Related Threads:
Help Upgrading or Building/Buying a New Computer
Guide to Buying a New Graphics Card
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How Do I Find Out What My Specs Are?

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Sims 2 System Requirements:

Minimum system requirements for playing TS2 and each expansion can be found here. However, it is best to keep in mind that just because your computer meets minimum requirements, doesn’t mean that it will run TS2 well! The first section of the guide goes beyond what EA has recommended and states what experienced game players feel is more realistic.


It is recommended that for the base game you have at least:

• A 1.5 GHz processor
  
• A 128 MB dedicated video card
  
• 512 MB of RAM.

If you are running Windows Vista you should have at least DOUBLE those specs for the base game!

It is recommended for expansions, especially Pets or later, that you have at least:

• A 2.5 GHz processor
  
• A 256 MB dedicated video card - a newer, better one (higher MIDDLE numbers = better. For example a Nvidia 7600 would be faster than the newer 8400. Newer does not necessarily equal better. Generally speaking, expect the previous series mid-range cards to perform similar to the current series low-end, and so forth.)
  
• 1 gig of RAM (2gb Vista)

If you have questions about whether or not specific cards will run the game well, please view the above linked guide.

Please note that nVidia GO series cards (found in laptops) are widely thought of as being NOT compatible with Sims 2 and are not supported for use with Sims 2 or its expansions! While some people report no problems, it is far more likely that you -will- have problems running Sims 2 if you have a GO card. Updating drivers can help sometimes but usually not. If you already have a laptop with a GO card it will not hurt your computer to try to run the game on it, however it is certainly recommended that when getting a new laptop you choose one without a GO card. The best thing to do if you have a GO card and you would like to play Sims 2 is to pick up one of the Stories series games (Life Stories, Pet Stories, or Castaway Stories) which are specifically made for laptop gaming and do support the nVidia GO series cards.

List of mobile gpus which are strong enough to play the game well


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Sims 3 System Requirements

Minimum system specs for TS3 have just been released and are as follows (S2C recommendations are also noted in parentheses and underlined below):




If you have the absolute minimums and the lowest listed graphics card, that does not mean the game will look good or play well - or even be decently playable at all! As with Sims 2, it is likely that Sims 3 will require a considerably stronger system than the minimum requirements for nice graphics and decent gameplay. Systems under the minimums will not be able to play the game!

It's also very important to remember that the requirements will only increase for expansions, so it would be extremely unwise to buy a new system or upgrade based on these stats without well exceeding the minimums!

I have a question for you, Callistra... I can't decide whether I should upgrade my desktop for TS3, or somehow (if possible) upgrade my laptop's processor
Really the only issue I have here is if my processor will be able to handle ts3 when it comes to dual cores

The current specs for my desktop are
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 6150 LE with 256 mb of memory
(horrible, I know)
my ram is a gig, and it will be upgraded to 2 gigs
Processor: AMD Athlon '64 Processor' 3800+ with 2.4 GHZ

now theres my laptop
Graphics are a NVIDIA GeForce 8700M with 512 mb of memory
Ram is 2 gigs
Processor: Intel Core Duo 1.66GHZ on two cpus

I know this is too early to ask because TS3 has not stated if it will be multi-core compatible but should I stick with my current laptop, and possibly upgrade its processor if it can be (I'd like to sit it on atleast a 2.4 ghz dual core), or just upgrade the desktop?

/edit I would also like to say I would like to take the more cost effective route

Its probably likely TS3 is at least dual core optimized. If its not then thats pretty outdated.

I'll probably upgrade my PC to a duel core sometime soon. (Remember my thread about that Callistra?) When I installed Assassin's Creed the other night it said that I didn't meet the minimum system requirements, because I didn't have a duel core processor... However, all my graphics are turned straight up and the game runs fine! what's with that?

inoacharm: As I said in the guide I wouldn’t do ANYTHING until we KNOW what you will need. If what you have now works for what you do now, let things be. There’s no point in throwing money into a complete gamble.

If you want to talk in terms of what is upgradable should you choose to do so down the line..

Your laptop looks strong except for the processor. Do you know the manufacturer and model of your laptop? If you can tell me that and also the chipset of your motherboard, I can tell you what processors are compatible with it, but again I would not do anything until you have the TS3 game in your hands and get an opportunity to see how your system handles it. It could be you don’t need to do anything to have your laptop run it.. we’ll have to wait and see.

Depending on the age of your desktop it may be money better spent to build a new system, when the time comes that this one no longer does what you want it to do. I see you have an integrated onboard video and single core processor? Telling me the manufacturer, model and chipset would again allow me to tell you exactly what can be upgraded and at what cost.

You can determine your chipset and manufacturer/model by running this program: http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php
Chipset is easy to find and displays on the first window that pops up. In order to determine the other you will have to do some digging. Look to the left where there are several larger icons in rows. Click the middle icon on the top row. In the window to its right click on ‘mainboard’. There will be information which displays below it. Under the category “general information” tell me what it says for “Manufacturer” and “Product”.

Also important to keep in mind that changing out the processor yourself will likely void any warranty you have. Same goes with the desktop actually. Graphics card, and ram are usually considered to be user upgradable parts..meaning manufacturers expect users to upgrade those on their own as needed and it won’t effect the warranty. The power supply (will prob be needed to install a graphics card), and cpu are not.

coltraz: Be happy it works? I guess the company chose to be overly careful on the cpu requirements, and the rest of your system must be strong enough to balance things out.

Ok So here is what my friend has in mind for me when we rebuild a new computer next month. I can't wait.
I think it's great there's a single thread for this now and welcome all advice.

CPUP4775CD2Q66 INTEL CORE 2 DUO Q6600/2.40G Q/CORE CPU

HDSESATA50032 Seagate SATA2 500GB Harddisk (32MB)(SPC)

MB775GAP35DS3L Gigabyte P35-DS3L (s775) M/B (SPC)

VIDGANX86GT512 Gigabyte 9600GT 512M Video Card(SPC)

I know it says in here that no-one is able to know for sure what specs are needed for sims 3 to run but i'm hoping this will be good enough for that too.
So what do you think?

Callistra, thanks! I'll run those programs when I get a chance. My desktop was only bought last January so buying a new computer is out of the question cause I've had two new ones in the span of one year.

starwyn: I think the specs look really solid but I would not go with a quad core. VERY few programs and games make use of quad core technology, and in fact really very few dual core.. If you play other really demanding games.. like Crysis.. which would allow you to make use of the quad then maybe but if TS2 is the most demanding thing you thow at it, it’s not a good choice. Although it’s quite possible TS3 will be at least able to make use of dual core technology I highly doubt it will be able to make use of the quad. Quads have been known to cause stuttering issues in TS2 as well.. I would go with a good dual core like the E8400 instead. It will play anything you throw at it, and most things better than the quad.

What case and power supply do you have in mind? I note you didn't mention ram but I would go with 2gb if you're choosing XP and 3gb with Vista.


inoacharm You're welcome If it's only 5 months old there's prob a lot we can do wit hit.. we'll see.

Callistra Oops I meant my laptop was bought in January and my desktop 07 January >< duh!!

Anyways I just realized a good point, I have a whole year to buy a new, better computer, to run TS3, and whatever other awesome games come out for the comp. Therefor I think I have time to save on -building- my first ever computer.

So I was wondering if you know of any websites I can start looking at for parts that are relatively cheap[er then other companies]? I'm going to just make myself an awesome computer with highly unneeded specs for its time xD!

/edit also thought it'd be good to mention my 'highschool' major is animation so I work with maya and 3ds max alot, if you have any suggestions for parts to make rendering speeds faster (processors and RAM I'd assume)

My friend renders with Maya on a 8600GT, but I don't know how complex her work is. Her major is CGI Animatronics .. or something along those lines. There are cards designed actually for graphics rendering, but you don't want to game on them. They're also crazy expensive.. and not really necessary. The Nvidia 8000 series is already been replaced and in a year who knows what will be out.. hard to reccomend a graphics card or really any other parts for a build so far off in the future. I reccomend waiting until you are ready to spend and then checking out what's available. Technology changes way too fast to reccomend something now for something to be built possibly a whole year off.

This is a great company for parts: http://newegg.com

Thanks Callistra I'll get back to you on the power supply and case. Have a friends choosing all the bits for me but basically getting a second opinion from you guys.
Most probably getting vista even though i don't like it just so i can get more ram. Is 4G ok for vista? I know it's too much for xp.

starwyn: If you already know you don't like Vista, it doesn't make any sense to me to use it it just so you can install more ram.. You will get better performance on XP with less ram than Vista with more. The reason is that Vista uses a TON more system resources than XP. The only benefit of Vista over XP is some rendering (quality of graphics) in Directx10 games.. which TS2 is not one of them. Sacrifice is performance and.. an operating system you don't like. 4gb will be visible to Vista 64 bit. Vista 32 bit will still only see 3 or 3.5gb. Whether or not you'll utilize that much, I highly doubt, unless you are planning on playing the newest most demanding games, like Crysis that I pointed out before, or doing some serious graphics/video editing.

Is an ATI X850 a very strong video card? I'd like to run TS2, TS3, Spore, and Viva Pinata on the new computer I might be buying soon. Or if not, which ATI card do you recommend for those games?

Cecilia Can't really recommend a card for running TS3 until we actually know what will be required. The guide in the first post gives our best guess at some cards which will prob work well but that's as far as I'll go. To say something more definitive than that wouldn't be honest because truthfully nobody can possibly know what it will take past our best education guess.

For Spore and Viva the x850 would be fine. I will tell you though that I had that card running TS2 and after installing later expansions I had quite a bit of lagging on larger lots. It works very well otherwise but it was enough of an annoyance that I bought a better card. It's an older discontinued card though, so if you want it one you'd have to get it used somewhere like Ebay or Craig's list or something. You certainly won’t be finding it in a new computer that you buy. The ATI HD 2600XT or HD 2900 should play TS2 well. I’m still weary about recommending the 3000 series for TS2 because they are both unsupported and there have been cases that make at least some of them seem incompatible too.

Can I ask why you’re only considering ATI cards?

The reason why I want ATI cards only is because I heard that NVIDIA cards can cause the BSoD. If this isn't true I'd be fine with a NVIDIA.
Do you have a card you would recommend for Spore, Viva, & TS2? Because those are the main games I will be running.

Nvidia cards do not cause the BSOD you were having. Some people have reported that their game screen suddenly turns blue while using Nvidia cards, but several reason have been found and fixes are available for this. It actually kind of looks like the sky got stuck across the whole screen is the best way I know how to put it. Some known causes are lack of ram, certain but not all anti-virus programs (and possibly other program conflicts) and shaders, all of which can be fixed. Personally, I have a Nvidia card and play TS2 without any problems, as do several other mods and admin of these forums. As far as current Nvidia cards, the 8600gt, 8800gt, and 9600gt are some good ones to consider when buying a new computer.

Okay. I think I'll stick with NVIDIA then, since I know more about it.

Do you think I should consider upgrading rather than buying a whole new computer? I looked at the requirements of Spore and all I would need to update to get it to work is RAM and a video card. I'm guessing TS3 might have similar requirements.

You saw my computer's specs in my previous posts. What do you think would be better?

I would highly reccomend getting a new computer. Judging by the age and the system specs you reported, you would have to put a lot fo money into that machine to only make it a little bit less outdated but still not up bring it up to current. When a computer gets that old it really becomes less cost effective to put money into it. You would also need to buy a new power supply and with it being 6 years old you'd have an AGP port at best (which has limited cards for it at a higher price but not better performance) but possibly even just a PCI which makes any upgrade a total waste.

What's your price range for a new pc? And since you're comfortable doing some upgrades yourself, would you maybe consider building your own computer from scratch? I ask because it is cheaper but if you don't feel comfortable of course you can still find something prebuilt.

Actually, I just get my computers from DELL and have my parents' friends upgrade them. I don't know anything about building computers or stuff like that :x
Just hearing that a new computer is better to get is good enough. DELL lets you customize your computers so I'll be fine with that.
Thanks for all of your help, it means so much to me!

There's a great Intel build on page 2 of this thread (posts #40/#44) that would be at least worth checking out. Personally really anti-Dell after having a nightmare of an experience with my current machine.. long story short after a month or two of Dell trying to "fix" my computer with doa parts that ended up making things worse each time, I gave up making any use out of the warranty and fixed it myself out of pocket. All of my friends and family who use Dell have had similar stories and work uses Dell which drop like flies..I know Dell is a popular company but I think they are a case that popularity doesn't necessarily bring about quality. Anyway, I'll hush now LOL Whatever you choose, good luck! :D

Out of the NVIDIA cards, which do you think would be best for the games I listed?

Any of the cards I already listed would play your games well. The strongest of them being the 8800GT, but the 9600GT isn't far behind and it's from the newest series so it has some advantages like running cooler. The 8600GT was a midrange card so it's not as fast or as future proof as the other two but it should do the job well and cost a lot less.

If you need more information on the cards, that's what we have the 'Read here before posting about getting a new card!' sticky. You should have ample information to make a choice or take the recommendations and do a little research with what's already available.

Okay, thanks for letting me know :3
I think I'm set for now. We've decided we're gonna try upgrading my computer for Spore, Viva, & TS2, and buy the new computer when the requirements for TS3 are set in stone. I know I've changed my mind a lot about buying/upgrading, but this is probably gonna be it, unless for some reason something goes wrong.

Just so you realize that you will also have to buy a new power supply to run the new graphics card and that you will be limited as to what you can install at all by at the very least the expansion slot available which is either AGP or PCI (NOT PCI-E, PCI Express). You are looking about $200 for this upgrade, and you will not be able to use the card in the new computer you buy. You will have to do some research on your own to figure out what slot you have and what kind of power supply will work with your current computer (older Dells did not use atx standard psus).

I'm fine with the 200$ but what do you mean by power supply? I've had a friend upgrade my video card before and never heard of a power supply.