Which components limit Civ?

[EdwardTking]

I am planning to buy 1,024 MB DRAM included within a PC
for my very large worlds for Civ3 and Civ4.

But this seems to comes in two types:

1024MB DDR RAM (2x 512MB)

OR

1024MB DDR PC3200 RAM

Does it matter which I buy?

 

[CruddyLeper]

Not much. But I'd go for the single stick (1 X 1Gb) stick myself.

Reason is, when games get even bigger, you can buy another stick and not worry about it. Rather than have to sell your 2 X 512mb modules.

Oh yeah, PC3200 is the speed of the RAM. If you do go for the smaller size twins, make sure it's also PC3200.

 

[HAND]

A good cpu with more ram would solve it... graphics card is of secondary concern tbh.. You I'm ok on Radeon 8500 64mb. Your cpu is ok, more ram is the general consensus.

Is it an Athlon XP 1800+? I remember the Palomino core Athlon XP's running hot... maybe you should take the side or shell of your case of a week or so to see if this makes any difference to the rebooting problem... and if so maybe get a fan or two for your case.

 

[vbraun]

Also Hard drive access speed will affect loading times.

The best way you could accomplish this is with a Raid 0 drive system, though I do not recomend it.