RE: Video Card

[Remulak]

I am more than a little confused. My computer refers to the Video Card as 82865G as the Graphics Controller. Then in the report it refers to it as Intel Extreme Graphics 2, with 96MB as the maximium memory.

I refered to the list of compatible video cards and on the Extreme Graphics 2, it says that it is unclear whether it works or not and that it may emulate T & L.

My post on the Dell Forum has not been answered so I have no help from that quarter. I am willing to upgrade the video card if i is necessary, but want to make sure that it is necessary.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Remulak
I am willing to upgrade the video card if i is necessary, but want to make sure that it is necessary.

If you're getting black terrain then quite obviously it's necessary. At any rate the game will run much smoother with a better card even if you did find a way to get it working. Do yourself a favour and get a new one. It won't be a wasted investment since the next game you buy might very well need the more advanced features it has to offer. At the very least it will run better.

[SpencerH]

Assuming winxp,

go to start-> run-> type "dxdiag" -> OK

It'll take a couple of seconds for the dx to check the system specs

then click on the display tab it'll tell you the info for your graphics controller.

To some extent whether its 64 or 96MB (which I doubt) is irrelevant. IIRC civ requires hardware T&L not software emulation.

I think it makes a lot of sense to keep looking for a fix and maybe wait for the patch (since we'll get a lot more info about the real problem then) before you buy the new card. I wouldnt 'hold my breath' though that it'll ever work with an 865G processor.

One other point. It seems like you're not that experienced with doing upgrades and it looks like the AGP slot in the 4600c is a 'bit of a *****' (from the schematic) so you may want to get some help installing the card if it comes to that and like Willem said thats probably the best choice anyway if you want to play CIV4.

[Remulak]

Good point. I can get a friend who is in the business to put in the card. I wish I could get a definitive word from Dell on whether the Geoforce 6600 will work in my DIM 4600C.

Thjanks to everyone for their input.