upgrade advice

[Dracon II]

I got Civ4 this morning (so much for the two essays I should be starting right now)... but it runs waaay too slow... and the graphics are quite slow and lacklustre as well. I wan't improve my system performance without spending too much (without getting a new cpu).

Here are my current specs:

Pentium IV 1.5GHz

256mb RAM

Geforce 2 Ultra 64mb

1X 60gb HD

1X 140gb HD


How can improve my computer's performance without spending my life's savings?

[KrazyHorse]

The bad news: you need a better video card, processor and extra RAM

The good news: you have plenty of hard drive.

[Dracon II]

Hmm... well... Christmas is coming

[Dracon II]

RAM shouldn't be too expensive. It's the video card and the processor that I'm worried about. Civ 4's recommended specs are 1.8Ghz processing, 512mb ram, and a 128mb video card. Do you think that's enough or should I go even further?

[KrazyHorse]

My setup:

512 MB RAM
Pentium 4 2.4 GHz
GeForce FX 5200 128 MB
40 GB HD

And the only problem I have is that the intro movie and wonder movies have choppy sound.

[Urban Ranger]

How much are you willing to spend, Dracon?

[Sikander]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
The bad news: you need a better video card, processor and extra RAM

The good news: you have plenty of hard drive.

[Tattila the Hun]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
My setup:

512 MB RAM
Pentium 4 2.4 GHz
GeForce FX 5200 128 MB
40 GB HD

And the only problem I have is that the intro movie and wonder movies have choppy sound.

I'm pretty sure that has little to do with actual oomph in you machine. Seems to be rather common problem.

[Fake Boris]

Unfortunately, you're most likely stuck with a Willamette socket. Good luck finding a faster CPU.

In all honesty, your computer is old enough that you might want a large rehaul involving a motherboard swap.

[Dracon II]

You mean buying a new computer?

This going to be the most expensive computer game I've ever bought.

Oh well... it is Civ 4... it's worth every extra penny I spend

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Tattila the Hun


I'm pretty sure that has little to do with actual oomph in you machine. Seems to be rather common problem.

Any solutions as yet? Patch in the works?

[The Mad Monk]

You can get a good motherboard / processor combo for about $300 these days.

Alternatively, you may want to see how much additional memory you can stuff in that puppy.

[Dracon II]

Are there any good multimedia/gaming notebooks out there?

[Sava]

no

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Dracon II
Are there any good multimedia/gaming notebooks out there?

Too expensive