Inexpensive video card for Civ IV?

[geno313]

I just bought Civilizations IV and found out that it won't work on my computer because my video card is NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro and i have to have at least a GeForce 2. Can someone please recommend an inexpensive video card that i can buy just to play Civilizations IV? I don't need anything fancy. Just something basic. This is the only game i'll be playing so i don't want to spend alot of money. And i don't know a thing about computers. I'd really appreciate the advice. Thank you.

 

[ibp_john]

Well I hope that is an AGP 4x slot you have.

You might want to looking at getting something used for pretty cheap as the price of AGP cards is increasing due to their limited availability. The cheapest they have on newegg are the FX5200 which are pretty poor but I'm pretty sure would still be a decent upgrad of what you currently have.

 

[geno313]

how would i know what kind of slot i have? i'm sorry but i really have no clue. the civ tech guy sugested a 6600 agp or a vx1650 ati but i have no clue what either of them are. and the guy that i talked to when i called best buy said something about a PCI and said i would have to spend at least $100 but the tech guy said i shouldn't spend more than $30 to $40.

 

[ausch30]

What make and model computer do you have? We can find out what slots you have available.

 

[geno313]

i believe it's an agp

 

[geno313]

it's a hp pavilion7955

 

[cjl]

If it's an AGP, and the minimum you need is a Geforce 2, you could easily get by with something like this. Is it a low profile?

 

[geno313]

how can u tell if it's low profile? it's got a pretty big card in there right now.

 

[ausch30]

You have an AGP and 3 PCI slots although it says 1 PCI free so I would assume there are some cards installed from the factory in the other 2 slots. Also it looks to me like one of those HP mini towers which might present some problems.

This has a full size expansion slot cover but it is low profile ready so if the cover is too long you can just unscrew it and put a low profile one on.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814141052
Or you can get this which comes with both
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814145067

 

[geno313]

it's a pretty big tower. there's something in the bottom slot then the next slot is empty there's something in the next slot and then is the agp slot where my video card is. i don't think it's a mini tower. it's about 6 years old.

 

[ausch30]

How much are you looking to spend?

 

[geno313]

no more than $35....i just need it 2 play this stupid civ game.

 

[geno313]

i was looking at newegg but i had no idea what the Core clock, PixelPipelines, Memory Clock and all that stuff was for. and i didn't know what works with Windows XP or not since i don't have vista

 

[geno313]

do you really need an Anti-Static wrist strap to install your video card?

 

[MooseMuffin]

No, you don't need the wrist strap. Just ground yourself before touching your card or anything else on the inside of your computer. And don't shuffle around on carpet while you're installing it.

Even with the card, your civ experience might be pretty rough. The game gets pretty ram hungry on larger map sizes. Even with 1gb of ram and the normal map size, I used to find the game would slow down quite a bit by mid game once all the civs had built up a lot of units.

 

[geno313]

thanks for your help. i went with the biostar.

 

[geno313]

i hope i don't sound like an idiot but how exactly do you ground yourself?

 

[the last resort]

touch the screw on the wall outlet.

 

[ausch30]

Have you ever touched something metal and gotten a shock? it was because you grounded yourself. Touch metal and you release any static charge that has built up.

 

[geno313]

cool. thanx

 

[Infested_Terran]

Hello all:

I am having an issue similar to geno's. I really want to be able to run Civilization IV on my computer smoothly. Right now my specs are:

2.6 Ghz processor
1500 MB RAM
Crappy Integrated Video Card

I bought a new GeForce 7600 AGP Video Card the other day but after opening it I realized it was too big to fit into my machine. I returned the video card and I guess I need a low-profile card. However, the salesperson basically told me there's not much hope in getting a decent quality low-profile AGP card. Is this true? I'm not bent on playing the newest and greatest games. As I said, I'm content to just be able to run Civilization IV smoothly. If I could get a card that will also run games like Call of Duty 2 or the new Starcraft II (when it comes out) that would be great too.

I'm willing to pay a decent dollar for a good quality AGP low-profile video card. What would be the absolute best card? And, what would be the best $100 or less card?

Thanks.

 

[cjl]

The salesperson is right. You can get an HD3650 in low profile, and it's quite a decent card, but it is PCI-E only for the low profile version. The fastest AGP cards that were also low profile that I could find were quite ancient.

 

[jaguarskx]

From Newegg's site, the best low profile AGP video card is the:

VisionTek 900164 Radeon X1050 128MB 64-bit DDR = $95

It is a DirectX9 card.


The cheapest available from Newegg is the:

CHAINTECH LA-FX20-H GeForce FX 5200 128MB 64-bit DDR = $21 after $10 mail-in rebate

It was nVidia's 1st generation DX9 card from 2003 and it was notorious for poor DX9 performance. I don't know if performance was improved by driver updates.


My recommendation is the Radeon X1050. Saving $75 (a nice chunck of money) is just not worth it in this case.

 

[cjl]

The X1050 is one heck of a slow card for that price though.

 

[jaguarskx]

The X1050 is one heck of a slow card for that price though.

True, but given the situation the only other option is buy a larger case to fit the motherboard and everything else into it so that a full size AGP video card can be installed.