And how much ram do I really need for CIV4?

Any other suggestions for hardware that will improve my CIV gaming?

Thanks so much.

ps going into withdrawels having my computer in the shop constantly

 

[reclaimer122]

I don't know who convinced you to buy a Pentium 4, but you should definitely do more research before buying again. You can get a low-level Core2Duo for the same price as a Pentium 4 easily (unless of course you need socket 478). Anyways, if this just started happening when you installed the CPU then that's your problem. If you mean it started happening when you installed Civ4, then we need more of your hardware info such as current video card, RAM, etc...

 

[lil_wilde]

I bought a GeForce 6600 today. Hopefully that will be good enough.
There is 2 Gigs of Ram. I dunno all the other details, Im not a computer person. I just wanted to know what was recommended so I could go buy it.

The computer crashing might not have anything to do with the game but it is a software issue for sure cuz the hardware has been tested at two shops and both say it must be a software problem.

My Dad is currently gutting the harddrive with system mechanic and we are gonna start from scratch.
We'll see how it goes from there.

Is 2 gigs enough ram? Is this new Geforce card good enough?

 

[Ghost Ranger]

You should get a Core 2 Duo as reclaimer suggested, as they are much faster than a Pentium 4, even if the P4 is 3.00GHz and the C2D is 2.00GHz.

 

[lil_wilde]

Your I'm almost ready to say forget it. I just bought a brand new tower, I'm not aboutto spend hundreds of dollars to play this game.

 

[lil_wilde]

I just double checked the recommended requirements and it says Pentium 4.
My system meets all the requirements, why is my game crashing?!!

 

[Ghost Ranger]

There are tons of things that could be causing the crashes, try updating your Gfx card drivers.

 

[reclaimer122]

Ok, when I said you should have gotten a Core2Duo, you didn't need to spend hundreds. A decent C2D is cheaper yet still faster with two cores instead of one. You made the mistake when you put a Pentium 4 in your brand new tower.

Anyways, Ghost Ranger is right that there are quite a lot of things that can be wrong. I would try updating graphics drivers as he said, then if that doesn't help, update Windows and all your other drivers (DirectX included). Sound drivers may actually be causing it, your video card might not be getting enough power (quite possible if the computer was bought from a company). The list of possibilities is endless and more than likely a shop will either rip you off or perform very poor tests/repairs.

 

[T.A JONES]

You should get a Core 2 Duo as reclaimer suggested, as they are much faster than a Pentium 4, even if the P4 is 3.00GHz and the C2D is 2.00GHz.

THis isn't true when it comes to civ. Its not designed to draw benifit from dualcore.

I went from 3.2ghz to 2x 3.2's ghz and saw no improvment in actual ingame performance.
-except now I could a watch movie ,even two movies when I played civ.

 

[Underdawg]

THis isn't true when it comes to civ. Its not designed to draw benifit from dualcore.

I went from 3.2ghz to 2x 3.2's ghz and saw no improvment in actual ingame performance.
-except now I could a watch movie ,even two movies when I played civ.

While Civ does not utilize the second core, a single core of Core 2 Duo is still much faster than even a 3.8Ghz Pentium 4.

I don't know who convinced you to buy a Pentium 4, but you should definitely do more research before buying again. You can get a low-level Core2Duo for the same price as a Pentium 4 easily (unless of course you need socket 478). Anyways, if this just started happening when you installed the CPU then that's your problem. If you mean it started happening when you installed Civ4, then we need more of your hardware info such as current video card, RAM, etc...

Indeed... does anyone still sell Pentium 4's? I though they're all just deadstock now and thus horribly overpriced.

 

[T.A JONES]

While Civ does not utilize the second core, a single core of Core 2 Duo is still much faster than even a 3.8Ghz Pentium 4.

That would depend. A weak dual core does not measure up to primed up single core unlesss its pushed manually by some tech savy dude. So you mean its easyier to overclock a dual to acheive a higer speed then mono? Cuz that I agree with.

Thats what I had to do to see improvement after I went duo 3.2 from mono 3.2ghz. Before my bro did that I saw none whatso ever improvment going duel core from my top rate mono...when playin civ3

 

[Ghost Ranger]

That would depend. A weak dual core does not measure up to primed up single core unless its pushed manually by some tech savy dude.

Untrue, "A 1.83 GHz Core Duo is significantly faster than the 3 GHz Pentium 4" according to this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megahertz_Myth
Also, a Dual Core should improve CIV's performance, as it can run on its own dedicated thread, while background programs run on the other.

 

[Underdawg]

That would depend. A weak dual core does not measure up to primed up single core unlesss its pushed manually by some tech savy dude. So you mean its easyier to overclock a dual to acheive a higer speed then mono? Cuz that I agree with.

Thats what I had to do to see improvement after I went duo 3.2 from mono 3.2ghz. Before my bro did that I saw none whatso ever improvment going duel core from my top rate mono...when playin civ3

Core 2 Duos are not weak in any way whatsoever

Core 2 Duos are able to be massively overclocked, most with a decent motherboard, RAM, and PSU, can get overclocks of 66-100%, my e6300 (default 1.8Ghz) is at 3.0Ghz and has been running nearly 24/7 for a year.

Core 2 Duos are also relatively cheap, especially when you factor in their overclocking capabilities.

A base-level e4300 ($100-$120) can get to 3.0Ghz without a sweat with a decent motherboard (Gigabyte DS3/S3, Biostar p965, or the MSI p965 board), decent DDR2-667/800 RAM, and a solid power supply (a great Fortron unit can be had for merely $45).

Of course there would be little to no improvement in Civ performance when going from single core to dual core (with the same clocks), Civ doesn't utilize the second core at all (a simple check in the task manager proves that). I say little because once core can be dedicated to Civ while the second doing the background windows processes (but the improvement is still very very small, almost miniscule). Still, buying a Pentium 4 TODAY, is, frankly, a horrible choice, unless it was gotten for 5 bucks.

Untrue, "A 1.83 GHz Core Duo is significantly faster than the 3 GHz Pentium 4" according to this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megahertz_Myth
Also, a Dual Core should improve CIV's performance, as it can run on its own dedicated thread, while background programs run on the other.

I don't think he was saying that a 1.83Ghz Core 2 duo is not up to par to a Pentium 4 3.2Ghz because the Ghz is smaller. I think he's talking about how going from a single core to a dual core brings little to no benefit in Civ performance, which is true.

A 1.83 Ghz Core 2 Duo is about equal to a Athlon X2 4200+ or a Pentium 4 @ 4.2GHz.

 

[454ss]

The Pentium 4 is fine with 2Mb and the 6600 card. You should be able to play at extreme resolution with the graphics options set low, in the game. Where is the game crashing? On starting or during play.

 

[Ghost Ranger]

Of course there would be little to no improvement in Civ performance when going from single core to dual core (with the same clocks),

Remember that clock rate isn't the only thing that affects a processor's performance. Of course what you said would be true if the single core and dual core were based on the same architecture. For example going from a P4 with 1 core to one with 2 would yield no performance gain in CIV IV, but going from a P4 to a Core 2 Duo would, even if the Core 2 Duo had a core somehow disabled. This is because the C2D has a superior architecture.

 

[Underdawg]

Remember that clock rate isn't the only thing that affects a processor's performance. Of course what you said would be true if the single core and dual core were based on the same architecture. For example going from a P4 with 1 core to one with 2 would yield no performance gain in CIV IV, but going from a P4 to a Core 2 Duo would, even if the Core 2 Duo had a core somehow disabled. This is because the C2D has a superior architecture.

Of course.

 

[T.A JONES]

DOes anything depends on the L3 cach men? IM talkin civ only here. I have 2mb L3 cache and it makes super turns using a 3.2 dual core(pardon me, its only using one of the 3.2';s so dual was awaste of money till I got someone who knew overclockin) NOw I have 4.1ghz mono running from the duo

OH by the way Ghost RANger Heres were I get my support from. This shows the power of some 3.2s agaist duo

 

[GVBN]

Pentium 4 and Geforce 6600?

I hope you didn't spend too much money on them

 

[reclaimer122]

I'm sure he did. It's probably a Dell or HP Anyways, it seems we have scared off our poster

PS: L3/L2 cache is basically SUPER-SUPER RAM on steroids. Very expensive, and it's right on the CPU die. This cache is used by the CPU directly. Basically, the more of it you have per core, the more performance you get.

I can also vouch that C2D's are a huge leap ahead of Pentium 4's. I went from a Pentium 4 3.2Ghz with HT (Oc'ed to 4.2Ghz) to a 2.4Ghz e6600 and the difference was amazing. Even in single-cored applications, it flies. The architecture is just so much more advanced than Pentium 4 that Ghz and Mhz don't really matter when comparing the two. Add to that, I had this processor running at 3.6Ghz 24/7 during the winter and even got it to boot Windows at 3.9Ghz on a particularly cold day You'd probably need 4 Pentium 4's at 3.4Ghz to even come close to the power of this beast at the same speed.

 

[T.A JONES]

I'm sure he did. It's probably a Dell or HP Anyways, it seems we have scared off our poster

PS: L3 cache is basically SUPER-SUPER RAM on steroids. Very expensive, and it's right on the CPU die. This cache is used by the CPU directly. Basically, the more of it you have per core, the more performance you get.

I can also vouch that C2D's are a huge leap ahead of Pentium 4's. I went from a Pentium 4 3.2Ghz with HT (Oc'ed to 4.2Ghz) to a 2.4Ghz e6600 and the difference was amazing. Even in single-cored applications, it flies. The architecture is just so much more advanced than Pentium 4 that Ghz and Mhz don't really matter when comparing the two. Add to that, I had this processor running at 3.6Ghz 24/7 during the winter and even got it to boot Windows at 3.9Ghz on a particularly cold day You'd probably need 4 Pentium 4's at 3.4Ghz to even come close to the power of this beast at the same speed.

YOU give very good info thank you.
Yes when my motherboard melted by lightning I said I wanted better. HE had given me a 3..2 used before and said this new one comes with 2mb L3 cache for super gamin. I just learned this is processor related not ram! (plus It came with another 3.2 so thas 2 3.2 CPU's aka duo I guess)

I paid 450 doller includin taxes and 256 graphics card for all this. My civ3 plays very fast on maps that are so big its scary 220x220. THey say you get deley on pillage and cityturnover no matter what on extra huge, but no me. Others say they have 3.2 ghz and they still get slowdowns. COuld the L3 be whats giving me an advantage

PS IM in the middle of recordin my turn times on youtube so All can witness this amazing thing. COuld the mege L3 package be the ultimate secret weapon in turn time killing? PLease help with you skills thanks!!

(thanks for not gettin mad about bringin up civ3, once the higher ram demands are met IM sure the ghz is what makes civ4 purr so it relates to CIv4 aswell)

NOTE here are my specs PLease tell me how to show how big my L3 is! ALso,how come one CPU id bigger then the other

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