What should I upgrade?

[Dusan]

Hi all,

I have a Sony Vaio, P4 2.5Mhz, 512 PC 2100 RAM, GeForce MX440 64MB Video RAM, brand new and fast DVD/CD player.

I ran Civ 3 fine... a bit slow with turns later on in the game, but just fine. Civ 4 loads and runs a bit slow. It bearly plays the while blueprint to finish movies (it doesn't play any other ones if there are any) but sometimes it crashes when playing them. I am forced to play on the lowest settings for graphics, animation, etc. Also, World Builder runs damn slow... impossible to use. What should I upgrade?

I am going to order 512 MB more RAM and am looking into a new graphics card. My budget is around $80 for the card. Is anything out there worth getting that will imporve my game? If I spend more, will it drastically imporve the game?
Thanks guys and girls for your advice in advance.

Dusan

[Wittlich]

My advice would be a better graphics card and as much RAM as your system can handle (and your pocket book as well).

[Wildcat]

You can get by with a Nvidia 5200 FX which should be under $75 but if you can swing another $50 go for the 6200 or if you get a Xmas sale the 6800.

[Dusan]

Is there much difference between brands? Also, how important are the MBs?

[Sabre2th]

A 5200FX wouldn't be all that much of an improvement over the GF4mx. For $80, you should be able to pick up a Radeon 9800 or an equivalent NVidia card (regardless of when it was released, the 5200 is nowhere near equivalent).

For the average user, there won't be much difference in brands, though many people believe that NVidia is a bit better in the mid-range cards. ATI is rather known for bad drivers (not horrible, but certainly a consideration).

I recommend checking out newegg.com...there are generally some good deals over there and there's a lot to choose from

Edit: Missed something...
Video memory isn't absolutely critical, but I wouldn't get anything below 128 at this point...money-wise that shouldn't be too difficult to do

[Wildcat]

Most will come with 128 memory in that price range, do not go lower or the game will not run, if you find a 256 card at your price grab it. As for brand there are lots: PNY MSI BFG all kinds of letters pick one you like. The MSI FX5200 was quite good for its cost\kick ratio but it just depends what is stocked locally or on sale.

[choddo]

You can get by with a Nvidia 5200 FX

Please god no. One of the worst cards ever designed. Get a Radeon 9600 (a Canadian should be pimping those anyway ) at the very least.

[Dusan]

What do you guys think of:
SAPPHIRE ATLANTIS RADEON 9600 Radeon 9600 256MB DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card
It's $75 through newegg
Also, how much more will I benefit from having 1.5GbRAM vs. 1Gb?

[Sabre2th]

You'll almost always see some improvement when you get more RAM, but the more you have, the less of a difference you'll see. If you have a gig, you're probably fine, but RAM is cheap now, so it can't hurt much.

The 9600 should work just fine and Sapphire is decent. Good choice/good price, though I personally prefer NVidia for midrange cards :P

[Dusan]

Sorry to bug, but how do I know which are the NVidia cards. Non say that as their title. Are they the GeForce cards? What is the breakdown in the numbers (5500, 5700, etc.) also in the sufixes (Pro, SE, etc.)?

[Sabre2th]

GeForce is what NVidia calls the card. The numbers tell you which model it is; newer models have higher numbers. I'm a bit rusty on the letters and such, but if I remember right, GT is the upper level, while SE is a bit cheaper. Looking at the prices of the different variations might give you a better idea which is which

Keep in mind though...I prefer NVidia, but that doesn't mean ATI is a bad choice. The Radeon 9600 you found is a decent card and $75 is a pretty good price

[Wittlich]

Originally posted by Sabre2th
...Keep in mind though...I prefer NVidia, but that doesn't mean ATI is a bad choice. The Radeon 9600 you found is a decent card and $75 is a pretty good price

Absolutely! My Radeon 9600 All-In-Wonder set me back a lot more than $75. So I concur that a basic Radeon 9600 Card is well worth the $75 price tag.

[Guynemer]

How about this:

Still crashing on huge maps, occasionally on large. I have:

P4 3.06Ghz 1GB RAM, and ATI Radeon 9700.

If I only upgraded one, should I go with RAM or with the video card?

[Wittlich]

Guynemer, I would say go for the more RAM. I now have 3 gig RAM and the only times that I've frozen has been in the late game on a huge map.

Also, in the "Options" portion within the game itself, set your graphics to the lowest resolution (I believe that would be 1024 by 768 pixels or what ever the first resolution choice is in the drop-down menu).

[Sabre2th]

Originally posted by Guynemer
How about this:

Still crashing on huge maps, occasionally on large. I have:

P4 3.06Ghz 1GB RAM, and ATI Radeon 9700.

If I only upgraded one, should I go with RAM or with the video card?

There really isn't any need for you to upgrade your computer. Like I said earlier: If you have the money, RAM can rarely hurt, but otherwise you're fine.

Your crashing sounds more like a software issue to me