problems starting up the game

[Urban Ranger]

Well, I layed out some brands and/or specific parts above. Such as AMD Athlon 64 CPU, Antec or Enermax power supply, min 350 - 380W, etc.

Graphics card - ATI or nVidia will do fine. A nVidia 6600GT with 128MB RAM (or equivalent) will go a long way. Of course, if you find a sale on something better, such as 6800GS, etc., by all means go for it. You should get a PCI-Express card instead of an AGP card, though.

Motherboard - I recommend Asus. Either the A8N-E or the A8N5X should be an excellent choice. You probably don't need anything with SLI.

Case - just pick something big, roomy, with lots of openings for case fans.

HDD - Western Digital or Seagate is good. Just use a boring old EIDE drive, no need for a SATA one.

DVD Drive - Liteon is a good brand. Cheap, too.

Keyboard, mouse - I recommend Logitech, though their keyboard is a bit soft.

LCD monitor - I have a Viewsonic 17" one. Very nice.

[MightyTiny]

My suggestion is that you find a computer store that offers good price/value/service, and get all your parts from one store, and ask them to asemble it, and check that your component choises are compatible. Ask them to point out if they see any poor or unwise choises/combinations there, or obviously better choises you could have made within the same budjet. And ask them to tell if they see any bottle necks in the system, if you've put a gocart motor in a muscle car.

One thing that I thought of to point out is that if you get an LCD monitor, just make sure you get one that doesn't have a noticeable lag in forming the picture - not an expert there, can't remember what the recommended delays are for monitors to be used in gaming, but they'll know at the store.

I like Urban Ranger's suggestions - I too would go for AMD rather than Intel's processors.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by MightyTiny
My suggestion is that you find a computer store that offers good price/value/service, and get all your parts from one store, and ask them to asemble it, and check that your component choises are compatible. Ask them to point out if they see any poor or unwise choises/combinations there, or obviously better choises you could have made within the same budjet. And ask them to tell if they see any bottle necks in the system, if you've put a gocart motor in a muscle car.

That's also a sensible approach. Costs more, but you can go back and bug them when something goes wrong.

[timmy x]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


That's also a sensible approach. Costs more, but you can go back and bug them when something goes wrong.

yea, thats one of my bigger concerns, i buy all the parts and get everything assembled, and then somethin goes wrong and it wont run without another 1k+ in repairs... thats what happened to my buddy, he made himself a computer, ends up the motherboard he put in was cracked actually, then he got that replaced and then it didnt recognize the drivers or somethin like htat, and then he had about a dozen other problems with compatability and or effective power, it ended up costin him a lot of money to fix it all. then again, i never saw this computer he built, and so im not sure on the exact details of what all went wrong and why exactly, but the way he made it sound, i think it mighta just been his lack of knowledge of pc's, and i fear the same might happen to me if i try to go DYI mode wit this lil project.

ill look into lookin up those parts online tommorow morning, ill prolly compare prices between like best buy and comp usa, and then try finding prices on 3rd party distributers, and ill make a choice depending on prices from there

i appreciate all the help so far, ill let ya know how it goes prolly tommorow night, or mebee even around noonish if i find everything alright

[MightyTiny]

Finding the right store can really make a difference in the strategy I suggested - I live in Finland, so can't help you there, sorry. Could point you to a good place if you're willing to travel to Helsinki for it! Somehow I don't think that would be very cost effective though...

In Helsinki, there's one store that seems to beat out the competition in all areas, and I've actually found that you can't really save any significant amount by looking for the cheapest store for each component, and buying from different locations, as opposed to bying all the components from that one store. So what I tend to do when I need a new computer (or am putting together a package for someone else), is pretty much the strategy I suggested, with the exception that I assemble the computer myself.

So in Helsinki at least, using this one store, the tactic I suggested would cost you no more extra than what they charge for assembling the computer. And if there are incompatibilities that slipped past your radar, you can always blame them, and get a compatible replacement product!

Don't know if you can find anything similar at your locality, so I really can't say how much you'd save from shopping around for your components.

But I do think that if you are not comfortable in your knowledge about computer components, then it is probably wiser to forgo any small savings you could make, and use a single, carefully picked store.

[timmy x]

thats what i was plannin on doin, buy all the parts and go into like best buy or somethin and have them assemble it for me, but then id prolly waste money on incompatible parts then be SoL cause they prolly wouldnt trade in for parts i get off the internet.

but yea, i didnt get a chance to price check parts yet today, my parents were up and online when i got up thismorning, and then i had to go hang out with a guy from bootcamp. ill check later tonight after our company leaves

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by MightyTiny
In Helsinki, there's one store that seems to beat out the competition in all areas, and I've actually found that you can't really save any significant amount by looking for the cheapest store for each component, and buying from different locations, as opposed to bying all the components from that one store. So what I tend to do when I need a new computer (or am putting together a package for someone else), is pretty much the strategy I suggested, with the exception that I assemble the computer myself.

In this city the best way to find a reputable store is to find one that has been around for a number of years. Unreliable ones regularly fold, so the ones left behind are the ones you can trust, more or less.

The trick is to be around the computer centres long enough to see that happen.

[timmy x]

well, most of the stores round here that i looked at were the big ones, best buy, comp usa, and a couple of the other larger superstores that carry pcs in their computer sections, most of those companies have been around since the dawn of time, and theyll b around till hell freezes over

found out im lookin at a pc for about 2k, i prolly wont buy it till about a month after i finish Marine Combat Training(MCT), mid-late march, early april at the very latest, depending on how much my airfare is and how much i gotta spend at mct, but i should b able to manage it

[hymeballs]

I had the same problem as Timmy X.....failed to render ....I got the game to start up somehow and it said I failed to meet min requirements which surprised me, here is my dxdiag info....

any help is greatly appreciated

[MightyTiny]

Originally posted by hymeballs
I had the same problem as Timmy X.....failed to render ....I got the game to start up somehow and it said I failed to meet min requirements which surprised me, here is my dxdiag info....

any help is greatly appreciated

In display devices, it says "SiS 651" in "Card Name", which, to my knowledge means that you have an integrated graphics chip in your motherboard, instead of a separate, dedicated graphics card.

That's your problem - it just doesn't meet the minimum requirements. You need a graphics card to be able to play Civ4, or just about any new game that's out there nowadays. You may be able to run non-graphics intensive older games with your computer as it is.

[timmy x]

ok, well, i saw whats wrong, you got 448MB RAM, the recommended system reqs is 512MB RAM. thats the first thing i saw.

the fail to render might b your graphics card, someone posted in this thread which drivers work with the game. i copy pasted it down here for ya, thank urban ranger for the graphics card info, he helped me tons. checking your dxdiag file, your gfx card has the reqs to run the game it looks like, so idk what the problem there is... there was a patch that i had found while troubleshooting civ4 myself, the things it fixed can cause the renderer error, ill try and find the link for ya

Graphics card - ATI or nVidia will do fine. A nVidia 6600GT with 128MB RAM (or equivalent) will go a long way. Of course, if you find a sale on something better, such as 6800GS, etc., by all means go for it. You should get a PCI-Express card instead of an AGP card, though.

and a side note, i wont b able to afford my pc for a few months :'( ended up spendin like $300 on a phone + and i gotta spend a bunch of money on replacing unserviceable uniforms for Combat Training

[Urban Ranger]

OTOH I've only got an el cheapo mobile phone

[hymeballs]

ok ...thanks! Upon further readings I found that I need a T&L compatible card.....this is the first PC game I've bought in years so I'm not sure if I want to spend the money to play one game, but thanks for the help !!!

ps....any advice for returning opened software to BestBuy?

[timmy x]

heh, hyme, this is the first pc game ive bought since warcraft 3, so im in the same boat as you. but im due for a new pc anyways, i was gonna buy one soon as im done wit combat training, but i ogtta wait a bit longer because some unexpected expenses came up on me, oh well, i shouldnt play too many games till i get settled into pensacola anyways.

i dont have any advice on returning merchandise to bestbuy, you might have to pawn it to a gamers or something, you prolly wont get much for it, and youll prolly b stuck with instore credit... however, they MIGHT accept it at best buy, since the cds got copy protection on it, i loaned a buddy the game to see if he could get it to work, then sent him a burned copy of the cds, and the originals worked, burned copies didnt. so theres a chance they might accept the return since copying the games doesnt work, and your pc isnt up to requirement to play it, slim as it might be, theres a chance.

and as for the phone, i got one of the razr's, got it so i can wear it wit my digital cammy's(the marine corps new camoflauged uniform), because were not "supposed" to have anything visible under the uniforms, meaning were not supposed to have things in the pockets, phone holsters, etc. etc. etc. i prolly wont carry my phone around often either, seeing as im sure well be doin some pretty rough stuff during mct, and i really dun wanna pay to replace it right away

btw, i ship for mct on tuesday, i think training officialy starts on monday, and then its 22days from there. i believe my email address is visible on this forum, so feel free to email me if you wanna know about mct or just to chat, i should b able to get online on sundays.

[garibaldi83]

What up, I know their has been numerous threads about this topic but I have a quick question. My game worked in the past on my computer but now I'm recieving this same error

ERROR
Initialize Renderer Failed. Check DirectX Installation, Latest Graphics Drivers and Graphics Settings Parameters:
-width = 1024
-height = 768
-flags = 0xc
-hwnd = 0xa027e
-adaptrid = 0
-deviceid = 1

the difference is that My computer way surpasses all the reqs and the recommended specs and I have played the game for hours in the past. Now I have a GForce 6800 and when I tried the fix from this website fix their was no Art0.FPK file in my assests folder. So im stuck i dont know waht to do, Any help would be awesome!