Sims 4 - Advice for a new PC

[kirsty.s]

Hi everyone. This is my first time posting on a forum (ever!) so I apologise if I miss any key points out.

Basically, my PC is at least 10 years old now and is super slow. I occasionally play Sims 2 on it, but just lately it's been unbearable and right now it won't run at all (thank you Windows 10 update..) Truth be told, my PC really doesn't have the spec to run even Sims 2 and a couple of expansion packs comfortably, so it's not worth trying to find a patch etc and there's no way Sims 3 or 4 will work.

So, I've decided it's time to get a new one. I definitely want a PC rather than laptop, and it will be used for more than just gaming. General web browsing, online banking/shopping, and a way of backing up photos etc from my phone to my ext hard drive.

Budget wise, I don't really want to spend more than £500 for everything (including a monitor). Is this realistic..?
I understand that it won't be amazing quality gameplay, but I'm only a casual gamer and just want it to run fairly smoothly!

I have seen one in PC World which seems to give a pretty good spec for the price and I'm hoping somebody on here can tell me honestly whether this will do the trick. I just know if I ask in store they'll push me to buy an expensive gaming PC. A decent HDMI monitor seems to be around £95 so price-wise this PC is within my budget.

Here's the link:

https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/lenovo-ideacentre-310s-08asr-desktop-pc-10164815-pdt.html


Thanks in advance for any advice

[MrsFlynn]

This is more of an office/school work type of machine. If you're wanting to play Sims 4 with Cats and Dogs, you'll want something a little beefier and with more memory.

£500 isn't very realistic. Expect to pay anywhere around $600 to $1000 or more with monitor for a desktop with monitor.

Here are the specs you'll want to aim for.

Desktop Specs:

Processor 2.4 Ghz or better
Video Card GTX 950, GTX 960, AMD R9 380, AMD RX 480 or better
Computer Ram 8gb
hard drive space at least 500 gb
windows 64 bit

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Here's an example:

CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Xtreme GXIVR8020A4 Desktop Gaming PC
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0747W15QL
Price: $719.99

- Intel i5-7400 3.0GHz
- AMD RX 580 4GB
- 8GB DDR4 RAM
- 1TB 7200RPM HDD

It's from Amazon.com US, but something like it maybe available where you live.

This should do well for high/ultra settings plus all packs (currently) and mods and custom content. You may have to adjust the settings as more packs come out.

[kirsty.s]

Thanks for your reply.

If I were to spend an extra couple of hundred £'s, would this one work ok?

https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/acer-aspire-gx-781-gaming-pc-10168628-pdt.html

I thought about building my own but I'm new to this and would ideally like to get it before Christmas so I can play over the holidays.

[MrsFlynn]

I wouldn't recommend that one either. i3 processors aren't really made for gaming either. I don't recommend computers or processors that are under recommended specs for the game. I to aim for a better gaming experience overall. = Less crashing, lag, slow loading and headaches.

You can build one, but from experience it's about the same cost wise as getting something pre-built. Specially if you're wanting a starter or mid range desktop. If you're not sure what you're doing, building wise it may be best to stick to a pre-built i5 or i7 computer.

Here's an example from the same site -

I can't tell if it has adequate cooling by the photos, but spec wise it will play Sims on high/ultra settings.

LENOVO Legion Y520 Gaming PC
https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/lenovo-legion-y520-gaming-pc-10164515-pdt.html

Intel® Core™ i5-7400 Processor
RAM: 8 GB / Storage: 1 TB HDD
16 GB Intel® Optane™ Memory
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060

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[HelenP]

I agree with Mrs Flynn that the more you can afford to spend the better, however my own setup is happily playing all expansions except cats & dogs (getting for Christmas), a couple of stuff packs and 1Gb of mods/cc, with graphics set to ultra.

stats:
i3-6100 @ 3.7gh
8Gb ram
<1Tb hard disc
Nvidia GTX 750 Ti 2Gb ram
Win 10 64 bit

[KhaineGB]

For your budget, and since you're in the UK, I'd look at this.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/scan-gamer-amd-ryzen-3-1300x-8gb-ddr4-4gb-evga-gtx-1050-ti-1tb-hdd-win-10

Stay away from PC World pre-built machines. They often use non-standard parts, so they're horrible to fix or upgrade.