While you guys count hours to the release, you might want to go ahead and update your hardware drivers to make sure you are ready for the next few months of hard core gaming. The core drivers to update are: video, audio, monitor, Windows Updates and spyware. Secondary updates might help are: motherboard chipset, network adapter and defrag your drives.
Video - most video cards are nVidia and ATI:
nVidia - http://nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
ATI - https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27
Audio - since 90% of sound market out there is Creative, here is a link:
http://creative.com/language.asp?sDestUrl=/support/downloads
Monitor - It has been a major problem with previous Civ games if you didn't have the correct monitor driver installed and the refresh rate caused the game to crash at the start. Make sure you install the monitor driver and in the display properties it shows your manufacturer and model number of your monitor
Windows Updates - do yourself a favor and stay up to do:
http://update.microsoft.com/
Spyware - Spyware can cause a lot of havoc on your system and possibly not let new games be installed or ran. Download and install the Microsoft Anty-Spyware tool and run it. It will save you a lot of headache of why computer does all the weird stuff it does.
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
The chipset drivers and network are more for advanced users because you have to know which models you use to download the correct firmware and drivers. So if you are not sure, don't bother getting into it.
Defragging your drive might be a good idea to do it overnight tonight. This will give you a reason to leave your computer tonight and get some good night sleep.
To defrag a Windows XP harddrive do the following:
Double Click "My Computer" - Right Click on "C:" drive - Click on "Properties" - Click on "Tools" (second tab) - Click on "Defragment Now" - New Windows opens - Select the C: drive and click on "Defragment" button.
Good luck to everyone.
Video - most video cards are nVidia and ATI:
nVidia - http://nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
ATI - https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27
Audio - since 90% of sound market out there is Creative, here is a link:
http://creative.com/language.asp?sDestUrl=/support/downloads
Monitor - It has been a major problem with previous Civ games if you didn't have the correct monitor driver installed and the refresh rate caused the game to crash at the start. Make sure you install the monitor driver and in the display properties it shows your manufacturer and model number of your monitor
Windows Updates - do yourself a favor and stay up to do:
http://update.microsoft.com/
Spyware - Spyware can cause a lot of havoc on your system and possibly not let new games be installed or ran. Download and install the Microsoft Anty-Spyware tool and run it. It will save you a lot of headache of why computer does all the weird stuff it does.
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
The chipset drivers and network are more for advanced users because you have to know which models you use to download the correct firmware and drivers. So if you are not sure, don't bother getting into it.
Defragging your drive might be a good idea to do it overnight tonight. This will give you a reason to leave your computer tonight and get some good night sleep.
To defrag a Windows XP harddrive do the following:
Double Click "My Computer" - Right Click on "C:" drive - Click on "Properties" - Click on "Tools" (second tab) - Click on "Defragment Now" - New Windows opens - Select the C: drive and click on "Defragment" button.
Good luck to everyone.
