Need to Upgrade Your Graphics Card 4 Civ4?

[digger760]

Thinking of upgrading your graphics card?
I think the Nvidia 6600 offers the best value.

Here is the latest offering from XFX, which has DDR2 ram. Fater and cheaper than GDDR1 ram on most 6600 card offerings. And overclockable too!! So if your game enough to overclock you can get a card that is cheaper and faster than a stock 6600 GT


http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20051109/index.html

[Shabbaman]

I already got a geforce 6600 ;) The AGP version was brand new when I got it.

[Pastorius]

I have gforce 5700, after a problem occured with the gforce4 (fan falling off etc)
It certainly is not a new card, but I hope it covers my needs

and I experience occational hiccups running wonder movies. I think it is mostly music related (need to update drivers when connection is back up)

Also, transition from ingame to diplo view seems slow. Might be related to pagefile being too small.

Anyway, I allowed myself a test run as I got it on wednesday. No weird insert cd problems, experienced the city gifting bug, had no AI gang up on me, and won spacerace on noble.

Hm. Come to think of it, end video had same problems as wonder videos. An nvidia update might do the trick when connection is back up (est. 21.11.2005 now...tsk tsk)

My head hurt by then because I had been reading all day.

My fiancee gets home from Barcelona tomorrow, so I ll ask her to lock the game up for me.


Erm..I went quite a bit off topic on this one. sorry

[Darkness]

Computer idiot needing help!

Considering my graphics card (Intel® 82865G Graphics Controller) is not good enough for Civ4 (according to the systems check), I have been looking around a bit on the net to see what kind of problems I might have. Since I don't have T&L, I'll probably suffer from the "Dark Terrain" problem.
Now I don't have the game yet (stupid play.com... :(), but reports at that other site lead me to that conclusion.

So, now I have two options:

1 - Wait and see if Firaxis does anything about it (like people are hoping at that other site. (I think that's unlikely as it's a systems requirements related problem)

2 - Get a new graphics card.

Option two however, is problematic. I am a complete idiot when it comes to computer hardware, so I can use all suggetions and comments you're all willing to give.
It is my understanding that there are different types of conncetions for different graphics cards, correct?

So how can I check my computer for what kind of possible connections I have? And thus, what kind of graphics card I should get?

[Shabbaman]

IIRC you have the same graphics card like Stapel has. If it is integrated on the MB you're fucked.

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by Shabbaman

IIRC you have the same graphics card like Stapel has. If it is integrated on the MB you're fucked.


Because if it is, I can't add another?

[digger760]

Integrated graphics - means its on a chip soldered to the board. That does not mean you are fucked. If you have a AGP slot or new PCI express slot then you can add a graphics card to your system.

PCI Express is very knew, so i will assume you do not have this. Unless you bought a cheap Dell PC then chances are you will have an AGP slot. I'm not sure if its possible to tell if you have an AGP slot via windows. There is probably something in the Bios. But if if you have easy access to your motherboard, then the AGP slot sits next to (above) the PCI slots but is shorter in length (and normally the slot is a different colour as well).

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by digger760

Integrated graphics - means its on a chip soldered to the board. That does not mean you are fucked. If you have a AGP slot or new PCI express slot then you can add a graphics card to your system.

PCI Express is very knew, so i will assume you do not have this. Unless you bought a cheap Dell PC then chances are you will have an AGP slot. I'm not sure if its possible to tell if you have an AGP slot via windows. There is probably something in the Bios. But if if you have easy access to your motherboard, then the AGP slot sits next to (above) the PCI slots but is shorter in length (and normally the slot is a different colour as well).


You're already close to losing me... [blush2]

I do have Dell PC and it wasn't exactly cheap (though I didn't exactly go for an "Ultimate gaming PC" or whatever).

I think I'll open up my PC when I get home tonight and see if I can make any sense of it... [crazyeye]

Thanks for the help so far... :)

[grahamiam]

what model Dell was it?

[Darkness]

Dimension 3000 IIRC...

[digger760]

Bad news darkness, this review says it has no AGP slot:

http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Dell_Dimension_3000/4505-3118_16-31077378.html

[digger760]

And just so you know what to look for in the future:

Intergated - On chip solution, not great for games. has to share memory with CPU, good for internet and email, word processing

AGP - Advanced Graphics Port (normally 4x or 8x is the speed factor...4x is a min requirement for most AGP graphics cards). Old technology, go for a motherboard with PCI express slot if you can.

PCIe - PCI Express, is replacing AGP as it provides for more bandwidth between GPU and CPU. The future is here (for a while anyway!)

All the new graphics cards come out with PCIe first then the AGP versions follow a few months later. AGP will be around for a good few years yet.

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by digger760

Bad news darkness, this review says it has no AGP slot:

http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Dell_Dimension_3000/4505-3118_16-31077378.html


Which means I can't install a new graphics card? :(

Or are there any graphics cards (that are good enough for civ4) that can connect to something else?

[Shabbaman]

quote:Originally posted by Darkness
I do have Dell PC and it wasn't exactly cheap (though I didn't exactly go for an "Ultimate gaming PC" or whatever).


So does Stapel. He does have an AGP slot though, but he hasn't got it working properly yet. So if some of the computer nerds errr... I mean experts ;) got advice on how to get it working...

[Melifluous]

Well the onboard graphics you describe are the same I have here at work.

I run World or Warcraft and Half Life 2 on these "crappy onboard graphics" card things.

I am almost certain you can get it running.

Have you got the latest drivers from Intel?

Believe it or not they do upgrade them and they do rock a little.

Melifluous

[Melifluous]

And just for fun I'm gonna try and install it at work now :)

Melifluous

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by Melifluous



Have you got the latest drivers from Intel?


Probably not... [blush2]

Got a good link for me? :)

[grahamiam]

your Dell 3000 has Intel Extreme 2 chipset, right? if so, it may be alright as that chipset can offload the transform and light to the CPU.

[Melifluous]

Well that was simple enough.

The intro videos were complete crap (fuzzy multi coloured crap) but the game runs better than my laptop runs it.

Laptop is P 2ghz Mobile and 512MB RAM with a Mobility Radeon 9000 32MB graphics card.

PC is P4 2.8ghz, 1Gb RAM and intel 82915G intel chipset [:P]

Might be ok matey. No black terrain, no visible side effects really, I guess it'll choke on Wonder Video's, but they all suck anyway.

Melifluous

[Melifluous]

quote:Originally posted by Darkness


Got a good link for me? :)


http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=1044

Oh and never be ashamed to say you dont get PCs, my job in IT support depends on people like you ;)

Melifluous

[digger760]

I think there is a standard PCI Graphics card option...I never thought there was a market for them but maybe there is...dunno how they perform though. Not great i suspect.

[Pastorius]

quote:Originally posted by Melifluous

Well that was simple enough.

The intro videos were complete crap (fuzzy multi coloured crap) but the game runs better than my laptop runs it.

Laptop is P 2ghz Mobile and 512MB RAM with a Mobility Radeon 9000 32MB graphics card.

PC is P4 2.8ghz, 1Gb RAM and intel 82915G intel chipset [:P]

Might be ok matey. No black terrain, no visible side effects really, I guess it'll choke on Wonder Video's, but they all suck anyway.

Melifluous

Why the fairly decent laptop with the crappy gfx card in it?[:p]

Gotta agree, those wonder videos are nothing compared to the glory of civ2 wonder movies.

[Pastorius]

Ever wondered why those damn support people make you wait in line when you call them?

Well...:

quote: Well the onboard graphics you describe are the same I have here at work.

I run World or Warcraft and Half Life 2 on these "crappy onboard graphics" card things.

I am almost certain you can get it running.

Have you got the latest drivers from Intel?

Believe it or not they do upgrade them and they do rock a little.

Melifluous

quote:
And just for fun I'm gonna try and install it at work now

Melifluous



[mischief]

[Melifluous]

quote:Originally posted by Paalikles


Why the fairly decent laptop with the crappy gfx card in it?[:p]


Because my work bought it for me.

[ggw2]

[meli]

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by Melifluous

quote:Originally posted by Darkness


Got a good link for me? :)


http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=1044

Oh and never be ashamed to say you dont get PCs, my job in IT support depends on people like you ;)

Melifluous


Thanks Mel, but unfortunately it doesn't work....

When I try to instal it, it just says it can not be installed on the computer, blabla,etc....

[Melifluous]

Hmm the blabla bit is occassionally of some use. Care to share?

Melifluous

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by Melifluous

Hmm the blabla bit is occassionally of some use. Care to share?

Melifluous


I imagine it is, yes... [crazyeye]

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/Darkness/20051114225358_error.JPG
20.6KB

It basically translates to:

"This steeringprogram can not be installed on the computer. Please contact the supplier of the computer for more information."

[Melifluous]

ok looking more into intels website it would appear that they dont actively support dells [crazyeye]

However I have faith [georgemichaelsmiley[fortneableajob]] that your originalle, supplied/superinposed by DELL driver will work!

Dell pwns btw ZOMGftwbbqpwns!!

one1!1one

Melifluous

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by Melifluous

ok looking more into intels website it would appear that they dont actively support dells [crazyeye]


Right, that would explain it.

I'll see what happens when (if?) the game finally arrives... And then I'll take it from there.

Thanks Meli! :)

[grahamiam]

well, once you get it working, you can count on seeing some interesting images:

(originally posted by supa @ CFC)

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/grahamiam/20051115163421_Ohoh.JPG

better give those workers some entertainment, or the may start fucking the livestock [lol]

[digger760]

[rotfl]

[Pastorius]

The above pic is of "Farmer Bob" ( http://members.iinet.net.au/~afleay/cow/ )
He has some special entertainment preferences.

[Swingue]

he guys, I might have solved my civ4 not running problem.
One of the good things of my gf moving in with me is that she has a brand new Dell desktop.
Videocard sucks but she doesn't mind me putting in a new one to play civ4.

What do you reccomend?

YEAH PP, I know i should have calculated that before i bought her the pc

[ProPain]

In this case I dont think you could have foreseen Civ4 not running on your laptop. Not your fault, stupid Firaxis' fault.

I do think you came up with a smart solution! Don't know jack shit about graphic cards these days so other will have to provide the techie adivse.

[ProPain]

BTW that worker-cow pic is kinda sick. Fits right in with the economics pic.

[Pastorius]

Who said economics was boring, ey [groucho]

[digger760]

quote:Originally posted by Swingue

he guys, I might have solved my civ4 not running problem.
What do you reccomend?

YEAH PP, I know i should have calculated that before i bought her the pc




Swingue...read the top of the thread.

[Darkness]

OK, play.com fucked up, so now I bought it at the local mediamarkt.

I do have the black terrain though.... :(

So, a question to all those around here who know more of computers than I do (read: everyone)

The way I see it, I've got four options:

1 - Pray that firaxis will patch this problem (sometime next century, if at all)
2 - Return the game ( :( )
3 - Put in a new motherboard, without internalized graphics card (Scary option, as I would have no idea on what I would be doing here)
4 - Put in a new graphics card in a PCI slot as I do have 4 of those. (I like this one best, I think)


Problem is, what PCI (not PCI express!!!) compattible graphics card can run civ4? I don't know... Can anyone offer any suggestions?

Thanks! :)

[grahamiam]

hmm, that's a tough one.

looking @ newegg.com, it seems that, at best, you could get an ATI9250 or a nVidea FX5500 PCI card for about US$100. Not sure in Europe. link -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133134 (edit: sorry, that 1st card was junk)

You might want to dig around CFC, as there's something called the "blue marble terrain mod" that a lot of people like because it's less stressful than the standard terrain. also, there's people over there asking the same question, so maybe there's a better answer.

here's a thread where you can read about the cards without searching too much -> http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=133278

[Darkness]

Thanks grahamiam. :)

I'll check it out...

[akots]

It might be patched. The patch is due soon, when exactly however is not known. So, best bet might be option 1. Option 2 is always possible. Option 4 is not a good idea imho. Indeed it is a very bad idea because for $100 you can get option 3 done provided that you do everything yourself. I mean for $100 here you can get both MB and AGP2 card which can run Civ4 well.

[Kemal]

I think waiting for a patch on this specific issue -with an outdated intel integrated graphics controller that is- will be in vain, unfortunately. :(

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by akots

It might be patched. The patch is due soon, when exactly however is not known. So, best bet might be option 1. Option 2 is always possible. Option 4 is not a good idea imho. Indeed it is a very bad idea because for $100 you can get option 3 done provided that you do everything yourself. I mean for $100 here you can get both MB and AGP2 card which can run Civ4 well.


akots, option 3 is only a real option if you know what you're doing, which I don't... :(

Now I am fairly certain I can put in a new graphics card, but a new motherboard is way out of my league, I'm afraid.

@Kemal: I think so too. I'll definately wait and see what the upcoming patch does before buying anything though...

[grahamiam]

@darkness, you may want to check this out -> http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=3358558&postcount=4

Not sure if thats your graphics chip or not, but at least it's a link to the patch that you could try.

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by grahamiam

@darkness, you may want to check this out -> http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=3358558&postcount=4

Not sure if thats your graphics chip or not, but at least it's a link to the patch that you could try.


@grahamiam: [kiss][dance]

Downloaded the patch. Installed it. Started civ4

Then I got a warning:

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/darkness/20051123202031_warning.JPG
87.09KB



Started a game.... THE BLACK TERRAIN IS GONE:

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/darkness/20051123202111_Black no more.JPG
126.75KB



Then I met the French.... THE CHESHIRE CAT IS GONE:

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/darkness/20051123202158_Cat is gone.JPG
110.59KB


So CIV4 works, even with my stupid graphics card (Intel® 82865G Graphics Controller)

Thanks for all the help people! I really appreciate it!


Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me: I've got some civ4 to play... :D

[Ginger_Ale]

I got the demo ...

Bugs I encountered (all probably related to my GeForce 2 MX 400 video card):

-parts of floodplain graphics were bright (aka 'visible') even when I had not discovered them (and when I had, they stood out over the greyish terrain).
-related to the one above, the yield display (food/shields/gold) only displays food, and even then it is wrong (all of them are either 2 or 1 food).
-I got some blue text (looked like highlighting sort of, in word or something), but this may be because of ClearType.

Other than that, it wasn't too bad. I can live with those...

[Melifluous]

quote:Originally posted by Darkness


So CIV4 works, even with my stupid graphics card (Intel® 82865G Graphics Controller)

told ya so

[meli]

[Pastorius]

quote:Originally posted by Ginger_Ale

I got the demo ...

Bugs I encountered (all probably related to my GeForce 2 MX 400 video card):

-parts of floodplain graphics were bright (aka 'visible') even when I had not discovered them (and when I had, they stood out over the greyish terrain).
-related to the one above, the yield display (food/shields/gold) only displays food, and even then it is wrong (all of them are either 2 or 1 food).
-I got some blue text (looked like highlighting sort of, in word or something), but this may be because of ClearType.

Other than that, it wasn't too bad. I can live with those...


Sneaked in the latest nvidia drivers?

I ve gone from weird music and choppy wonder movies, but hardly any gameplay visual errors to "fluent wonder movies and hardly any visual errors beyond that. (On my Gforce fx5700 though. I used to have Gforce4, but when the fan broke on that one, they had no antiques to replace it [lol] so I got a better one )

But, afaik, your 32mb card could be a strain.
A small map game resulted in hangup occationally. Even with 512MB of old DDR, teamed with my 1.7GHz athlon xp processor, and enough harddrive space.

Perhaps swapfile needs to be increased though...

At least gfx is all good. No more sound issue either - which apparently was unrelated to my creative Live! Player drivers drivers.


So I m gonna quote an old dog:

"[Patching and driver updates,] Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesnt" [col]

[Ginger_Ale]

Hell no Paal, I haven't updated the drivers for my nvidia card - judging from others' posts @ CFC, it seems like that might not be the best idea. I think it is more of my card than the drivers - the drivers won't increase my video card MB, will they?

My card is actually 64 MB. The game was pretty smooth though, just except for those few annoyances.

[Pastorius]

You re a smart kid, so if you find that performance does not improve - roll back.
81.95 is "Microsoft approved" too. If that is important to you ;)

My move from 77 something to 81.94 did much good, as I said above. I applied 81.95 today, but had no time to test.
Col said it best, so I ll jsut repeat that it wont hurt (much) to try updating :)

[Socrates]

Is that "Chechire cat" when we only see the eyes and teeth of a leader head ?? [hmm] Brrr, being at the minimum required graphics and having a GeForce 2 gfx card, I think I should wait for the patch first, right ? Even if I could play the game, I'm sure I'll soon encouter some problems during the game. Right ?

[Ginger_Ale]

Cheshire cat is what you describe it as, yes.

krys, I am at the same position as you in terms of video card. I gave it a go, and it worked fine, even with a 1.8 GHz, 256 MB RAM. Apart from the bugs I mentioned above, there were no CTDs or freezes or massive glitches. Wonder movies appeared to work fine (they weren't choppy - but I didn't have sound on). If you think you won't be able to play the game with what I mentioned, I wouldn't try until the patch comes out. If you can, try it, you might find some fun. :)

Re. Paal: I've had bad experiences with drivers ... my brother updated his for a game and it totally crashed his system (needed to get a new one). I'd rather play with what I have then take a risk, and I'll just wait to see if a patch works. It's not like I'm in a hurry, I don't have the game.

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by Melifluous

quote:Originally posted by Darkness


So CIV4 works, even with my stupid graphics card (Intel® 82865G Graphics Controller)

told ya so

[meli]


Yes you did... :)

[Melifluous]

awwwwwww ....... [blush]

Sometimes it's nice to be right...

[meli]

[Socrates]

Don't know why, but we're currently having a massive invasion of lurkers, and half of them are on this thread. And they're not bots, as far as I can tell. Is it due to Meli's new superpowers, or to my link on some boards ? [hmm]

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by kryszcztov

Don't know why, but we're currently having a massive invasion of lurkers, and half of them are on this thread. And they're not bots, as far as I can tell. Is it due to Meli's new superpowers, or to my link on some boards ? [hmm]


I also posted this at that other site, with a link to this thread (with the nice pictures)... :)

[Socrates]

quote:Originally posted by Darkness

quote:Originally posted by kryszcztov

Don't know why, but we're currently having a massive invasion of lurkers, and half of them are on this thread. And they're not bots, as far as I can tell. Is it due to Meli's new superpowers, or to my link on some boards ? [hmm]


I also posted this at that other site, with a link to this thread (with the nice pictures)... :)

OK, so you're the man, man. [cool] Hey everyone, I caught him !!!

P.S. : Welcome to all our lurkers, it's comfy here, you'll like it. If you want, we can give you an idea of how it is here, like our North Korean buddies sometimes do. :)

[akots]

Yep, it seems there are a whole bunch of people at CFC who would click on everything. [lol]

Congrats on running the game, Dark one! Now you're ready for first GOTM with Civ4... We were promised a Praetorian gorefest on Noble there.

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by akots

Yep, it seems there are a whole bunch of people at CFC who would click on everything. [lol]

Congrats on running the game, Dark one! Now you're ready for first GOTM with Civ4... We were promised a Praetorian gorefest on Noble there.


I need some practice first, I think...

[Melifluous]

Practice my arse.

Just build barracks and praets and dont trust the french.

Napolean is bad, Louis just stabs you in the back [mad]

[meli]

[Rik Meleet]

It works on my laptop now as well !!

[Sir Eric]

I had 64MB Integrated graphics which only let me see the big blue planet before crashing faster than a cheap chair. I then purchased a Radeon 9600... I then saw how well CIV4 worked with Radeons..... so I had to delete that pak file thingy, now it works fine.

[ProPain]

quote:Originally posted by akots

Yep, it seems there are a whole bunch of people at CFC who would click on everything. [lol]



In that case some of us need to post KoC links there :)

[Shabbaman]

I just put my old 128mb geforce mx 4000 in, and performance is horrible. If you're looking for me, I'm probably lying in a corner crying...

[Rik Meleet]

Tja... A geforce mx 4000 is not for games.

[Shabbaman]

On the bright side, it has passive cooling that can't break down like the fan on my geforce 6600. Now, back to my corner...

[digger760]

You shoulda bought a Gigibyte Silent Pipe 6600...it has no fan!

[digger760]

Mind you since starting this thread I have seen the graphics coming out of the Xbox 360...I am almost converted, all it needs now is Civ$ on Xbox360 and my pc gaming days are over. Equivalent graphics in PC's cost around 400 Euro just for the graphics card.

[Shabbaman]

quote:Originally posted by digger760

You shoulda bought a Gigibyte Silent Pipe 6600...it has no fan!


The XFX geforce you were advertising earlier has a pretty big fan:

http://images.tomshardware.com/2005/11/09/the_ddr2_joker_upgrades_geforce_6600/xfx-6600-wddr2-top.jpg

Your advice is pretty confusing. Make up your mind ;)

I'm wondering if I should let the shop send the card back to the manufacturer or just put a new fan on it myself. They claim the chip might be damaged.

[digger760]

Well the XFX added faster memory in the form of DDR2. If you can tolerate fans then its better value for money than the Gigabyte...if you bought one and the fan is Kaputt already i'd definately be looking for an RMA.

[Shabbaman]

Unfortunately I don't know whether the fan is broken or not. It just doesn't cool the card enough, IMO. So I'd say it's broken. Unfortunately the store will charge me 15 euro's investigation fee if they think it's not broken, greedy bastards. Won't buy anything again there for sure.

[grahamiam]

doesn't XFX have a warrenty? send it back to them for a new one. edit: sorry, I was getting XFX mixed up with BFG, which has lifetime warrenties in the USA

[Shabbaman]

It's club3d card, but I get your point. The problem is that if it isn't a video card problem, I have to pay for the costs. The problem in the bigger picture is that they could even say that it isn't a video card problem, just to avoid any costs themselves. Unless I get my hands on an identical card or figure out a way to measure temperatures.

Or wait until the fan breaks down completely. Or just replace the damn thing and pray the card wasn't damaged to start with (because that would void any warranty). Anyway, I don't know.

[grahamiam]

you may want to try installing a PCI-slot fan if you can afford to take up a slot (the one right under/next to the AGP port). you can usually buy one for about $5 here.

sorry, can't describe it better, so here's a pic
http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/grahamiam/2006110214126_pci fan.jpg
6.65KB

[Shabbaman]

That's a good suggestion, but I need to figure out which way the fan makes the air flow. If it's away from the card such a thing might not work.

Anyway, I've already tried a huge fan blowing from the side, that doesn't solve the computer completely. Since it extended performance to about 25 minutes, that lead me to believe it is definately some heat problem.

[grahamiam]

These fans usually are exhaust fans, so they will remove the hot air from the case. I used such a fan in my old case that had only 1 input fan. I put it right up against my ATI 9600 Ultra (heat pipe), and it seemed to keep it working well.
Does the card mfr make a fan monitor? Maybe you can measure the RPM's and show that it's not up to snuff. Or find someone with an old fashioned strobe light and measure it directly [lol]. Short of that, since it's a DC motor, voltage is directly proportional to speed, so maybe there's a power problem to the fan? Got meter?

[digger760]

Have you googled to see if other people have had such problems with this card? If there is a desgin fault then surely other people would be experiencing similar problmes. Or maybe you got a bad one out of the batch, in which case you should be entitled for a replacement.

[RegentMan]

Heh I had to get a new computer to play Civ IV. Pretty nice too, my Jewish French Empire is the dominant power on my continent.

[Shabbaman]

OK, I've given up.

I've been able to measure GPU temperature (I think, no clue what else would be under "core temperature") with rivatuner (hooray), and found that the chip isn't overly hot (70 degrees celsius isn't cool, but it certainly isn't overheated). My CPU isn't getting hot either. Power shouldn't be a problem with my 3 months old zalman 400W power supply. Memtest shows nothing.

Yet...

I get a white screen and my system hangs. When I google this it appears that I am the only one (for I haven't found a solution or even the smallest hint). On the bright side, I only encounter this with Battlefield2. I can run 3dmark without problems, civ4 runs smooth (so this shouldn't be in this thread, in fact ;) ). But it's friggin annoying.

[Sir Eric]

Have you tried playing it with your graphics settings turned down low to see if it will play, and then if it does then just increase the settings until you are unable to play and then just use the last good settings to play with?


It could also be your monitor too..

[Shabbaman]

How would my monitor make the system unresponsive?

[digger760]

What about your power supply, perhaps your not giving the GPU enough go go juice

[Shabbaman]

I think that might very well be the case, I'm going to put my old power supply in this weekend. I'm sure my current 400W zalman should be able to handle it, but it might be broken or something. The thing should be capable of powering a lot more than what I have.

BTW, I'm having complete system crashes as well when I visit this page (http://netherlands.alltidhattrick.org/stats/17/0/eng/team/144548/) with firefox. With IE, there's no problem. Haven't found any other site with the same problem. Weird eh?

[Shabbaman]

I've put my old 300W power supply in, similar problem. So either my new power supply has the same output as my old one, which sounds very unlikely, or it's something else. Time to reinstall windows.

[Pastorius]

my 64MB SIS M760GX card does indeed run civ4

But not smoothly enough :(

But I havent tested with less than my normal settings (on my desktop, I have details set to high and all animations on, but I have a 128MB Nvidia card on it)

I guess my card is non-optimal.

[Swingue]

I will get a new laptop soon, my old one got stolen out of my car in Amsterdam.
Will a 256Mb Nvidea Geforce 7800 Go Card do for civ4?

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by Swingue

I will get a new laptop soon, my old one got stolen out of my car in Amsterdam.


Leaving a laptop in a car in Amsterdam? [nono]

;)

[Swingue]

quote:Originally posted by Darkness

quote:Originally posted by Swingue

I will get a new laptop soon, my old one got stolen out of my car in Amsterdam.


Leaving a laptop in a car in Amsterdam? [nono]

;)




Yeah, i went out to change money for the parking ticket, was gone for about 7 minutes. [aargh]

[Darkness]

quote:Originally posted by Swingue

quote:Originally posted by Darkness

quote:Originally posted by Swingue

I will get a new laptop soon, my old one got stolen out of my car in Amsterdam.


Leaving a laptop in a car in Amsterdam? [nono]

;)




Yeah, i went out to change money for the parking ticket, was gone for about 7 minutes. [aargh]


Seriously?

Man, that's got to be a new world record or something....

[Shabbaman]

quote:Originally posted by Swingue

I will get a new laptop soon, my old one got stolen out of my car in Amsterdam.
Will a 256Mb Nvidea Geforce 7800 Go Card do for civ4?




*drool*

Getting your car robbed in 020 might have something to do with that PSV bumper sticker.

[Pastorius]

Ok. tested my SIS card (integrated SIS 760 with the mirage 2 graphics engine), after having found a BIOS setting wherein I could increase card memory to 128 from 64mb [hyper]

Firstly, I tested it on raw civ4: choppy video, choppy music on start intro
Secondly, I tested it on civ4 ini file edit to window mode, and no screenshot stuff: still slow
Thirdly, I modified ingame settings - to medium, turned off most of the eyecandy (all that had significant impact on speed): result: quicker movement of units, but mapscrolling slow.

No weird floodplain errors, BUT at first meet with an AI it had weird eyes syndrome.

My desktop can handle civ4, so I ll just have to wait till I ve fixed it sometime.

So, again I uninstall it. But at least I tested it.

[digger760]

is that the laptop you bought?
waht civ4 path do you have?

I think i finally know the AI weird eyes thing...due to running the 18 civ Huge earth map in the late game and accidentally running the laptop on battries only. They have weird teeth as well, Almost like an Exo Skeleton view of the AI.[goggle][vampire]