Avoiding Crash Nightmares - New PC Recomendations?

If I were getting a new PC and wanted to have it run Galactic Civ 2 with no problems, I would make sure it had________________.

Well Cobdeluxe, that's a tough question.

Obviously, quality parts count. Buying the cheapest memory you can find, can sometimes lead to irritating instabilities, that without test parts (hard for non-techies to find) to verify a problem, you can spend more than the higher priced part would have been just having your system working properly.

So, given all that, what kind of recommendations for a system from Dell?

Specify Windows XP Professional. DO NOT USE XP HOME or XP Media Center, though I'm sure some people have no problems with it, it is harder to troubleshoot, usually.

Specify 2GB of RAM, or 4GB if you're going all out. I swear this helps more games nowadays than anything else (even maybe including the video card).

Now, depending on what kind of other games you are going to play (Battlefield 2, Battle for Middle Earth 2, World of Warcraft, etc), you can do whatever you want with your video card. If you are playing the latest games, then you'll want to get the 256MB 7900 Nvidia. Otherwise, for just GC2, you can stick the default X300 ATI 128MB video card.

Hope this helps.

-Thefinkster

ps, always get the 3 year warranty (or 4 year accidental) from Dell.

Well, if it's an issue with the game code, only a patch will help. You may want to read the release notes for whatever Nvidia or ATI driver you're using, sometimes they specify known game issues and temporary solutions until a fix is released.

However...rule #1 if you want a stable gaming PC: invest in a good power supply. Companies like Dell use 2nd rate PSU's because it's not a stat most people care about when they compare computers and Dell knows they can get away with cheap $10 units. A good PSU can easily cost $100...sounds expensive, but consider the simple fact that it's providing critical power to every component in your computer, every second it's on. OCZ, Antec, Enermax and Mushkin are some of the good makers. If I had to buy one today, I'd go with this...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817341001

Here's a really excellent review you can read on 8 power supplies, how they're tested and how they compare.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/348/1/

So this is why people build their own PC's...it's not so much that you save money, but you get to pick the components you want, which end up being much higher quality.

Don't get 4 gigabytes of system RAM, either--the 4GB RAM limit that Windows XP has includes both system memory and any memory that's on your graphics card.

Also, make sure the motherboard you get is 64-bit and can handle at least 16GB RAM; otherwise, you won't be able to get the most out of Windows Vista (once it comes out). The Premium Home edition will support up to 16GB RAM, and the numerous Business editions and Ultimate edition (the 64-bit ones, that is) will support a downright ludicrous amount. Even if you don't plan on getting Vista right away, you'll at least be set up so that you'll be able to make future hardware upgrades without having to buy another whole new computer.

On the subject of power supplies: wattage is not the be-all, end-all determining factor. The amperage on the 12v rail(s) is far more important, since most CPUs these days pull additional power from that rail. And the CPU alone can pull upwards of 16-18A, so you'll want to shoot for a PSU with 30A or more total on 12v, depending on what drives you have.

Specify Windows XP Professional. DO NOT USE XP HOME or XP Media Center, though I'm sure some people have no problems with it, it is harder to troubleshoot, usually.

I do not understand why pushing Windows XP Professional is so important for a home user. Both Home and Professional are built on top of the same architecture. Home users who do not run a home network and share files do not need the added functionality that Professional offers, and even then you do not need it unless you want to be able to fine tune access to files on your computer between users.

We are no longer in the days when Windows NT and Windows 9x were completely different architectures and there was 'some' advantage to runnning NT over 9x.

So please, please save your money and go for Windows XP Home edition, or Media Center Edition!!!

I run GalCiv2 on a Dell Inspiron laptop with 1.8Ghz CoreDuo, 1GB Ram, 256MB ATI X1400, 7200 RPM SATA HD, and WindowsXP Home. I have had not crashed yet when playing on a large map, on GC2 1.2. I have had some corrupt graphics but that's my que to restart the game.

Speaking of power supplies.

The PCIe video cards, at least the mid and high end cards, require a separate power line.
Make sure the power supply has this connector so you don't have to use an adapter. The adapter will require 2 of the large power connectors, and is just another point of possible failure.

Also, check with the video card manufacturer to find out what size power supply, and specific model numbers if possible, that the card requires.

An inadequate power supply will render the video card next to useless, and could cause system crashes that are not easy to track down because of the seemingly random nature of crashes it may cause.

So this is why people build their own PC's...it's not so much that you save money, but you get to pick the components you want, which end up being much higher quality.

I agree 100% with this. I wouldn't recommed a Dell even to an enemy.

If I were getting a new PC and wanted to have it run Galactic Civ 2 with no problems, I would make sure it had ________________.

... a clean system.

Most system could probably run GCII without hang-ups, although not chop-free if you have really old hardware or the settings set too high.
In my experience a lot of problems derive from a buggy install to begin with. A can with windows is not an Amiga, it needs maintenance on a regular basis. Some of my friends insists on reinstalling windows every 6th month or so. For the rest of us there are a number of tweak guides out there, although I doubt that it will save you much time.

A nice place to start is http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html, it could be a bit daunting at first, though, but it’s well worth it.


Rygel XVI - Dominar to over 600 billion (more or less) loyal subjects.

Speaking of power supplies. The PCIe video cards, at least the mid and high end cards, require a separate power line.

actualy doesnt need to be a seperate line it can be in parralell with any other system.

and all powersupplys come with atleast 2 lines of 4 pin connectors.

First step towards a better comp make it your self. Dont buy a dell thats your first mistake. Bad system with the worst cooling capabilites. Not to mention they use not ATX compliant mobos and are a f!@#ing hassle to upgrade. Been building my own comps since i was 14 and i couldnt be happier.

if you dont know how to build a comp find a friend that does and just pay him its still cheaper.

its still cheaper

It probably won't be cheaper, but it's likely to be better value.

I agree 100% with this. I wouldn't recommed a Dell even to an enemy.

I would.

It probably won't be cheaper, but it's likely to be better value.

I agree. You can’t compete with the bulk of the big companies.
You can compete with quality though and it’s not even that hard.


Rygel XVI - Dominar to over 600 billion (more or less) loyal subjects.

Don't buy an X300.  It's a budget card and it will run GC2 with software emulation instead of hardware acceleration.  Also, video memory makes a big difference, so I recommend going with 256 MB of video ram even if you get a card that's not quite as top of the line as the Geforce 7900.  The better a graphics card you get, the longer it will last you. 

I bought a laptop a short time ago that runs GC2 beautifully. It has an Intel Centrino Duo with an ATI X1600 video system. It has 1 GB of RAM and runs Windows Home edition.

I don't think you have to worry too much about having a really high performace system to run GC2. This is more often not the case. When talking about graphicly intensive games like Battlefield 2, Doom 3, Quake 4, etc, performance is a big issue. Even so, my desktop system is fast, but it's not extreme. It runs an nVidia 7900 GT and a Athlon 64. It has 1 GB of RAM. It does quite well on graphicly intense games. GC2 hardly loads it.

I think the main thing is to get quality components. Go for the high end graphics system and processor. Get a couple GB of RAM. Dell's value line uses very inexpensive low end components, but if you go for Dell's performance line, you should get decent components and have no problem.

The nice thing about building a computer yourself or having one custom made is you can pick and choose the parts. However, you'll pay quite a bit more going that route. The bulk in production done by companies like Dell make the final product a lot cheaper, but there's no assurance of the component quality. It's a trade-off.

If you are going to go the mass production route, I would recommend Alienware. Their systems are not inexpensive, but they use only top quality components.

When I was deciding whether to build my own computer or to buy one, I configured systems with the same parts at Alienware, Dell, Cyberpower, and ibuypower to compare the prices.  I ended up buying just the parts at Computer Builder's Warehouse and MicroCenter and saved at least $1000, not including shipping and handling.  So you're not necessarily going to save money with Dell.  The catch is, you have to have someone put it together for you, if you can't do it yourself.  My friend Jeff did it for me, although I think that I probably could have done it myself since all the parts came with manuals.  However, Jeff has done it before, and I figured that it would be good to have someone experienced at the helm.  

actualy doesnt need to be a seperate line it can be in parralell with any other system. and all powersupplys come with atleast 2 lines of 4 pin connectors.

No, they do need to be a separate line. They are a heavy drain on the PS.
You don't want the line that is feeding the video card to be shared with anything else.

And in case you have not noticed, it is a 6 pin connector, not a 4 pin.

I have a Dell XPS M1710 with XP Pro, needless to say Galciv2 runs like a charm   

I ended up buying just the parts at Computer Builder's Warehouse and MicroCenter and saved at least $1000, not including shipping and handling. So you're not necessarily going to save money with Dell.

Interesting, I guess when it comes to higher end systems, you're not really going to save money with a builder like Dell or Alienware.

If you want to really cheap it, you can build a pretty fast system with used parts off eBay. However, you need to know what you're doing because you have a higher risk of getting faulty or incompatible components. Though, I've had good luck with eBay parts. Most people don't intentionally sell faulty parts. In fact, sometimes used parts are better because they've already been "burned-in". They've gotten through that initial period where if something is going to fail, it will fail.

Thanks for all the valuable input everyone! My wife gets a really good Dell discount, but some of your other options are very intriguing!

Hey, didn't I read recently that Dell bought out Alienware? Or was it a similar company?

welp once agine as if on cue in the middle of a good game and gusse what?? it crashs to the debug screen and send error report once agine gave ya guys the benifit of the dobt that yall would fix this stuff but agine the same old stuff get a good game going and CRSH TO DEBUG SCREEN this is pretty old hack i didnt play your game fer a fairly long time because of this CRSHING TO THE DEBUG AND ERROR REPORT SCREEN gusse yall cant seem to get it squared away ! welp same stuff if any one ask me about buying your game . ill tell them nope dont buy it they cant seem to fix this crashing to the debug screen and isnt worth spendeing your money on. just way to buggy still after all this time that you peops have had this out . once agine ill be putting this buggy game on my shelf and be upset that yall aint fixing the bugs after this long time out and still buggin !!!!! MtO Retread/sarg7714