Just buy any components you need on Ebay or Craigslist.
System Requirements?
- Thread starter rwil
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Just buy any components you need on Ebay or Craigslist.
but what if you have a normal "commuter laptop"? i heard you cant put new parts in laptops that arent gaming machines
You can upgrade RAM and HDD/SSD
and how would that affect gameplay?
mjs0
The 4th X
RAM makes a huge difference in a laptop of that type because it is used not only for main system memory but also by the graphics card.
More memory=less contention between those key components.
Replacing a mechanical hard drive with a solid state drive can dramatically improve loading time for all files and reduce the temperature of the system (improving stability when stressed), the (significant) downside is the price of SSDs, which are still very expensive for less capacity.
More memory=less contention between those key components.
Replacing a mechanical hard drive with a solid state drive can dramatically improve loading time for all files and reduce the temperature of the system (improving stability when stressed), the (significant) downside is the price of SSDs, which are still very expensive for less capacity.
i would totally get that. but i dont have the money. im stuck with what i have until i get a gaming computer next year. and i know that if i buy civ 5 when it comes out if it dosent work on this then i will have it when i do get a gaming pc. so im hoping that civ 5 will run ok till jan-feb next year
@More RAM=less disc paging (having to write to disc because not enough RAM),
@SSDs; SSDs make everything much faster (the higher end the CPU the more the increase)
EDIT: When you buy a gaming computer shop at Maingear, they have awesome stuff
that site is awesome. but the other stuff about ssd and stuff, i cant get that. so basically im either waiting for the specs to be released (hopefully before the game comes out) or buy it and try it.
I was motly talking about PCs, which unlike notebooks are very easy to upgrade.
MarkJohnson
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Can you actually play the game in this 2D mode? If you could, then you could play it on almost any machine since no 3D graphics. I think you could even play it online. It this maybe related to the Facebook option I've been hearing about?
@D712
You should have no problems playing Civ 5 on your laptop. It is a very recent system and should be playable. You may be limited on the graphics, but other than that it should be fine.
The only thing I'd consider upgrading on that is maybe a SSD drive. Don't worry on the price/capacity ratio. The performance gains are large and you won't find a better price/performance ratio. Just figure what max size you'll need. Most people don't even need 60GB in most cases. and a 60GBish SSDs are well under $200 and I've seen special on them close to a $100. Just make sure you research the specific SSD thoroughly before buying, since they are relatively new still.
Mark Havel
Warlord
I'd like to detail a bit more this point since I don't think the CPU have anything to say regarding the HDD or SSD performances. The main point of a good SSD (i.e. an Intel one or something with an Indilinx or Sandforce controller) is to dramatically reduce the latencies. On a normal HDD, it's somewhere between 7 and 13 ms. On a good SSD, it's more like 50 to 80 µs, so that something like 200 times better. Since the latencies on mechanical drives depend on the platters rotation speeds, who are usually 5400 RPM, 7200 RPM and maybe 10000 RPM since at least 15 years, this means that this very element hasn't evolved significantly since 15 years and until good SSD arrived on the market.
As most of the contents of a hard disk are pretty small files, adding a SSD to any machine will have dramatic consequences on loading times and general system responsiveness.
On the other hand, what a SSD shows in games is precisely that the I/O are playing a relatively small role during the loading times. The games and levels loading times are not that much reduced by a SSD, especially if you compare them with the Windows loading times. Loading games seems to be much more computationnaly intensive than loading Windows or a bunch of random small files, which why having a powerful CPU and lots of RAM actually have an impact on the loading times in games (and in their performance too), while the SSD might not bring that much in this regard.
Nowadays, adding a SSD to any machine, even on a 5 year old or more is certainly the update which will have the more dramatic impact, regardless of the CPU used in that machine. But it won't on games which are probably the most demanding programs you can use on a computer.
@D712
You should have no problems playing Civ 5 on your laptop. It is a very recent system and should be playable. You may be limited on the graphics, but other than that it should be fine.
The only thing I'd consider upgrading on that is maybe a SSD drive. Don't worry on the price/capacity ratio. The performance gains are large and you won't find a better price/performance ratio. Just figure what max size you'll need. Most people don't even need 60GB in most cases. and a 60GBish SSDs are well under $200 and I've seen special on them close to a $100. Just make sure you research the specific SSD thoroughly before buying, since they are relatively new still.
thanks for the advice. but could you be a little more descriptive when you say "limited on the graphics"? I know I sound a bit obsessive but this stuff means alot to me. Like do you think that I could play the actual game part instead of just strategy mode? And would characters (like Elizabeth, Napoleon, Bismark, ect.) be smooth like on the civ 5 site?
by "IGP" you mean Integrated Graphics right? Yeah I remember. But I also remember hearing an interview where the interviewer said "why were the characters so cartoony when the game itself is so polished?" and they said "well this is early....and we are trying to make it scalable so everyone on any system could play" or something like that. I dont exactly remember but it was attached to a thread on here somewhere. And I skipped a part that I couldt remember.
MarkJohnson
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Thanks for making me look just a little bit worse Mark :/
The reason I cant really take the advice to heart is because I dont have the money to buy a new computer and I dont know how to get the graphics card changed, which could ruin my computer.
The reason I cant really take the advice to heart is because I dont have the money to buy a new computer and I dont know how to get the graphics card changed, which could ruin my computer.
MarkJohnson
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You can't buy a graphics card for a laptop. They have special chips on the motherboard to control them, and if it doesn't come with one, then you can't upgrade. They make external video adapters for laptops, but I haven't heard much good of them. not to mention you'll need an external monitor as well, as they can't use the laptop screen.
If you can't play Civ 5 to your liking when it releases, you could sell the laptop and get a decent gaming rig for what you sell it for?
Sorry for not having better news, but laptops are for business use, not gaming.
-=Mark=-
Working with PC hardware is easy - think of it as big overpriced puzzle
If you have normal PC (not notebook) all you need to do is check specs of your PC (should be available online somewhere) to get info about your motherboard (to make sure your GPU use PCi-E or AGP interface), power supply (to make sure that your PSU can provide enough power to your new GPU) and graphics card and based on that info you can easily pick new GPU and after that just powed down PC, open case, pull original GPU and replace it with new one. There are lots of guides written about this on www - just google it.
Of course its much easier for people like me because PC hardware is my hobby so if I were to get xxx € to get new GPU, it would take me 10 seconds to choose which GPU, another 30 seconds to order it from my supplier and when it arrive next day it would take me about 2 minutes to switch them.
So best advice is that if you are affraid to do it even after doing some basic research via google and you know someone (friend, relative etc.) who is good with computers, ask him to help you with it and to explain what, why etc. - next time you will be easily able to do it on your own.
If you are interested check forums and ask there if you need advice:
http://hardforum.com/
http://forums.anandtech.com/
I have to disagree a little here. Mainstream or "business" laptops often come with good CPU's and integrated graphics, and you cannot upgrade integrated graphics obviously. However, gaming laptops do have swappable discrete graphics cards (usually desktop replacement variety). Of course, a gaming laptop will cost much more and run worse than a similarly priced desktop, but laptops are not totally out of the gaming equation.
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