Civilization V Pc System Requirements Rival Starcraft Ii S Time To Upgrade

What with the release date approaching faster and faster, it’s hard not to get excited about Civilization V. The new hex-shaped tiles combined with the removal of stacking, horrible, horrible stacking, has made the sequel one of my most anticipated games of the year. It’s still such a miracle to think how classic Civilization, with it’s 8-bit blocks representing armies and cities, has evolved into such a great looking game.

Check out the official system requirements from Firaxis Games:

Now, for comparisons sake, take a look at the official StarCraft II system requirements.

Operating System: Windows® XP SP3/ Windows® Vista SP2/ Windows® 7

Processor: Dual Core CPU

Memory: 2GB RAM

Hard Disk Space: 8 GB Free

DVD-ROM Drive: Required for disc-based installation

Video: 256 MB ATI HD2600 XT or better, 256 MB nVidia 7900 GS or better, or Core i3 or better integrated graphics

Sound: DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card

DirectX®: DirectX® version 9.0c

Recommended System Requirements

Operating System: Windows® Vista SP2/ Windows® 7

Processor: 1.8 GHz Quad Core CPU

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Hard Disk Space: 8 GB Free

DVD-ROM Drive: Required for disc-based installation

Video: 512 MB ATI 4800 series or better, 512 MB nVidia 9800 series or better

Sound: DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card

DirectX®: DirectX® version 11

How did this happen!? While the video care requirements are fairly similar, Civilization definitely asks for more CPU power. As games with a lot of moving objects on screen, I can see how they’re both intimidatingly graphically intensive.

StarCraft II is playable for me at (mostly) maximum settings, but I think Civilization V may ultimately be the game that breaks my streak. It’s time to start looking at some Intel i7 processors, Rory, yes it is.

Or, I guess, you could not play Civilization at all… nah.