Buying a Desktop or Laptop for The Sims 3

[MrsFlynn]

Mr. Flynn and I don't know much about Mac computers either. Since we're not very knowledgeable in Mac computers, we can't suggest any. That's why we didn't do a writeup on them. We're pretty much a PC household.

Sorry we can't be much help.

MrsFlynn

[KhaineGB]

Probably! I decided to look up the Iris as I've heard rumours it's not quite as bad as older Intel cards. Actually looks... somewhat OK, but it's the kind of card I'd expect in a $500-ish laptop. Not a $1500-ish laptop.

As an example, here's the Macbook specs that could play the sims 3.

15-inch: 2.3GHz with Retina display

Specifications
2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz
16GB 1600MHz memory
512GB PCIe-based flash storage
Intel Iris Pro Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M with 2GB GDDR5 memory
Built-in battery (8 hours)
Price: $2,599.00

And here's a laptop I specced. I tried to pick one as close to the Macbook in terms of price, specification and physical size as possible.

Vortex Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
   
Processor (CPU) -  Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4910MQ (2.90GHz, turbo to 3.90Ghz) 8MB
Memory (RAM) - 16GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card - NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 870M - 6.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Hard Disk - 480GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive - 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
USB Options - 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire - 1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Operating System - Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Price: £1,494 (with tax included, approx USD$2540)

[Lisa46]

I'm fine with an older computer. I like my Mac and don't know anything about pcs. Besides my parents wouldn't buy me anything but a Mac and I don't have $2600 lying around.
So I guess no good gaming computers for me. Dang. Alright I'll just get a MacBook Pro I guess.
My old computer that I was talking about is as 2008 plain old Mac.

[sims96fan]

Hi!  I'm looking into getting a new desktop, and I would love to finally get something that can play all of the Sims 3 content at once with no lag or slow loading times.  I own all of the EPs, all but one of the SPs, all but two store worlds, and most of the store content.

Would something like this be able to get the job done?  I don't really play graphical games other than the Sims 3, so I don't want to splurge on the Core i7 if it's really not necessary, but I would obviously like to be able to play the Sims 4 if it looks like it's worth it.  Thanks for any advice!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1004758-REG/asus_m51ad_us002s_intel_i5_4440_8gb_1tb_7200_gtx760_windows_8.html

3.1GHz Intel Core i5-4440 Haswell CPU (4th generation)
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM
1TB 7200rpm Hard Drive
Dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX760 Graphics (192-bit OEM model)
24X SuperMulti DVD Burner
16-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader
3 x USB 2.0 / 2 x USB 3.0 Ports
802.11ac Wi-Fi & Gigabit Ethernet
Included USB Keyboard and Mouse
Windows 8 (64-bit)

[MrsFlynn]

Hi Sims96fan,

Yes that computer should run Sims 3 well with all expansions and stuff packs loaded as well as any store content you may have. However if you play for long periods of time you may experience slow downs and maybe a little lag, but should hopefully not be too bad. It's got a great video card!!

Awesome find at a great price too!!

MrsFlynn

[sims96fan]

Thank you so much for the quick feedback!  I really appreciate it.  For a long time, I struggled along on my laptop, which wasn't really meant for intensive gaming, so I could only play for short periods at a time.  It finally bit the dust, and after looking around for a while this week and reading this thread, I haven't found anything with the GTX 750 Ti or better card for cheaper, so I think I'll go ahead and get it! 

[KhaineGB]

I think The Sims 3 just needs rebooting every 3 hours or so no matter what hardware you have.

[sims96fan]

I just had a couple more clarification questions if anyone wouldn't mind answering, and I hope they're not too dumb: 

With the Asus desktop I mentioned above, I think I can eventually upgrade more RAM and also have space to add another HD.  I originally wanted a desktop with a SSD included, but I couldn't find one that beat this $720 price on the Asus + adding my own.  If I were to choose one or the other first, should I add another 8GB of DDR3 SDRAM or a SSD (which would make the Sims 3 run faster)?

If I add a SSD, how large a drive would you recommend?  Is it difficult to move the OS to boot from the SSD also, or do people with SSDs normally just run the game files off of it?

Finally, is the GTX 760 (192-bit OEM model with 3GB GDDR5 SDRAM) better than the GTX 750 Ti card that Mr. Flynn recommended?  I looked for a while but could not find any pre-built computers with the 750 Ti included or with the 4th generation Core i5 processor and 8GB SDRAM for a cheaper price if I were to separately replace the graphics card.

The price isn't a huge issue, but given that I really only intensively use the graphics for the Sims 3, I'd also like to get the best deal possible, while still being able to have an entertaining gaming experience.  Waiting half an hour per load screen was no fun, which is why I stopped playing regularly after I got too many EPs.   Thank you again so much to everyone for your advice!

[LivvieLove]

I just had a couple more clarification questions if anyone wouldn't mind answering, and I hope they're not too dumb: 

With the Asus desktop I mentioned above, I think I can eventually upgrade more RAM and also have space to add another HD.  I originally wanted a desktop with a SSD included, but I couldn't find one that beat this $720 price on the Asus + adding my own.  If I were to choose one or the other first, should I add another 8GB of DDR3 SDRAM or a SSD (which would make the Sims 3 run faster)?

If I add a SSD, how large a drive would you recommend?  Is it difficult to move the OS to boot from the SSD also, or do people with SSDs normally just run the game files off of it?

Finally, is the GTX 760 (192-bit OEM model with 3GB GDDR5 SDRAM) better than the GTX 750 Ti card that Mr. Flynn recommended?  I looked for a while but could not find any pre-built computers with the 750 Ti included or with the 4th generation Core i5 processor and 8GB SDRAM for a cheaper price if I were to separately replace the graphics card.

The price isn't a huge issue, but given that I really only intensively use the graphics for the Sims 3, I'd also like to get the best deal possible, while still being able to have an entertaining gaming experience.  Waiting half an hour per load screen was no fun, which is why I stopped playing regularly after I got too many EPs.   Thank you again so much to everyone for your advice!

SSDs are very worth it, and it will speed your game up much more than 8 more gigs of ram.
If I add a SSD, how large a drive would you recommend?  Is it difficult to move the OS to boot from the SSD also, or do people with SSDs normally just run the game files off of it?
My boyfriend said to use "Symantec Ghost" to image your operating system to the new drive (or Norton Ghost), and he says to get about 128 gigs.

Also, the GtX 760 is much more powerful than the 750 Ti. The higher the number, the better it is is a general rule of thumb.

Hopefully that helps.

[sims96fan]

Thank you, LivvieLove, this is just what I wanted to know.  I really appreciate your help!

[KhaineGB]

An SSD will sort-of help. For the most part, a large SSD is stupidly expensive.

But the windows boot times are awesome. What I would suggest is get a 120gb-240gb drive and use it for windows and your "Documents" folder... which happens to be where all yours Sims 3 save files and  mods go.

I would also like to suggest looking into a Western Digital VelociRaptor hard drive. They're more expensive than normal drives, but still cheaper than SSD's and pretty fast. I haven't used one for a long time, so I don't know what they're like for gaming performance these days, but I know a lot of people recommend them for large Minecraft servers (which perform a lot of read/write operations to the hard disk).

[sims96fan]

Thank you for your feedback, KhaineGB.  If I plan to only use the SSD for Windows and the Sims 3 documents folder, do you think 120GB is enough or should I go for a 240GB?  Current US prices are $80 for a 120GB Samsung EVO 840 drive with 540/410MBps read/write speeds or $135 for 240GB with 540/520 read/write speeds.

I looked at the Western Digital VelociRaptor drive, and it's much cheaper for larger sizes than a SSD ($180 vs. $500 for a 1TB), but for the 250GB it's $90, so not a huge savings over the 240GB SSD.  It's a 10000 RPM drive vs the standard 7200 RPM, so it's ideal if you need fast read/writes for things like video editing, but it's still much slower than a SSD.

This article is a tiny bit dated (2012) but it describes the difference between a VelociRaptor and SSD:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2410360,00.asp

I also haven't used a 10000 RPM drive in a LONG time, but I had one once upon a time and like all other HDDs it died a natural death, probably also accelerated because of the increased RPMs.

Since I don't do video editing, I'm more inclined to just spring for a decently priced SSD for the OS and game files and will still keep a 1TB 7200 RPM HDD for other data and video storage.

I guess my question is also for those who have SSDs and use it for the Sims 3, can you put the actual save files elsewhere or does it have to be in the same folder as the rest of the game?  Do you think the write operations from saving games on the SSD will significantly reduce the drive's lifespan?

[KhaineGB]

I'd say 120gb is enough.

It's what I have in my laptop. I have Windows, Office, most my other programs + ARMA 2 with all expansions and the DayZ mod on it and still have 30GB left. I keep my documents folder on my 1TB because I'm paranoid after HDD crashes in the past.

EDIT because I'm an idiot: What I would probably consider doing is a 120GB HDD for Windows maybe your main Sims 3 files, then a 1TB VelociRaptor and move your "documents" folder there. With how often the sims likes to save and make cache files, that'll minimize wear and tear on your SSD and should give you respectable game loading and saving times.

[sims96fan]

Thank you, that's what I was curious to know.  I have regularly backed up the "Documents" folder including the Sims 3 saved game files, but it's been so long since I did the initial install that I didn't remember if it was possible to put the main game files on the SSD and the saves on another drive.  But aren't the cache files the ones that load the game?  If I put them on the HDD, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of having the SSD to reduce load times?

EDIT: I already ordered the Asus desktop above, and it comes with a 1TB 7200 RPM HDD so I'm going to keep it as a secondary drive anyway.  If I were building a system from scratch, the VelociRaptor may make sense, but I honestly couldn't find the parts (CPU, GPU, OS, etc) to be less than the $720 price I paid, so I just went with it.  I'm not sure I really feel like paying $180 for a 1TB VelociRaptor drive on top of it, so given how cheap the SSDs are, I may just get the 250GB SSD (I mistyped before, it was actually 120 or 250, not 240) for $135.  If it dies, I'll just replace it, but I don't play Sims 3 all day every day either, so I hope it should still last a good while.   The Samsung EVO 840 SSD I mentioned above comes with a 3 year manufacturer's warranty, so if it dies it can be replaced, but that's at least as long as any of my HDDs have lasted.

All of my computers that have died in the last decade have been due to HDD mechanical failures, so even though it's much cheaper and easier to back up data on small external HDs these days, I have this big aversion to relying on HDDs regardless of the RPMs.

[KhaineGB]

The cache files are... sort of responsible for loading the game. But you don't want them on the SSD because lots of write-cycles are bad for them (I moved -all- my temp directories to my 1TB HDD), which is why I suggested the velociraptor.

It might be worth looking into an SSHDD at some point. They're basically mechanical discs that "cache" your most used files on a small SSD, and have some odd voodoo going on that doesn't wear them down. That would be a good alternative for your Documents folder, and thus Sims 3 content. Should help with load times too. The mechanical part is typically 7200rpm.

EDIT: This is a UK site, but it's the drive-type I'm talking about.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-seagate-st1000dx001-sshd-hybrid-hdd-35-sata-6gb-s-64mb-cache-8ms-oem-ncq