Your system - Page 2

The Pioneer · November 11, 2002, 03:17

Wow, I should get a new computer!

Mine is a 500Mhz with 768Mb RAM, and a Kyro II chipset with 64Mb from Hercules. I am running Win XP Prof and the game runs smoothly most of the time. It gets slow at later stages of the game on huge maps with >8 civs. I usually turn off all applications that are not needed though.

So long...

Randolph · November 11, 2002, 10:12

Yep, as I though I officially have the biggest POS around.

Pent II
400Mhz
128Mb Ram
no 3d card

Oh, and a barely functional, unstable (disconnects ever 1-5 minutes), 48kbs modem (or at least that’s the speed it claims to connect at, but my max download speed is about 5kbs, usually 1-3kbs)

Anyone want to give me their old computer?

edit: BTW late game w/ 16 Civs on a huge maptake about 10-15 miniutes between turns.

aaglo · November 11, 2002, 10:33

My system = sufficient

The Pioneer · November 11, 2002, 11:04

Quote:

Originally posted by Randolph

edit: BTW late game w/ 16 Civs on a huge maptake about 10-15 miniutes between turns.

Same here, I usually divert my attention t o something else in the meantime and that leads to losing track of what the game does. I guess we both need a new computer!

So long...

TheStinger · November 11, 2002, 11:08

celeron433 64mb video/sound card no idea
runs alright on small and tiny can do standard if 6 or less civs

Stuie · November 11, 2002, 13:00

1.1 Ghz AMD with 256mb RAM and a Geforce 2mx 32mb vid card. Ran ok with 16 civs on a 140x140 map. Anything higher slowed down too much for my taste in larger maps. So I bought more RAM (another 256mb) and managed to toast my mobo in the process of installing it. Lesson learned: don't rush the RAM install in a poorly lit area.

So my brand new mobo is waiting in my car for installation tonight, and then I have to pry PTW out of my wife's clutches to try out 24 civs on a huge map.

Berduin · November 11, 2002, 13:08

1.0 GHZ Athlon w/ 386 MB RAM
The game runs fine for me, even on the largest maps with many civs. The only major problem I have is with the loading times; they tend to get rather long. The animations and unit movements have always worked smoothly, though.

metalhead · November 11, 2002, 16:21

Quote:

Originally posted by Randolph
Yep, as I though I officially have the biggest POS around.

Pent II
400Mhz
128Mb Ram
no 3d card

Oh, and a barely functional, unstable (disconnects ever 1-5 minutes), 48kbs modem (or at least that’s the speed it claims to connect at, but my max download speed is about 5kbs, usually 1-3kbs)

Anyone want to give me their old computer?

edit: BTW late game w/ 16 Civs on a huge maptake about 10-15 miniutes between turns.

Not so fast there, Randolph. Get a load of this:

Dell Dimension
Intel Celeron at 333 MHz, 64 MB RAM, as for audio/video cards, I really have no clue.

Runs standard maps w/8 civs perfectly fine - even in the modern ages, turns rarely take more than 20-30 seconds, but large and huge maps are impossible - the first turn alone on a large map takes 2-3 mins. Didn't quite stick around for the industrial era lag

JamesDS · November 11, 2002, 17:39

I'm near the bottom!

Pentium II 400MHz, 128Mb (SD)RAM, Win95, 4Mb ATI (3D??)Graphics. Quite good, scrolls map a bit slow, and huge map turns are bit long!

Also, when needing to move 100+ workers a turn, with the preference 'Show my automatic moves' OFF, takes a few minutes

alva · November 11, 2002, 17:42

This must be the only side, where threads like this turn into the,
"I have the slowest PC

"
contest

bongo · November 12, 2002, 06:39

What is the minimun requirements for running civ3?

I have a P200 with 64MB ram and 2MB graphic-card(no 3d of course) Whats the odds of getting civ3 to work on that one

Let's bonk some head!

Tiberius · November 12, 2002, 07:13

deleted

Tiberius · November 12, 2002, 07:17

So what are you saying? That it is working for you or are you asking if it will work?

Quote:

What is the minimun requirements for running civ3?

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS form civ3.com:

Operating System: Windows® 95/98/Me/2000
Processor: Pentium® II 300MHz
Memory: 32 MB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 400 MB free hard drive
(+50 for swapfile)
CD-ROM Drive: 4X Speed or higher
Video: DirectX® 8.0a-compatible video card* (must be able to display
1024x768x16 bit)
Sound: DirectX® 8.0a-compatible sound card*
DirectX: DirectX® version 8.0a (included) or higher

* Indicates device should be compatible with DirectX® version 8.0a or higher.

bongo · November 12, 2002, 07:27

I'm just asking. Haven't tried it yet. I will if I get the time. The system is just sitting there gathering dust now.

Chemical Ollie · November 12, 2002, 07:42

Quote:

Originally posted by alva848
This must be the only side, where threads like this turn into the,
"I have the slowest PC

"
contest

I thought I would win the "Crappiest computer contest", but it seems I only scored among top-5.

PII MMX 450 MHz
192 MB RAM PC100
10 GB hard disk
4 MB graphics card
Lousy audio card (soundblaster)
32 x CD player with DVD
17" monitor

This system works well up to large maps if I turn animations off. I tried if on Marla's World (huge+) and each AI turn took at leat 20 minutes in the industrial age. I did not finish the game...

I could only play CIV3 and older action games like Counterstrike and Starcraft. No action games newer than 2 years.

But I have ordered a package that will beat you all. It will arrive any day now:

P4 2.56 GHz
512 MB RDRAM PC800
120 GB hard disk
128 MB Gforce 4 graphics card
Turtle Beach 5+1 channel audio card
16 x DVD player
DVD burner
19" monitor

Perhaps a little overkill to play civilisation? But there are more games out there...

I think everything but the RAM will last for a while. But that RAM format is so new that it's even hard to find, and if I do, it's very expensive. That upgrade will have to wait a while.

bongo · November 12, 2002, 07:50

Is it too late to cancel that order? I've read that RDRAM is on it's way out. Getting memory upgrades may soon be very difficult.

Cagliostro · November 12, 2002, 07:54

Athlon XP 1800+, 512 MB cl2 timed ram, 2x 60 GB IBM 7200 rpm HDs @ raid 0, GF3 TI500 64 MB, SB audigy player, 600W surround system (that had to be in, due to the importance for civ

) all running on winxp pro.
The game still takes forever for AI moves, but that's because I allways play the biggest worldmap with the max # of civs and I run lots of stuff in the background (I often watch movies on it whilst it computes the moves...).

Chemical Ollie · November 12, 2002, 08:01

Quote:

Originally posted by bongo
Is it too late to cancel that order? I've read that RDRAM is on it's way out. Getting memory upgrades may soon be very difficult.

Are you serious? I thought it was so new that it's hardly even out there yet. Why would Dell put a mediocre amount of obsolete RAM in a state-of-the-art gaming monster?

bongo · November 12, 2002, 08:29

RDRAM is at the moment the fastest memory money can buy. Unfortunately it is also very expensive and more complex, and in some situations slower than other types of ram.

The problem is that the lack of a big comercial success have made intel stop developing new chipsets and motherboards. Which means that you can buy it today, and next year. But after that they may disappear from the marketplace. The computer industry will use DDR-RAM and soon DDR-II, which is cheaper an soon faster.

Randolph · November 12, 2002, 10:19

I don't feel so sorry for my self now, I'm not the only person with a complete POS

TheStinger · November 12, 2002, 10:23

quick question is my celeron 433 the same as a pentiumII 433

Chemical Ollie · November 12, 2002, 10:41

Quote:

Originally posted by bongo
RDRAM is at the moment the fastest memory money can buy. Unfortunately it is also very expensive and more complex, and in some situations slower than other types of ram.

The problem is that the lack of a big comercial success have made intel stop developing new chipsets and motherboards. Which means that you can buy it today, and next year. But after that they may disappear from the marketplace. The computer industry will use DDR-RAM and soon DDR-II, which is cheaper an soon faster.

AAARRGGHH!

You are right. I checked the archives of IDG/Computer Sweden and it's all there. I wonder why Dell put it in the package then, and only 512 MB of it? I mean, most old PCs have more RAM than that.

It's too late to cancel any orders, as we made a joint order of 100's of equal packs at my job (employee home-PC). But they made more major mistakes, like signing Lexmark as the default printer supplier

And the last home-PC pack (by Siemens) had it's flaws too. My current system was the top-end deal, but had only 64 MB RAM, 4 MB graphics and no CD burner.

Tiberius · November 12, 2002, 11:31

Quote:

Originally posted by TheStinger
quick question is my celeron 433 the same as a pentiumII 433

Almost but not quite. The processor core is the same, but the Celeron has less cache memory. In other words, it is a cheaper and less performant Pentium II.

bongo · November 13, 2002, 05:03

Olaf, you may find comfort in the fact that your new system will have kick-ass performance when you recieve it. 18 months from now it will probably still be a good performer.

TheStinger. If you're into overclocking then you may have an excellent processor. Many celerons were loved by overclockers because they cost less than PII and could be overclocked into beeing alot faster.

(overclocking may be considered OT here unless you aim for a better civ experience

)

Colonel Kraken · November 14, 2002, 15:11

Home-built machine: 1Ghz Duron, 384MB SDRAM, 32MB PCI card.
Works fine, but I never play with more than 8 Civs on a huge map.

bongo · November 15, 2002, 03:48

I installed civ3 on my 64MB P200 system with 2MB VGA-card. Installing took almost forever, when I turned off all animations I could even play it too

Actually gameplay was so slow that playing a full game would almost equal torture

Tiberius · November 15, 2002, 04:03

Hence the minimum system requirements

bongo · November 15, 2002, 04:29

I'm below on cpu and above on RAM....

It's a bit tempting to remove half of my RAM.

I even got an excellent starting position, one move, settle and hey presto. 2 cows and dye in city. Even got sea access

ducki · November 15, 2002, 15:17

Alienware P4 1.7GHz, 512M RAM, GeForce3 64M RAM.

Civ was extremely fast, PtW a little less so, but still quite smooth.

Mostly it's the map generation and loading that seems slower. Actual gameplay is quite good.

Civfan · November 15, 2002, 22:36

Had before

comp1= AMD k6-2 450 mhz with 256 RAM 8 MB 3d Accellerator card 20 gig harddrive

comp2= Celeron 2 466 MHZ with 256 RAM 8 MB integrated video card 20 gig harddrive

Civ3 works great. 20 minutes to refresh the screen, huge maps out of the questions.... more than 2 civs, a big nono....

NOW

Duron 1.3 ghz 384 SDRAM 8MB video
works perfect.
Just think if those system requirments were actually real I wouldn't of purchased the game until now!