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You don't need a top of the line computer to run this game, but you do need 2GB of memory to be comfortable on huge maps, particularly if you plan on running under Vista.
My computer is hardly top of the line, and Civ 4 runs fine for me at 1280x1024, even with all the graphics options maxed except anti-aliasing (which I run at 2x instead of 4x).
A multi-core CPU helps far more than I thought it would, given that Civ4 is a single-threaded app. I guess it benefits from the fact that all your background processes get shoved off to the other core while Civ4 gets a core to itself.
SATA does indeed load the game faster, but I doubt you'll notice the difference between SATA I and SATA II given that the physical mechanism of most hard drives are not able to saturate the interface.
An entry-level graphics card (nVidia 6600 or better) should be good enough as long as you have 256MB of video RAM, but I would steer clear of any on-board graphics solutions unless your budget forces you into it.
For the record, my computer specs:
My computer is hardly top of the line, and Civ 4 runs fine for me at 1280x1024, even with all the graphics options maxed except anti-aliasing (which I run at 2x instead of 4x).
A multi-core CPU helps far more than I thought it would, given that Civ4 is a single-threaded app. I guess it benefits from the fact that all your background processes get shoved off to the other core while Civ4 gets a core to itself.
SATA does indeed load the game faster, but I doubt you'll notice the difference between SATA I and SATA II given that the physical mechanism of most hard drives are not able to saturate the interface.
An entry-level graphics card (nVidia 6600 or better) should be good enough as long as you have 256MB of video RAM, but I would steer clear of any on-board graphics solutions unless your budget forces you into it.
For the record, my computer specs:
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (2.2 GHz 512k cache)
- nForce4 motherboard (no SLI)
- 2GB DDR400 RAM, dual channel
- nVidia GeForce 7600GS, 256MB
- SATA I hard drive
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