Buying a Desktop or Laptop for The Sims 3

[Naria]

Well, with 12GB of RAM I can run my custom content, right? That's my hope.

[Angélique]

Well, with 12GB of RAM I can run my custom content, right? That's my hope.

I'm afraid not. It doesn't matter how much RAM you have installed on your computer, Sims 3 is a 32 bit application, and therefore it can never use more than 4GB RAM at the most.

Read more about it here.

The specs of the Toshiba look good in my opinion, with one exception and that's the hard drive, which is of the old mechanical type, and also the slowest speed. So, are you really sure you want to buy a brand new computer with yesterday's technique? If not, I think you should look into the possibility of replacing the existing hard drive with a much faster SSD, either before or after you buy the computer.

[KhaineGB]

What Angelique said.

You've got a 4GB limit. It doesn't matter how much RAM your computer has, that's all The Sims 3 can use.

Also, I wouldn't worry -too- much about an SSD. It does help, I won't lie on that, but a straight up 7200rpm drive works fine as well. I threw a cheap SSD in my laptop and it runs great since, but I've never bothered putting one in my desktop machine because it runs just fine without.

[Naria]

I've read several posts in the Sims community about allocating more memory to the Sims 3 to run. Here's one post google found me on what I'm talking about: http://cloudwalkersims.tumblr.com/post/63397207980/if-you-have-more-than-4-gb-of-ram-you-can-give

So that really doesn't matter, it can only run 4GB tops? Just a side question you brought up with that explanation, because I've used that method on my desktop and I am now wondering if it is a moot point.

The other thing is I've seen about, 2 laptops total in my search that had an SSD drive and sadly they were way more than my budget.  I have been thinking about the yesterdays news tech on what I've been looking at, but my fear is if I do wait until next year to get a new machine with hopefully better specs and hopefully a price drop, is that by then, everything will be touch screen and have no optical drive. And oh my gosh, do I not want my laptop to be a tablet. 

So I guess my question now on what laptop to buy if I do decide not to wait, the Toshiba seems to be overkill and I am not truly all that sure about buying from Toshiba Direct, they don't have a true return policy. I prefer to find a laptop from Best Buy or Walmart, which I know I can return if need be, should I look for at least an Intel i7 core, 8GB RAM and a graphics card with 2GB dedicated graphics? My biggest deal breaker right now is my laptop and my desktop only give out 64MB of dedicated RAM and it will fail to meet the minimum specs on everything because of that.

Long post is long, sorry about that  Also thank you for the help you are providing

[KhaineGB]

It's a hard limit on 32-bit applications. They can only access 4GB of RAM max... and there is absolutely no way around that. If you look at most other PC games, they recommend 4GB max. The exceptions to this are Call of Duty: Ghosts, Watch_Dogs and Wolfenstein... all of those recommend 6GB or 8GB... and they also have "must be running a 64-bit operating system" under their requirements.

So I'm afraid there is no way at all around the 4GB limit.

Now, in a laptop, you want a dedicated graphics card with 1GB of RAM as a minimum. 2GB is good, but not strictly necessary depending on what you intend to play. You don't need it for Sims 3 for sure. I would also say 8GB RAM is the minimum you want, but you can get by with 6GB if you find a good deal. Don't get 4GB... you'll struggle with how memory hungry Sims 3 is!

As for CPU, a Core i5 will be good enough, but if you can afford it, get an i7. If you do get an i7, make 100% sure it's a quad core version, because you CAN get dual-core versions in laptops!

[Naria]

I think I found a good one now.  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/msi-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive-gray/5661041.p?id=1219146761966&skuId=5661041

It's one I was looking at before I found the Toshiba.

The other was this Dell: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-inspiron-15-6-laptop-amd-a10-series-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-moon-silver/3979692.p?id=1219094930107&skuId=3979692&st=categoryid$pcmcat247400050000&cp=1&lp=11

But I am not sure how an AMD processor compares to an Intel, and I've seen the AMD Radeon HD 8610G card in different specs say it's integrated and the other says it's dedicated. So I really have no idea which is right.

Once again I appreciate the help. Everyone else I know barely knows how to copy and paste.

[MrsFlynn]

Hi Naria,

With the list you provided the Toshiba sounds like it will be the best suited for Sims 3

Toshiba Satellite P50-BBT2G22
http://www.toshiba.com/us/computers/laptops/satellite/P50/P50-BBT2G22

The MSI has an entry level graphics card which makes it unsuited for gaming. And the Dell has an integrated graphics card which means it's not well  suited for gaming either. You would have to play the game on low settings at best.

It sounds like you don't want to buy from Toshiba.com? If not, let us know if your in the USA or what country you're in, and what your budget is. We'll see if we can find something that will better suit your needs.

Also if you have a store preference, let us know that too.

MrsFlynn

[Naria]

I was reading some bad things about Toshiba Direct's lack of return policy. It seems if they send you a defective product, you'll have to shell out the money to send it back to them and hope they actually look at it. With such an expensive purchase I'd be more comfortable buying from a place I know will honor a return, like Best Buy, or Walmart. Some place with an actual store I could bring it, rather than ship it back in the mail and pay insurance to make sure it gets there. I think the only online retailer without a dedicated store I would trust is Amazon. Yes, I am in the US. Massachusetts to be exact.

Budget *could* be stretched to 1,000 if given a few months but I am looking more along 600-850. I am a console gamer way before a PC one, so the machine would only be used for basic tasks and Sims 3 and Sims 4.

I've owned Samsung, Gateway, and Dell computers. I have no experience with other brands but I'm not looking to be snobby on a brand name.

Thanks. 

[KhaineGB]

I had a decent reply written, and my laptop ate it. >_<

Ok, AMD vs Intel. Think of it like this... you have 2 cars. They're both the same manufacturer, with the same size "engine" in them... so let's say 1.8 liter. One of them just as the normal 1.8 liter engine, the other has one that's 16v with turbo and all sorts of bells and whistles on it. Aside from this difference, they use exactly the same amount of gas, but the faster one costs more to buy.

That's the difference between AMD and Intel... Intel being the car with the better engine that costs more. Their CPU's are a LOT more efficient with the speed they've been allocated over AMD... AMD just go for raw speed rather than trying to make their CPU's efficient.

Now... regarding laptop suggestions...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pavilion-touchsmart-17-3-touch-screen-laptop-amd-a8-series-6gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive-natural-silver-ash-silver/7018009.p?id=1219247543512&skuId=7018009&st=categoryid$abcat0502000&cp=4&lp=14 - Towards the lower end of your budget. Sadly it's an AMD CPU, but it should perform well enough. 2.4Ghz, quad core and uses the Radeon R5 chipset. Not fantastic, but with the RAM it has, the hard drive and AMD's reputation for making decent graphics cards when built in to the CPU, it might be worth considering

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-x-series-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-dark-gray/7513054.p?id=1219276505393&skuId=7513054&st=categoryid$abcat0502000&cp=1&lp=12 - Only a 1.8ghz CPU, not a "true" i7 as it's only dual core but the turbo boost to 3Ghz should be enough. Good amount of RAM and the nVidia 840M is a nice little graphics card.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/msi-gp60-leopard-010-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive-black/5185157.p?id=1219113400428&skuId=5185157&st=categoryid$abcat0502000&cp=2&lp=14 - Towards the top end of the budget. The i5 is only dual core, but it is 2.5Ghz, so that's nice. Again, has an nVidia 840M, which should be enough.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/msi-gp70-leopard-010-17-3-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-black/5185148.p?id=1219113400424&skuId=5185148&st=categoryid$abcat0502000&cp=3&lp=9 - Same as the one above, but it's 17" instead of 15" if that matters.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/msi-gp60-leopard-009-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive-black/5185139.p?id=1219113400429&skuId=5185139&st=categoryid$abcat0502000&cp=5&lp=3 - Top end of your budget. Basically the same as the laptop 2 up, except it has a PROPER quad-core i7 CPU running at 2.4Ghz.

[Naria]

Laptops love to eat posts, om nom nom. 

I am really digging the MSI's. I checked the comparison on the 4 under 1,000 Best Buy has. Here, hopefully it links to it correctly:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat13504&sellerId=&sName=&searchPromo=false&type=page&pageIdentity=searchDriven&useProductString=true&productString=1219146761966*1219113400428*1219113400424*1219113400429&unProductString=mp1311198707*mp1310157231*mp1307958858*mp1310683600*mp1310683587*mp1310683594*mp1310157316*1219115309853*mp1310683556*1219111592108*1219111586573&catId=&usc=All+Categories

The G60 and the G70 don't say whether the SATA drive is 5400 or 7200, I'll assume it's 5400. The i5 core on the first 3 doesn't seem like such a speed difference from the i7 (or so it says), is that true or because the i7's a quadcore it performs differently? Finally, is the 820M and 840M graphics cards so different that it warrants considering the 840 more?

I hope I'm not annoying, like I keep saying I super appreciate the help. This is a big purchase for me, I need to make sure this time I do it right.

[KhaineGB]

The 820 is a low end card... the 840 is pushing mid-range, so that is totally worth taking into consideration.

The i7 will perform better because all the background crap windows runs is spread over 4 cores rather than 2, which means more CPU power for Sims 3. Even though the actual Ghz difference is only 0.1, you will see better performance with an i7 over an i5 just because it has more cores to do work. Think of it as having FOUR 2.4ghz CPU's in your PC rather than two 2.5ghz CPU's. It's... complicated and doesn't work quite like that, but that's the easiest way to explain it.

Always assume a laptop has a 5200 or 5400rpm drive unless otherwise stated. The 7200rpm drive is a LOT faster than a 5400rpm and I would say paying the extra for it is well worth it if you aren't getting an SSD.

[Naria]

Well, turns out I'm even more super unlucky with my desktop. So I think at the moment a new laptop is on hold, since this will run Sims 4 at least. My Gateway desktop however has an Intel Pentium core that System Requirements Lab tells me won't even run 4.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-envy-desktop-amd-a10-series-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive/3418038.p;jsessionid=9131C75F6B1C6DDB39189ADC2CBAC633.bbolsp-app01-102?id=1219091219075&skuId=3418038&st=HP%20Envy%20700-210&cp=1&lp=1

This is the desktop tower I am considering. It's an AMD processor, and the graphics card apparently isn't dedicated. I am wondering however what you guys think of it?

Here is another one I am considering: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pavilion-desktop-8gb-memory-2tb-hard-drive/5814032.p?id=1219194065876&skuId=5814032&st=categoryid$pcmcat212600050008&cp=1&lp=4

It's probably better suited than any laptop under 1,000 dollars anyway is what I assume.

[Angélique]

I've read several posts in the Sims community about allocating more memory to the Sims 3 to run. Here's one post google found me on what I'm talking about: http://cloudwalkersims.tumblr.com/post/63397207980/if-you-have-more-than-4-gb-of-ram-you-can-give

So that really doesn't matter, it can only run 4GB tops? Just a side question you brought up with that explanation, because I've used that method on my desktop and I am now wondering if it is a moot point.

There is another thread about this issue here. I am by no means an expert on the subject, but I think that what aenito says makes the most sense.

If it's true that Toshiba has a bad return policy, it's a wise decision to not buy directly from them.

KhaineGB, if your laptop eats your posts you clearly need to teach the little rascal some manners, and also keep it well fed with other stuff, like cereals, ha ha.

Actually, I have an HP Pavilion desktop that I play Sims 3 on. It's a couple of years old, with Win 7 Home Premium, and has an Intel core i7-2600 processor, a Geforce GTX 550 Ti graphics card, 8GB RAM and a 2TB 7200rpm hard drive. When I bought it I thought it would be able to run Sims 3 both fast and flawlessly, but unfortunately it doesn't. The save- and load times are way too long for my taste, and CAS and CaSt are painfully slow as well. I believe that must be caused by the hard drive "bottlenecking" the system. In Windows Experience Index both CPU and GPU scores high, 7,6 and 7,3 out of 7,9 possible. But the hard drive only gets 5,9, therefore I feel really tempted to buy an SSD and put in that computer, just to see how much difference it makes.

I hope I'm not annoying,---- This is a big purchase for me, I need to make sure this time I do it right.

You're not annoying at all, I'm sure most of us feel exactly the same. It's a real bummer to waste your hard earned money on a machine who can't do the things you want it to do. Like this poor little girl did.

[Naria]

Yeah, that poor girl, I know exactly what that is like. Every computer I've had was meant with one thing in mind: Sims. And none of them have ever been right enough to play it properly. Had a first Dell desktop many years ago, when they were expensive, it would crash all the time, Sims 2 would only run after an hour of the system being up had passed, then it was 50/50 over whether it'd load the game. So for my 16th birthday my father got me a new Dell desktop, at the time it was over a thousand dollars, he customized it from the order page for me, it was the best. It ran Sims 2 great, then Sims 3 came out and I jumped on that. Several expansions and requirements changing later, it no longer wanted to play the game. Sometimes it just wouldn't load at all, other times it would and crash, and the glitches galore.

My Dad didn't want me to install Sims 3 on his new $900 Samsung laptop no matter how much I cried that the only reason I want a computer is for Sims, so once again for a birthday he bought me the current Gateway desktop I have now. It was a mid-range budget desktop, my Dad was now on disability and couldn't afford the best thing, but I picked it out, it was on sale and I was super excited about it. It was awesome at running my game for a while, on low settings of course.

I decided that I could buy a new graphics card and make it run more than on low. Totally pumped, I went to Best Buy and with the help of 2 guys from the computer section bought a 200 dollar graphics card and a good power supply/fan, whatever, to go with it. I told them my system, what its specs were, the brand, they assured me I'd be able to put the card and supply in it. Went home with them to install. On further research, and just from the look of the size of the new parts, I realized my tower was slimline. Returned the parts to Best Buy, brought my tower with me just to show them and ask if there was anything I could do at all, nope. He told me he wasn't sure why the 2 guys who helped me told me I could install the parts, because there was no way. It was too small. Defeated, I returned the parts and went back to playing on low with sometimes choppy performance.

Then I started to collect disability and got a fairly decent amount of money in back funds because of how long I should've been collecting it before, and I took some of that and bought a mid-range Samsung laptop, a little bit lower than what my parents had. That's what I have now. It's graphics card is integrated and only a small step up from the Gateway's card, it has less RAM, but a better CPU. Didn't really matter.

Long wall of TL;DR text later, now I have 2 computers that will run Sims 3 on low if I hope and pray really hard and the computer gods are kind to me on a given day, and now the desktop won't run Sims 4 even with its low requirements. I have much less money, because my father passed away and long story short they wouldn't give us his disability so mine pays for everything household and my stuff related.

I just want something that is going to let me play Sims 3 and Sims 4, with all the money I've put into them, and all the time and care. It's all a total bummer. And I no longer trust myself to make a decent system decision because of past experiences. Which is why I am being so needy. 

Anyway, like I said a few posts above, I am now thinking more of replacing my desktop tower. Suggestions will be super appreciated if the two HP's aren't gonna be great. I've spent the past two weeks pouring over so many laptops and now desktops that it's all starting to run together in my brain. 

[KhaineGB]

I'm a slacker who only just woke up a few mins ago...

I'll have my "breakfast" (coffee and a fag) and then I'll have a look at the desktops for you. Something to consider though... you mentioned claiming disability. Would that have a serious impact on your ability to comfortably use a desktop?

I ask that because I have a minor disability myself, and when it decides it wants to play up, there is no way I can use my gaming PC... hence why I have a gaming laptop.