Just found one of these illiterate people on The Sims 3 forums.
Guy with Q posted:
Hi Simmers, I would like some help with updating my computer so that it meets the requirements to play sims 3.
My Specs:
AMD Athlon 64X2 2.2GHZ processor
1 GB RAM
NVIDIA 7500LE
Now 'system requiremnts lab' says that my PC falls short with, RAM, and therefore I am going to buy an extra 2GB.
Now will this extra 2gb help with gameplay? Currently the game is soo slow and stutters all the time.
I was also wondering if it would be worth updating my Graphics card and maybe power supply, so that I can play the game on high specs?
Currently the settings, by default are set to medium, but it is not playable because of how slow the game is.
If anyone could receommend whether I should be ok with just the RAM, or whether I should update my graphics card, and any suggestions would be great, thanks.
My current power supply is 300Watts so I am guessing that if I update my card will have to update this also?
Idiot posted:
When you go to buy the graphic card ask what size power supply it needs and then make sure you buy a power supply at least 100 watts over the size the card requires as it has to run the entire pc, so you will need that 100 watts to power rest of the pc. Also keep in mind that power supplies lose wattage over time and with age over a year old. Also keep in mind that your processor speed is low for this game, but if your OS is XP, it might be okay with the other upgrades. Even though that video card size is on the MINIMUM list requirements, it is a known fact that Video cards under a 9 series Nvidia card does not play this game well and I honestly do not know how a 7 series card can play the Sims 3 with medium settings at all. You should have your setting on low until you can upgrade.
Personally if it was me I would buy a whole new and faster MOBO. but to each his own. Your mobo is liable to be an agp board so if it is, you may not be able to upgrade that video card. You need to find out that before you go plucking down money on any of these upgrades.To have an 8 series and higher card you have to have a pci -e capable board.
Guy With Q posted:
Thanks for replying
Does anyone know what a good graphics card option would be, I don't want to spend too much, because all I play is the sims 3, I would also like to be able to play with higher settings?
Do you know if 3GB of Ram will make the game run smooth?
Idiot posted:
On a new and faster system yes, on yours not really sure as the info you gave is not very much info on your system, but if you look on the game box at the bare minimum requirements just to play the base game, your processor is already too slow for the game so the possibility of playing additional eps and sps or turning up the settings actually look bleak to me - but you never can tell. I have seen unbelieveable things on pcs that shouldn't even play the game if the owner of the pc knows someone who knows pcs and how to give them more umph.
But a simply state of the art - by the book upgrade may not meet your expectations, depending on your entire system. Like I said above, you really did not give very much info, and without seeing inside your case it's really hard to know the results of said upgrade - we can only guess if it is possible.
On a truly positive note though you have 2 processors, and if your OS is XP, I would say your performance would definitely improve seeing I recently saw a 2.0 duo processors system make the same upgrades and did have a pci-e mobo and got a decent 9 series card, added I believe also 2 gigs of ram and changed to a 450 watt power supply and now has no problem at all playing the base game, with WA and HELS added. She even has third party CC in her game, which I don't recommend, but I have to admit her game looks good and plays good and smooth. Most of her settings are still on medium but because the pc has the power now she was able to change Sim detail to high, and it really looks decent and plays smooth. So having more than 1 processor, all be it a slower processor with all else boosted can result in an overall good experience. The pc I saw the user got all her upgrades from Tiger online for around 200 dollars.
Edit to add: I do hope you are talking about a desktop pc and not a laptop. I don't see a lot of positives when it comes to laptops and upgrading as they are a whole other animal and not in my book a gaming kind of pc - but keep in mind that is just my own opinion crowded with the fact laptops do not upgrade easily if they are even upgradeable and usually require the aid of a pro and specific components you have to get from the manufacturer. So I do not comment on laptop upgrades at all. So if this is a laptop, please disreguard anything I have said - this is only in reguard to desktops which are almost always upgradeable.
Guy With Q posted:
Oh I thought I heard somewhere that a dual core processor is enough for the Sims 3? I'm not good with computers, maybe I should just buy a new one all together.
Idiot posted:
Yes multicores are what you want, and because your pc IS multicore, is probably the only reason you can play the game. That is what I meant is because you have a dual core is why you can install and actually see the game. The higher the number on the processors the better. In sims 3 the more cores you have the better, even though some people may argue about 2 cores being better than more in Sims 3 - I disagree with that assumption. But yes dual core IS better. If your 2.2 was only one core I highly doubt you would see the game.
I am running the game on 4 cores and each core is 2.7. My particular pc is fully overclockable, so I could go massively higher on my core I run an AMD Phenom Black edition pc that was designed for overclocking everything - but I have NOT overclocked anything. It is exactly as I recieved it from my sons pc shop where he built it for me using the factory settings.
I had a duo core pentium for Sims 2, that even though would run this game, it did not come close to the performance I get on this Phenom. It's duo cores were 3.2 each core. Tecnically it's processors individually were faster than this AMD, but that was a 2 core pc and this is a 4 core. The processors on the duo core were not overclockable (not that you would need to overclock a 3.2 processor to start with) so by all rights if bigger processors were availiable for that pc in order to upgrade it the processors would need to be replaced with bigger processors. In the case of this Phenom you do not have to buy bigger processors as these processors have the power built in to them to be made higher powered processors by just adjusting their settings and turning them up. I see no point in doing that for sims 3 - at least not yet anyway.
Guy With Q posted:
About the GeForce 7500 LE
The Nvidia GeForce 7500 LE was released in the year 2006. The GeForce 7500 LE cards had a PCI-E X16 interface...
So I should be able to upgrade it right?
Edit: No it is a desktop, I am aware of how difficult laptops are to upgrade, which is why I am not going to try and upgrade my laptop, just the desktop.
Idiot posted:
Excellent in both cases. Yes then you're all set with that mobo and yes you should have no problem upgrading that card to any one you want to get. Like I said you want a series 9 card or higher and go for one with at least 512 ram on the card.
I really do not see anything standing in your way to better performance with the board you have then.
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