8800gt is a great card but it's being phased out so it's hard to find and when you do it's expensive. This is one of the best value for performance ratios there is right now: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814121289 This would also be one to look at: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814130360 9800gt is the 8800gt. They're just phasing out the 8000 series with this 9000 series released and renamed the card. They're the exact same core. You can actually flash one to the other: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814130379

If you're just running the base game or the base game with only a few older expansions those cards are going to be serious overkill and the 9500gt is a good choice: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814130378 If you start getting more expansions (especially later ones) or lots of custom content then you will really feel the difference with the faster cards.

I'm merging your thread into our sticky because we don't allow individual thread on components to run TS2. Have a read through the rules. Also have a read through our sticky on upgrading your graphics card to make sure your computer is capable of running these.

HP's, and Dell's are the best and most people own them.
You just have to find the Specs. on a computer and if it has a graphics card that suits both Sims 2 and most likely Sims 3 then it's good.
Memory is a good thing to look at too. More GB the better.

We have Dells at work and they drop like flies. I do agree that their on site tech service is fast.. if it's competent. I had a tech out to my house multiple times and each time they replaced parts with DOA parts and the last time they did it they ended up frying my entire desktop. I had the whole thing carried away and replaced. When I had problems AGAIN (2 months into this) I gave up and fixed the thing myself. I'm not the only one with these stories. They're really very pretty common. Dell has also more upped their purchases from China by 28%, so expect their quality control to go even more down. I sound really hard on Dell but the truth is as far as prebuilds go they're pretty average. Just sorta how the cookie crumbles. They have to keep costs down somehow so you just don't have the same quality components as you do if you built yourself.

Those HPs are comparably priced to the AVADirect machines I linked to. So are you saying you just won't consider anything but HP?

puddlejumper: You need to read through what's already been posted in this thread and other stickies. The answers to your questions are all of this forum if you take the time to look. Thanks.

Ok you guys, thanks!

We've had no issues with our HP's.
We've only had Dell laptops, but Sims was never played on them.
I think we've had a Compaq and that was tossed easily.
The only other option I'm aware of is Gateway and it doesn't seem as advance as HP or Dell.
We also have HP monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

You were already given another option.. but okay if you want an HP then get an HP. Plenty of information here about what specs to look for.

Operating system - Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
Processor- Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T5800 (2.0GHz)
Memory- 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Graphics card- Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
Hard drive- 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
Primary DVD/CD drive- LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support

I'm getting a new HP laptop (dv5t series) for Christmas, and was wondering if this could run the Sims 2 (with some eps) well enough that I wouldn't want to toss it out of the window in frustration?

I hope I posted this in the right place... :confused:

My parents went out last night to Best Buy.
I wrote down everything (our hard drive, RAM etc.).
They asked someone and gave them all of our computer's info.
The person said that if we have a power supply of 2500* we will need to upgrade to a 3000* and we would be able to get the NVIDIA 8400 (PCI).

*Trying to remember exact numbers

Nellie: Did you read the first post? You should have followed the link to our sticky on System Requirements for TS2/TS3. Comparing those to the ones in our list show that that computer would be fine for the base game through Uni. For all later expansions your computer would not even meet EA stated minimum requirements because with an integrated gpu your cpu should be a minimum of 2.4ghz, while yours is only 2.0ghz. Even though your computer won't meet minimum requirements you MAY be able to get away with expansions through Seasons but that computer is most definitely not suitable for anything past that. Still expect reduced game play, such as lagging, and you won't be able to deal with much cc either, if you install later expansions.

The other problem you have is that computer is poor at handling heat. It tends to have problems keeping components cool and so overstressing the laptop is a particularly bad idea, and not recommended.
Have a read through these: http://modthesims2.com/wiki.php?tit...nboard_Graphics
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?...r_is_Like_a_Car

PuX- 80's: I wouldn't recommend that GPU unless you're only playing expansions prior to Pets and without much cc. It's a weak entry level card from 3 series ago. You definitely don't have a 2500 psu.. no idea where you got those numbers from. If you're talking about your m7060n then it's not worth upgrading. You don't have a proper slot for a graphics card. All you have is a PCI slot and any card you get for that slot will a) Be expensive and terrible value b) still give weak performance. Also, I'm pretty sure th 8400GT doesn't come in PCI. Just PCI-E.. Best Buy people are generally clueless and notorious for giving bad advice. Just a heads up.

Hello!
First off, thanks in advance to anyone who helps me with this. I've been looking things over and reading linked posts and wiki articles but I'm not really sure enough of what I think I know to do any computer upgrading or replacing yet.

All I intend to do with my computer is run Sims 2 with all EPs, no SPs and as little CC as I can live with.

The computer I have now is something like this:
AMD Athlon(tm) XP 1800+
1.53 GHz. 480 MB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce2 Integrated GPU

Two people have given me advice on it... one says I can play Sims if I buy the NVIDIA 6200 card. The other says I just need more RAM. But the impression I get from this thread is that my computer is probably not worth upgrading and I need a new one.

Yeah I would say that computer's lived its life out.. everything is weak. You definitely at least need more ram and a new gpu, and a new gpu will prob require a new psu. The cpu is also exceptionally weak but if you buff up the other two things it might balance at least enough to run the base game. The computer will never run all expansions well, or at all. Even if you buff up all the other specs the cpu is too weak for the newest expansions. 6200 is certainly not going to do it for anything past the base game. That's assuming there's even an expansion slot to install a gpu in, and that the computer will support a standard atx psu upgrade to run it.

Now assuming you're actually able to do the upgrades you want, you're still looking at a couple hundred into a machine that's not even worth a couple hundred and still won't be worth a couple hundred once you put the money into it.

The only reason I thought it might be possible to just fix this one up is that a few months ago, it did run all the EPs up to Free Time. It just had a graphics card. I think it was something in the NVIDIA 4000s. I'd say 4500 if I had to guess. It bumped the RAM up to... I think 512. And believe it or not, it played satisfactorily. My only complaint was long loading times and having to wait a minute or two when I wanted to use mirrors to change appearance.

But if what I experienced is playing Sims on a weak computer, I can only wonder what it's like on a better one. I was looking on craigslist for a new monitor (because mine is so blurry I can't read the time in the lower corner) and came across a computer for sale that I thought might work.



I see it has enough RAM, but the processor is not 2.5 GHz like it should be and I don't really know how the graphics card compares with the recommendations. So, while that computer maybe isn't the best ever, it only costs $200 and comes with a monitor, which I need anyway. And like I said, the only thing I want it to do is play Sims again. I don't play other games on computer. So, should I get that computer or keep looking?

That's all it says? Specs are incomplete. '128mb AGP' could mean a ton of different cards. Some better than others, but no good. That's a really old machine. You have to be really careful about buying off Craig's List. There are absolutely no guarantees against getting royally burned. I definitely wouldn't buy anything off there unless you really knew what you were doing and had a way to check things out thoroughly before buying.

I'm not sure if you missed this link, but it's the most detailed recommendations we have: http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?...Recommendations Whatever that gpu is, it's definitely going to fall way short of recommendations for later expansions. What's your budget?

Well, the actual post said more than that, but just stuff about the monitor, keyboard, etc... In any case, it's been deleted so I can only assume that computer is gone.

My budget is as low as possible. This might not be very realistic, but if I could get a computer that meets the requirements for between $300-$400, that would be good.

You can build a computer for $400-$500, assuming you already have an operating system to put on it and you don't need a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, or anything else. Otherwise you'll be looking at 4-5 year old P4 machines that you can spend a couple hundred upgrading yourself. It's really not cost effective to do that but on that budget there's not much else you can do. Just make sure the machine doesn't require a proprietary psu and that it has a pci-e slot.

Well, I don't really want to buy a used computer and put parts in it, I just happened to find one that I thought might work out for me. Building a computer sounds good, but I have no idea how to do it... Is it a bad idea to take a new computer with a decent processor and put RAM and a graphics card in it?

It's not bad to upgrade a computer. I just wouldn't recommend buying a 4-5 year old outdated computer and try to upgrade it. Technology has just moved so far since those days that no amount of upgrading is going to be as good as something current. ~$300 for a new prebuilt now isn't going to get you much of anything (like Celeron and Sempron type CPUS), and upgrade options are prob going to be very limited at that price point. Many computers at that price point won't even have a gpu expansion slot. $550-$650 is where stuff starts opening up a lot, as far as prebuilds go. Then another $100-$200 for a gpu and prob psu upgrade and you'd have a good machine for playing TS2 and all expansions. Compare that to something you could build for $400-$500 and it's not anywhere near in the same area. You can get a much better machine building yourself. If you think you might want to do that then I'd check around locally. See if there are some geeks around where you live that would build the computer for you for a set price, provided you give them the parts. Or you could always have a go yourself. It's really not that hard. If you were into Legos and other build it yourself projects as a kid, it's really not any harder than that.

Case: http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master...30086976&sr=8-1 (Antec 300 and CM 590 are some other good cases in the ~$50 price point, but between the three this is the cheapest atm)
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16817703014 (For 9500GT) OR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16817703015 (For 4850)
MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813128357 OR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813128359
CPU: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produ...ctCode=10009079
HDD: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produ...ctCode=10006529
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814130383 OR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Combo...st=Combo.149117 (Only if you're buying the better gpu buy in combo from Newegg)
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820231098
OPTICAL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16827136149

So, assuming you already have an XP operating system somewhere to install, depending on the gpu and mobo chosen, building yourself will cost starting at about $400, plus another $60 or so if you want the better gpu/psu and plus $36 for the better mobo.

You'll easily pay $850-$1000 for a prebuilt of that strength.

ETA: The absolutely cheapest deal I could find on a system you could upgrade yourself would be the Vostro 220 Mini tower from Dell. Airflow is crap so you'll want to take extra steps to cool off whatever gpu you upgrade, like not installing anything in the slot next to the gpu and leaving the slot cover off to get more ventilation. With the ATI 4850 card you will want to also adjust the fan speed to get it cooler. So anyway if you just take the base configuration and up the CPU to an E7300 it comes to $319 plus shipping and tax (to my area code anyway) comes to $379.84. Then you got another $40-$60 for the power supply and another $45-$105 for the gpu and you're at about $460-$550.

Based on what you get for the specs of your computer, does it matter what kind of case you get? I mean you obviously have to have the right size bays for the drives and other stuff, but other than that, the cases are generally compatible with the 'guts' of the computer, right?

Also, looking at your post where you mentioned several different types of cases, would you recommend this case (which I think looks like it has better/more vents for cooling...) or this one (which is cool because it has some color)...but which would be the better buy as far as cooling?

Some cases only support certain kinds of motherboards, so you have to watch there too. A standard mid-tower or full tower will almost always support full atx boards and also microatx boards. Some smaller cases might only support microatx or even miniatx boards. Also some cases won't support larger graphics cards, and some aftermarket cpu coolers might be too tall for the case. Other then that yeah you need to make sure you have enough bays for whatever you're installing. Then you have build quality of the case (do you care that the edges are like razor blades.. or maybe it only has really cheap thin material that bows and flexes and can't even sit even flat on a surface.. yes I've seen all of that) and also airflow is a big one, especially if you put in hot running components.

The CM 690 is a much better case than the Centurion 5. Better airflow (cooler components) and easier to work in. If you like red you can always grab one of these cases:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16811119152
http://www.buy.com/prod/antec-three.../207906549.html
And a couple/three red fans for the front: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...Order=BESTMATCH Or just replace the blue fans in the CM690 with red ones.

Recently my computer started lagging when I play in a dorm..since my computer's pretty old already, i'm thinking of an upgrade.

My graphics card is a sapphire x700 I got from newegg a while ago, should I change it?
Also, the cpu's getting pretty loud, i already tried dusting..its a p4 3.4G on a 915p mobo..suggestions?

[ps.ATI cards only..i had many problems with nvidia before, and I'm trying to avoid them since; I'm not upgrading to vista either..waiting for the 7..]

thanks~

CPUs don't make noise. Your fans make noise. You sure you got all the dust out of the fans? It could also just be that your fans are showing their age.

I suggest having a read through our guide to a new graphics card to figure out exactly what kind of card is compatible with your system, and if you need to upgrade your power supply with the new card (likely with older machines). Then you can take a look at the gpu chart found within the TS2/TS3 system requirements sticky and find one that's marked up in all green. If it turns out your computer only supports AGP then I would recommend saving for a new build before putting any more money into that machine.

Okay i feel really scared right now! hope everything goes well!

Since Sims 3 Minimum Hardware Requirements are posted so i was wondering if my computer can possibly run it with nice graphics >_<
What should i upgrade? i can't buy a whole new PC.
---------------------
Windows XP
1.60 GHz P4 processor
376 GB RAM

Display specs:
Card name: Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Chip type: Intel(R) 82845G Graphics Controller
DAC type: Internal

So how much will it cost to upgrade this crappy old comp?

No it doesn't meet minimum requirements.. Just compare your computer to the minimum.

First of all the weakest GPU supported is the X3100 which your is much MUCH older and weaker. So your graphics are too weak and unsupported.

With integrated graphics a "2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo" is required while your CPU is WAY under that as well. Even with a dedicated card your CPU is still under minimum requirements of 2.0ghz.

You don't have 376GB of ram. You may have 376MB of ram.. Which again is WAY under minimum requirements with integrated graphics of 1.5GB, or 1GB with dedicated card.

So.. basically there isn't a single component to your system which meets minimum requirements. You are unfortunately looking at a new computer.

Thank you so much callistra!
One more question: I can play sims 2 fairly well and the graphics are great and i can play the game with all the setting on high but once i play on a large lot with lots of cc the graphics quality drains Is this my Graphic Card problem or should i get more ram?

It's a combination of everything. First, you don't actually have a graphics card. You have an extremely old and weak chip on the motherboard which takes the place of a real graphics card. It also steals memory from the ram, which is why your full 512mb isn't showing up. Then add in the CPU, which actually TS2 can be pretty CPU heavy for such an old, game. Your computer barely meets EA minimums to run the TS2 base game (I'm assuming you don't have any expansions because your system really can't handle that) and it doesn't meet our recommendations. Check out our sticky on requirements and recommendations to run the game.

Unfortunately for you, your computer is so old that you may not really be able to upgrade the graphics card to anything decent at all. It depends on if you're lucky enough to have an AGP slot. Even then it’s going to require a new PSU (~$50) plus a good $100-$150 for even a kinda decent but older series midrange GPU which still won't be great. Then your ram is way too low so depending on what kind of RAM is there you may be looking at another $25-$50 in RAM. That's a ton of money to put into a machine that's always going to be on the weaker side and outdated.