A question about hardware

[gradea]

I have a computer. In case you thought I existed as an entity of pure energy within the net and was typing this via an act of will.

Specificly I have:
AMD Athalon 64 running at 3000+, 2.01GHz for a processor
1 GB of ram
Radeon 9600 for video

I have noticed that on large, and I mean LARGE maps with numerous computer controled civilizations, I get huge late game lag, followed by lock ups between rounds.

The question: Which part should I upgrade? I'm thinking RAM, but I wanted to check first.

[ZEE]

i hate to say this but i had a computer simlilar to yours for 5 years, and civ ran slow on the maps you describe.

i now have an AMD Athalon 4200+ Dual Core 2.1 GHZ processors
2 gigs DDR2 RAM
NVIDIA 8500 GT 512 MB graphics card
32 Bit Vista

I can now run CIV on MAX everything, huge maps, 18+ civs, modern age, etc with no lag whatsoever.

I can also run Oblivion and STALKER on MAX everything with no lag as well... and sadly my computer is considered "average" by todays standards.

I thought much as you for a long time. things get much easier and better with a "next gen" console. Thats just the way it is nowadays

[Modo44]

If the graphics card can handle CIV (i.e. early game is reasonably fast), you might want to try getting another gig of RAM (more than 2 GB total makes no sense under 32-bit Windows, and very little sense under 64-bit Windows). However, turns will be slower on large maps as the game progresses -- there's a lot to calculate in the late game, and it gets a lot worse with each map size.

[Quillan]

I think you should upgrade all three. However, assuming you're playing nothing but Civ, do RAM first (go to 2 gigs), then processor, then video card last. Civ IV isn't a game that requires the latest and greatest video cards, so that isn't bottlenecking you. It's the sheer amount of data in the late game, with the vast number of units and improvements out there.

If you can do it, I'd recommend building a new computer. I don't know for certain what you have, but with an Athlon 64 3000+ processor, you're either running Socket 754 or Socket 939 on the motherboard, neither of which is made anymore; current AMD standard is Socket AM2. All current computers are using DDR2 while I'm sure you have DDR. A Radeon 9600 would be an AGP slot video card, while everything these days uses PCI-Express. While it might be possible to still find components to upgrade yours, there is a limit to how high you can go with it.

[LzPrst]

i have roughly the same specs as you and i'm gonna upgrade all of it soon, and by that I mean buy a whole new machine. those old specs are unfortunately somewhat outdated for the needs of modern gaming.

and just a hint of personal opinion, get an nvidia graphs card with your upgrade.

[Willem]

Originally posted by gradea
I have a computer. In case you thought I existed as an entity of pure energy within the net and was typing this via an act of will.

Specificly I have:
AMD Athalon 64 running at 3000+, 2.01GHz for a processor
1 GB of ram
Radeon 9600 for video

I have noticed that on large, and I mean LARGE maps with numerous computer controled civilizations, I get huge late game lag, followed by lock ups between rounds.

The question: Which part should I upgrade? I'm thinking RAM, but I wanted to check first.

I'd say your weakest link right now is your video card. I started playing Civ 4 on a 9550, which is actually a better card than the the 9600, and I couldn't play anything more than Large maps without serious issues, including the game crashing occasionally. But upgrading to an X800 made a huge difference and I was able to play Huge maps just with that simple change. Your RAM is actually not bad for the game at 1 gig and your processor should be fast enough. Though both could use improvement. Your video card though is antique to say the least.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Quillan
Civ IV isn't a game that requires the latest and greatest video cards, so that isn't bottlenecking you.

Oh yes it is. The 9600 is a pretty crappy card, just upgrading that is going to make a huge difference. I went from a a 9550 to an X800 and it was like night and day. Once the map gets exposed and the card has to draw out all that terrain, things are really going to slow down. That card just can't handle it. The 9550 is actually a better card than the 9600 and mine could barely handle Large maps.

[Quillan]

Radeon 9550 is not the same thing as a Radeon 9600; it's not even in the same league. The 9550 was an overclocked 9200, a DirectX 8.1 card, while the 9600 was a true DirectX 9 card. The 9600 wasn't a super powerful beast even at that time, but it was adequate. If the card was the bottleneck, he'd have slowdowns all the time. As it is, he's only getting slowdowns in the late game. That's when the number of units and improvements all over the world has grown to an astronomical level.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Quillan
The 9550 was an overclocked 9200, a DirectX 8.1 card, while the 9600 was a true DirectX 9 card. The 9600 wasn't a super powerful beast even at that time, but it was adequate.

You're mistaken. The 9550 came after the 9600 and used many of the same technologies in it. And it was indeeed a Direct X 9 card. Otherwise I would not have been able to play Civ 4 on it. And if you don't believe me, here's an article you can read.

Old 9550 review

[Quillan]

I must have been thinking about the 9250 then. However, even an underclocked 9600 is worse than what he's got. And I stand by what I said, if the graphics card were his problem he wouldn't be limited to slowdowns only in the endgame. He'd get slowdowns anytime too much stuff was on the screen at once, like when in a war.

[Sabre2th]

People vastly overestimate the requirements for Civ4. I used to play on a GF4 mx420. Even that did a passable job for Civ4.

Start with the ram first.

[MoonWolf]

RAM i s currently quite cheap, so go for that, yes. You can check the Task Manager to see how much RAM Civ is using and you should see this is high in the late game. Then, save money to buy new equipment. Upgrading either CPU or graphics card require a new motherboard (as mentioned above) or basically a new computer...

[snoopy369]

The video card is almost certainly the slow point I'd say; you get slowdowns because of the large number of things that have to be transferred around the video buffer. 1GB of ram isn't the issue (unless you are running a lot of other stuff), though adding another GB won't hurt. The processor could be a bit slow, but the video card is probably hurting that also (the processor is having to do more of the video card's work).

[Modo44]

Originally posted by snoopy369
1GB of ram isn't the issue (unless you are running a lot of other stuff), though adding another GB won't hurt.

I call BS. He said he runs large maps, in which case the RAM is definately a problem in the late game. I've routinely seen CIV take over 1 GB of RAM on large and huge maps with many civs, which kills performance due to swapping.

[Quillan]

When I first got Civ IV, I had 1 gig of DDR. I generally play nothing but huge maps, and I'd get slowdowns in the late game even with a 6800 Ultra video card. Going to 2 gigs of RAM has removed that issue, though turn processing still takes time with that much stuff to calculate.