What kind of computer do I need to play CIV?

[Yoda Power]

I'm considering getting CIV, but I want to make sure my computer can handle the game.

So what kind of computer do I need? (Ram, Video card, etc.)

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I'm not used to this forum.

 

[Yoda Power]

Not a single person knows?

 

[LlamaCat]

you need a good one. check the technical help forums... your question does not have a simple answer.

 

[King Flevance]

I would say a ballpark safe bet would be:

No Win Vista
2+ Ghz processor
1G Ram
Video card is touchy but I would say any 128MB+ Nvidea GeForce card for AGP or PCI-E is a safe bet.

That system is about where odds start being a pretty safe bet.

 

[marc_v3]

what are your computers specs? Or the computer you plan to run it on? That would help a bunch.

 

[3 EMS]

With 10,000+ posts it looks like your used to one of these forums.

Make sure you get plenty of RAM.

 

[Gregthor]

I used to play Warlords on my 1.3GHZ amd, radeon 9800 700 RAM. Medium graphical settings and standard sized map. Oh yeah most importantly single unit graphic.

 

[Civinator]

With 10,000+ posts it looks like your used to one of these forums.

 

[Gooblah]

Pick up a copy of the game and check the recommended requirements on the back/side....

 

[Matty R]

These are my specs.

XP Pro (SP2)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 2.21GHz (rated at 6.31GHz)
992MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 405 (integrated into motherboard)

It can't really handle Huge maps. It starts off okay, but eventually it randomly crashes to the desktop. Large maps are great, although it tends to crash when in battle with large numbers of units at play.

I run the game at 1280x960 with graphics set to High.

Hope this helps.

 

[T.A JONES]

These are my specs.

XP Pro (SP2)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 2.21GHz (rated at 6.31GHz)
992MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 405 (integrated into motherboard)

It can't really handle Huge maps. It starts off okay, but eventually it randomly crashes to the desktop. Large maps are great, although it tends to crash when in battle with large numbers of units at play.

I run the game at 1280x960 with graphics set to High.
Hope this helps.

Wow Matty. Ever think of gettin another G stick? for less the a days pay you walk away stylin official.

EDIT: Doh! I missed that. ANd Junk that onboard Gc your got in the trunk. I don't care if its the latest in onboard excellence, while your graphicc rides off the mainframe its diggin into you precious memory man. In Otherwords it preyin on your rigs lone weakness. That proccessor has mad bit. Give it the ram it deserves and watch it own

 

[Matty R]

Wow Matty. Ever think of gettin another G stick? for less the a days pay you walk away stylin official.

EDIT: Doh! I missed that. ANd Junk that onboard Gc your got in the trunk. I don't care if its the latest in onboard excellence, while your graphicc rides off the mainframe its diggin into you precious memory man. In Otherwords it preyin on your rigs lone weakness. That proccessor has mad bit. Give it the ram it deserves and watch it own

I'll probably get another GB of RAM when I can afford it, along with a much better Graphics Card. I just don't have the cheddar at the moment.

 

[Smidlee]

I'll probably get another GB of RAM when I can afford it, along with a much better Graphics Card. I just don't have the cheddar at the moment.

If you want a cheap graphics card just to play civ4 I would recommend 7600 GT (or 8600 GT for a little more). I found this is amazing card for the price (around $100). Even though these are 128-bit cards their fast clock speed helps make up for it.
P.S. If you don't mind with the frame rate you have now then like TA Jones said you need more ram as integrated graphics uses shared ram which conflicts with games. So you got to make sure you got enough ram for graphics,windows and the game to avoid crashes. My laptop run civ4 ok (10 fps) with integrated graphics.

 

[Matty R]

If you want a cheap graphics card just to play civ4 I would recommend 7600 GT (or 8600 GT for a little more). I found this is amazing card for the price (around $100). Even though these are 128-bit cards their fast clock speed helps make up for it.

Thanks for the info. I'll have a look at those if I do decide to upgrade.

 

[blaugh]

www.srtest.com

 

[Nials]

Whatever you decide to go with, don't skimp on the RAM.

With just 1GB I had quite a bit of choppy behavior in large games but upgrading to 4GB solved it. You don't need that much though, it's really overkill. Just make sure to get 2GB.

The system I use has the following specs -

Core 2 Duo E6600
8800GTS
4GB PC5400 RAM

You can definitely make do with a lesser video card. Civ4 doesn't really require too much in that department. It needs CPU & RAM power.

Oh and nice to see a fellow bloke from Århus First person I have seen from the same city as me on this forum.

 

[Barry Bonds]

"Reccommended System Req: 1.8GHz Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent/better; 512 MB Video card w/ Direct X 8.0 Support (pixel and vertex shaders); Direct X 7 compatible sound card; CD-ROM Drive; 1.7GIB of free hard drive space; Direct X 9.0C; Sound Blaster Xi-Fi Series (TM).
Minimum System Requirements: 1.2GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon Processor or equivalent; 256 MB RAM; CD-ROM Drive; 64MB Video Card w/hardware T&L (GeForce 2/Radeon 7500 or better); Direct X 7 compatible Sound Card; 1.7GB of free hard drive space; Direct x 9.0c."

 

[meatwad4289]

Any on board Video card will work for low and medium settings, when you hit future, Low settings is a must.

I have 1 gig Ram, 2.8 Processor, no video card, And for the most part I run it fine, Occasionally it runs slow when im running AIM Winamp and firefox lol. World builder seems to slow it down quiet a bit.