What CPU would it take to run Sim City 4 smoothly?

Mavrick

Senior member
Mar 11, 2001
524
0
0
To put it short, I like this game but it's waaay too slow. I have a 1 GHz Athlon with 512 MB RAM.
Does anybody here have the game running smoothly on a large map with > 150 000 people and max details?

If so, what computer do you have?

(I don't want to upgrade unless there could be a drastic improvement)
 

hdeck

Lifer
Sep 26, 2002
14,530
1
0
everyone has had trouble with it with cities that big. get more RAM.
 

Mavrick

Senior member
Mar 11, 2001
524
0
0
Well, I see...:(
Still, it's sad to hear, since this game is so sweet to the eye at max detail.

I though that an AMD 2400+ would do the thing... but if it doesn't help much, I guess I will keep my money for later...
 

dawks

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,071
2
81
Try getting more ram. that might help..

Or you could send some money to me, so I could upgrade.. Try playing it on a PII 400, with 256megs ram, and a webserver with php, and MySQL running in the background, hosting 5 active websites.
 

civad

Golden Member
May 30, 2001
1,397
0
0
Try playing it on a PII 400, with 256megs ram, and a webserver with php, and MySQL running in the background, hosting 5 active websites.

What? No sendmail??
 

Evadman

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Feb 18, 2001
30,990
5
81
This system starts to have problems at around 50,000 people. quit your bitchin' :p
 

Imdmn04

Platinum Member
Jan 28, 2002
2,566
6
81
it doesnt matter what kind of rig you have, theres just too much micromanagement that is going on at the same time.
i got a xp1900, radeon 9700 pro, and 512 ram, it is still choppy after about 20k in population.

i have also played simcity 3000 on my current gig, you think it would run silky smooth since its such an old game, but no, there is still alot of chopiness when the population gets large enough.

so in conclusion, a game with many micromangement stuff going on at the same time such as sim city 4, will never run smooth no matter what kind of rig u have once the population gets to a large amount.
 

Mavrick

Senior member
Mar 11, 2001
524
0
0
Originally posted by: Evadman
This system starts to have problems at around 50,000 people. quit your bitchin' :p

Hehehe, but I'm running at the lowest settings, and it already has a lot of problems...:(

 

Mavrick

Senior member
Mar 11, 2001
524
0
0
Originally posted by: Imdmn04
it doesnt matter what kind of rig you have, theres just too much micromanagement that is going on at the same time.
i got a xp1900, radeon 9700 pro, and 512 ram, it is still choppy after about 20k in population.

i have also played simcity 3000 on my current gig, you think it would run silky smooth since its such an old game, but no, there is still alot of chopiness when the population gets large enough.

so in conclusion, a game with many micromangement stuff going on at the same time such as sim city 4, will never run smooth no matter what kind of rig u have once the population gets to a large amount.

Sim City 3000 runs silky smooth on my rig, even with 2 000 000 people... Try running it in win98 compatibility layer, it really helps a lot :)
 

magomago

Lifer
Sep 28, 2002
10,973
14
76
That is Simcity 3000 Though.


For the guy with th Radeon 9700 PRO and a 1900+ : Perhaps if you get 512 more megs of ram it'll help


I don't know if the game was coded efficiently, or if it really needs that raw power


EDIT:

Though I must admit for me simcity 3000 gets slightly choppy in the scrolling when i have over 10,000 people...I can't vouch for more because I've never gotten more people
 

human2k

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2001
3,563
0
0
Originally posted by: hdeck
everyone has had trouble with it with cities that big. get more RAM.

2 sticks of 512mB PC2100/PC2700 + Radeon 8500 or higher + 1.4GHZ or higher cpu = good performance.
 

Chadder007

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
7,560
0
0
Originally posted by: Mavrick
Originally posted by: Imdmn04
it doesnt matter what kind of rig you have, theres just too much micromanagement that is going on at the same time.
i got a xp1900, radeon 9700 pro, and 512 ram, it is still choppy after about 20k in population.

i have also played simcity 3000 on my current gig, you think it would run silky smooth since its such an old game, but no, there is still alot of chopiness when the population gets large enough.

so in conclusion, a game with many micromangement stuff going on at the same time such as sim city 4, will never run smooth no matter what kind of rig u have once the population gets to a large amount.

Sim City 3000 runs silky smooth on my rig, even with 2 000 000 people... Try running it in win98 compatibility layer, it really helps a lot :)

Hmm...thats a good idea. Never though of doing that....
 

Joony

Diamond Member
Jan 17, 2001
7,654
0
0
hmm, what about a Barton 3000+ ODed with a gig of PC2700 DDR ram with a Cheetah 15.3k SCSI HD with a OCed Radeon 9700pro...drools...
 

microAmp

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2000
5,988
110
106
Originally posted by: Chadder007
Originally posted by: Mavrick
Originally posted by: Imdmn04
it doesnt matter what kind of rig you have, theres just too much micromanagement that is going on at the same time.
i got a xp1900, radeon 9700 pro, and 512 ram, it is still choppy after about 20k in population.

i have also played simcity 3000 on my current gig, you think it would run silky smooth since its such an old game, but no, there is still alot of chopiness when the population gets large enough.

so in conclusion, a game with many micromangement stuff going on at the same time such as sim city 4, will never run smooth no matter what kind of rig u have once the population gets to a large amount.

Sim City 3000 runs silky smooth on my rig, even with 2 000 000 people... Try running it in win98 compatibility layer, it really helps a lot :)

Hmm...thats a good idea. Never though of doing that....

Ditto... Now how in the world did you get 2 million people?! I'm some where at 30-50k (don't remember)... trying to figure out how to pack more people in there...
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,353
1,862
126
my xp1800 with 1gb of pc2700 ram runs it well up to like 90K to 100K people .... anything more than that and it starts lagging

Usually around 230K is when it gets so lagged its no longer playable
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
i don't think you can buy a current cpu that will not hit 100% usage for this game. :) well withmax settings atleast. 1gb of ram is good ifu want to use huge ass cities.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
think it also runs smoother(scrolling) better on nvidia cards. sadly:p

friends 4200 runs smoother then my 9000pro:p my cpu is 2100 his 1900. both 1gb mmm
 

Pocatello

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
9,754
2
76
Hopefully this will nudge people to upgrade their 300MHz system and help lift the IT sector from this doldrum, it could work ;).
 

yhelothar

Lifer
Dec 11, 2002
18,409
39
91
hmm WTF? i just decided to run sim city after reading this thread.. and when it started up.. it said.. Sim City Formosa, and it showed a silhouette of taiwan in the back...
and all the words turned chinese..
 

TweakageMan

Banned
Mar 10, 2003
72
0
0
Dual processors is the key.

I have a Dual Pentium 3 1.4GHz system w/ 4GB PC2100 DDR (yes, 4GB) and a Radeon 9500 Pro

It runs sim city 4 flawlessly with 125,000 people.