'If you fire it up, there's a build of Civilization 1 on there': The PC that Sid Meier used to make the first Civilization has a whopping 16MB of memory and still works

GamesStrategyCivilization 7’If you fire it up, there’s a build of Civilization 1 on there': The PC that Sid Meier used to make the first Civilization has a whopping 16MB of memory and still worksWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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Sid Meier’s desk chair and early ’90s PC.(Image credit: Future)

Photo of the PC Sid Meier used to create Civilization 1.

Over 30 years ago, Sid Meier sat in that very chair and used that PC to create 1991’s Civilization, the first game in a grand strategy series that’s getting its7th numbered release in February. The computer is a Compaq Deskpro 386 which, according to Firaxis learning and development manager Pete Murray, cost $10,000 when it was purchased. That’s somewhere over $23,000 in today’s dollars.

It was money well spent given the millions of copies the Civilization series has sold, and it was no lemon, either: Apparently, the old fella still boots.

So, what’s inside this bad boy? Firaxis didn’t have a full spec list to share, but we have a few details. It would’ve had 640 KB of useable RAM, because that wasan architectural limitationof IBM-like PCs at the time (and the amount Bill Gatesfamously denies saying"ought to be enough for anybody"). There would’ve been expanded memory on top of that, and Murray said that the machine contains “16 MB of memory,” which seems to be the upper limit for the model. It’s unclear how large the hard drive is. The PC also contains a Sound Blaster audio card, which is just the kind of high tech hardware you’d expect in a $10K PC from the early ’90s.

With the help of some parts from Ebay and “creative salvage,” Firaxis’s IT department got the PC to boot as recently as last year.

“The hard drive is nearing the end of its life,” said Murray, “but if you fire it up, there’s a build of Civilization 1 on there that is just before the release version of Civ, and it is playable on that machine.”

A closer look at the Compaq Deskpro 386 used to make Civ 1.(Image credit: Future)

Photo of the PC Sid Meier used to create Civilization 1.

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“As I recall, Bill Stealey wanted a cool executive chair and he decided I should have one too—apparently ergonomics was not yet a thing,” says Meier, via a description of the objects printed on the wall above them.

Meier left MicroProse and formed Firaxis with two others in 1996. It’s common for development artifacts to be lost in that sort of transition, so it’s nice to see a bit of PC gaming history in such good condition.

2K Games of course didn’t fly a bunch of press to Maryland just to look at Sid’s old PC: We were there to play Civilization 7, which you can read all about inmy hands-on preview.

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