Video Card Q+A

[Alistic]

its 64mb graphics card not 32.

 

[Skeletal]

The funny thing about the srtest.com site is that I passed for Civilization IV, but I tried other games I owned, like Doom 3 and Far Cry and I failed the minimums for both games, and yet I play both games on low-medium settings perfectly.

 

[rtilley]

I bought a Gigabyte produced ATI 9550 card for 60 bucks at newwgg. It's AGP 4x/8x and my AGP slot is 2x/4x. This card works great! It has a 128-bit memory channel and 256MB of built-in memory. If you don't play hardcore first person shooter games, then any ATI 9550 based card will work wonderfully for civ4. Lots of manufacturers make cards based on this chip... here is a list from ATI's website:

http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9550/partner.html

Another thing I might mention. I chose the Gigabyte card because it's passively cooled (no fan just a large heatsink) and inexpensive. The card is silent so if you don't like noisey computers, be sure to get a passively cooled card. I'm very pleased with this card and purchased it specifically for civ4. Best of luck to everyone

 

[alamo]

Your card could fail T+L but still play a game. You simply have your CPU doing some of the work intended for the GPU. The big question is whether the 3d engine allows this.

My own card fails for T+L - ATI Radeon VE 32MB DDR. I intend to buy a new system after Xmas, so I'm waiting to see if it runs.

That Gigabyte deal sounds pretty good.

 

[Mujadaddy]

Thanks for starting this thread, Alamo. Good info for people who need it.

 

[alancsilver]

I currenly have a GEFORCE4 MX 420 card in my 3 1/2 year old computer. It is an AGP slot. And I am thinking of upgrading that one.
My question is how can I determine if the AGP slot can handle a 2x, 4x, or 8x card?

 

[CornMaster]

lol

Sound Card
Minimum: Yes
You Have: ATI TV Wonder Video Capture
PASS

Doesn't look like a sound card to me.

 

[Bast]

Thanks everyone. It's like I have to take a degree in computers just to play Civ4.

 

[rtilley]

I currenly have a GEFORCE4 MX 420 card in my 3 1/2 year old computer. It is an AGP slot. And I am thinking of upgrading that one.
My question is how can I determine if the AGP slot can handle a 2x, 4x, or 8x card?

The best way to do this is to obtain documentation from your motherboard or computer manufacturer. You can also check and see what your BIOS reports the slot to be.

AGP came in 3 specifications for the most part. 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 (3.0 will be the last as PCI-E is quickly replacing AGP).

I'd bet that your slot is 2.0 compliant, possibly 3.0. AGP 2.0 takes 2x/4x cards. AGP 3.0 takes 4x/8x cards. Also, AGP is backward compatible unless you have a funny (4x only slot) or a *really* old slot, you can use a 3.0 compliant card in a 2.0 compliant slot (that's what I'm currently doing)... this is especailly true if you have a 'universial' slot (a slot that is not keyed for a specific AGP spec).

The biggest things you'll face is signaling. AGP 2.0 uses 1.5V signaling while AGP 3.0 uses 0.8V but should accept 1.5 volts if it follows the specs as it should. Both Nvidia and ATI follow the specs religiously.

Google around and get your slot specifics before buying. Best of luck.

 

[Comraddict]

this post should be modified a bit and put sticky on it.

 

[alamo]

alancsilver - Your card is good for Civ4 - Vertex=TnL / dX=7.

rtilley - Good slot info - Thanks.

I'm not sure what it takes to get sticky, but there are a bunch already. Feel free to suggest other improvements.

I started this one to try and pull the posters from the other 5+ threads, not to mention the occasional 'Will card XXX work?' threads.

 

[SimaYi]

Hmm,this doesn't make sense. I pass the minium, but the only thing that fails at the Reccomended is my Graph. Card...

BUT, it says I have all the things needed (32MB,3d hardware, TnL)
I have a GEFORCE 4 MX 4000...and like I said, I have those. Why does it say that my graph. card fails? >_<

 

[alamo]

You passed minimum - that's better than me!

It just doesn't like old cards. The recommended spec is pretty tough.

The recommended Specifications are: 512MB of ram, Pentium4 processor, and a recent graphics card (like the Radeon 9800).

 

[Zakharov]

The easiest way to find out your system info, including the AGP slot version, is to download and run this tool:

LINK

The AGP slot version can be found under the mainboard tab.

 

[alamo]

That's an interesting site - thanks.

It looks legit to me. If anyone uses this tool then let us know how you liked it.

 

[JakeCourtney]

I still love my ATI X800 XL with 256mb of RAM. I could have opted for the 512mb verison, but I'd rather not break the bank.

 

[lightnng]

Alright, I'm sorry, but this doesn't seem to be answered anywhere:

If I have a card that DOES support all the nifty 3D hardware acceleration stuff like T&L, but DOES NOT have the required memory... will I be able to run the game? (assuming, say, lowest resolution and minimum graphic options)

My laptop - an IBM X31 - has the Radeon Mobility AGP. Advanced enough to support T&L, but only 16MB onboard, and it doesn't share.

Any informed guesses?

 

[Zakharov]

That's an interesting site - thanks.

It looks legit to me. If anyone uses this tool then let us know how you liked it.

Of course it's legit. I'm sure I would have been banned a long time ago if I gave out dodgy urls.

Btw, if anyone wants more detailed answers to these questions (such as AGP slot versions) you should head over to the computer talk section of these forums. There are some very knowledgable posters there who don't seem to frequent the civ 4 section.

 

[Sub]

My video card is a Geforce FX 5200 (yeah, I know, it sucks), but it doesn't support T + L lighting. How much will not supporting it effect my performance ingame? On a side note, was T + L lighting in Pirates! because my computer ran that game without a problem.

I'm buying a new computer, but thats going to be around christmas...

 

[alva848]

I currenly have a GEFORCE4 MX 420 card in my 3 1/2 year old computer. It is an AGP slot. And I am thinking of upgrading that one.
My question is how can I determine if the AGP slot can handle a 2x, 4x, or 8x card?

What's your motherboard? Should be on the invoice somewhere.

The jump from 2X to 4X is reasonably substantial (though not as big as 1X to 2X), there's is hardly any difference between 4X and 8X though.

Don't buy cards that end in 'MX' btw...bad cards., bad..bad cards.

My video card is a Geforce FX 5200 (yeah, I know, it sucks), but it doesn't support T + L lighting.

As I said in the other thread, it does support T/L. Who told you it didn't?
Any cards made this millenium support it. T/L isn't even mentioned anymore on videocards because it is so standard. Think television and colour.