will my mac work for civ iv?

[questionmac]

PowerBook G4
1.5 Ghz
Memory: 512 MB DDR SDRAM
Graphics chip: GeForce FX Go5200

thanks in advance.

 

[Beamup]

Based on what I recall of all the discussions...

It's likely to run, but very, very, poorly. The 5200 is getting quite a rep for being a poor card for Civ4, and 512 MB of RAM is barely enough to run OSX by itself, much less anything demanding.

I'd guess that it's likely to be playable only if you have a rather liberal definition of the term.

 

[nauticus]

Hi,
I have a iMac G5 1.8 GHz, 1gig RAM, and the GeForce 5200 and I think my game is extremely playable, even on large maps with lots of rivals. However, I keep the graphics on low.

I think that with only 512 RAM you will suffer playability. I would advise, as beamup said, to increase your RAM not only for CIV but for your everyday use.

That said, I dont know enough about computers to know the difference between the G4 and G5 processor AND between 1.5 and 1.8 GHz. Someone else my be able to give you an opinion based on your exact specs, but mine are pretty close.

Also, check all the old threads, b/c I think Ive seen people give descriptions about G4 and not so good graphics cards and CIV.

 

[AlanH]

I'm guessing a G4 and a G5 are likely to be quite similar in performance, all else being equal. Civ4 was written for the 32 bit world and knows little of the extra capabilities in a G5 CPU.

Of course, a G5 has a bigger onboard cache, so that might help it a bit, and Aspyr may have switched on some compiler optimisations for G5, but if I were a betting man I'd bet evens that they didn't. I can assure you it *does* actually run on a G4.

Now Brad'll come along and trash my theory, of course.

 

[Brad Oliver]

Now Brad'll come along and trash my theory, of course.

Here I go! Actually you did pretty good.

The G5 is faster per-clock-cycle than the G4, so the difference between a 1.8 GHz G5 and a 1.5 GHz G4 is more pronounced than the raw numbers would make it seem. As well, the G5 has a much greater memory throughput, so it can push data over the bus (and to the video card) at a much greater pace than the G4 architecture.

 

[von Tirpitz]

If you keep the graphical setting on low you can enjoy Civ 4 on your Power Book. I use to play it on my iBook G4, 1,33 Ghz, 512 MB RAM, 32 MB VRam and as long I don't pick a huge map with 18 civs everything seems to run fine, even in later ages..