Help with Buying a Refurbished iMac?

[Candyd]

Hello,

I'm currently seriously considering selling my old iMac to buy a new one. Between all my add-ons, mods and CC, it's already a miracle that my 7-year-old old machine doesn't crash absolutely all the time (it already crashes 4 times on 5). And it's now getting worse with Yosemite.
I'd like to get some advice about what I should buy or not buy. There is this one on sale in the refurbished Apple store :

Processor
2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz) with 4MB shared L3 cache

Memory
8GB (two 4GB) of 1600 MHz DDR3 SDRAM

Storage
1TB1 (5400-rpm) hard drive

Graphics
Intel Iris Pro graphics

I'll add as much RAM as possible anyway, but I'd like to know if the graphics card is enough for playing with all add-ons, most kits and at least 5 GB CC / store content (mods included), or if not, which graphics card I should buy (I'm in France so I don't know if they're the same everywhere ?). My budget is limited though (buying even a "cheap" iMac isn't easy for me).

Thanks in advance 

[MrsFlynn]

Hi Candy,

I don't know much about Mac computers other than they use PC parts. But... aren't compatible with each other.

From what I was able to search on the graphics card, it will do medium settings. However, I don't know how well the computer will run the Sims overall, specially with all expansions, stuff packs, store content plus tons of custom content.

Do you have any other Mac computers your looking at? If you do, would you mind sharing links? I'd love to help see if we can find something that will play Sims well for you.

MrsFlynn

[Candyd]

If it can work with medium settings, that's already much better than what I currently have anyway
I'm mainly looking for computers there :
http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/imac/21
But sadly it seems that they're a little bit more expensive on the French version.
I bought my previous computer there (sorry, the link is in French), they're more expensive there but iMacs are even more expensive in most stores :
http://www.inter-actif.net/gamme-apple/imac/
Anyway my budget would be about 1200 € for the computer, max. 1400 € all included, I can't afford more 
I'm not against buying an iMac in another EU country if it's cheaper, if it can be delivered, if there is a good warranty, and if plugs and voltage are compatible. I regularly buy things in Germany and in Belgium because they're cheaper, I haven't compared prices for an iMac there yet. I also want to upgrade some parts if it's technically possible. I'd prefer buying a cheaper computer that I can easily upgrade later to buying something more expensive.

[MrsFlynn]

I had Hubby help me look over the links you shared. We were looking through the links in hopes of finding something that will play Sims decently = Less crashing, lag, slow loading and headaches. With all expansions and stuff packs plus mods and custom content.

We were able to find two within your price range, that met the requirements and had decent graphics. Both these computers should play in low up to medium settings, in a resolution of 1366x768.

I do want to note that with the 2nd iMac I wasn't able to find out for definite sure what it's graphics was. So I made a guess by searching out it's model #. That is why it has a ? by the graphics card. As what I was able to find out, this model could come with that graphics card.

Thank you for letting us help find a computer for you.

MrsFlynn

==========
Refurbished 21.5-inch iMac = £1,019.00
2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/FE087B/A/refurbished-215-inch-imac-29ghz-quad-core-Intel-Core-i5

- Intel Core i5 ~ 2.9GHz
- 8GB memory
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M ~ 1GB of GDDR5 memory

==========
Apple iMac ME087D/A = EUR 1.149,00
iMac 21.5" Intel Core i5 2.9GHz (iMac14.3)
http://www.amazon.de/iMac-21-5-Intel-2-9GHz-iMac14-3/dp/B00X77PZPS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1438216588&sr=8-3&keywords=imac+21.5

- Intel Core i5 4570S ~ 2.9GHz
- 8GB Memory
- GeForce GT 750M (?)

[Candyd]

Thank you for your help, now I see what I can buy
I have a last question : the screen resolution is 1920 x 1080. I noticed that playing with this high resolution makes the game much slower on my computer. Is there still a risk with such a large screen or should I better stop playing in fullscreen mode ?

[MrsFlynn]

Yes there is still the risk that it will run slower. However, you can still play in full screen. What you can do is in the game options. Go to the graphics tab, which should be open by default when you look at the options.

Go to Screen Size, and from the drop down menu, choose the screen resolution of: 1366x768. This will help the game run smoother.

Also what might help is to uncheck Advanced Rendering and Animation Smoothing. And check Enable Object Hiding.

Turn Off Interactive Loading Screens -- Go to Options (...) Select the gear tab, which is the General Settings, at the bottom of the menu uncheck the box labelled Interactive Loading Screens

Turn Off Memories -- Go to Options (...) Select the gear tab, which is the General Settings and look for the word Memories and in the drop down menu select Disable Memories.

While your in this tab, it may help to make sure Enable Shop Mode and Lessons are un checked.

Turning off memories means less game bloat/overly large game save file.

Clearing game cache every now and again helps

MAC - Clear your Cache Sims 3
http://help.ea.com/en/article/how-to-clear-your-cache-for-the-sims-3-on-a-mac/

Here's a topic of links that might be helpful too.

MAC Users - Helpful Links
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,20731.0.html

MrsFlynn

[Candyd]

Thank you, I'm going to change resolution and disable fullscreen mode then !

[MrsFlynn]

Ooh, you can still play in full screen if you'd like. Just change the resolution in game to 1366x768. That should do the trick.

That's the resolution I have my game set on, and I run it in full screen.

MrsFlynn

[mpart]

Mrs.Flynn's advice was great, though with macs you can never know exactly what they can or can't handle at times. I have a refurbished Macbook Air, the fan is loud though with sims 3 it works well though.  I don't recommend installing all your expansion packs at once, try to space it out so your computer can use to running the sims 3. If your going to install Island paradise or a whole lot of expansion packs, I recommend getting mods to make your game play as smooth as possible. Be careful how much stuff you put on macs, I have a fan by mine to keep it from getting warm, it might be a little overboard, but it works. If the computer is  just going to be for sims it should be fine, as far as cc goes don't download a ton at once due to the fact there may be some bad cc that could crash your game. As much as I love macs, if your planning on having a computer just for gaming, you should maybe look at a few pcs and go from there.

[Summers]

I have an I Mac and I'm not playing it on Yosemite but Boot Camp with all EPs and SPs. It works fine except for installation Pets. There's a tiny noise from I Mac but I got crazily loud noise while running Sims 4 Base. 

I recommend this:

iMac
2.9GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X4GB
256GB Flash Storage
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 1GB GDDR5


I think it will take all EPs and SPs with some custom contents but the price nearly go up to 2,000 euros in Ireland.

[Candyd]

Sorry for necroposting, but I bought this :

==========
Refurbished 21.5-inch iMac = £1,019.00
2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/FE087B/A/refurbished-215-inch-imac-29ghz-quad-core-Intel-Core-i5

- Intel Core i5 ~ 2.9GHz
- 8GB memory
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M ~ 1GB of GDDR5 memory

And after a month with it, it works fine ! I noticed that the game still slows down in CAS while loading clothes, but I have a lot of CC. The game also loads much faster with the lower screen resolution. It can still crash but it's rare now and almost only because of CC. To make it short, it works fine and i'm satisfied with it. I hope this will help other people who want to buy a new Mac.

[Candyd]

Almost one year later... (I hope you don't mind necroposting)
If the game itself runs smoothly with this computer, I noticed that the launcher quickly runs out of memory and freezes easily, more particularly while installing new CC. Actually, it can't even install any more CC because of that (I have about 5 GB of Sims3pack CC). I think that 8 GB is probably not enough, for people who want to buy a Mac, you might want to add extra RAM.

[MrsFlynn]

@Candyd Thank you SO much for posting this information. I was wondering how well it was working for you. Sounds like it's still working good for for you.

[Candyd]

Specifically with the game, yes.
However, it won't work very well without cleaning memory at least once / hour. I've had that problem since Yosemite, and same thing with El Capitan. It uses far too much memory, builds so much cache that it risks crashing regularly (even with 8 GB of RAM), and it has bugs with Cider (such as windows half out of the screen) and for users who have Mavericks or older, my personal opinion is : don't upgrade. Your game and other types of software will run much better on Mavericks or older because older OS X uses much less cache.

[Summers]

Almost one year later... (I hope you don't mind necroposting)
If the game itself runs smoothly with this computer, I noticed that the launcher quickly runs out of memory and freezes easily, more particularly while installing new CC. Actually, it can't even install any more CC because of that (I have about 5 GB of Sims3pack CC). I think that 8 GB is probably not enough, for people who want to buy a Mac, you might want to add extra RAM.

I don't think there'a a decent computer can manage enough with lots of CC for the sims 3. In my experience, actually I have 32 GBs of memory with i7 cpu but still lagging with NRaas story progression and many CCs. I wanted to increase CCs more and guessed it would be better with a super good computer but I guessed wrong. I currently have 100MBs of Package cc files in Mods and 1 GB of sims3 packs from EA store.  It runs very smooth for a long time. It takes about 10 secs until loading is all done with all EPs and SPs in CAS and takes about a min to finish loading to the town but with CCs, it takes about 3 mins to load my town and over a min to loads all hairs in CAS. As you use more CCs, it takes longer time to load everything.  It's from my personal experiences. My maximum size of sims3pack was up to 3GBs, so I'm not sure what will happen on my computer with 5GBs CCs.  Oh I'm running the sims 3 in Bootcamp. The game just force quits on OSX every 5 mins.