The best comp for running Civ4 at the best price?

[Lancer]

I'm particularly interested in a Dell, don't want it to lag during play at all but also don't want to pay the top price for top of the line. Do I need top of the line? What would you suggest?

[snoopy369]

Dell is useless

Well, in my opinion anyway.

Min specs that I'd suggest:

2Ghz pentium IV or Athlon equivalent
1 GB ram (2 GB much better)
nVidia 6000 series video card or better, or ATI x700 series or better, at least 256mb of memory, DO NOT GET ONBOARD GRAPHICS, so NO INTEL GRAPHICS

Anything beyond or at that is good. You should be able to get a computer in the $500 range (plus monitor if needed) that does this, if you're aiming for min specs. ($80 for the CPU, $60 for the RAM, $70 for the GFX, then add $70 for the HDD, $50 for the case, $30 for the PSU, $60 for the MB, $30 for the CD/RW, takes you to $450, if you built it yourself)

[Targonis]

There are several categories of computers out there that you will find if you look around:

1: The clearance machines. These are the machines that sell for $400 US Dollars or under, some go down into the $200 range. Note this does not include monitor and other items. So a $600 complete package with monitor, computer, and printer fall into this category. Expect that even if you can play the game, the performance will be sub-par. These are the Pentium-4s, Athlon XP, Athlon 64(socket 754 and lower end socket 939 versions). All single-core, though some low-end Pentium-D machines may show up. Celeron machines will be in this category as well.


2: The mainstream computers. For the tower you can expect to pay in the $550-$750 range. These days, you should expect dual-core with integrated graphics in this range, but with a decent processor. In some machines there may be a bit better, but the graphics will still be a bit...iffy in most cases. Note the game WILL run ok(with some options turned off). Just make sure the machine has either ATI or NVIDIA graphics in it or you will find the graphics will bog down the machine.

3: Going upwards from $750, you start to see a greater chance of better video cards, and things like TV tuners. The thing to look for is better video cards. Check sites like www.anandtech.com to see which video cards are good or bad.


Now, you can always go for a mainstream computer, then add a video card. I suggest you verify that the machine you buy has at least 1 PCI Express x16 slot in it(not to be confused with regular PCI) if you want to add a video card since AGP is on it's way out(and is when it comes to NEW machines).

[quick23]

I bought my core 2 duo (1.86ghz) from Dell in Oct. If you watch for a deal closely you can get it. Here are the specs that matter:

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6300 (1.86GHz,1066FSB) with 2MB cache
1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
256 mb NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE
80GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)
48X Combo Single Drive

Cost was $529

price right now is $614, but includes a
160 gig hd

Watch for a sale and you can do better. I love this computer, and it runs Civ4 with no problems

[Addled Platypus]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Dell is useless

Well, in my opinion anyway.

I would have to dissagree

Dell XPS 600

superb computer

maybe not the best price

[quick23]

The XPS series are nice.

You won't find one in the $500 range though.

[Qwertqwert]

Originally posted by Platypus Rex


I would have to dissagree

Dell XPS 600

superb computer

maybe not the best price

Wouldn't that prove his point? I'm sure you can get a great computer from Dell, but you can get a computer with the same specs somewhere else, or build it on your own cheaper.

Really, you should decide what you want to pay for your computer.

[Addled Platypus]

I went for a top of the line computer last time around

so I dont have to worry about hardware upgrades for a little longer

Well worth the price to me

[klondike]

I play on a toshiba m-70 laptop. Centrino 1.73ghz 1gig ddr2 ram and integrated 128 meg intel vid card. Runs fine with all graphics enabled on huge maps with max civs.

[sparkyal]

I think as long as you are in the 2 GHz range for the processor you should be fine. The main thing is the video card. My old video card (Gforce 5500 128MB RAM) could not run CIV 4 on a huge map. Well, it could until the late gam4e, and then it could only go a turn or two before freezing. So I went and got an ATI 1600pro with 512MB...overkill? Perhaps, but it runs well now Note, I also had to upgrade my power supply to get this particular card.

Ah, and what was said about PCI Express is pretty critical. If you get a computer, don't get one without PCI Express. AGP's will get harder and harder to find....in some countries they cannot be had since all new computers do not have AGP, but PCI Express.

sparky

[zeace]

I got a new video card (GeForce 7600) for Christmas to replace my old junky card and it has made a huge difference in the game. I can actually play huge maps now, and the jungles look like a bunch of palm trees instead of the chicken scratch of green it used to look like. I also got to turn up all the graphics and reenable the zoom to combat option.

I wonder now why I was so cheap about upgrading. I would definitely recommend not being cheap about the video card.

[Zoid]

Indeed. Don´t skimp on the video card! I got a whole new comp just to play Civ 4.

3.2 GHz P4, Geforce 6600GT 256 Mb, 1 gig of RAM, 160 Gb HD and a sweet 19" TFT monitor Best buy I ever did, but it cost me like $1500...

[Targonis]

You could start with a $564 Athlon 64 X2 3800+ based machine, then throw in a better video card. Figure it might push you to $700 or so for the tower. Considering that the game runs decently on an Athlon 64 3200+ with Radeon 9800 pro for the video card, that should work for you.

One thing you really want is to go with 2 gigs of system memory and a 256 meg video card as your minimum. If you don't, you will find things can slow down a bit as a result in the later game on larger worlds.

[klondike]

I'm surprised about all this video card hype. My vid card is a built in intel graphics chip.

Biggest difference I saw for huge map, was going from 512ram to 1gig ram.

Not sure why my cheapo intel seems to pull it off where others cant.

[wanderer27]

Yeah, I don't think the Video Card is going to be your Bottleneck here. What you're going to want is RAM and CPU horsepower.

I'm playing on XXL maps right now, and in the Modern age it's really taking a long time (~ 1 minute) for the other Civs to move. Let me tell you, it's not the Graphics hogging up things because there's really not much going on graphically. It could almost be done in 2D mode instead of 3D.