finished my 1st game and had a lot of lag

[Zoid]

Re: Re: Re: finished my 1st game and had a lot of lag

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


Um, that's a Sempron which is a 64-bit CPU based on the AMD 64. It's not that old.

You´re right. I just looked at the video card... Forget what I said D4everman...

[D4everman]

Re: Re: Re: Re: finished my 1st game and had a lot of lag

Originally posted by Zoid


You´re right. I just looked at the video card... Forget what I said D4everman...

No worries, Zoid. That video card came out of another machine I was scavenging for parts, so I can believe its outdated easily. I'm not really up on whats the hottest, baddest, coolest video card out nowadays. But I'm sure the one I have isn't.

[Zoid]

There´s not a whole lot to choose from if you´re looking at AGP cards. Leadtek has a GeForce 6600LE 256 Mb for ~€120 and a GeForce 6800XT 128 Mb for ~€150. And Sparkle has a GeForce 6600GT for ~€150.

Hightech has a ATI 9600XT 128 Mb for ~€120

This might be overkill, but Civ 4 is very demanding in the graphics department. For cheaper video cards see post #6

[D4everman]

Well I replaced my video card with a radeon 9600 XT 256 MB DDR2 and added another 512 MB rame chip (already had one 512 in there). The new card played havoc with my sound for a bit until I updated some drivers and for some reason one of my CD Rom drives doesn't appear in "My Computer" but the Device manager says its there and working.

BUT I just started CivIV and for the first time I saw the opening video! Everything else seems to be working great and faster. Now I guess I gotta win again so I can see the victory video!

[Willem]

Originally posted by D4everman
Well I replaced my video card with a radeon 9600 XT 256 MB DDR2 and added another 512 MB rame chip (already had one 512 in there).

You should have gone for a 1 gig card, they're not that much more expensive. You can never have too much RAM IMO. My new MB can hold up to 4 cards, so I plan on having 4 gig dual channel by the fall.

[The keeper]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
My problem is that my MSI motherboard is defective , but I can't seem to find any good 939 mobo (preferably Asus) that has AGP.

I bought a shuttle xpc. It is an extremely small case comes with the MB. Everything else you add. I have had nothing but good luck with it - it uses AGP 8x. Shuttle PCs It is a little more expensive than buying a MB and case seperate - but you are paying for the size. And the one I got was liquid cooled.



My card is a 256 MB radeon 9550. 1 GB ram with a 3200+ 64 bit 939 processor with a GB of ram. It runs fine. The only time I see any slow down is in the modern age when I try to bomb a town/stack with 15 fighters at one time

[Zoid]

Originally posted by D4everman
Well I replaced my video card with a radeon 9600 XT 256 MB DDR2 and added another 512 MB rame chip (already had one 512 in there). The new card played havoc with my sound for a bit until I updated some drivers and for some reason one of my CD Rom drives doesn't appear in "My Computer" but the Device manager says its there and working.

BUT I just started CivIV and for the first time I saw the opening video! Everything else seems to be working great and faster. Now I guess I gotta win again so I can see the victory video!

Congratulations!

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Willem
You should have gone for a 1 gig card, they're not that much more expensive. You can never have too much RAM IMO. My new MB can hold up to 4 cards, so I plan on having 4 gig dual channel by the fall.

It maybe a dual channel board. In which case it's decent to add another 512MB (need to watch out for the memory characteristics, though) so he can keep using his old 512MB memory module.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


It maybe a dual channel board. In which case it's decent to add another 512MB (need to watch out for the memory characteristics, though) so he can keep using his old 512MB memory module.

True, in which case then he should have bought two 1 gig cards and used those for the dual channel.

[D4everman]

I had to get the cards at the local AAFES facility so the 512 was all I could get. (remote location). I got the video card at the local german store and it was the best one they had in stock at the time.

[Willem]

Originally posted by D4everman
I had to get the cards at the local AAFES facility so the 512 was all I could get. (remote location). I got the video card at the local german store and it was the best one they had in stock at the time.

It's not much better than the one I have but the 256 VRAM should help. I only have 128 on my 9550. I mainly only have problems now when using the grid but I need my graphics to be set to low in order to run a Huge map. Keep in mind that restarting the game can help if you're experiencing lag towards the end.

[D4everman]

It seems to help a lot, but I've only started a new game to see how it worked, nothing I kept serious. I set the quality to medium. One wierd thing I noticed, maybe you can help me out with....before all of my units were a trio, as in a warrior was actually three conan looking guys, an archer was three guys, etc. Depending on the damage they took in battle one or more guy woyuld disappear until the unit healed. But now, all of my units are one guy. I don't know if thats because of the new settings or better graphics or what.

Oh, and I noticed subtle little animations in things like cows and horses and birds glying out of the trees. Also the forests and jungles seem to sprout and die every so often. No wonder this game is such a memory hog!

[D4everman]

I almost forgot to ask this. Its more of a technical question, but I'm hoping someone else may be able to help me out with an answer. My PC doesn't see the CD/DVD ROM drives all of the time now, since the upgrade. Sometimes in "My Computer" theres only one of them listed, and sometimes its not there when I restart. (I have two CD/DVD ROM drives in the machine).

I don't know why only one is showing up, and why it is sometimes AWOL. I thought maybe a loose connection but then why would the one that shows up do it sporadically? I'll have to open it up when I get home to check, but to be honest i'm hoping its more of a device problem that can be solved without having to do that. Any ideas, suggestions, advice?

[Willem]

Originally posted by D4everman
One wierd thing I noticed, maybe you can help me out with....before all of my units were a trio, as in a warrior was actually three conan looking guys, an archer was three guys, etc. Depending on the damage they took in battle one or more guy woyuld disappear until the unit healed. But now, all of my units are one guy. I don't know if thats because of the new settings or better graphics or what.

That's the settings. If you go to your Graphic Options, you can de-select single unit graphics. I personally prefer single unit, it's less cluttered.