Your machine? How does Civ4 run?

[Generaldoktor]

I have an 8250, I didn't look at any of the 9700 series because I didn't think they fit my type of leisurely use. I don't have a clue what the difference is between a 9700 and a 9700 "Pro" or what they are like. But it's not an issue because I don't have them.

[Rancidlunchmeat]

8250 is the model number of your Dell Computer.

9700 is the model number of your ATI Graphics card (or so you said previously).

If you're unsure, you might want to check again.. just right click on desktop, goto display properties, settings and it will tell you want graphics card you have.

But you said earlier you had a 9700 and when I checked the web, the 8250 came with 9700 or 9700 Pro graphics cards.

[Generaldoktor]

Oh, right , it is a 9700 Pro, by ATI, which is the brand that has supposedly always given problems with Civ, though I didn't notice them with Civ3.

[nbarclay]

Compaq system (very low-end but with memory and video upgrades)
Semperon 3000+ CPU
1.25 GB PC 2700 RAM
GeForce 6200
Sound built into the motherboard

The most demanding games I play are on huge 'pelago maps with all 18 civs and a low water level (thus maximizing the amount of land). My system can handle that pretty well as long as I have little or nothing else running at the same time, but some sort of problem - I'm guessing a memory leak - sometimes slows things down to a point where I have to shut the game down and restart it. Also, for some unknown reason, the movies don't work well at all on my system.

[arthurdent2k]

Running on an Athlon 1,8 Ghz, 1 Gig DDR 366 and a GeForce4 TI 4400...

well, normal maps run just well, large ones urge me to go and get another cup of coffee more often than usual

All in all I have to say that postpatch the game runs fine on my Box. Sometimes (preferrably early modern age) the memleaks take over but thats quickly fixed by a restart of my machine

[unamablebuiler]

just upgrade my memory to 1 gig, it ended the hard disk churn from swap file.

Now i need to add a fan to my R9600... its passively cooled and the Assuie summer means i can fry eggs on the heatsink

i won't be upgrading the video card anytime soon most cards at the low end are no better than my current card. if you have a card as powerful as this and AGP it will be worth putting your precious coinage towards a PCIe system if you want to upgrade.

IMO if you have a cutdown CPU (sempron, or celeron) speed can be helped by upgrading. However upgrading from really old stuff isn't worth it and you will probably need a new system , preferably PCIe .

[solo]

3500 Athlon 64
1 GB dual channel RAM
36GB WD 10,000 rpm SATA hard drive
9800 Radeon 256mb Pro
Audigy sound card
Extra ventilation to keep all components cool

Separate system drive dedicated to games. No virus checker nor other optional software installed.

Never any problems, except a short wait when large parts of the map are revealed after trading maps.

[Generaldoktor]

Originally posted by arthurdent2k
Running on an Athlon 1,8 Ghz, 1 Gig DDR 366 and a GeForce4 TI 4400...

well, normal maps run just well, large ones urge me to go and get another cup of coffee more often than usual

All in all I have to say that postpatch the game runs fine on my Box. Sometimes (preferrably early modern age) the memleaks take over but thats quickly fixed by a restart of my machine

Well, maybe I'm sort of silly not to understand better this expensive machinery I operate, but what is a memory leak and why is everybody talking about it in reference to slow performance at later stages of Civ4?

On this thread and others, I've been told I have to upgrade. "Memory leak" sounds to me like faucet leak, something that can be fixed, not "upgraded?" Could someone explain again why memory leak cannot be fixed by a future patch, what are the chances Civ4 really causes it and why upgrade is the way to go in reference to this. (I guess I secretly am still looking for a way out of having to upgrade. )

[Quillan]

[SIZE=1] R9600...
i won't be upgrading the video card anytime soon most cards at the low end are no better than my current card. if you have a card as powerful as this and AGP it will be worth putting your precious coinage towards a PCIe system if you want to upgrade.

Just as a side note to this, there are some really powerful AGP cards still available. I just bought a 6800 GS, and there is a 7800 GS coming out now.