Thoughts on buying a new pc for simcity 4

[DarkLoki]

I was not really sure where to put this so i hope this is the right place.

My concurrent pc is getting quite old at the moment and sc4 has never been a joy to play on this one. And i think now is the right moment to go looking for a new one but i have some questions regarding the performance of simcity 4 on diffirent hardware.

I gues cpu,  harddrives etc do not matter much.

About the videocard, i understand nVidia is better then ATI when it comes to simcity 4? Is this correct, i'm on ati now and never has problems so i will probaply only take nVidia if it is better for sc4.

And about the memory, what do you this is the right amount? I am thinking about getting 2gb or will i really notice a diffirence when taking 4gb?

I hope someone who has had more experience with these matters can tell me what to do 

[snorrelli]

Hi DarkLoki - there are people around more qualified to answer but I'll throw a few thoughts out...

1) Since SC4 is an old game now, I wouldn't get a computer just with this game in mind. For one thing, many of the more advanced options these days such as dual core processors, SLI graphics, etc. can't even be utilized by SC4. Think about what other games or applications you will be using and get a computer with specs good enough for those.

2) SC4 needs RAM and lots of it. 2GB is a good amount but I'm not sure what the benefit of more would be. Maybe someone who has more than 2GB RAM will post. I know with XP, you can't really get more than 2GB for a single application but I'm not sure what happens with Vista. People are also still learning how SC4 behaves in a Vista environment and I'm not sure what the conclusions are. It works but I think there have been some "issues".

3) The video card and video memory in general are not so important for SC4. If anything, newer, more powerful cards can cause complications because they may not support a game that old. That said, any of the new nVidia cards seem to work fine, so get a card that will meet your other, non-SC4 needs and then figure out the settings that work for SC4.

4) Apart from RAM, the speed of the processor and even the speed of the HD can definitely impact performance. Once your plugins folder swells a 7200 RPM hard drive can make a small difference in loading spead and how fast the menus open.

In the end, if you want to make it simple, you can ignore all this and do what common sense would lead you to do anyway - get the best combination you can afford! 

[DarkLoki]

Thank you for taking the time to write that 

1) I guess I wasn't clear about that, the computer will not only be for simcity. I want to play newer games like oblivion and the upcomping crisis. I already have a general idea about what i want but i also wan't to look how it will affect simcity 4 performance.

2) I think i will go for the 2gb at first as i can always add more later. 4 times more memory as my old pc should already make a big difference.

3) In the past i read many posts that nVidia would be better for sc4 so i hope there is someone who can confirm this. Even if a new card may cause more problems i will still have to get one for the other games, my first thought was to get one of the new nVidia's (8800gts) but the new ati also looks interesting.

4) You are right about that but i guess that all the new intel processors will be fast enough for simcity 4, and as i was planning on getting raid in my new pc i also think harddrive performance will not really matter.

I'm sorry for my crappy english  , sucks that i can not really say what i think/want to say.

[DarkLoki]

Noone else? I really wan't to make sure i will finnaly be able to normally play simcity 4 

[Juju]

Hi

I would have liked to see your first impressions with such specs.

In the next 2 days, I will upgrade my PC to these next specs :
Intel Dual 2Core E6750
RAM 2Gb DDR2 (Windows XP not Vista)
NVidia 8600 GTS 256 Mo GDDR3
Hard Disk for the Plugins folder : SATA 7200 rpm or higher, can't remember...

Don't know if more than 2gb RAM would fit to SC4, or even would be useful. But I guess it will be useful, at least, for another old game, Grand Prix 4, which is as great as SC4.
The main problem for me, is that my plugins folder is getting bigger and bigger, the loading times increase dramatically, and SC4 is not interesting to play sometimes. I wish this game was better programmed... But they will release SC5 that seems awful and uninteresting at all... maybe the "building" of this game will be lighter than SC4 at least !

Juju.

[Masochist]

That seems like a very good system to run SC4 on.  I was so happy when I got my new computer and I found out how well SC4 ran...it was great!

I need to get a new graphics card, though...