what graphics card are you using and do you have problems with Civ 4?

[jajohns8]

I have, what I consider to be a fairly decent system, except for my graphics card. I'd like to know what graphics cards out there are running Civ 4 without any problems. I do realize game performance relies on MANY system factors, but, all things being equal, I'd like some feedback for what makes and models of graphics cards are running this game with no problems...
I am really in the market for a PCI Express x 16, but if yours is AGP and it is working, I'd like to know that too...

I am in the market for a new one, so if you remember how much you paid for it, post that too....

Thanks in advance....

 

[Murphoid]

Yesterday I purchased a PNY Geforce 5500 (FX) with 128MB AGP card. It displays all the graphics and plays back the videos.

I Paid 86.99 for it. I bought it from best buy.

Some of the videos are choppy but I think that is a not enough memory in my computer issue, not an issue with the card.

Here is a link to the specs:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...t&productCategoryId=cat01151&id=1108124982738

 

[JerichoMyst]

First of all ATM I am with Notebook... and its with IGP...
Sempron +3100, 512MB (64MB goes to IGP), SIS M760, WinXP Home SP2.

The integrated Mirage™ 2 graphic engine features a 256-bit 3D, & a 128 bit 2D Graphics engine...

In-game and intro lag, game lags too, but just graphics, runs at 1280x800, never crashed, fast startup, fast game loading (5 sec max), non a single audio issue.
So in general, no probs if we will keep in mind the hardware it is on.


edit: posted without reading others posts, just the question in title

 

[Zydor]

If your in the market for a non-insane level card that will not bust the bank account, a NVidia 6600gt is a very good choice. They recently updated the feature set and dropped the price to below $99. At that price its impossible to beat, a very good card. Try if you can to stretch to 256Mb on board (aka $125), but dont feal down if you stay at 128Mb on board - its an excellent performer. Make sure you get one with an on board fan - the 6600 runs hot, and passive cooling does not cut it despite what resellers like GigaByte say.

Xfx 6600gt would be a good one - Xfx cards very good.

Whatever you get, check the heating side of life before buying, make sure it causes no issues inside your case.



Regards
Zy

 

[jajohns8]

If your in the market for a non-insane level card that will not bust the bank account, a NVidia 6600gt is a very good choice. They recently updated the feature set and dropped the price to below $99. At that price its impossible to beat, a very good card. Try if you can to stretch to 256Mb on board (aka $125), but dont feal down if you stay at 128Mb on board - its an excellent performer. Make sure you get one with an on board fan - the 6600 runs hot, and passive cooling does not cut it despite what resellers like GigaByte say.

Xfx 6600gt would be a good one - Xfx cards very good.

Whatever you get, check the heating side of life before buying, make sure it causes no issues inside your case.



Regards
Zy

Thanks for feedback from all so far....

Zy,
Have heard alot of good things about the 6600gt....I think I may go for the 256MB version....Under 150 is my goal...This feedback confirms other things I've been hearing. I appreciate it....

 

[iSkratch]

6800 Ultra.

As far as the problems question, you should be able to figure it out from my sig.

 

[Zanmato]

Just installed a nvidia 6600 256mb, with onboard fan. Paid just under £130 plus FarCry thrown in. Is so much faster, smooth scrolling, etc. Runs great apart from the wonder videos. Stupid things, will tweak the settings alittle more but I think just end up turning them off and have done with them.

 

[RakuPL]

Everything ok for now with Gigabyte Radeon 9550 128MB AGPx8 and Omega Drivers 3.8.205 (6.1 Catalyst)

 

[Raider62]

BFG 6800 GT factory overclocked has issues with Civ4 stay away from it until they fix it. like they say above the 6600 is a very cost effective card that is good for gaming.

 

[Zydor]

The root cause of the Movie problem is here:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=146309&page=49 Post 965

The low res movies are not out yet, a guess, but probably with the next patch, they have done them. Until then tweeking the bink settings - or just turning the movies off - in the ini file may help

C:\Documents and Settings\New User\My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\CivilizationIV.ini

ini file name can change from Country to Country, as long as its in that directory, go for it (best to use Notepad to edit)

Regards
Zy

 

[Scalpel]

I have the 6600gt, great card, but I am having hard lock-ups every 2-15 minutes, sometimes even within the menu system! I have all updated drivers, the latest patch, have tried every suggestion I could find on the forums, and still no luck. No idea, but I'm not the only one with a 6600gt with this problem. Just a warning. Other than Civ 4, LOVE the card! Just thought I'd add my 2 cents...

Scalpel

 

[Akhenaton]

The low res movies are not out yet, a guess, but probably with the next patch, they have done them. Until then tweeking the bink settings - or just turning the movies off - in the ini file may help

Any suggestions for working settings?

For me the defaults result in quite jerky "wonder movies", but the intro is much better, having only a few delayed frames here and there. In general, Bink is a huge performance hog even with their standard movies and should never be used in a way it's used in CivIV "wonder movies" (feeding another buffer).

Other than that and the general heavy RAM load (probably some leaks remaining because the allocated size increases over time much faster than what could reasonably be correlated to increased size of world state arrays), I don't have any performance issues.

CPU: Newcastle @ 2.5GHz (AMD Athlon 64 Model 4 3000+, ADA3000AEP4AX)
Graphics: 5600U @ 501/919MHz (Gainward FX PowerPack! Ultra/760 XP 128MB Golden Sample)
Video mode: 1280x1024 full screen, 4xAA, full details

 

[Zanmato]

Any suggestions for working settings?

For me, I got the intro movies working fine and I've been playing around with the ini settings for the wonder movies. I got the Stonehenge movie working great but I guess the movie playback may get worse as the game progresses as the RAM requirements and CPU loads increase. I will load up one of my late games and see if that is the case later on.
Anyway, have a shot with these settings.... all found in the ini file.

; Don't skip frames if falling behind
BinkNoSkip = 0

; Copy entire image each frame, not just dirty pixels
BinkCopyAll = 0

; Show movies using hi-color, not true-color (may be faster)
Bink16Bit = 1

; Copy ever other scanline during movie playback (faster)
BinkInterlace = 0

; Allow Screenshots. May affect performance on some video cards
AllowScreenShots = 1

; Sync input to smooth interface (may run slower)
SyncInput = 0

; Allows some memory savings *** ALT-TAB WILL NO LONGER FUNCTION ***
MemSaver = 0

In-game settings, graphics level = medium, no background music.

Strangely, allow screenshots seems to improve video playback. Something to do with a lockable buffer in the thread that Zydor provided. Don't know if MemSaver as any bearing on the playback but I have it turned off anyway to reduce load of the video card, don't know if that's right or not.
IMHO, the wonder movies are too big in pixel size anyway, the datarate is pretty sizeable and no wonder (no pun intended) some machines are having a hard time processing the game and copying the movie(s) again into another buffer.

 

[Akhenaton]

; Allow Screenshots. May affect performance on some video cards
AllowScreenShots = 1

According to Mustafa Thamer, it should be the other way around, better performance with "AllowScreenShots = 0", since this should not force locking the texture buffer for each frame (at least that's my understanding of Thamer's explanation). Also, jdurg reports that he gets better performance without allowing screenies. I'm not suggesting that yours is not behaving differently, I'm just trying to make sense of it all.

In-game settings, graphics level = medium, no background music.

What resolution/AA? Full screen/window?

It seems to me (with regards to texture quality settings if you don't run insane resolution) you have a more conservative approach than me, so the theory that the wonder movies lag because some other rendering is done without it being needed sounds a bit more plausible than the back buffer locking issue. Or in other words, yours play smoother because you have a better card than me (about 2.4Gtexel/s v. 2.0 for me) and still use lower general settings (which shouldn't directly affect the Bink video if the windowed presentation of it is properly coded). I'll test this next time I get a save where a wonder movie plays.

 

[Zanmato]

What resolution/AA? Full screen/window?

Ah sorry, forgot to add that. It's at the lowest res, 1024x1164 or something like that, no AA, no low textures. Full screen.

Still need to find a late-game save with a wonder about to complete for testing. Did have one but forgot that the Apollo program has no video for it. Should have one, imo.

 

[techie007]

I just got an Asus made 6600GT 128MB for ~$120 CND.

I just went back to the last 7x.xx drivers -- hopfully my mouse will remain visible now -- we'll see.

 

[Jafendel]

ATI Radeon 9600 XT here. Had some movie/leaderhead difficulties before I moved the general 3d settings from Performance to High Performance. Some graphics bugs still visible.

A new card like 6600 GT is in my wish list...

 

[Sir Elric]

Palit Nvidia 6600GT 256mb DDR3(v8.1.9.8 drivers)
Runs everything perfectly

SE

 

[Zanmato]

Palit Nvidia 6600GT 256mb DDR3(v8.1.9.8 drivers)
Runs everything perfectly

Great! Does that include the Wonder vids?? If so, what settings are you using in the ini file and in the game?

 

[halcyoncmdr]

I have tried to load the game onto two computers:

One is running an old Riva TNT2 64MB ram card, it works, but the grasslands, plains, and ocean do not render at all. The rivers, people, and building, etc. render just fine, and the game runs fine. When I tried to run it on a RADEON 9000 it got a black screen after autosaving the beginning, and shut off my monitor. I am not quite sure why it works on such a crappy card, but I'm cool with it until I get my 6600.