So, will I be able to run this game?

[tokala]

Tokala with a 5750 or something like that i think he will really struggle with his PSU being 305W

but if for say replace it with a PSu that could accompany him to the new PC it would make it easier to get a card in there that can be his card for the next few years.

so say a radeon 5750 with a 460W/550W PSU and the RAM it could be moved over to the new pc

I hope it will be not necessary to start my usual "Overkill PSU madness" rant at this time, lets just say that a quality PSU can power A LOT more stuff than most people think

A new PSU might not fit into the Dell case. And we should get the PSU specs before getting into a serious discussion.

 

[ilmonstre]

i know about the overkill stuff regarding PSU.

my 460 runs my radeon 5850, quad core system but his 305 can be falling short for the spike thats needed at startup. since we dont know if its actually a quality PSU or some random one.

and i was only saying it so he could use it in the future to.

and if it will fit or not depends on the casing since i have seen Dell's with normal size PSU and the almost half sized PSU's

 

[Ultimate_Waffle]

Okay, so I could probably get all of this upgraded good enough for around $200 I think. I could build a pretty good computer for around $500 (minus monitor)? Not the $800 I had previously thought?

 

[Kruelgor]

Can someone confirm that adding 2X1024 will work in his MB?

Yeah, I looked this up earlier. It can have a maximum of 4GB of DDR2 SDRAM (533 MHz or 400 MHz) 240 pinn.

 

[ilmonstre]

Okay, so I could probably get all of this upgraded good enough for around $200 I think. I could build a pretty good computer for around $500 (minus monitor)? Not the $800 I had previously thought?

for 500 you can have a decent pc that will easily run Civ.

 

[Kruelgor]

Okay, so I could probably get all of this upgraded good enough for around $200 I think.

I'm thinking much cheaper if you can find a card which will run with a 300 watt PSU. less than $100 total to add 2GB ram and for the video card.

EBay is always an option too. Lots of used cards for dirt cheap there.

 

[Hustapha Thool]

I edited my post but here is a nice $400 build http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-pc-build-a-pc-overclock,2739.html

 

[tokala]

i know about the overkill stuff regarding PSU.

my 460 runs my radeon 5850, quad core system but his 305 can be falling short for the spike thats needed at startup. since we dont know if its actually a quality PSU or some random one.

and i was only saying it so he could use it in the future to.

and if it will fit or not depends on the casing since i have seen Dell's with normal size PSU and the almost half sized PSU's

That spike is due to multiple HDDs powering up at the exact same time, neither CPU nor GPU are under load at startup. And with one IDE channel and 2 (?) S-ATA connectors i doubt that will be a problem

And the Dell PSUs tend to be solid, and indeed capable of delivering their rated loads.

 

[Ultimate_Waffle]

Wow, okay; thanks for all of the awesome help everybody . I've always loved how helpful and patient this site's community is.

 

[Phoenix_56721]

You should be able to spend under $100 and get the game to work, at the very least on the lower graphic settings and on medium maps, but you might have slow downs in late game....but maybe not.

If I were you I'd put that $100 away and save up for a new computer that resembles or preferably beats the Recommended specs; that way you can experience Civ5 in all its DirectX 11 glory on high resolution .... But of course thats easy for me to say

 

[Ultimate_Waffle]

I edited my post but here is a nice $400 build http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-pc-build-a-pc-overclock,2739.html

Does this computer meet the recommended requirements as well? I can live just fine with just the minimum requirements, but recommended for $400 would be quite epic.

 

[Red Wegener]

Does this computer meet the recommended requirements as well?

That one meets the recommended requirements except for the 2 gig of ram. 4 gig of ram is recommended.

I agree with Phoenix however. Your computer has almost reached the end of its usefulness, for gaming at least. Unless money is a big problem, I would save the $100 to put toward a new system.

 

[Phoenix_56721]

BTW, Slick Deals has posted that Newegg has the Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB for $115 after mail-in-rebates and free shipping.
http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/39239/sapphire-radeon-hd-5770-1gb-gddr5-pci-express-video-card

Personally I cant speak to the quality of Sapphire products but it has score of 5 eggs from customer reviews. The 5770 is a great card at that price, and it will have no problems running Civ5.

 

[Ultimate_Waffle]

Okay, all I need to do now is come up with the money. Thanks once again for all of the terrific help.

 

[Hustapha Thool]

Does this computer meet the recommended requirements as well? I can live just fine with just the minimum requirements, but recommended for $400 would be quite epic.

YES, easily, It should run it at very nice settings. but go to 4 gig of ram

Here is a Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-460-radeon-hd-5570-gaming,2697-7.html and as you can see that card (5670) is not bad at all and it may even run on your current computer. If you are a real gambler you could give that a shot.

If I was going to build that 400 dollar system I would splurge a bit more on the graphics card to a 5770

 

[Hustapha Thool]

BTW, Slick Deals has posted that Newegg has the Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB for $115 after mail-in-rebates and free shipping.
http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/39239/sapphire-radeon-hd-5770-1gb-gddr5-pci-express-video-card

Personally I cant speak to the quality of Sapphire products but it has score of 5 eggs from customer reviews. The 5770 is a great card at that price, and it will have no problems running Civ5.

FYI - the 5770 will not run under your current power supply

 

[Phoenix_56721]

Does this computer meet the recommended requirements as well? I can live just fine with just the minimum requirements, but recommended for $400 would be quite epic.

Go for the Recommended specs at least! The minimum requirements are mainly based on older computers builds, if your buying new you don't want to buy last gen stuff.

Here's the Recommended specs from Civ5 Steam page:

Recommended:

OS: Windows® Vista SP2/ Windows® 7
Processor: 1.8 GHz Quad Core CPU
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: 512 MB ATI 4800 series or better, 512 MB nVidia 9800 series or better
DirectX®: DirectX® version 11
Hard Drive: 8 GB Free
Sound: DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card

http://store.steampowered.com/app/8930/

Edit: you could get by with dual core processors if its something like the Intel i-series cpu's. I think the i5 series is the best buy, I would suggest the i5-650 for Dual Core or i5-750 for Quad.

 

[tokala]

Does this computer meet the recommended requirements as well? I can live just fine with just the minimum requirements, but recommended for $400 would be quite epic.

If you could use your old harddrive and optical drive, $400 will roughly meet the "recommended" specs, if you add another $100 you will exceed them by a comfortable margin

 

[silentknight111]

BTW, Slick Deals has posted that Newegg has the Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB for $115 after mail-in-rebates and free shipping.
http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/39239/sapphire-radeon-hd-5770-1gb-gddr5-pci-express-video-card

Personally I cant speak to the quality of Sapphire products but it has score of 5 eggs from customer reviews. The 5770 is a great card at that price, and it will have no problems running Civ5.

I just bought this card for my wife so he can play Civ5 . I recommend it.