Video Memory...worried

Hector Achilles

Hector Achilles

Warlord
Joined
Mar 19, 2009
Messages
77
Location
Rochester, NY
Sorry, I'm sure this has been brought up already, but does anybody know if a 128MB memory card will suffice for playing Civ 5? I know a lot of games today requiure 256MB, and my onboard video memory of course cannot be upgraded...so am I outta luck?:(:mad:
 
Well if I recall that was the minimum required for Civ IV.

The good news is that it sounds like Civ V will be more scalable than Civ IV, I wouldn't expect a very good experience using a card that only has 128MB of ram.
 
largedarryl said:
Well if I recall that was the minimum required for Civ IV.

The good news is that it sounds like Civ V will be more scalable than Civ IV, I wouldn't expect a very good experience using a card that only has 128MB of ram.
Click to expand...

Well, I have been using a 128MB video card for Civ 4/BtS all along. I even have ALL graphics on high and a 1440x990 res w/ 15-18 civs on a Mod like RoM 2.81 going. I have been playing Giant/Huge maps as well, and it has never been a problem. Sure, there is lag time between turns, but that is to be expected.
Well, maybe it won't be so bad afterall w/ Civ 5? My fingers are crossed. I don't feel like shelling out $$$ for a new computer, but I will if I have to!
 
I'm hoping for a minimum of say a 9800 gt to play this. That would let them know they have at least 512mbs of video memory to play with. And really its only a 100 dollar card now days. If you can't afford that, quit gaming.
 
And just to do some speculating based on the fact that Firaxis was looking for programmers with Unreal engine experince, this is the specs for Bioshock2 which uses the Unreal3 engine, and is also a 2K product.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock_2#Development

Official system requirements

Windows

Operating System Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7

11 GB space on HD

Internet connection required for activation

Minimum

AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3800+ 2.4Ghz or better, Intel Pentium 4 530 3.0Ghz Processor or better

2 GB memory

NVIDIA 7800GT 256MB graphics card or better, ATI Radeon X1900 256MB graphics card or better

Recommended

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Dual Core 2.60Ghz, Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 Dual Core 2.13Ghz

3 GB memory

NVIDIA 8800GT 512MB graphics card or better, ATI Radeon HD4830 512MB graphics card or better


Now this is a FPS, and so likely is heavier on the eyecandy than Civ5 will be, but it's better to get more hardware than have less.

CS
 
Hector Achilles said:
Well, I have been using a 128MB video card for Civ 4/BtS all along. I even have ALL graphics on high and a 1440x990 res w/ 15-18 civs on a Mod like RoM 2.81 going. I have been playing Giant/Huge maps as well, and it has never been a problem. Sure, there is lag time between turns, but that is to be expected.
Well, maybe it won't be so bad afterall w/ Civ 5? My fingers are crossed. I don't feel like shelling out $$$ for a new computer, but I will if I have to!
Click to expand...
What is your Computer's specs? You might just have to get a new video card instead of a whole new computer.
 
Yes a ATI Radeon HD4830, is only around the $110 USD mark, so as long as your computer is new enough to have a PCI-E slot you should be able to upgrade no problem.

CS
 
Just came back to the thread and realized I said a 9800gt....bleh I meant at least a 8800gt. Thats what I get for multitasking at work. o.O shhhhh
 
realkiran said:
Aren't those pretty much the same thing?
Click to expand...

No a 9600 is a rebranded 8800, a 9800 is a higher architecture usually netting an extra 6-8 frames of performance on graphically intensive games. Obviously this isn't one of those games probably though.
 
I'm aiming for a Gigabyte of VRAM for civ V, should be excellent for it
 
The problem is that if you have an old computer, you can´t just install a modern, state of the art video card in it since the power requirements of these behemoths are higher than what those computers power supply can handle.

However, you can easily upgrade to a 256 MB video card. I did recently on my old fart of a computer and I´m now able to play reasonably new games on it.
 
Danielos said:
The problem is that if you have an old computer, you can´t just install a modern, state of the art video card in it since the power requirements of these behemoths are higher than what those computers power supply can handle.

However, you can easily upgrade to a 256 MB video card. I did recently on my old fart of a computer and I´m now able to play reasonably new games on it.
Click to expand...
Well obviously we are assuming (yes I know the danger inherent in this word) that anyone with enough computer know how to select a proper video card for their system would also notice the psu requirements of said card. And its not like they are much. My 8800gtx is a few years old but if I remember the specs right I needed a 450w psu, I installed a 600w one by rosewell that had plenty of power on the 12a line.

Hmm that makes me wonder when I finally upgrade to a new video card I might need a new psu just cause this one might have downgraded output some after 4 years of use. So glad I get my new i-5 machine next week! (the quad core one not the stupid dualcores...) Hmm need to see if theres a way to check my output and see if its time to replace the PSU before I get one of those new Nvidia dx11 video cards coming soon.
 
Will this game run on my IBM 5160? I upgraded it to have 640k of memory, and I feel like it should be enough.
 
mattigus said:
Will this game run on my IBM 5160? I upgraded it to have 640k of memory, and I feel like it should be enough.
Click to expand...

Now you are just being a really cool guy.
 
Drago Askani said:
I'm hoping for a minimum of say a 9800 gt to play this. That would let them know they have at least 512mbs of video memory to play with. And really its only a 100 dollar card now days. If you can't afford that, quit gaming.
Click to expand...

I really hope this is completely not true. I'm a casual gamer and I play on a laptop that that can get up to 128MB shared. I know it sucks for gaming, but it handles Civ IV just fine (even though the game gives me a message saying I'm below the min sys requirement s at the start). If they put these kinds of requirements for the game it's going to take people like me right out of the potential market.

I am a huge Civ fan and I don't like the game because it looks cool, I like it because of the overall play of the game. If they come out with huge system requirements on the game I probably won't be playing it.
 
I think this question is really for those of us who only has a laptop.
 
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