I wonder if a 5 year old computer will run the game?

Go to start > Run > type in dxdiag

It will tell you your system specs like your processor, ram, and video card. Those are the basics to see if it would play Gal Civ III.

Will that also tell me if my system is really 64 bit and or 64 bit capable but not actually running in 64 bit, (if that's possible)?

Right click on Computer, or My Computer, whatever it's called in Vista and select properties. That should tell you if your OS is 64bit or not.

We don't know the system requirements yet but maybe this can give you an idea whether or not your system will be adequate; https://forums.galciv3.com/450006/page/1

You may have to upgrade your OS to Windows 7. StarDock has announced that Windows 7 is a minimum requirement.

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Q: What are the requirements to run Galactic Civilizations III?

A: It will require a 64-bit version of Windows 7 or 8 along with a DirectX 10 or 11 compatible video card. There will be no 32-bit version. Most PC gamers in 2013 have this kind of hardware, and it allows us to create the best game possible for the majority of our customers.

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This is in the Q&A page, located at "Game"-->"Q&A". You will find the "Game" tab by scrolling to the top of this screen.

You will also need to check how much RAM you have. Windows 7 won't even run if you have only 2GB, so the minimum for GC3 is going to be at least 4GB.

Yea 'that' part says its 64 bit... .. but is it possible by some reason it can run in 32 bit? say some piece of hardware makes it do that etc etc?

If galciv 3 is not compatible with Vista 64 bit i will have a problem.....

I have recently managed to convince my wife to let me buy a fishing boat, but if i have to tell her i want to upgrade my computer as well,,,, ahh,, ahh , um, ... possibly 1 funeral will cost less???

Vista 64-bit = 64-bit OS

While technically Vista isn't Windows 7, it should be fine nonetheless. The bigger question is, what is your video card... While there are cards from 5 years ago that support dx 10, yours might not.

You forget that GC3 might check the OS level and refuse to play on Vista.

Oh, that reminds me of the old "CPU not supported" in the original Alpha Centauri. And do we care that the CPU is not supported??? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

I always wondered what dummass moron programmed that one in, and what they were thinking, given the fast evolution of computer technology going on all around them? Besides, what is the worst thing that can happen, the computer crashes? Oh dear, cannot risk that possibility, lets just stop the game from having any chance of working at all!

And, I would guess, after being warned that a barricade blocks a highly injurious fall you would step past that barricade and suffer those injuries, just so you could sue the pants off the owner of the property the barricade was on? If you survived, that is?

Let's face it. If there is a danger to the user's PC or any of his/her data because of a deficiency in Vista that GC3 might activate, I would want GC3 to tell me about it.

And if there is a service in Windows 7 that GC3 would be dependent on not available on Vista, then I would expect GC3 to refuse to run on Vista.

As to Alpha Centauri's "CPU not supported" fiasco, the intent was a good one but the implementation was bad.

Oh yes, of course and our hospitals are full of people who fell off cliffs because of ignoring software safe guards on their computers... is that sarcastic enough?

Why would a malfunctioning game endanger data?? I have owned computers for over 25 years and i have never seen or heard of that happening, At the most, it will happen coincidently with some other malfunction/weakness that was bound to happen anyway.

And needlessly miss out when you don't know the only effect could be something completely unnoticeable in game. When the price of knowing is at worst, the game doesn't run and crashes, big whoop.

"Good intentions pave the way to hell" ... not my saying, i would change it slightly here "good intentions pave the way to idiocy"

Ok here is my system in detail:

Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6000) (6000.vista_gdr.100218-0019)

Motherboard: Gigabyte P35-DS3L

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU    Q6600  @ 2.40GHz

Memory: 4094MB RAM DDR3

DirectX Version: DirectX 10

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

Display Memory: 2798 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1007 MB
Shared Memory: 1791 MB
Current Mode: 800 x 600 (32 bit) (75Hz)

CPU: I don't think you have anything to worry about.
MEM: My guess is that 4GiB will be the minimum.
GPU: The GPU itself should be okay, but how much memory does the card have?

Why is your resolution so low?

The graphics memory is listed:

Display Memory: 2798 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1007 MB
Shared Memory: 1791 MB
Current Mode: 800 x 600 (32 bit) (75Hz)

I'm not sure exactly what is going on with the 'shared' memory? 

As for the resolution, well that was just a setting i randomly chose after playing Total Annihilation, which likes to reset resolution to something awful gay. After updating drivers, graphics default resolution came back = 1680x1050 60Hz

The Nvidia control panel system information says;

2815mb graphics memory total

dedicated video memory 1024mb GDDR3,

system video memory 0mb

shared system memory 1719mb

I have no idea how this memory is divided the way it is or how to change it?

If they use an API that Vista doesn't support or that was buggy and was fixed later, then the game probably flat out won't work. At this point nobody knows except the developers if the Win 7 limit is because it actually won't work, or because they don't want to support an OS with so few users as Vista.

If it turns out to not work on Vista, those bugs are not getting fixed.

If you want to buy it on Vista and it turns out to not work, don't say you weren't warned.

Dedicated video memory is what you need to look at, 1024MiB will be enough. So if the GeForce 8000 series is supported, then your videocard will most likely be adequate.

Overheating games have been known to cause PC problems. Maybe not immediately, but soon. I'd rather the game won't play than frying my CPU and/or graphics card. Remember the throttle frame rate box in the settings of GalCiv2??

No, a game cannot exceed the maximum safe capacity of the hardware, it is totally illogical, you can only run as fast as you can run, because that is your limit. Your not going to run any faster than your maximum capacity just because your coach (game) asked you too! Not without drugs anyway!! Likewise your computer hardware will not run faster than its capacity - not without making changes in bios.

If your computer is overclocked, or has some other physical issue with hardware or the cooling side of things then is it possible for a game to overheat the system, but it is not the games fault.

could work on a laptop with the following characteristics:

Core i5 2.30 GHz
4GB Ram
window 7 64-bit OS
Radeon HD 6470M 1GB

As far as I know if the game gets stuck in a loop doing something very heavy then it will tax the system and push it to its max. If the system is already at its thermal limit, damage may occur. I suppose if there is a problem with the PC now would be the time when the problem would occur.

Well, if the computer is driven at maximum capacity by a program for whatever reason and it causes overheating, don't blame the program, you need to look at the hardware/cooling and or bios settings.

Even when games are running properly, the chances of a game maximizing your computers resources is not exactly what i would call 'unlikely' especially as your computer starts getting a bit older, and new, more resource hungry games are being released on the market.

so the point is, a computer really needs to be set up in such a way that it can maintain its maximum workload without overheating.

Or, these days, allot of computer bios allow 'protective' options, so it will warn, and or slow the computer down if it starts overheating (and probably many other tricks as well)

Overheating. I found this an interesting subject during the last year while trying to play Civ 5. Here are a couple of the things I learned --

1) Most CPUs and GPUs will monitor their own temperature and will "declock" themselves if their internal temperature gets above the device's safe  threshold. I was amazed at how high that temperature was, on my old computer, the CPU's max safe temperature was about 163 degrees F (about 72 degrees C). My new PC CPUs' and GPU's max safe temp is about 176 degrees F (80 degrees C). I found that when these components reached these temperatures that they would slow down, giving me the impression that the game was experiencing a degrade in performance. BTW, the max tolerable temp on my current PC's CPUs and GPU is 100 degrees C.

2) I also found that there are a lot of monitors available that can help you understand what stresses they are under. I have settled on "Core Temp" at www.alcpu.com and GPU Temp at www.gputemp.com. 

That's interesting, i would not have thought to concern myself with overheating because I'm not doing any overclocking.

I should have mentioned that I also am not doing any overclocking. It would appear that CPU and GPU manufacturers have gotten wise to those that do. Also, some games work CPUs and GPUs very hard. It doesn't take overclocking to crank up enough heat to fry any CPU or GPU that doesn't monitor its own internal temperatures and take evasive action when things get too hot for them.