SimCity4 Hardware???

[RanDum72]

The latest EA/MAxis games seem to be very taxing on hardware. "The Sims", with all the expansion packs installed (and maxed out hardware options) boggs down my main rig, which is a 2.4ghz P4, 512mb PC1066 RDRAM/850E mobo, GF4 Ti4400 OC'ed to ti4600 levels, Audigy2 and two 40gig, 7200rpm drives in RAID 0. Maybe an additional 256/512mb is in order here....

 

[Boogak]

Originally posted by: Varsh
I have to say it's nothing to do with the Graphics Card or the RAM, I can asure you that, it's primarily the Processor and it runs MUCH better on the Pentium 4 due to it's 4 channel FSB (533) over the AMD's 2 channel FSB (333). one of my friends has a ti4600, 512mb DDR333 PC2700 and an XP 2400+, his runs choppy, my other friends however, has a P4 2.2, 256mb DDR233 PC2100 and a GF4 MX440, his runs dead smooth even as high as a 150k population, I on the other hand have an XP1800+, 1GB DDR233 PC2100 and a GF4 MX440 and it runs very sluggish and slower than my friend with the ti4600, it's all processor speed here and it's showing, this is the first game I've ever known the P4 out perform the AMD processor .

I disagree. It gets pretty choppy when scrolling and zooming on my gaming rig too (P4 1.6A@2.26, 512mb PC2700 DDR, GeForce4 Ti 4400, WD 80gb SE).

 

[Whitedog]

and the AI is much improved

A bit OT, but the AI has a lot wrong with it...

Example: If you zone out a new city while paused, and then start it, your Elementery Schools Fill up. (young Sims I take it), but after a few years they empty out to about 5 to 10 students.... and it STAYS THAT WAY!... I had a 25k City with 2 elementery schools, each with less than 10 students at any given time...

Seems when the Sims come to the City, they go through school, but that's it.

I let the game run 100 years to see if all the Sims died out and new Sims came about and went through the school... nope. It seems a one shot deal or something.. Same goes for the higher level schools...

They need to base School attendance as a percentage of the population... and make it an Average Attendance...

Bad AI in my opinion...


NOW, Back to ON TOPIC!

Thanks for all the replies...

Being I'm not loaded with money at the moment and can't afford to buy a new mobo AND DDR, I'm going to order 2 - generic 512 MB PC133's and plop in our computers and see if it goes OK. Should cost less than a $100. I've kinda wanted to have 1GB Ram anyway.
I'd think going to 128MB video card should help... All those textures and animations... But I'll try the ram first.

And for those who Don't like the game... That's too bad. It's one of the BEST LOOKING GAMES I've played to date. I like to play it Zoomed all the way in... you can Truely make a city block the way you want it to. Those buildings are REALLY DETAILED!

 

[WyteWatt]

Whitedog why generic PC-133 ram? Isn't generic ram bad? I know for some mobos like Abit and Asus don't always like generic ram. Not sure about Epox,etc

 

[Derango]

Ram...get as much ram as you can afford for this game.

 

[0roo0roo]

don't order two sdram for a ecs board, won't work.

anyways, ddr is down to 60 bux for 512

 

[chizow]

Might have to pick it up to see how it runs

Sounds like a fun game, I haven't played any of the Sim-games since the original. Well, I played A-Train, but that wasn't a Sim game 'til Maxis bought out the Japanese design group that made it...........

Chiz

 

[Whitedog]

Originally posted by: imtim83
Whitedog why generic PC-133 ram? Isn't generic ram bad? I know for some mobos like Abit and Asus don't always like generic ram. Not sure about Epox,etc

Well, i'm not talking about Bazooka brand RAM or nothing... I'll get whatever works. Yes, I know DDR Is kinda cheap, but I'd have to get a new MOBO for that, and I don't have $300 to spend right now. 2 sticks of SD will do for now.

chiz, this game is a ball and chain man, it will drag your computer to the bottom of the ocean if you don't have it loaded... I can't say you'll like it, you have to like "those kind of games" go enjoy it. Some people are bored immediately with them.

They need to use it for benchmarks.. LMAO!!

Cheers! I'm going home now.

 

[paperfist]

Originally posted by: Varsh
I have to say it's nothing to do with the Graphics Card or the RAM, I can asure you that, it's primarily the Processor and it runs MUCH better on the Pentium 4 due to it's 4 channel FSB (533) over the AMD's 2 channel FSB (333). one of my friends has a ti4600, 512mb DDR333 PC2700 and an XP 2400+, his runs choppy, my other friends however, has a P4 2.2, 256mb DDR233 PC2100 and a GF4 MX440, his runs dead smooth even as high as a 150k population, I on the other hand have an XP1800+, 1GB DDR233 PC2100 and a GF4 MX440 and it runs very sluggish and slower than my friend with the ti4600, it's all processor speed here and it's showing, this is the first game I've ever known the P4 out perform the AMD processor .

I disagree also; like I said above I have a lowly AMD XP1600+ and it runs perfectly fine on a big map with 60k population. It you look at everyone's RAM specs here those that can run the game fine are people with over 512MBs.

I've applied the patch and other then not getting a crash with using the bonus CD & MySims together I don't notice any performance difference. Being able to turn off auto streets is pretty nice though