heft

Join Date 06/2006

+28

Should I bother to get Civ 5 right now, considering my video card?

This post is a question about the realistic requirements for Civ 5. I'm not asking about gameplay.

The requirements state that the required video card is an NVidia GeForce 7900. However, the recommended card is a GeForce 9800, which I can't touch. My card is a GT 120 (roughly equivalent to a 9500 GT). It falls somewhere in the middle between minimum and recommended.

But much of what I have been reading about the game suggests that the game seriously lags without a good video card.

I have played the demo, but it only plays for 100 turns. The info on the net indicates that the game lags most in the late game.

For the rest of the specs, I am above recommended.

My other specs:

Win 7 64-bit

8 GB RAM

Intel Core 2 Quad 2.33 Ghz

With these specs, should I bother right now? Or should I upgrade the video card before buying the game? Has anybody played with specs similar to mine?

Locked Post

Advanced Search

Watch this post

Do not email me updates for this post Email me updates for this post

Successfully updated karma reason!

Whilst I don't have similar specs my suggestion is that if lag is an issue just play on the 2d version of the map, strategic view or whatever it is called, Which is what I did for the majority of the game, once the "ooh, everything is pretty" effect of the graphics wore off I found the strategic view to be much better to play on.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Well... unless you think it will get cheaper by the time you upgrade your graphics card... i don't see why you can't buy it now and hang on to it if it doesn't run well. Have you tried the demo? That will give you firsthand information.

That being said, I rarely by games at launch anymore. After so many disappointments I have decided that I will wait until the games go down to lower prices before buying them. If you get into the habit of playing games 1 or 2 years after they come out, you can save a huge amount of money, especially with GOTY and Gold/Platinum Versions that bundle expansions and DLC.

You will have to decide for yourself how much you want to play the game in the immediate future, but there are plenty of older games that are just as good that you can play, and they are much cheaper and will run maxed out on your system.

Successfully updated karma reason!

I installed civ5 on my system which is a core 2 duo 3.0ghz, 4gig ram, xp pro and I have the nvidia 9500 gt fanless video card. It seems to run just fine although admittedly I have not reached the end stages of a game yet. I noticed there are alot of video and performance options to choose from and I have mine set fairly high so you should be able to get it to run decently.

As umbralangel mentioned, I also usually do not purchase the latest game anymore. Civ5 was an impulse purchase and the exception but I have found that by waiting my hardware is usually more than adequate to run a 2 or 3yr old game.

I would say go with your card and just run with lower settings (if need be)

Successfully updated karma reason!

Forgot to mention, I have my 9500gt set to run "high performance" over "quality" and this seems to help. I could also overclock this card using the Nvidia tool sliders but I have not had to do this yet. But perhaps you can up the performance of your card a bit using the software which usually comes with the vc.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Update: I decided to go ahead and buy Civ 5. It runs on my machine just fine--in DX9 mode. DX11 mode seems to drag a lot more.

Successfully updated karma reason!

I have 5 year old laptop.

1.8 dual core, 1Gb, 256 ATI X1400 mobility.

Civ V runs fine in strategic display mode, I can't play it with "graphics".

Successfully updated karma reason!

Quoting heft,

reply 5

Update: I decided to go ahead and buy Civ 5. It runs on my machine just fine--in DX9 mode. DX11 mode seems to drag a lot more.

I should try it on DX9 more. Turn times are whats REALLY annoying me about this game. I played through like 250 turns of BTS in a few hours the other night and I was like this would take me 3 days on Civ V!

Successfully updated karma reason!

Play the demo.

Me, I happen to think Civ 5 still needs a lot of work both technically and from the game play side. TBH, Civ 3 is better IMHO. Civ 4 BTS even better than that. Save your money.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Quoting wilebill,

reply 8

Play the demo. Me, I happen to think Civ 5 still needs a lot of work both technically and from the game play side. TBH, Civ 3 is better IMHO. Civ 4 BTS even better than that. Save your money.

It depends on what you like. IMO Civ 4 BTS and Civ 3 are great games in their own right, but I like Civ 5 for different reasons. Part of what excited me about this game is that the dev was a fan of Panzer General, and some of the features are similar to that game. I especially like the hexes and the single unit per hex and embarking rather than building transports (which I always thought was tedious). Civ 5 has less micromanagement, which I also like. I've owned all the Civ games since Civ 2, and I have liked them all for different reasons. Personally, I'm not disappointed with Civ 5 either. But yeah, play the demo first, and read about the game and download the manual pdf (free on the Civ5 website) before deciding to fork out the money.

Quoting mentalinstra,

reply 7

I did notice the graphics run more smoothly on DX9 (though uglier). I don't know if it affects the turn time or not. My turn times don't seem too long, but I also don't play large maps.

Successfully updated karma reason!