Cool, I should soon be playing Huge maps!

[Robert]

I think RAM and video-memory are far more important then processor speed for playing civ4 huge maps.
A fast processor will only proceed the turns faster.

But to display a huge world you need a lot of RAM and v-RAM.

[Zoid]

At least 256 Mb vRAM and 1 Gb of RAM I´d say. But still a huge higlands map still takes almost a minute to load (compared to 10-15 seconds for a normal grassland map). It´s quite possible there will be a serious lag in the later game with this setup...

[player1]

EDIT:
sorry wrong thread...

[The keeper]

I just recently got a new computer with very similar specs.

I am running 256 mb Radeon 9550 (AGP - spare me the pcix talk. Already had the card) with an Athalon 64 3200+ and 1gb ram.


I can play huge maps with no problem. It slows down *a little* when you get to the modern age but I think that has to do with ram more than anything else because much of what is going on is off the visible screen anyway.

I have most of my settings turned up (or at least set at standard) and I have no problems running the game on my setup. Be sure you have at least a gig of ram, or the video card isn't your weakest link.

[Hedgie2]

Wow guys. Im running Huge maps with my 1.7 P4, with a 64mb GeForce 2, and while I do get some slow downs in the modern era, it's nothing so major to stop me. And I'm not a patient guy either, so I'm pretty fussy on slow downs

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by The keeper
I just recently got a new computer with very similar specs.

I am running 256 mb Radeon 9550 (AGP - spare me the pcix talk. Already had the card) with an Athalon 64 3200+ and 1gb ram.


I can play huge maps with no problem. It slows down *a little* when you get to the modern age but I think that has to do with ram more than anything else because much of what is going on is off the visible screen anyway.

I have most of my settings turned up (or at least set at standard) and I have no problems running the game on my setup. Be sure you have at least a gig of ram, or the video card isn't your weakest link.

That's basically the setup I have - thanks.

I prefer gigamaps in Civ2, so I wanted to make sure that the Civ4 analogue would run.

[Arrian]

Better to owe them money than to have them owe it to you. Think of it this way - you've had the use of their money for the last year, rather than the other way around.

QFT. Of course, the best is to just about break even.

...

I played the Earth scenario (that's a huge map, yes?) from 4000bc through the modern age and by the end things had gotten pretty bad, but my computer is unimpressive (1.7 gig processor, 512 RAM, GeForce 5500 FX video card).

-Arrian

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Arrian
Of course, the best is to just about break even.

Actually, no, the best is to owe them your entire tax bill. That way you get to keep the money in an interest-bearing account for the whole year.

[Willem]

Originally posted by unamablebuiler

Get 1 Gig your hard drive will thank you

Yeah, I already had 1 gig and I just picked up another so 2 gig should be more than enough. I have 4 RAM slots so later on this year I'll pick up another gig. I was told that XP can only handle up to 3 so I'll then be maxed out. You can never have too much RAM IMO, especially with today's prices. 1 gig only cost me $105 CAN, plus tax.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Zoid


IMO you´re painting yourself in a corner if you buy a AGP video card/mobo. AGP is an obsolete standard. But if you can trade it in later it´s somewhat ok I guess... But it´s still a ***** to rebuild the whole comp twice in one year...

Unfortunately I don't have a choice. I can't afford to get a new video card just yet so I had to get a MB that worked with the one I have. There's isn't any available that have both. I was asking about that option.

[Willem]

Originally posted by The keeper
I am running 256 mb Radeon 9550 (AGP - spare me the pcix talk. Already had the card) with an Athalon 64 3200+ and 1gb ram.

Well my 9550 only has 128 so that might be an issue. Hopefully if I keep the graphics setting to low it should be alright.

[unamablebuiler]

that would be a sweet set up willem the more memory the better

have you tried medium at 1024x768 my card is similar perfomance and i havn't had any problems apart from heat

can you still gat AGP over there?, we can but its hard to find and most of them are no longer high end... most if not all new Vcards over here are PCIe meaning if i want better graphics i had better find an RX800 or so or go PCIe

[Shaka II]

I had 1G memory and was running out during a huge highlands game. So I have 3G now and no more problems. 1G is cutting it too close. Then again, huge highlands with 15 civs is a pretty extreme test case. I recommend the 15 civs instead of default 11 civs for a huge highlands game, on marathon of course. Playing a huge highlands on marathon with 11 civs would be quite the barb experience. 15 civs tones it down a bit, as the cultural borders grow in a bit sooner. But 15 civs is just more fun, as is marathon, which I think is necessary on a huge map.

DFI Lanparty 875P-T (Socket LGA 775)
Intel Prescott Pentium 4 3.0GHz
3GHz DDR 400 (PC 3200)
ATI Radeon X800 Pro

[Tattila the Hun]

Originally posted by Willem


Unfortunately I don't have a choice. I can't afford to get a new video card just yet so I had to get a MB that worked with the one I have. There's isn't any available that have both. I was asking about that option.

I have Asrock Dual SATA2...

http://www.asrock.com/product/939Dual-SATA2.htm

Works splendidly with my R9600 AGP, and has a slot for PCI-E, aswell as place for next-gen CPU expansion, M1 or something. Cheapest in Finland is about 59€. For Athlon XP, or anything with socket 939. I gots 3200+

[Willem]

Originally posted by unamablebuiler
that would be a sweet set up willem the more memory the better

Well it looks like I'll have to settle for 1.5 gig for now. Apparently the dual channel architecture on my MB doesn't like having 3 cards. I was having problems on restarts, sometimes the BIOS wouldn't even come up. After looking at the manual, I noticed there was no safe configuration possible for 3 cards, it's either 1, 2 or 4. So sometime in the spring I'll get another 1 gig card like the one I have now and get the dual channel happening.

have you tried medium at 1024x768 my card is similar perfomance and i havn't had any problems apart from heat

I haven't tried anything yet, I'm still in the process of getting things working properly. That reboot problem was driving me crazy there for awhile.

can you still gat AGP over there?, we can but its hard to find and most of them are no longer high end... most if not all new Vcards over here are PCIe meaning if i want better graphics i had better find an RX800 or so or go PCIe

It's still around here, it's not quite obsolete yet. It probably will be soon though.