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The Perfect SimCity 4 System by Cameron Robertson With the release of SimCity 4, the SimCommunity rejoiced as they ogled the sheer beauty of the new graphics engine and incredible terrain rendering, along with new detailed street level views. Rush Hour took us a step closer, taking the player into the day to day actions of being a mayor, whether it be averting disaster or creating mischief. All of this power, however, takes a toll on our aged computer systems. For many, meeting the minimum requirements is a difficult task, let alone running the game smoothly. But fret not SimCity players, you don't need a $3000 system to run SimCity 4 like a charm, however there are a few things that I would recommend if you want to be able to scroll across your city effortlessly. In order to give you a good idea of what you need to run SimCity 4 well, I will present two sets of components: one to run SimCity 4 well with medium settings (and when I say well, I mean at least 30fps scrolling speeds across a large city of at least 150,000 people) and another to run SimCity 4 well with everything turned up. I will even back these systems up for Rush Hour, however keep in mind that certain gameplay modes in Rush Hour are taxing on any system, so I will not hold that 30fps mantra true for flying around in a helicopter in a large city, or taking a cruise in the UFO. System performance depends on a number of factors, so I will not claim to make this the holy grail of SimCity parts; I will say, however, that I have first hand experience with all of the components I am recommending*. *Okay, so maybe not all of them- I may not have first hand experience with the "similar" category of components, however ask any computer geek and they will fall in performance wise with the recommended component. Take a look at your SimCity 4 box and you will note that it says you can run SimCity 4 on a 500 MHz machine. Bah! Yes, you can, but you will miss out on much of the SimCity experience. Also note that SimCity 4 requires an 16mb video card- believe it or not I have seen it run on an 8mb card, however with anything less then 64mb you shouldn't be expecting a spectacular presentation. So what do you need to run SimCity 4 nicely on medium settings? (I am being conservative here; with these specs you should be able to push at least several of the categories to high) The following components specs will do just that- (Components can be found on PriceWatch.com, prices are of June 23rd, 2004) Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2000+ Similar: Pentium 2GHz processor The original system I ran SimCity 4 on was an Athlon XP 2000+ system and it did very well for a year old processor (at that time). However, in reality the processor is not the primary component in SimCity 4's needs, so you should do fine if you are using a system with a 1.6GHz and up processor. Cost: $50, however for only a few dollars more you can get the significantly faster Athlon XP 2400+ at around $60, the current value processor. Don't forget that unless you currently have an Athlon XP or Duron system, you'll probably need a new motherboard as well which will be another $60-$100. RAM: 1GB PC2100 DDR or faster Sounds like a lot! However, I cannot stress this point enough; SimCity 4 loves memory and the key to a zippy SimCity 4 is a lot of memory. I have seen SimCity 4 gobble upwards of 500mb of ram for a large city, meaning that Windows XP and the barrage of necessary tasks that run with it will slow the game down if you only have 512mb or less of ram. You can substitute other components for ram to achieve some of the lost performance, like a very fast processor and graphics card, however when it comes down to it ram is the cheapest of these options. While I recommend 1gb of ram I do so because this is from personal experience; anything greater then 512mb should be good for cities with populations into the 200,000's and smooth gameplay, meaning that if you only have 256mb of DDR right now, and you can add 512mb, you will see a very major performance boost. Cost: Because PC2100 DDR is being phased out, it is the same cost as the much faster PC3200 DDR, and in some cases more expensive due to low quantities. A 512mb stick of Industry Standard DDR currently sets you back by $75, meaning a total of $150. RAM prices are a bit inflated right now, so if you can afford the two sticks, sticking with one (no pun intended) should be fine as long as you already have a fair amount of DDR. You can also go with Generic ram for $20 cheaper a stick, however I strongly dissuade you against this as although it make work perfectly is usual means you can expect system instability when you need power (like for say SimCity 4). Graphics Card: Radeon 9600 or above Similar: nVidia 5600 and above The original card I ran SimCity 4 on was a Radeon 8500, which was decent. However, the Radeon 8500 has since been phased out in favor of several new generations of cards. The direct modern comparison to the Radeon 8500 is the Radeon 9200, yet as I was never quite satisfied with the Radeon 8500's performance I recommend the Radeon 9600. Avoid the Radeon 9600SE, a skinnied down version of this card. The Radeon 9600 is very difficult to find, so it is more likely that you would get a Radeon 9600 PRO or Radeon 9600 XT, which consequently are faster cards for only a slight increase in price. Out of all these components, most computer oriented SimCity 4 players would agree that this is least important; people have claimed to be satisfied with the level of performance that the Radeon 7500 gives, I am being conservative again to make sure that you can enjoy SimCity 4. So if you already have a Radeon 8500/9200/9100/9000 PRO, don't go out and buy a Radeon 9600 PRO for SimCity 4, get more ram instead. Cost: $105 for a Radeon 9600 or $130, for a Radeon 9600 PRO. You can probably find theses cards for a few dollars less, but be wary of shady hardware websites. Okay, so using the above components lets assemble a new SimCity 4 ready system (links in green are ones that I have personal ordered from, you can be pretty confident of them): CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2400+ PartsPC.com $57.09 w/S&H Motherboard: Abit NF7 PartsPC.com $63.82 w/S&H RAM: 1gb PC3200 RAM MS4ME.com $150.00 with free S&H Hard Drive: 40gb Western Digital 7200 rpm Upgrade Solution.com $58.79 with free S&H Graphics Card: Radeon 9600 with 256mb of ram AllStarShop.com $105.00 w/S&H CD-Rom: Lite-On 48X TigerSurplus.com $12.99 w/S&H Case and Power Supply: Generic case and 420watt certified power supply Aaronix.com $11.99 for the case and $59.99 for the power supply CPU Fan: Cooler Master Heatsink GoGoCity.com $13.00 w/S&H OS: Windows XP Home- NO CD included! This means you will have to borrow your friend's XP cd, however it saves $20 EastOutlet.com $53.00, free S&H with coupon mentioned on PriceWatch Total: $585.67 A system to run SimCity 4 well at medium setting for under $600 shipped! Amazing! If you need to shave some dollars off, you can cut it down to 512 DDR for $75, get a Radeon 9200 $70 and a lesser power supply for $30. This will save a decent $140, however that $140 will be reflected in the parts quality (namely the power supply) as well gameplay. While the Radeon 9200 is not that great of a loss to the Radeon 9600, the 512 will make a significant difference. So what about SimCity maxed out? Well, here are the components you want- Processor: AMD Athlon XP 3200+ Similar: Pentium 3GHz processor This is the one component I do not have direct experience with. Instead I use an Athlon XP 2600+, however since this is only a slight improvement over the 2400+, the 3200+ is currently a very good processor for the price. It will easily handle SimCity 4 with any city you throw at it. Cost: $140 RAM: 1GB PC3200 DDR or faster Confused? Well, after 1gb, of ram, the benefits of extra ram decline. As most modern motherboards only have 3 memory slots or less, in order to move up to 2gb you will shell out considerable money for 1gb chips (think $175 a chip). I personally use 1.5gb of ram, and the performance boost simply isn't the same jump it was from 512mb to 1gb from 1gb to 1.5gb, so in order to keep this system somewhat budget. Cost: $150 Graphics Card Radeon 9800 or above Similar: nVidia 5900 or above Once you hit the Radeon 9600, SimCity will not require much more as far as GPU is concerned. However, from my personal experience, that extra $100 goes a long way in squeezing out the last bits of satisfaction from SimCity 4. Cost: $200 for the Radeon 9800 PRO, avoid the Radeon 9800SE, a far worse card then the Radeon 9800. As there are only two different components, I will compute the price of a SimCity gaming system accordingly using the same other components as the system above- CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3200+ PartsPC.com $134.82 w/S&H Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon 9800 PRO w/128mb 256bit DDR GameVE.com $204 w/S&H Total: $762.84 There you have it folks. You can have a great SimCity 4 system for under $600 and an excellent one for under $800, the $800 system having room to run The Sims 2 nicely as well. While I stand by all my recommendations, the following must be said: Nor I nor SimGlobal are responsible for you computer system, components or SimCity 4 performance if you follow this guide. Always use caution when upgrading you computer, as well as making purchases from online retailers. |
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