Sims 3 and Lagging

[carmenisbeast]

I recently bought an HP Pavilion 17-e049wm and I downloaded all of my sims 3 games onto it. I looked it up and my laptop should have the right specs to run the game but often throughout the game it will lag and freeze making it nearly impossibly and utterly frustrating to play the game at all. I will list the specs below. Is there something wrong with them? Do I need to have the laptop modified or things added? I'm at a loss as to what I should do... I bought the laptop partly because I needed it for college but also because I wanted a laptop that was where I could play The Sims 3 with. Thanks so much in advance for the help!
-Carmen 

-AMD Elite Quad-Core A10-5750M accelerated processor
-3.50GHz, 4MB L2 Cache
-8GB DDR3 SDRAM system memory
-750GB SATA hard drive
-17.3" HD+ BrightView LED-backlit display
-AMD Radeon HD 8650G Discrete-Class Graphics with up to 4206MB total graphics memory

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

Hi, Carmenisbeast.

I did some looking and the laptop is fine, however the graphics card is the issue here. The graphics card is capable of playing the game, but it has no dedicated memory of its own an has to take it from system memory in order to run. System memory is slower than graphics memory, and the more memory the card siphons from the system, the less is available for running tasks in the background and other things.

In short, the laptop is fine for running the base game and some expansions/stuff packs, but it will struggle with more of them installed, as well as with graphic intensive expansions such as Island Paradise, Seasons, Supernatural and Pets. You may be able to alleviate some of the issues by dropping your graphics settings to medium or low (turning off Advanced Rendering can significantly boost the game's speed at the expense of detail), and lowering the game's resolution (1280 x 720 instead of 1920 x 1090 for example).

Hope this helps and happy Simming.

Flynn

[carmenisbeast]

Hi, Carmenisbeast.

I did some looking and the laptop is fine, however the graphics card is the issue here. The graphics card is capable of playing the game, but it has no dedicated memory of its own an has to take it from system memory in order to run. System memory is slower than graphics memory, and the more memory the card siphons from the system, the less is available for running tasks in the background and other things.

In short, the laptop is fine for running the base game and some expansions/stuff packs, but it will struggle with more of them installed, as well as with graphic intensive expansions such as Island Paradise, Seasons, Supernatural and Pets. You may be able to alleviate some of the issues by dropping your graphics settings to medium or low (turning off Advanced Rendering can significantly boost the game's speed at the expense of detail), and lowering the game's resolution (1280 x 720 instead of 1920 x 1090 for example).

Hope this helps and happy Simming.

Flynn

Thank you for the help! Bringing up the graphics card can I just as easily take it to a computer shop and see if they can modify the laptop with a better one? I wouldn't mind putting the money into it since I enjoy my game running at a fast speed with good graphics.

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

Thank you for the help! Bringing up the graphics card can I just as easily take it to a computer shop and see if they can modify the laptop with a better one? I wouldn't mind putting the money into it since I enjoy my game running at a fast speed with good graphics.

Unfortunately, no. Very few (if any) laptops have the capability of upgrading the graphics hardware. Usually with laptops the only things you can update are memory and hard drives. The rest is hardwired onto the system boards and not able to be replaced. You will need to replace the laptop if you want to play at high settings, or run it on a desktop system with a good graphics card installed.

Flynn

[Mahmeya]

Also you did not listed if you have 32bit or 64bit operating system (in case you have windows). 32bit system can only handle like 3,2GB-ish RAM, and that'll be reduced by OS needs. Especially windows Vista sucks in this, taking up to 1,5GB RAM (glad I have win7 now)
An advice that may help a bit: try to not have excess of unneeded decorations, any item the game needs to load uses some small part of performance. Bigger and more decorated houses might cause lag on even much better computers as it'll need to load huge amount of small files at once.

[carmenisbeast]

Also you did not listed if you have 32bit or 64bit operating system (in case you have windows). 32bit system can only handle like 3,2GB-ish RAM, and that'll be reduced by OS needs. Especially windows Vista sucks in this, taking up to 1,5GB RAM (glad I have win7 now)
An advice that may help a bit: try to not have excess of unneeded decorations, any item the game needs to load uses some small part of performance. Bigger and more decorated houses might cause lag on even much better computers as it'll need to load huge amount of small files at once.

I'm more than positive that it is 64-bit and it's running off Windows 8. Thank you for the advice!

[carmenisbeast]

Unfortunately, no. Very few (if any) laptops have the capability of upgrading the graphics hardware. Usually with laptops the only things you can update are memory and hard drives. The rest is hardwired onto the system boards and not able to be replaced. You will need to replace the laptop if you want to play at high settings, or run it on a desktop system with a good graphics card installed.

Flynn

Ahhh, I see... Welp, it looks like I'll be buying another then! Hahaha! Thank you for your help and insight!

[carmenisbeast]

Hi, Carmenisbeast.

I did some looking and the laptop is fine, however the graphics card is the issue here. The graphics card is capable of playing the game, but it has no dedicated memory of its own an has to take it from system memory in order to run. System memory is slower than graphics memory, and the more memory the card siphons from the system, the less is available for running tasks in the background and other things.

In short, the laptop is fine for running the base game and some expansions/stuff packs, but it will struggle with more of them installed, as well as with graphic intensive expansions such as Island Paradise, Seasons, Supernatural and Pets. You may be able to alleviate some of the issues by dropping your graphics settings to medium or low (turning off Advanced Rendering can significantly boost the game's speed at the expense of detail), and lowering the game's resolution (1280 x 720 instead of 1920 x 1090 for example).

Hope this helps and happy Simming.

Flynn

How about this laptop? Or do you have any suggestions if not.

HP Black Licorice 15.6" 15-g029wm Laptop PC:

Key Features and Benefits:
-AMD A4-5000 Quad-Core accelerated processor
-1.5GHz, 2MB L2 Cache

-4GB DDR3 SDRAM system memory
Gives you the power to handle most power-hungry applications and tons of multimedia work

-500GB SATA hard drive
Store 333,000 photos, 142,000 songs or 263 hours of HD video and more

-SuperMulti DVD Burner
Watch movies and read and write CDs and DVDs in multiple formats

-10/100Base-T Fast Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN
Connect to a broadband modem with wired Ethernet or wirelessly connect to a WiFi signal or hotspot with the 802.11b/g/n connection built into your PC

-AMD Radeon HD 8330 Graphics
With HDMI capabilities

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

How about this laptop? Or do you have any suggestions if not.

HP Black Licorice 15.6" 15-g029wm Laptop PC:

Key Features and Benefits:
-AMD A4-5000 Quad-Core accelerated processor
-1.5GHz, 2MB L2 Cache

-4GB DDR3 SDRAM system memory
Gives you the power to handle most power-hungry applications and tons of multimedia work

-500GB SATA hard drive
Store 333,000 photos, 142,000 songs or 263 hours of HD video and more

-SuperMulti DVD Burner
Watch movies and read and write CDs and DVDs in multiple formats

-10/100Base-T Fast Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN
Connect to a broadband modem with wired Ethernet or wirelessly connect to a WiFi signal or hotspot with the 802.11b/g/n connection built into your PC

-AMD Radeon HD 8330 Graphics
With HDMI capabilities

Hi, Carmenisbeast

Unfortunately, this one has an underpowered processor and graphics card. Before I can make a laptop recommendation, I need to know what price range you're looking at. Most laptops that can run Sims 3 well run between $800 and $1,500 USD, and up if you go for a gaming system.

Hope this helps and happy Simming!

Flynn

[carmenisbeast]

Hi, Carmenisbeast

Unfortunately, this one has an underpowered processor and graphics card. Before I can make a laptop recommendation, I need to know what price range you're looking at. Most laptops that can run Sims 3 well run between $800 and $1,500 USD, and up if you go for a gaming system.

Hope this helps and happy Simming!

Flynn

I don't really have a range! Hahaha. I can pretty much put whatever I want to into it... But I don't want to go over $2000.

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

Well, then I did a little checking on Amazon and found this computer from MSI.

The system has a current generation processor running at 3.2 GHz, comes with 8 GB memory (and can be expanded to 16 GB), has a nearly current nVidia graphics card with 2 GB dedicated memory, and comes in at just under $1,200 with free shipping.

Edit: Just saw this after posting. NewEgg has the same model MSI laptop for $999.99 - a full $200 cheaper than Amazon.

Of course, if you want the crem-de-la-crem model, there's this one (also from MSI). However, the gain in processor speed (3.4 GHz) and 16 GB memory may not be worth the $1,600 asking price. My recommendation would be to get the $1,200 model and then update it later to 16 GB if you want. It will cost you less money and you'll get nearly the same system as the more expensive model.

Mrs Flynn and I don't have an MSI gaming laptop. However, our current desktops have an MSI gaming motherboard and it was well-worth the money we spent for them. I've also seen a fairly positive review for the system, with a note that you'll want a cooling mat for playing games as it can get warm. I would recommend a cooling mat for gaming on any laptop, however, so I don't see that as too negative a point.

Hope this helps and happy Simming!

Flynn

[Saltypaws]

My game was lagging terribly also.  I only had 4 gigs of memory, so I upgraded to 12.  I have an integrated radeon graphics card, so I did go ahead and get an Nvidia GtT620.  Unfortunately, the game keeps crashing and I do believe that my computer does not like the new graphics card and it is conflicting with it.  In the device manager, under processors, is says "AMD A4-3420 w/Radeon(tm) HD graphics".  I was wondering, if I put a Radeon card in would it help, or just keep the memory and no new graphics card?  I think the integrated graphics card really should be enough, which is a 4620.  I should have just put the memory in and let it go at that.  If you have any suggestions, that would help.

Funny thing is, after all that and before it freezes, game runs great, no lags or nothing, then just pops up, Sims3 has stopped working and will now close.

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

Hi, SaltyPaws.

You mentioned buying an nVidia GT 620 graphics card. The GT series of desktop graphics cards are the entry level models and are not suited for playing Sims 3 at medium to high settings. I checked on the Radeon HD 4620 and it looks like it should do okay. However, if you're wanting to play on the top settings, you'll want to look at either the nVidia GTX series (which is their gaming graphics cards) or at a Radeon 8000 series.

For the Radeon line, it's not as easy to decipher which numbers make for better cards, so you'll want to read reviews before purchasing. For the nVidia GTX series, the current generation is the 700 series. However, you can get the previous generation 600 series for much cheaper - a good model can be had for under $200.

Hope this helps and happy Simming!

Flynn