Best Rig for SC4

[holydiver 1]

I've been reading about a lot of people having hardware issues with SC4, especially on newer computers.

SC4 seems to have issues with AMD processors, ATi video cards, and basically anything not a single core.

The best 'legacy' components for this particular game seem to be the Intel Pentium M 755 2Ghz 'Dothan' Processor, and nVidia's Geforce4 4200 Go with 128Mb.

The Dell Latitude D800 combines the two, and can be had for around $150 off ebay.  Add another $70 for 2 Gb memory and I think I would have an adequate desktop replacement as well. (no hardcore gaming here)

The other option is, of course, spending probably more money on better stuff and more time getting it to work.  What say ye? 

Any particular suggestions for current (or at least newer) hardware strongly solicited.

Apologies if I've missed similar posts.

[SC4BOY 20]

If you mean ONLY SC4, it's really quite simple. Go with the fastest (only SINGLE proc is needed, but dual is ok, esp if it's Intel.. AMD may require a "fix" from the AMD site, but it's simple to add). The graphics card absolutely doesn't matter.. and no any mainstream make is fine including ATI (I happen to be  on one as I speak).  Sticking with cards that are based on DX9 works best, but isn't necessary. Probably the best setup available with modern equipt is with video built into the mobo with 256k mem or so and an Intel Core2Duo .. the 8600 offers the best overclocking with people running over 5 GHz clocks on air cooling.. a tweak higher on liquid. This is as I recall a 775 socket and the mobo is available for about 100-140 (included GPU)  (you can go with one of the lesser cpu's, but recall that for sc4 CLOCK SPEED TO THE MAX is best). You need no more than 2G mem and 1G is quite playable if you want only SC4. If you wanted to go all-out put a small SSD on it with 40-120G, but that will almost double the price of the system and you have to be geek-tolerant to properly set it up, and more research needs to be done on how really to optimize this..  otherwise use a fast access HD, preferably in a RAID 1 setup (stripe, not mirror) With all that you will be able to run with the big kids in any league. Final cost will be 600 to 1000 USD for the full system. If you're buying USED, go straight for the GIGAHERTZ.. you can fix anything else, but you can't make it run faster. You mention a 2GHz proc.. if you're going that low, forget it and just buy whatever other than a laptop.. you're getting nothing there.. just keep saying to yourself "4GHz or better!"

[holydiver 1]

Well now I'm looking at the Pentium 4 570J 3.8 GHz.  I'm wondering how it compares to the Intel Core 2 Duo/Solo; if SC4 only uses one processor, then i'm looking at 1.4 for the solo SU3500 and whatever portion of 3.33 GHz one processor of the Core2 Duo E8600 will get me (in addition to the faster FSB and larger cache).

I'm also looking at the Xeon E3120, which according to Wikipedia is a dual core with only one processor supported.  I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds to me like a 3.16 GHz single-core processor.  It is the same processor (wolfdale) as the core2duo E8600.

I'm not sure what the exact effect of running a 32-bit program in a 64-bit environment is.  I'm therefore unsure how to directly compare the P4 570J with the Xeon E3120, which seem to be the frontrunners

Also, the P4 is about a quarter the cost of the Xeon.

[SC4BOY 20]

More than one core is not necessarily a BAD thing, it just also isn't a NEEDED thing.. A 32 bit prog works fine in a 64 bit environment. If you plan on overclocking (recomended if you have any competence in this area, but not a biggie if you don't ...) you may need to buy a cooler addon... look into availability and cost before you buy a lesser used unit such as the Xeon which is actually aimed at the server environment. You may as well buy the cheapest that will work.. and you might google any considered used processors before you buy to see what it's reputation with users and builders was. There are a number of articles on the E8600 and overclocking on the net if you think you wish to go that way as it is something of a legend ... which is why its price hasn't dropped like the other old intel's .

[Legosim 14]

Sure hope Simcity works on i7 930 and an ATI 5770

[SC4BOY 20]

Originally posted by: Legosim

Sure hope Simcity works on i7 930 and an ATI 5770quote>

Well this topic specified for "SC4 ONLY".. so your comment is really not on-topic. The 930 is fine, though a bit pricey (since the mobo's are selling for 300ish. Further the 920 is the star of I7 overclocking on a budget (it was selling at MicroCenter for ~199 per) among the "NEW" cpu's.. the 930 is not as flexible even though it has a higher "rated" value. As you can see from the comments above, holydiver seems to be flying on a budget, and leaning to used equipment. As to the 5770, it's mostly a function of whether the drivers and DX11 steps on the toes of SC4.

The topic of new ATI and nVidea boards is covered on various threads, so you might search for it rather than divert this one. It certainly is serious overkill relative to the demands of SC4.

[holydiver 1]

Alrighty, I'm thinking the P4 in a SG05 micro-ITX case, overclocked as high as it will go with whatever cooling system will fit in that little guy.  An SSD will help with heat, and free up additional space for a fan.  Would 1066 RAM help performance?  Haven't started looking at motherboards yet.  If I go for one with on-board video I could get an even smaller case, or put in a TV receiver.  I don't want to lose any more headroom for the CPU cooler though, I'm guessing the P4 will run a bit hotter than a new processor.

Any recommendations for motherboards?

[poshbakerloo 186]

Simcity 4 would run great on:

Pentium 4 3Ghz

1Gb RAM

128Mb GeForce FX 5200

Windows XP

[Legosim 14]

Originally posted by: SC4BOY

Originally posted by: Legosim

Sure hope Simcity works on i7 930 and an ATI 5770quote>

Well this topic specified for "SC4 ONLY".. so your comment is really not on-topic. The 930 is fine, though a bit pricey (since the mobo's are selling for 300ish. Further the 920 is the star of I7 overclocking on a budget (it was selling at MicroCenter for ~199 per) among the "NEW" cpu's.. the 930 is not as flexible even though it has a higher "rated" value. As you can see from the comments above, holydiver seems to be flying on a budget, and leaning to used equipment. As to the 5770, it's mostly a function of whether the drivers and DX11 steps on the toes of SC4.

The topic of new ATI and nVidea boards is covered on various threads, so you might search for it rather than divert this one. It certainly is serious overkill relative to the demands of SC4.quote>

Excuse me kind sir, how am I offtopic? A budget pc for $2200 may seem over the top for some but it is budget for me

I mainly play SC4 but so as other games and CAD rendering, I am ontopic and i feel offended by you saying I was offtopic and telling me to go to other threads for other items even though I wasn't asking.

[SC4BOY 20]

Originally posted by: Legosim

...i feel offended...quote>

Sorry you've chosen to be offended.

Originally posted by: holydiver

... Would 1066 RAM help performance?...

...Any recommendations for motherboards?...

quote>

RAM speed has long been shown to have very little effect on "real world" pc performance... I don't see why that would not also be true for your case. Go for higher rates (consistent with what your mobo will support), but don't fret about it... and don't dump money for it either.. The units I glanced at all use DDR memory (which is a bit out of date now.. you can still buy it, but the prices are no longer cheap)

wrt mobo's, sorry.. I have no familiarity with P4 boards. I'd suggest going to amazon, newegg, etc web sites and seeing what they have and how they're rated by buyers there. I expect you will not have a lot of choices with built-in graphics. I saw a couple (both Intel with Intel graphics onboard), but can't really comment on how good they are/are not.

I also have no experience on oc'ing P4's. I'd suggest doing a google search on your specific model.. you'll  likely find there are at least some posts on the subject. Not all mobo's and/or bios' are very friendly for oc'ing either.. especially older boards. Some processors do not overclock well at all (in fact some are locked) I did see some youtube's on overclocking the P4 but I didn't look into them in detail. It looks like if you are lucky you may be able to get one to near 4GHz (on air)

As I recall Andreas of SFBT recently built a rather nice, budget unit on a "black edition" AMD unit. It probably would have better retail availability than your P4's, but that depends on your situation of course. As I recall that one was under $500 US. Basically he used an "AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE, which is a dual core CPU with 3.1 GHz and free multiplier, so overclocking is very easy." and "an ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO, which has an integrated ATI Radeon 4200 HD with 128 MB dedicated graphics memory" all with Win 7 OS (32 or 64 bit)  I believe it is overclocked to 3.6 GHz or so with 4G memory. Last I heard it was working well. It would be hard to beat that price and not have to use used equipment.. a task I hate (unless it's my own used stuff.. haha)