i should be buying my laptop this weekend i believe it is a hp with an i7 operating system thing. what is yours?there should be a blue sticker on it that says i3 i5 or i7 on it. If you know which you have please tell me how well the game works and if you would recommend it!!!!! i would reallllly appreciated it!
Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 are three classes of Intel processor. Basically, i3 is low end, i5 is mid-range, and i7 high end.
Any of these will run Civ5. To the average user the differences are highly technical and relatively subtle, but at the end of the day you get what you pay for. An i3 is adequate, an i5 is good, an i7 is best. (Although the differences between an i5 and i7 are unlikely to make any practical difference unless you are trying to multitask more than just Civ5).
BUT
Unfortunately that is far from the end of the story, since processor type is far from the most important indicator of whether a laptop can successfully run Civ5.
Laptops are rarely designed to run games that are as heavy on graphics as Civ5 so by far the most important question is "Does the laptop have a discrete graphics card?" and if yes, what model.
Equally important (but less likely to be an issue) does it have enough memory 4Gb is the key number in my opinion.
Your best bet is to get the full spec of the laptop, post it in the Civ5 support subforum and let the more technical posters there comment on your likelihood of success.
(My laptop is a Core i7 and it runs Civ5 huge maps great at 1080p on high settings, but the reason it runs well is the GTX 460M graphics card and 8Gb of memory.)
My recommendation is to not get a Core i3 but instead narrow it down to either the i5 or i7. Core i5 is what you should get as the Core i7 is for people who have unlimited budgets and an i7 doesn't actually get you that much more performance in gaming usage. With a Core i5 in mind you want to make sure you get a second generation part. You can tell because first generation will be a 3 digit part number and second generation will be 4 digits. For example, my first generation Core i5 desktop part is a Intel Core i5 650 @ 3.2Ghz. The "650" number is the part number and it is 3 digits. See This Handy Chart for examples of the processor part numbers. The 4 digit ones are second generation and are also called "Sandy Bridge" processors. There is a significant performance increase between first and second generation Core processors - so make sure to get a second generation.
Get as much memory as you can afford. Memory is really cheap right now so you'll only pay more the longer you wait.
In the specific case of Civilization V, it was optimized for Intel Core series processors which means Civilization V will run on a Core processor even using its integrated graphics. However, with that said: you'd still be better off getting a discrete graphics solution from either Ati or nVidia as those will be better with ALL your games and not just Civilization V.
Pfff. Honestly, if you want a machine for gaming ...? Get a desktop. The same pile of dollars will buy you FAR MORE "horsepower", graphics and otherwise, than if you spent it on a laptop.
To successfully run ciV:
i3 processor or higher
4GB RAM or higher
Dedicated graphics card, every company uses a different one so please post
It's a new computer so hard drive space doesn't matter
I'm guessing you're getting a pc so Windows 7 would be your operating system
A Core i5 on a laptop would suffice if you have a very good card. Civ 5 does not actually need more cores but rather more speed. So get the max Ghz possible with your processor. A mid range card would suffice unless you want to play in HD with maxing out anti aliasing and anisotropic filtering.
I'm not sure to what extent, but CivV can certainly make use of multiple cores - especially when running DirectX 11, which allows rendering instructions to come from multiple threads simultaneously. 2 cores at 2GHz will do better than one at 4GHz.Originally Posted by gseth
running i7 quad core 2.00ghz, uigb ram and a decent grahpic card. Runs smooth
This discussion over the last couple of days has helped enormously making a choice for a small to mid range laptop for my son's birthday, thanks everyone.
Went for this:
Packard Bell Easynote TS11HR-127GE
Intel Core i5 (2nd Generation) 2450M Processor 2x 2,50 GHz
4096 MB RAM
NVIDIA Geforce GT 540M
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Should be able to run Civ5 on that.
Last edited by tfordp; 03-15-2012 at 12:52 AM. Reason: updated to answer Shiav's question
Definitely, is that an ASUS? It has the same specs as the one's my wife and son have.
I can play ciV in strategic mode on my laptop, but I have an Alien Ware desktop for all things real.
Sounds a lot like my wife's ASUS, as well, except she has an i7 CPU.
Highly recommended, by the way. ASUS makes good laptops at decent prices. At mid-range, they build good "entertainment" laptops suitable for mid-level gaming for $900 or so. At the high range, they make laptops that match the performance of Alienware and such, but at about 60-70% of the price.
It is worth noting that the i5 Sandy Bridge (i5 "2nd Generation") haven't been terribly popular with laptop makers. While people are right about the difference between i5 and i7 being subtle, the price difference is small, too. Lots of manufacturers are opting to use the i7's for better marketing. The good thing is that the prices aren't that much more inflated because of it. You can really go with either. I don't see any strong reason to require one or the other.
FYI, I paid 529 €uros for that build. That's about 690 $US.
Not bad. My wife's was $950 with an upgraded CPU (i7) and video card (550M).
Of course, I nearly choked when I saw the manufacturer. You Europeans have no idea what sort of godawful crap was sold on the US market under the name "Packard Bell". I worked for my university doing IT support and every spring we'd offer same-day ethernet install/configuration services for any student computer... unless it was a Packard Bell. Packard Bells needed to be checked in and attached with a waiver, as it often took hours to do simple hardware installations and a few died on the operating table with power supply or motherboard problems.
Gulp. Hope i don't have any problems, but it got good reviews.
The European "Packard Bell" is completely different from the (defunct) US version of "Packard Bell". They might have been the same company, but their manufacturing and sales were run completely separately. The European version is seen as a higher-end brand name with a good reputation (so I'm told) while the US version was a bargain-level brand known to sell used parts in new computers and produce designs that were barely functional: (1990's "Plug and Play" was often joked to be "Plug and Pray", on US Packard Bells, it was "Plug and Fail").
You'll be fine.
It's a US thing. They were just so bad that I can't help but cringe when they are mentioned...even by Europeans.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+1...=1218493897793
this is the laptop i'm planning on buying today. Could someone tell me if this will be sufficient in the video card/graphics area? thanks! i really appreciate it.
It's a dell laptop fyi. here's the same link again http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+1...=1218493897793
i am going to buy it in maybe six hours or so i would reallylike to have as many opinions on it as possible before i leave. THANKS!
It looks fine enough, even if it is a bit laggy you can take it into strategic mode. It's how I play even on my good computer, it just feels so much more "right"
Here is what I bought for $629 and it does pretty well on CivV, most settings on high with a few on medium. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834246214
You could probably find something better than the Dell, as it only has integrated graphics. Perhaps something like: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834246309
strategic mode? sorry i have no idea what that is. i played civ IV for like four years off line and finally have internet and will probably play my first online civ game this weekend. Whats strategic mode?
just curious what makes either of those laptops better than the one i posted a link of? if the laptop i chose will run civ with no problems i'llbe happy. i just want to know if it will play civ V on at least an average level
UK Packard Bells in the 90s were piles of rubbish. Non-standard expansion buses were seen in some cases, others where the PCI bus was a PCI bus, but the backplate dimensions were non-standard so standard PCI cards wouldn't fit. ISTR in 98 they even had some that still had proprietary CD-ROM interfaces rather than IDE/ATAPI. Oh, and cases with unfinished metal edges. Those were killers (almost literally).
If you can think of an unpleasant word rhyming with 'bell', it was probably used as an insult. Packard Smell, for instance.
it says it has a Intel® HD Graphics 3000. is that good enough?
HD Graphcis 3000 are the integrated graphics with the CPU. The other laptops have dedicated (separate) cards that perform better than the integrated graphics. I prefer the dedicated because if my dedicated card goes kaput I still have the integrated as back up.
Plus I hate Dell.
You speak the truth.
why do you hate dell? and could i buy a dedicated card at another time and have it installed or something? or is that impossible/too expensive
Well, first we need to discuss what "good enough" is. It's terribly subjective. Some will say yes, some will say no.
Objectively: The Intel graphics on the new Sandy Bridge chips (which that laptop has) are much better than previous versions. However, they're not great and you'll get better performance from almost any (current) dedicated graphics card. So far as I've heard, they will work fine and you will be able to use the full 3D view, you just may not be able to run at higher quality levels, and you may have some choppy animation at times.
ISTR the game has specific support for i5 integrated graphics. Not sure if that's what we're talking about.
what's "ISRT"?
good enough in my opinion is a little better than avg. WIll it make the gameplay less efficient in anyway? choppy as in slow?
"I seem to remember/recall"
do you think the laptop i posted a link to will play this game on a well enough level?
Theoretically it should be ok. You may like to read post #27 again.
well i just want an average or above level of quality
Last edited by btwminaj95; 03-16-2012 at 12:31 PM.
Average is a mathematical concept. It's impossible to define in any satisfactory way when talking about this sort of thing.
Keep the detail turned down low, you'll probably get a decent framerate. It may run at higher detail, but the framerate will drop. Where you prefer to balance that is up to you.
Just out of interest, I booted this baby up at the weekend to install stuff and check it out.
Civ plays like a dream, all maxed out and with AA turned on. Now I'm jealous of my sons laptop. Jeez.
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