need to improve performance (1 Viewer)

[absolution*]

civ iv is lagging like shit. im defragging overnight. any other tips? (ps. read stickied thread)

 

[AsyLum]

Post your setup up, it'll help people determine any 'tweaks' they can help you with specifically

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Civ IV is out in Aus?

 

[Collin]

Civ IV is out in Aus?

That's what I was thinking.. let's go raid his house. I'll have the play disks on Tues, Wed and Sat, and you can have it on Mon, Thurs and Fri. We'll split it half days on Sun.


Absolution: Post up your specs. However judging from Civ III, you would want a reasonable amount of system memory and a decent processor. So if you've got a pissy 256MB of RAM or something, then well.. it's gonna lag. Secondly Civ IV has a new 3D engine. Erm, I really doubt you'd need a flying Geforce 7 or something to run this game well.. but then again you might be in trouble with say, integrated graphics (into the mobo).

So yes, post up your specs.

Oh yes, all that spyware shit that you were reporting aswell would have an effect on overall system performance too.

 

[absolution*]

I acquired civ iv by means other than purchasing it.

Erm, its pretty old.

amd athlon 1800
1.54 ghz
256 mb sdram
80 gig disk
geforce 4 mx440
sb live sound card

running xp

Basically, im running civ iv on lowest graphic quality with all settings on the low end and its still really laggy. I should prolly upgrade.

 

[AsyLum]

Minimum System Requirements
System: 1.2 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 256 MB
Video Memory: 64 MB
Hard Drive Space: 1740 MB
Other: Sound Card, Keyboard, Mouse MB

Recommended System Requirements
System: 1.8GHz or equivalent
RAM: 512 MB
Video Memory: 128 MB

Outside of geting more RAM and a new videocard, there's not much you can do really. I guess, make sure your card has Antialiasing and Vsync and stuff forced off to ensure it doesnt accidently get triggered. Get the latest drivers. And don't run other things in the background.

You could also try o/c your card a bit, i remember amping the gf4mx440 up a few notches and got some decent kick out of it before getting a gf4ti4200 (was free so not complaining too much)

 

[darksbane]

Your system meets all the recommended system requirements apart from the vid card and system ram....So if you were to add an extra 256mb ram and possibly up your vid card, shouldnt cost too much and should run fine, though as with everything, a faster CPU will help too

 

[absolution*]

You could also try o/c your card a bit, i remember amping the gf4mx440 up a few notches and got some decent kick out of it

How exactly do i do that?

 

[Ragerunner]

I don't recommend o/cing (overclocking) your card. Especially since it's a mx440. You will not really notice any in game performance difference.

Although you meet the system requirements, thats just to run the game. If you want performance but don't want to break the budget, I suggest you get a geforce 6600GT.

You might want more ram too, they are cheap nowadays.

 

[Collin]

How exactly do i do that?

I actually wouldn't recommend it. Overclocking your video card just means to increase the clock speed of it's running frequency.. doing so will obviously mean your video card will be running faster, but unless you know what you're doing, you can fry your card completely.. and since you asked 'How exactly do i do that?'.. chances are you won't know what you're doing.

The easiest upgrade you can do right now is the RAM upgrade. Get another stick of 256MB and put it in. Since your comp seems pretty old, perhaps all the slots are already filled (e.g 2x 128MB sticks for 2 slots, although it seems more likely that it's 2x 128MB sticks for 3 slots, hence 1 slot free), then you might need to spend a bit more.

 

[darksbane]

Something else to consider if you upgrade the RAM is that your running SDRAM. SDRAM is still available and isn't too expensive, it can just be a little bit harder to come by, though my wholesaler stocks it, I don't see it kept in stock in many shops.

 

[darksbane]

Ya, though for 256mb, its not a great deal more expensive, only $10 at the most. 512mb sticks have a pretty big price difference though, between $30-$40.

 

[SashatheMan]

dont do little steps.

scrap the 256 ram stick and just get 2x512 mbs. They are only 110 or something dollars. thats fricking cheap

 

[SashatheMan]

i remember playing civ 2. and i think that game is the most funnest game, that requires minimum pc specs. units just slide when yuo move them , i mean how primitive is that. But a really great game nonetheless.

i havent seen screen sshots of civ 4. anyone want to provide me with one?

 

[Collin]

Go to the Civ IV thread in the Games forum and go to either the IGN or Gamespot review links.

 

[Capitalist Pig]

256 mb sdram
geforce 4 mx440

Buy another 256mb of ram, it should only cost you $30, and you can get cards suitable for games like civ 4 such as the radeon 9550 for about 70.

 

[darksbane]

dont do little steps.

scrap the 256 ram stick and just get 2x512 mbs. They are only 110 or something dollars. thats fricking cheap

Not when you consider that 512mb of DDR400 can be had for $65 or less. Even moreso when you consider that 512mb of DDR2 at any speed apart from 800mhz or 1000mhz can be had for cheaper then 512mb of DDR. In his system it's hardly worth spending the money on 2x 512mb. Yes, it would boost the performance to a degree, but theres still the video card, when you think about it, $220ish for RAM, $70ish for a vid card, your looking at almost $300. In my opinion, he'd be better off spending $40-$50 on 256mb (less if it can be gotten second hand) and then just saving and doing a motherboard upgrade to a socket A motherboard that supports DDR RAM and just get the board and ram, it will run the same CPU and vid card. Then replace the video card and if he really wants, the CPU. Though at this point in time, socket A is going through a similar phase as SDRAM and becoming harder to come by and more expensive. Though its the only path that doesnt involve replacing everything at once. So considering that, he may be better off to just buy 256mb SDRAM now and just save and buy a skt 939 motherboard with PCI-E, DDR and either an Athlon 64 or a skt 939 Opteron, both have been proven to be good CPU's, though the skt 939 Opteron's are still new, there are quite a few 3Dmark scores that show very similar performance between the 2.

But when one looks at upgrading...AMD's new socket is due out next year, so it really depends on how much you want to spend.