What CPU is enough for huge map + max civs?

[poncratias]

As the release pushes near, many of us are getting afraid that their puter might not handle Civ5.

As the minimum sys req's for CPU are only stated as "dual core" and recommended is "1,8 quad", I ask myself what CPU (dual core+quad) is too low and what is enough to handle a full civ game (like huge map and max 18 civs) ?





As in my example, will my 2,6 Ghz Dual core be good or won't I be able to enjoy the full-scale experience?

 

[Alsark]

If I had to guess, most computers that people would call "decent" won't be enough to handle a huge map. As is, my computer struggles with a huge map in Civilization IV (which, upon its release, was probably considered "decent"). So if you don't have a fairly strong processor, you'd probably be better off sticking with large worlds or smaller. Of course, we have no way of knowing until we have the game.

 

[Shurdus]

That cpu seems a bit light for everything maxed out. But who knows at this point...

Also please do not say puter again.

 

[PieceOfMind]

The worst thing that can happen is your game will run slower. If you want your games to go 1% faster thanks to having a 10% faster turn time, then maybe upgrading your cpu is a good idea.

Large maps with lots of civs are more likely to present problems if you have insufficient RAM or you're trying to run high graphics settings on a card that can't handle it.

IMO a 2.6GHz dualcore will do the job just fine.

 

[faizan]

I am pretty confident of being able to play full quality @ 1080p but would like some reassurance

Intel Core i7 920
6GB DDR3 Ram
ATi Radeon 5830 1GB

What do you guys think??

 

[PieceOfMind]

Moderator Action: Moved to Technical Support.

I am pretty confident of being able to play full quality @ 1080p but would like some reassurance

Intel Core i7 920
6GB DDR3 Ram
ATi Radeon 5830 1GB

What do you guys think??

You'll probably have no problems.

 

[TrailblazingScot]

I am pretty confident of being able to play full quality @ 1080p but would like some reassurance

Intel Core i7 920
6GB DDR3 Ram
ATi Radeon 5830 1GB

What do you guys think??

Definitely, that is an excellent rig. Hope you've an awesome monitor to make it all worthwhile

 

[civ_king]

As the release pushes near, many of us are getting afraid that their puter might not handle Civ5.

As the minimum sys req's for CPU are only stated as "dual core" and recommended is "1,8 quad", I ask myself what CPU (dual core+quad) is too low and what is enough to handle a full civ game (like huge map and max 18 civs) ?





As in my example, will my 2,6 Ghz Dual core be good or won't I be able to enjoy the full-scale experience?

Huge plus max civs with playable turn time? Go with dual processors

 

[bhavv]

I am pretty confident of being able to play full quality @ 1080p but would like some reassurance

Intel Core i7 920
6GB DDR3 Ram
ATi Radeon 5830 1GB

What do you guys think??

The only problem that I can think of is that ATI GPUs might not handle maximum tessellation in Civ V well enough, but if you leave it turned down of off there wont be any problems.

I would be interested to see DX11 comparisons for this game with every setting including tessellation maxed out between the ATI HD 5000 and GTX 400 cards.

Civ V is the first game (first major game at least), that is fully implementing tessellation, and ATI HD 5000 cards are very far behing the Nvidia ones in tessellation benchmarks.

Huge plus max civs with playable turn time? Go with dual processors

An I7 with Hyperthreading should be fine, if the game is coded to utilize 8 threads. TBH I dont think that anymore than 4 cores will be needed, I5 and Penom X4 CPUs should be just fine, plus an ATI 5770 or better, or GTX 460 or better graphics card.

 

[civ_king]

The only problem that I can think of is that ATI GPUs might not handle maximum tessellation in Civ V well enough, but if you leave it turned down of off there wont be any problems.

I would be interested to see DX11 comparisons for this game with every setting including tessellation maxed out between the ATI HD 5000 and GTX 400 cards.

Civ V is the first game (first major game at least), that is fully implementing tessellation, and ATI HD 5000 cards are very far behing the Nvidia ones in tessellation benchmarks.



An I7 with Hyperthreading should be fine, if the game is coded to utilize 8 threads. TBH I dont think that anymore than 4 cores will be needed, I5 and Penom X4 CPUs should be just fine, plus an ATI 5770 or better, or GTX 460 or better graphics card.

Hyperthreading≠more cores
Hyperthreading is a POS lie

Civ V is know to be able to use at least 12 cores

 

[PieceOfMind]

Civ V is know to be able to use at least 12 cores

Says who? The people selling it?

 

[civ_king]

Says who? The people selling it?

yes, according to Intel who worked closely with Firaxis the game should be ultra scalable

 

[PieceOfMind]

yes, according to Intel who worked closely with Firaxis the game should be ultra scalable

Can you tell me where I can read about this? "Ultra" sounds like a fairly empty marketing word.

 

[civ_king]

Can you tell me where I can read about this? "Ultra" sounds like a fairly empty marketing word.

I use the term ultra, what they talked about was it breaking the threads into hundreds of tiny threads (thus making it IMO ultra scalable)

 

[PieceOfMind]

I'm not convinced. Maybe some of the tasks in the game are able to be broken up into so many jobs, but I suspect there are still large parts of the processing time where it's difficult to do much paralellising (a word?).

I'd always expect the devs to be much more optimistic about their own creation than your average skeptic. They'll pick out the best little bits of info that sound great, and conveniently ignore the other detail where the devil lies.

 

[Lancor]

In most of the preview videos it seems like the "cpu work" wasn't that much as turn times where almost non existant, in comparison to Civ IV turn times... but the graphical "lag" in fps decrease was visible when zooming out.

I bet it will be in better shape than Civ IV at the beginning was, in comparison to modern machines of course. The engine seems more polished as the old one.

 

[bhavv]

Hyperthreading≠more cores
Hyperthreading is a POS lie

Civ V is know to be able to use at least 12 cores

Cores and threads work in almost the same way for multithreaded programs I thought. A quad with hyperthreading has the same multithreading ability as two quads without it.

 

[civ_king]

Cores and threads work in almost the same way for multithreaded programs I thought. A quad with hyperthreading has the same multithreading ability as two quads without it.

It doesn't actually, what it does is shove threads in the gaps between threads, and can cause cache thrashing

 

[Zalcron]

what about my amd phenom II X6 1055t with 4 gigs of rame and a 512 radeon 4870? any good?

 

[civ_king]

what about my amd phenom II X6 1055t with 4 gigs of rame and a 512 radeon 4870? any good?

That's great!