Some advice from any Hardware Guru's (computer spec for Civ5)

Well .... I've bought the game, now I need a system to run it. I've been saving my pennies since May and I'm looking at Dell.ca (I'm in Canada...)

Dell XPS9100 ~ $1400

Intel® Core™i7-930 processor(8MB L2 Cache, 2.80GHz)
6GB Tri Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz- 3 DIMMs
ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English


I'd appreciate any feedback, suggestions, recommendations on changes to the spec, any better deals etc..

thanks in advance

This questions begs the question, what will you be using this computer for? other than Civ 5 that is.

The system looks very nice and is almost identical to my system. It will handle the game with ease. Should be able to all setting on max with the exception of maybe tessellation, the nvidia GTX 480 will let you max those out, but not really a big difference in quality.

also, if your monitor is 1920 x 1080 (1080p) or less, a 5770 or GTX 460 would probably handle the game very well with most all settings on max. if speed becomes an issue in the future, your system should be able to handle adding an additional card of same type for crossfire/sli with maybe a power supply upgrade at most.

also, if you're not comfortable with building your own, then don't! There are a lot of little things on setting up your system and it is worth it to pay a little extra for Dell, or whoever, to do it for you. I don't recommend extended warranties though. You get a full year, and most any problem will show up in a year. after that, problems are usually virus related and Dell, and others, charge extra for that.
 
This questions begs the question, what will you be using this computer for? other than Civ 5 that is.

Yes, I will use it for work as well (Software development, Office Apps etc..)

I wanted something that's going to last me 3-4 years (while I save up my money again :) )

With my current system, I cannot play Civ4 on anything bigger than a small map without somekind of crash related to my video card, so I was determined to make sure I have more than enough system to run the game @ max settings :D


also, if you're not comfortable with building your own, then don't! There are a lot of little things on setting up your system and it is worth it to pay a little extra for Dell, or whoever, to do it for you. I don't recommend extended warranties though. You get a full year, and most any problem will show up in a year. after that, problems are usually virus related and Dell, and others, charge extra for that.

That is really the approach I was taking, but I am 99.9% sure now I'm going to order from NCIX, I've read alot of complaints about Dell customer service, and if I do have problems I'll have to ship it back etc.. whereas I just found out NCIX opened a store 2 blocks from my work !!! If I have any problems I can take it back myself, and hopefully shorted the process !
 
Yes, I will use it for work as well (Software development, Office Apps etc..)

I wanted something that's going to last me 3-4 years (while I save up my money again :) )

That is really the approach I was taking, but I am 99.9% sure now I'm going to order from NCIX, I've read alot of complaints about Dell customer service, and if I do have problems I'll have to ship it back etc.. whereas I just found out NCIX opened a store 2 blocks from my work !!! If I have any problems I can take it back myself, and hopefully shorted the process !

Having a store just around the corner is really great and worth a price premium. And if you also using it for work you should pay attention to the noise level. You might want an aftermarket cooler for the CPU, and select a video card that will throttle down the fan to a really low speed while idling (doing office work).
High-end CPUs and video cards tend to consume lots of energy and are difficult to cool silently.
Anything more powerful than a GTX460 / i5-760 might get problematic in the noise department, and deliver very little benefit for your needs.

That Vesta seems to be a very popular NCIX model, maybe they have a running system in their shop that you can check out? And having a shop around the corner should also simplify a potential GPU upgrade, they will do it for a small fee or even for free.
 
Yes, I will use it for work as well (Software development, Office Apps etc..)

I wanted something that's going to last me 3-4 years (while I save up my money again :) )

With my current system, I cannot play Civ4 on anything bigger than a small map without somekind of crash related to my video card, so I was determined to make sure I have more than enough system to run the game @ max settings :D

Actually, the video memory problems with civ iv are usually ram errors. when the video card pages in large chunks of data, it goes over the windows limit of 2gb ram per applicaion and causes an error that usually points to the video card instesd of the system ram.

The 5870 should be good enough if you only play the civ games, but you may need more depending on other games you play and monitor resolution.

also, ATI is getting ready to release the Radeon HD 6870. One article claims a 30% speed increase and much better tessellation support to keep up with nvidia. although they are already faster than nvidia with tessellation off.

That is really the approach I was taking, but I am 99.9% sure now I'm going to order from NCIX, I've read a lot of complaints about Dell customer service, and if I do have problems I'll have to ship it back etc.. whereas I just found out NCIX opened a store 2 blocks from my work !!! If I have any problems I can take it back myself, and hopefully shorted the process !

My only concern with NCIX and cyberpower, etc is they have no real support that's why they're cheaper. If your Dell, or whatever, breaks then dell will send a technician out to your house and fix the problem for free. The other guys have you send parts back, and if you don't have spare parts to swap out, then it's almost impossible to determine which part to return. then you end up with a guessing game and returning several parts over several weeks with no working computer.

But in your case, since NCIX is nearby, then you may have an optimal solution with them. Go talk to them and I'm sure you can work something out.

Good luck
-=Mark=-
 
The 5870 should be good enough if you only play the civ games, but you may need more depending on other games you play and monitor resolution.

Hello? You guys need apparently some grounding in reality. That 5870 is the secondmost powerful single-chip GPU available at the moment. It's complete overkill for Civ and 99% of all games on the market, unless you have multiple monitors/and or use ridiculously costly antialiasing modes that won't give much of a visual benefit anyway.

You make it look as if it is maybe a decent choice for a casual gamer, but not for anything halfway serious :lol:
 
Some people say to buy the OEM version of WIN 7, I say no, if you do so be aware of these limitations:
You can never transfer it to a new PC.
You can never switch from 32 bit to 64 or vice-versa.
You can never get support from microsoft.


What I've been experiencing with the OEM version of Windows 7 is that it took no time at all before the internet activation quit working for my serial number and I had to start calling Microsoft on the phone where they asked me the same question each time, "How many computers has this OS been installed on", or maybe it's 'How many computers IS this OS installed on', to which I say 'one' and we go through the manual activation.

Strange thing is that with XP and Vista I reinstalled my OS a lot more often than I do with Windows 7 and only once had to make the manual activation call, but neither of them were the OEM version.

Not that it much matters, but I have a feeling that there are quite a few people out there that when they get that message telling them that their serial number could not be activated online, and 'please buy another copy of the OS' message, it's quite likely that at least some of the owners actually do.

Anyway, not a big deal, just a hassle to deal with it manually everytime that I reinstall my OS, however... It did save me over $100 over retail version of Windows 7, which afforded me to buy a better video card than I might have otherwise, so worked out well.
 
Well thanks to all the feedback.... here is the system I've put together (system to last me 3-4 years, gaming & work)

just want to ask for quick review, to see if anyone observes any glaring problems, if not I need to "pull the trigger on this" ..... so I can get it ASAP

Network Card Please Use The Onboard Network Ethernet Card Integrated On My Motherboard
Sound Card Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Audio 24BIT Sound Card 7.1 $47.85
Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM $123.77
Hard Drives Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive $87.99
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i7 950 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.06GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S $299.99
CPU Cooling Please Use The Heatsink Included with My CPU $0.00
Motherboard MSI P55A-G55 P55 ATX LGA1156 DDR3 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard $134.55
DVD Writer LG GH22NS50 Black 22X SATA DVD Writer OEM $29.99
DDR3 Memory (RAM) G.SKILL F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL Ripjaws 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9-24 240PIN DIMM Memory $174.99
Video Cards MSI GeForce GTX 460 Fermi Cyclone OC 725MHZ 1024MB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini-HDMI DX11 PCI-E Video Card $249.99
Computer Case Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Mid Tower Silent Computer Case 2X5.25 8X3.5INT No PS Front USB $109.99
Power Supply Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 140MM Fan $129.99


Once again, thanks for all the advice !!

Cheers
 
Well thanks to all the feedback.... here is the system I've put together....just want to ask for quick review, to see if anyone observes any glaring problems, if not I need to "pull the trigger on this" ..... so I can get it ASAP

Network Card Please Use The Onboard Network Ethernet Card Integrated On My Motherboard
Sound Card Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Audio 24BIT Sound Card 7.1 $47.85
Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM $123.77
Hard Drives Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive $87.99
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i7 950 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.06GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S $299.99
CPU Cooling Please Use The Heatsink Included with My CPU $0.00
Motherboard MSI P55A-G55 P55 ATX LGA1156 DDR3 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard $134.55
DVD Writer LG GH22NS50 Black 22X SATA DVD Writer OEM $29.99
DDR3 Memory (RAM) G.SKILL F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL Ripjaws 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9-24 240PIN DIMM Memory $174.99
Video Cards MSI GeForce GTX 460 Fermi Cyclone OC 725MHZ 1024MB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini-HDMI DX11 PCI-E Video Card $249.99
Computer Case Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Mid Tower Silent Computer Case 2X5.25 8X3.5INT No PS Front USB $109.99
Power Supply Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 140MM Fan $129.99


Once again, thanks for all the advice !!

Cheers

Little Big problem: CPU is not matching with the board: LGA1156 vs 1366 :nuke:
Should be either an i5-760 or i7-870 on a LGA 1156 board or the i7-950 on a LGA1366 board.

If you are dead-bent on getting a system with THAT much headroom, than you should probably go all the way:
- Add a SSD (solid state disk) with something like 100GB as the primary drive, put Windows and the most used applications/games on it. Should be around $200. You will feel the difference every time you boot up windows, launch applications and save/load files. And the difference is HUGE. Best hardware investment i made the last 5 years ;)

You can shave off a bit with the memory and PSU.
-If you do not know for what you will need more than 4GB, you will not need it at all. Get 2 2GB sticks, so if in 3 years or so you MIGHT need it, you can easily add another 4GB. On a LGA 1366 board you will want THREE identical sticks for utilizing the triple-channel memory interface, 3x2GB would be the most logical choice there.
- The system will peak out around 300W power consumption. The default 500-600W Seasonic will be more than sufficient, even if you would want to add another/ a more powerful video card one day.
 
Adding an SSD is a great idea for a boot drive. I have a 60GB one on my work computer, and for windows and applications, it is very sleak. It is the best hardware upgrade I have done recently.
 
Get Windows 7 Professional, more features and is supported by MS until 2020 (Home Premium support ends 2015)

You can never switch from 32 bit to 64 or vice-versa.


Same serial key can be used for 32 bit and 64 bit editions of Windows 7 so this statement is incorrect
 
Hello? You guys need apparently some grounding in reality. That 5870 is the secondmost powerful single-chip GPU available at the moment. It's complete overkill for Civ and 99% of all games on the market, unless you have multiple monitors/and or use ridiculously costly antialiasing modes that won't give much of a visual benefit anyway.

You make it look as if it is maybe a decent choice for a casual gamer, but not for anything halfway serious :lol:

You may want to reread these post a little better. The OP wants to be able to play this game at the very least max settings and wants it to last 3-4 years. I don't see why a 5870 is a worse choice than buying a 5770 you recommend and then replacing it down the road. Why isn't it just as sensible to just get a better card now, since the OP has saved for it, and avoid upgrading completely? Not to mention you get the advantages of a faster processor now that will let you play any game on the market you want in almost any configuration you want. Not to mention all the future Civ V expansions should play just fine without needing to upgrade.


@ ImperialGuard:

You'll need to switch your motherboard or CPU. The socket 1156 is cheaper, but the 1366 support triple channel memory. Not sure if the triple channel is worth the extra as test show very little gain with the third channel. Plus 1156 will let you save more money and possibly allow you to buy an SSD.

I love my SSD as it is so much faster than a hard drive. They are a little expensive, but get as big as you can afford, and still have a hard drive for backup or even an application drive if you get a small SSD. I find my SSD is at least twice as fast as my hard drive and my system is much more responsive.m SSD aren't necessary, but the hard drive is the biggest bottleneck in PCs today.

Your power supply is nice, but you can get by with 600w or even less which will save a few bucks. My i7 920 and 5870 at stock speed only pull 350watts under full load (linx on CPU and furbench on GPU). so your system will have a less load. 600watt PSU will allow a send GPU in future if you feel you need it. although I don't recommend multi-GPUs as they still have quirks to them and inefficiency. Better to just sell the old and replace with a much better one.

If you want to save a couple more bucks, a sound card isn't really needed these days. Onboard sound has very good sound quality and will save you a little for other upgrades. If you have a hi-fi sound system, then a sound card isn't a bad choice.

but all-in-all it looks to be a very good system.

Good luck
-=Mark=-
 
Little Big problem: CPU is not matching with the board: LGA1156 vs 1366 :nuke:
Should be either an i5-760 or i7-870 on a LGA 1156 board or the i7-950 on a LGA1366 board.

If you are dead-bent on getting a system with THAT much headroom, than you should probably go all the way:
- Add a SSD (solid state disk) with something like 100GB as the primary drive, put Windows and the most used applications/games on it. Should be around $200. You will feel the difference every time you boot up windows, launch applications and save/load files. And the difference is HUGE. Best hardware investment i made the last 5 years ;)

You can shave off a bit with the memory and PSU.
-If you do not know for what you will need more than 4GB, you will not need it at all. Get 2 2GB sticks, so if in 3 years or so you MIGHT need it, you can easily add another 4GB. On a LGA 1366 board you will want THREE identical sticks for utilizing the triple-channel memory interface, 3x2GB would be the most logical choice there.
- The system will peak out around 300W power consumption. The default 500-600W Seasonic will be more than sufficient, even if you would want to add another/ a more powerful video card one day.

@ ImperialGuard:

You'll need to switch your motherboard or CPU. The socket 1156 is cheaper, but the 1366 support triple channel memory. Not sure if the triple channel is worth the extra as test show very little gain with the third channel. Plus 1156 will let you save more money and possibly allow you to buy an SSD.

I love my SSD as it is so much faster than a hard drive. They are a little expensive, but get as big as you can afford, and still have a hard drive for backup or even an application drive if you get a small SSD. I find my SSD is at least twice as fast as my hard drive and my system is much more responsive.m SSD aren't necessary, but the hard drive is the biggest bottleneck in PCs today.

Your power supply is nice, but you can get by with 600w or even less which will save a few bucks. My i7 920 and 5870 at stock speed only pull 350watts under full load (linx on CPU and furbench on GPU). so your system will have a less load. 600watt PSU will allow a send GPU in future if you feel you need it. although I don't recommend multi-GPUs as they still have quirks to them and inefficiency. Better to just sell the old and replace with a much better one.

If you want to save a couple more bucks, a sound card isn't really needed these days. Onboard sound has very good sound quality and will save you a little for other upgrades. If you have a hi-fi sound system, then a sound card isn't a bad choice.

but all-in-all it looks to be a very good system.

Good luck
-=Mark=-

Hey thanks guys !! You saved my bacon :thumbsup:

I will upgrade the motherboard, downgrade the PSU, switch up the memory configuration (3x2GB) and find an SSD.

I'm ordering this today, so hopefully I won't miss too many CIV5 days.


Any one last time ... THANKYOU for all your feedback !!!
 
One last thing that wasn't covered in the thread - If something DOES break after the basic warranty, it'll be plug'n'play to fix it yourself, and the repair parts will cost less than that extended warranty. In the meantime, you have that extra cash.

Also, with the way NCIX is building their computers from Off the Shelf components, you'll be able to do upgrades yourself for the next several years. That's not true of Dell or HP boxes, they insert impediments to piecemeal upgrades in their boxes.

NCIX is an awesome site, btw. I wish I was Canadian and it had been around when I was building boxes.
 
Cool :) I am really glad I decided to get an SSD to run windows on. I chose the 80gb Intel X25M which today still seems like a safe choise (~220Can$ ?), but tbh tech advancement on these things is hard to follow! readme

Just remeber, if you get a 2.5" SSD, be sure to also buy a bracket that converts 2.5" => 3.5", or they will have a hard time fitting it in your case :)
 
One article claims a 30% speed increase and much better tessellation support to keep up with nvidia. although they are already faster than nvidia with tessellation off.

It doesnt look like they would faster than Nvidia cards in most games with tessellation turned either on or off. Just for clarification, GTX 470 is competing with HD 5850 and GTX 480 is competing against HD 5870. The GTX 470 actually manages to beat HD 5870 in quit a few tests and HD 5870 costs almost 100€ more than GTX 470 (!) with HD 5850 and GTX 470 being almost identical with pricing here in Finland.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...s/30321-nvidia-geforce-gtx-470-review-13.html

You can change the benchmark from bottom of the page.
 
If you are ordering from NCIX, don't use the system builder (which it looks like you have). You are way better off manually adding components to your shopping cart and adding the option to have them assemble it for $50. The system builder doesn't always take into account the weekly specials and doesn't let you price match.

Once you have a build you like just post it on their forums, their are many people who will quickly check it over for you and give you any advice etc.
 
Well .... I've bought the game, now I need a system to run it. I've been saving my pennies since May and I'm looking at Dell.ca (I'm in Canada...)

Dell XPS9100 ~ $1400

Intel® Core™i7-930 processor(8MB L2 Cache, 2.80GHz)
6GB Tri Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz- 3 DIMMs
ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English


I'd appreciate any feedback, suggestions, recommendations on changes to the spec, any better deals etc..

thanks in advance

That's a very good deal. The RAM speed is low end though @ 1333MHZ. The processor looks great, the video card looks great. Check out www.CyberPowerPC.com That's where I buy my computers as their prices are very good. You pick the parts and they build it for you.
 
I also am shopping for a new computer and would appreciate your feedback. My needs and budget are a bit more modest than the op.

Neweeg has the following for $729.00

CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2044

AMD Phenom II X4 955 (3.2GHz) 64 bit Quad-Core Processor (4 x 512KB L2 Cache)
Memory 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333
NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT 1GB PCI Express Video Card
Audio Sound card - Integrated
500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 7200RPM HDD
Power Supply 700W
Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

Thanks in advance and I look forward to your replies.
 
I also am shopping for a new computer and would appreciate your feedback. My needs and budget are a bit more modest than the op.

Neweeg has the following for $729.00

CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2044

Thanks in advance and I look forward to your replies.

I would not recommend a DX10 card in a new computer anymore. If you order directly at Cyberpower, you can customize your computer. If you can afford it, I would recommend a GTX460 as a video card. In any case I would not get anything below HD5670 or GTS450.
 
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