Buying a Desktop or Laptop for The Sims 3

[sims96fan]

Hi Puddingfishcake,

The computer you're planning to build is just about identical to the one I just bought/upgraded myself just last week a few posts above
http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,14827.msg374395.html#msg374395

Mine came in at US$855 including the SSD upgrade, but excluding a monitor and speakers.  Everything runs perfectly.  I'm on Windows 8.1, but it boots up in under 10 seconds.  The Sims 3 including all EPs, SPs except Movie Stuff, all store worlds except Aurora Skies and Midnight Hollow, and all store content minus about 10 sets (about 7GB of store content) loads in under 2 minutes, and saves are under 30 seconds.

I don't know where my Sims 2 discs are any more, but I would imagine it could also run it as well.

For the RAM, you can either buy 2x4 or a 1 DIMM 8GB RAM.  It's just a matter of how many DIMM slots it uses up in the computer.  If you want to be able to upgrade to 32GB eventually, you need to look for 8GB each, since you usually have at most 4 DIMMs, but if you don't use intensive video or photo editing applications, 8GB is plenty and it doesn't matter whether you use 2x4 or one 8.

The only other recommendation I'd make is to get the 250GB Samsung 840 EVO drive if you can afford it.  It was $55 more for me vs. the 120GB, and I found that with Windows, the Sims 3 and a few basic programs such as Microsoft Office, I already ate up 90 GB.  With SSDs, since each flash cell has a limited lifespan, the more empty space you have on your SSD, the longer the entire drive as a whole will last as well.

If you run into any problems installing it, please feel free to PM me.  Good luck!

[KhaineGB]

I'd echo what sims96fan said.

You are GOING to need a bigger SSD. Sims 3 and CC can easily eat up around 80GB, and if you are running a lot of CC, then you will need to have it on your SSD.

The rest is fine. The RAM thing just means it's using two 4GB sticks. With how motherboards work these days, that's actually better than a single 8GB stick.

[Puddingfishcake]

Simsfan,

Oh, that's funny :p
Thank you for the information! Very helpfull!
I'll go for the 2x4 Ram because I wont even use this computer for other things than sims!
And for the  SSD: I'll see when I come to the point I know exactly whta to buy how much the total will cost, I prefer to not go over 800 euros, so I'll see, also you say it took 90GB!?
That's like very much, but since I'm going to buy a Harddrive (500GB) too I'm going to install everything on that, only sims 3 and sims 4 on the SSD.
I think my total of sims 3 related stuff on that card will be max. 35 GB (Because I don't have all the ep's and just decided that I'm not going to buy sp's. + I need 6 GB space for cc).
Do you think I could just do it with the 120GB? Because I'm only 16 and yeah, my parents aren't going to pay for it. (expect for the windows 7, which they had anyway).

So can I put like my windows and so on on the harddrive and only use the SSD for sims 3 and 4?

Thanks again for the advice and I will pm you If something goes wrong !

And KhaineGB:
Okay, i will try to get the money for it.


I have another question, the thing were everything for the computer goes in (forgot the name), would this one do:
http://www.bol.com/nl/p/sharkoon-vs3-s/9200000015455214/ (if you can't open the link it's a Sharkoon VS3-S)

[KhaineGB]

Ok, what you want to do is this.

Install Sims 3 on the SSD.
Set your "Documents" folder to be on the 500GB drive.

That way, all your CC will be on the 500GB drive, while the game and expansions will be on the SSD. That will stop you having to buy a bigger SSD, and should give respectable load times. I tried this on my laptop (120GB SSD and 1TB second drive) and it worked reasonably well... unfortunately I have so many other app's on the SSD that I couldn't keep Sims 3 on there long term.

EDIT: Missed the part about the case. It's... ok. Honestly? Spend money on a better case. Your computer is GOING to get hot, and you want to keep it as cool as possible. A bigger case with more fan mounting points will really, really help.

As an example, my desktop PC runs at around 60 celcius on the CPU, and about 75 celcius on the graphics card. That's with a huge case, lots of fans and a decent CPU cooler because I overclock... and those are temperatures while playing Sims 3.

[sims96fan]

If you can't afford it, 120GB is fine for the SSD.  Windows took about 35GB, the Sims 3 took about 45GB, and I have about 10GB of other applications and programs on the SSD.  I use the SSD for My Documents for the Sims 3 folder only, and I put my music/other media and other saved files on the HDD.

EDIT: In my case, there are 2 fans, and I've yet to feel even a tiny bit of heat coming out of the case.

[Laurenkv]

Game and expansions will be fine, custom content... maybe.

Laptop HDD's are slow as sin, and custom content uses package files, so having lots of package files will just slow everything down. If you can compact your CC into as few files as possible (I believe there's a tutorial on the net somewhere for it?), that will help a LOT.

Thanks for the help! I already merge my package files to around 100 package files plus my hacks folder of around 50 files so hopefully that should make a difference. I definitely noticed a difference in loading times on the laptop I'm currently using when I merged my files.

[KhaineGB]

You should be mostly ok then. I run Sims 3 (all EP's and SP's + loads of store content) and all of the Nraas mods off a 1TB laptop HDD. Load times are a bit slow (up to 10 mins from desktop to getting in-game), but it's absolutely fine once up and running.

Really need to condense down my mods a bit.

[Puddingfishcake]

MMh, which case should I buy then? I can't go over 50 euros and I found a few, but I don't know which will give me the most benefit

Cooler Master N300 - Midtower
Antec GX700 - Midtower
Cooler Master Elite 371 - Midtower

And I also don't know how many fans I should get, and how many sections are recommended!

And for the harddrive, should I get one with 16MB or 32MB? Will it make a huge difference or something? I found 2 of WD:

WD AV-GP WD5000AUDX 32MB
WD Blue WD5000AAKX 16 MB

It's only 6 euro difference but I could use those 6 but If 16 MB won't do, the 6 isn't really that big of a deal.

Thanks!

[KhaineGB]

Don't get a blue.

They're power saving drives and pretty slow. You will have performance issues because of it. I'd personally go for the Cooler Master Elite, simply because that's what my old gaming rig is in (it's now a media server) and that used to be fine for temperatures.

[Anoe]

Hi, I am so glad to find this forum, cuz I'm absolutely stuck with my decision. I've decided to buy a new laptop, mostly for playing Sims 4, but I miss Sims 3 so much, so I hope this one will run good as well.
So I made a research and now can't decide between two different laptops:

1) HP Envy TouchSmart 15.6"  AMD-10 Series
Processor speed: 2.5 GHz
RAM 8 GB, expandable to 16
Graphics card AMD Radeon HD 8650G
Video memory Up to 4204 Mb (total)
Hard drive size 1TB
LINK

2) MSI 15.6" IntelCore i5
Processor speed 2.5 GHz (with turbo boost up to 3.1)
RAM 8 GB
Graphic cards Nvidia GeForce GT 820M
Video memory 2 GB DDR3 (dedicated)
Hard drive size 750
LINK

They both are pretty similar, but I have some concerns about video card. I was always using Nvidia products, so I have no aides how AMD works. And also I have no idea what is better iCore or AMD.

I'd really appreciate a good advice. Thanks.

[KhaineGB]

2nd laptop.

The i5 is a nice CPU and the laptop has a dedicated GFX card with dedicated RAM.

The first laptop is an on-board GPU that shares your system RAM. You will get better performance with the second laptop.

[Anoe]

2nd laptop.

The i5 is a nice CPU and the laptop has a dedicated GFX card with dedicated RAM.

The first laptop is an on-board GPU that shares your system RAM. You will get better performance with the second laptop.

Thank you very much I also like the second one more, mostly cuz of my deep trust to Nvidia. But I the reviews are totally opposite, someone says it's great, another one says not to buy it. I am even more confused now


Also found one more which is seem really nice, what do u think about this model?

Acer Aspire 17.3":

2.6 GHz iCore 5
RAM 8GB DDR3L
Hard drive size 1TB
Nvidia GeForce 850M 2GB

LINK

[onthefence]

Hi all, I wonder if I could ask a bit of advice? I am trying to buy a new desktop and would like to be sure it will be good enough to play the sims games and expansion packs. I purchased a laptop a few months ago only to find it wasn't good enough to play on  , so this time I thought I would check with people who know first!!
It is an ASUS M32BF AMD A6 Processor, ^Gb RAM, 1Tb Hard Drive,
AMD A6-6400K processor
Windows 8.1
AMD HD 7480D graphics.
I think I have put the main info on there and I really appreciate any advice. Many thanks in advance. 

[KhaineGB]

It -should- be ok.

I advise putting a dedicated graphics card in it at some point in the future, but it should do the job.

[onthefence]

Thanks for the help but I'm not sure I want to take a chance on making the same mistake again. There was another one I was looking at which was an Asus M32BF AMD A8 Processor and it says it has 2Gb Dedicated graphics. It's more money but I think I should go with that?