How good does your computer have to be for your game to not slow down in later game?

[jamy30]

Any ideas?

 

[chrnno]

Any slow down or being annoyingly slow?

The latter barring being one of the people who finish full campaigns in ten hours only really requires being above all the requirements with the higher it is the better the average speed will be.

For the former I don't think it is possible as the computer specs affect both the early and late game so as you increase them you might get to the point where your late game speed is better than anyone can get early game but for you it would still be comparatively slow.

 

[AE911truth_org]

I have a feeling that the amount of your memory is more important in determining late game speed than processor speed. When I played Civ 4 with just 1 GB of memory, the game slowed down very early, but after I expanded to 3 GB the slowdown took place much later.

 

[bunse]

i got an i7 with 8gb memory and it runs badly. at speed 3 or higher i can´t scroll on the map because it makes the screen jitter, and that makes me nauseous. so i have to pause, move the map to where i want it, and unpause.

 

[Morwys]

Before 1.8 I had zero performance issues. Late game was slower, obviously, but not that slower. Finished a few games. After 1.8, the game was the same, except on speed 5. Performance wise, it was not unplayable, but I suspect that late game it would be. My system specs were way over the recommended. To solve this, I 1)started using a SSD drive and 2)updated my OS from a x86 to a x64 (this was more related to a few bugs and crashes I was having, but it did increase performance). Right now, I have zero performance issues as before and late game is not so slower anymore.

 

[Moondrinker]

I'm running on a fairly old system using a dual core processor, Intel E8400, and a dated GPU, HD5770, and my game runs horribly slow (also 4g ram). It lags and jitters every time i speed it up from the normal gameplay speed. I'm thinking that a game of such complexity naturally lags when you speed things up so I haven't complained too much. Though, playing the game is mostly an endless scene of lag and jitters

Two funny things I noticed that might add to the discussion. Playing as Muscovy, I found that there's an 'invisible' radius around the information and flags in the left corner (manpower, monarch points, diplomatic relations etc.) and whenever my mouse gets inside this radius (aprox 2-3cm distance from the information bar), my FPS drops a lot (from 50 to 7-10). I assume because it has to compute a lot (very CPU intensive). This happened when I had a mission to subjugate Novgorod (it had a list with all the provinces I got claims on, and had to core).
So I try not to put my mouse up in the top left corner when I speed it up.
I think it takes 8-12 seconds for one month to elapse on full speed.
My FPS will also drop to 5-6 fps if I go to the amazon or Siberia and zoom in on the woods. Apparently this is very taxing on the GPU.

These experiences are only early game (till 1510) and I do not play on max settings (no AA, no shadows or reflections), with a resolution of 1600x1050.

1.8 didn't change it for better or worse.

Obviously thinking of upgrading. Anyone has any good experience with the fx 8320 and this game?
I also read that an SSD would help a lot except if you play Ironman, since that's a connectivity problem mostly. It would still help loading times I assume, although maybe not immensely compared to non-ironman mode. I'm no wiz. Maybe someone has some input on this? Firing up the game on my old 7200rpm HDD takes one unit of 'coffee cup' (I am able to mill the beans, brew the coffee, pour it and add milk, and return to my chair before it has fired up). Which is oddly satisfying. EDIT: Loading the game up has increased with 1.8.

 

[pgroves]

Runs fine for me on a lowly Apple MacBook Air (running Windows under Bootcamp) - integrated HD4000 HD graphics, 2Ghz dual core i7 CPU, SSD and 8 GB RAM. I only play ironman and have AoW installed

 

[ChildeR]

I have a $100 CPU and a $100 GPU, and I get good performance. In 1.7 there was barely any slowdown late game - about 5-6s per month rather than 4-5s at speed 5. I haven't yet played a game to the 19th century with the latest hotfix, so I'm not sure how 1.8 slowdown is after the fixes, but early-midgame seems ok, about 1s slower than 1.7.

I have some i3 from a couple of generations back and a Radeon 7770.

 

[Zak Preston]

I guess that CPU performance is the most deciding factor. I guess there should be no problems for any more or less modern i5/i7 CPU and 8 GB RAM with a budget GPU.
I wonder how EU4 works with hexa\octacore AMD CPUs and whether it utilizes all available cores properly =)

P.S. My AMD laptop with SSD runs 1.8 even smoother than 1.7