Insimenator.org

What do you mean, what would be pc requirements for playing sims 3? Hope it will not be for vista only? I don't like vista, and it requires better configuration then xp...

According to this statement on http://thesims3facts.webs.com/factsconfirmed.htm:


The game has been produced so that will also run smoothly on older PC's. quote "To run on your gran's PC"

It'll run on XP and computers with mediocre video cards.

It should run okay with older machines, as you say, and I'll tell you why I think so too. If you look at a game like The Godfather (by EA games also) on the PC, the world system and game engine in that game looks identical to me to the one EA games are using in The Sims 3, judging by the video clips etc. And The Godfather runs smooth even on pentium 3s with older cards, so I reckon Sims 3 will run pretty well on most machines. Anyway, it makes commercial sense for EA to make it work on older machines, because if you look at pc games released last year and this year with really high spec requirements, they tended not to sell so well.

Oh Good! I was worried as well I'd have to run it on Vista. I have Vista and XP on my laptop, but every time I tried to run Sims 2 on Vista, it would crash due to Vista's horrendous memory sucking capability. Let alone Sims 3. *sighs of relief.* Thank you for posting somewhere to check the facts. I am excited to start playing Sims 3 with everyone else as I was so late to start with Sims 2. :)

This comes as some what of a relief for me personally. I presently use a 6 year old PC that I've upgraded from time to time with better specs (Ram, Storage, ETC) that has a "Mid-Range" graphics card. Great for playing TS2, but still a bit slow. I don't have the bank to fully upgrade to a better PC (And I use the term loosely, if I did, bet your ass I'm getting rid of Vista and popping in my XP disk to change the OS). So knowing that the new game will run well on older PCs is a good thing, I just don't expect to just run out and go get it when it ships. It'll more then likely take a good year or so before any halfway decent CC comes out, so when I see some not worthy stuff around the net (here or on MTS2) that's when I'll presumably pick it up.

hi , seeing that no one has posted this info yet here i'm letting all that wants to know there is now news on the SIMS 3 Requirements !! however this might change or more info might be added before the game comes out    i read this info from this sims site http://www.simprograms.com/                            here is the info enjoy                     The Sims 3′ official specs are announced!                                                               SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR DESKTOP PC:
————————

FOR WINDOWS XP (Service Pack 2)

Pentium IV 2.0 GHz / Athlon XP 2000+ or equivalent
1GB RAM of Memory
GeForce FX 5900 / Radeon 9500 with at least 128 MB of RAM
FOR WINDOWS VISTA

Pentium IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400+ or equivalent
1.5 GB RAM of Memory
GeForce FX 5900 / Radeon 9500 with at least 128 MB of RAM
.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR LAPTOPS:
————————

FOR WINDOWS XP (Service Pack 2)

Pentium IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400+ or equivalent
1.5GB RAM of Memory
GeForce Go 6200 / Radeon mobile 9600 with at least 128 MB of RAM
FOR WINDOWS VISTA

Pentium IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400+ or equivalent
2 GB RAM of Memory
GeForce Go 6200 / Radeon mobile 9600 with at least 128 MB of RAM
                                                                                                                       other info too   According to InfiniteSims, they just received word thru an EA email with the minimum system requirements for The Sims 3 More than likely we will hear more information for the requirements closer to release .
edit more info is now so i'm just adding this to this post  here is the new info SUPPORTED VIDEO CARDS


NVIDIA GeForce series

FX 5900, FX 5950
6200, 6500, 6600, 6800,
7200, 7300, 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
9600, 9800, GTX 260, GTX 280
 

ATI Radeon™ series

9500, 9600, 9800
X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950
2400, 2600, 2900
3450, 3650, 3850, 3870,
4850, 4870
 

Intel® Extreme Graphics

GMA X3x00 series
 

Laptop versions of these chipsets may work, but may run comparatively slower. Standalone cards that are installed in vanilla PCI slots (not PCIe or PCIx or AGP), such as some GeForce FX variants, will perform poorly. Intel integrated chipsets featuring underclocked parts will not perform adequately.


Integrated chipsets such as the ATI Xpress and the NVIDIA TurboCache variants will have low settings selected, but should run satisfactorily.


Please note that attempting to play the game using video hardware that isn't listed above may result in reduced performance, graphical issues or cause the game to not run at all.


The NVIDIA GeForce FX series is unsupported under Vista.
also SIMS 3 Requirements info is now up at the sims 3 site too if anyone is wanting to look there too as of today  thats where the newest info came from enjoy

I made sure my laptop could handle every Sims2 EP, and all my downloads without lag.  I've been concerned that the new game might not be as rich visually, or have smooth movements because the engine has been altered to accomodate older PCs.  In addition, will the End User License allow "Pay Sites" rather than just ignoring the issue?  I have seldom supported sites that give special "gifts" to donors.  There were a couple of exceptions, but only because on one site I was already a donor, and on another I truly admire the creator/modder (Numenor actually) and donated out of respect for his incredible body of work for Sims 2, and not to get his "gift."  I'm a "Paysites Must be Destroyed" advocate actually. 

Will The Sims 3 be a sacrifice in quality?  I hope not.  I also don't think sales of high end games were down just because of their system reqs.  The economy could actually be more of a factor there.  More efficient game engine or not, if the game is still retailing for about $40 US, sales will still be down--of that I am certain.  I can't afford to invest another $500 in the Sims 3 over the next eight years, unless it is a huge improvement over the current, amazingly detailed, loaded with CC game I already own. We'll see if it ends up under the Christmas tree in 2009.  Until then I'm sticking with Sims 2. 

Michele

I'm kind of worried my computer won't run The Sims 3... I have 1GB of RAM, (running on XP) but for some reason only 960 MBs of it is recognized.. I was considering ordering another .5 GB of RAM.. My computer is older, too.. 2005 I think.

im Highly worried my computer used to run the sims2 great and then i rebooted my computer becuase i had a bad virus and now i cant even play the sims2 anymore i have to sell all my games. secondly i am so excited about sims3 i dream about is.lol but im affraid my old cp wont run the sims3

You should just reformat your computer and start from scratch. :)

Oh great.
For laptops XP it requires 1.5GB RAM of memory.
I have 1GB.
But I guess it doesn't matter anyway because I have no intentions of buying the game if it has SecuROM.

I read somewhere (?) that if you go to the Systems Requirements Lab and check your system to see if you can run Spore, and it CAN run Spore, then you should be able to run The Sims3.

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

I passed on everything for Spore, but this is the only part I am worried about, and I hope it will be enough:


I'm not very computer techy.  Does anybody know if this meets The Sims3 requirements for Vista?

The question you have is nothing to worry about.  Your cpu is actually 2 on a one chip.  Most if not all of the cpu's released in about the last 2 years are multi-core, be it dual, triple, quad and now up to 7 cores all on a one chip you can install

Thank you for the info astroth!  I had been quite worried about that.

Just so I understand clearly, when they say I need 2.4 GHz, do I simply multiply my 1.80GHz (X 2 for dual core) and determine that I have 3.6GHz?  Is that correct?

I believe that if you have a 1.8GHz cpu that is actual speed, I've not really found how they measure the clock speeds for multi core chips.  Cause as you said you could have 2 cores running at 1.8GHz which would get you 3.6GHz though you could go the other way and have 2 cores at 900MHz which gets you the speed you have.

I would go by whatever Vista says for the speed of your cpu.

Otherwise if you want to see if you can find a better answer try osnn.net

Well first of all EAmaxis were saying Sims3 would run on your granny's machine, and now they've changed their tune and start saying it will only run on high end machines (according to above postings). So it looks like I'm stuffed then - excuse my French, LOL. No Sims 3 for me unless I win the lottery or something so that I can buy a new machine.

What does this mean about my video card??  for spore it pased on all but that? is my videoc ard good for sims 3? it works good on sims 2.

Video Card
Minimum: 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0 (NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 [GeForce 6200 for Vista]+ / ATI Radeon 9500+ / Intel 950+)
You Have: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 (Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller)  FAIL: Sorry, your video card does not meet this minimum requirement. Upgrade to a more powerful video card will make all your applications look better. Click the 'We Recommend' button to see some great options. 
 Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card  Video RAM: Required - 128 MB , You have - 96 MB
 Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
 Pixel Shader Ver.: Required - 2.0 , You have - 2.0
 
 

Hi,where on my pc can I found data about how much RAM i have left?
I knew that once,but I forgott.
Just preordered sims3.

Vanessa,
You can find out how much RAM you have by going into 'My Computer' and on the side, where it says 'System Tasks' click 'View system information'. It's under 'General' then 'Computer', towards the bottom. Oh, and RAM does not go away when you install things on your computer, that is Hard Drive space. RAM, is the memory that is used while you are doing things, like playing Sims or browsing the internet, or whatever. :) Just thought I'd explain that to you, because not too long ago I didn't have a clue, and I got really confused when someone told me I needed to buy more RAM!  :p

It's trooooo. You can also find RAM info using start/programs/accessories/system tools/system information. It will be in the summary. You can find hard drive space by going to My Computer, right click on the disk drive, click on properties (at the bottom) and it will show you how much (pie chart) space is used and how much is available, it will also show it in bytes above the pie chart. *back to the crypt*

Oh,thank you so much Aralie and Jamesabrown1!
So if my pc had more then 2 GB RAM I'm fine,even if I have a lot of games on the pc?No need to get rid of stuff?

Just checked it,it says "available physical memory 1,50 GB.
I'm fine,right?

From a RAM standpoint, yes. And Jay will do nicely for me, the other is a bit cumbersome. You'll have to check your available disk space before you install, I'm not sure how much TS3 will take, and with that size RAM, I suspect your processor will handle it, as well. You may want to check your video card to make sure you have at least 256mb of dedicated memory on the card itself, preferably 512mb. That, however will only affect the speed of the graphics, not the ability to run the game.

I have more then 255 GB left on HDD and the card is Nvidia 9500 I think.
Thank you Jamesabrown1(love your name).

You should be good to go, then. Ya it's my first name, MI, last name suffixed by 1. I use that because it is one of the few things I can always remember, I use it on the Oasis, as well.

How come my question gooes unacknowledged but the next one gets answered? :p

what about my computer?
Mircosoft Windows XP
Home Edition
Version 2002
Service Pack 2

eMachines
W3410
AMd Atglon(tm) 64 Processor
3200+
2.19 GHz, 384 MB of RAM
ATI Radeon X200

I'm not a tech girl, i just to want to know is my computer good enough?  :confused:

Simpleprincess, according to this, your video card doesn't quite meet the minimum requirements. You need one of the video cards above that I put in italics for you. I don't know much about video cards...but I'm guessing it at least needs to have the minimum amount of RAM to run the game properly. Sorry, I didn't see your question earlier!  :-\

Soopakewlchick, your computer needs more RAM. The minimum requirement is 1GB, you only have 384MB (1GB=1000MB). I'm not sure about your video card. Hm, it doesn't seem to be on the list of compatible ones...You might need to upgrade that as well.


If anyone knows their stuff about video cards, please correct me if I'm wrong about anything. Hah.  :p

ye I'm afraid you won't be able to run it properly soopakewlchick .


I looked at the specs of your system and well to be honest it's kinda outdated.
I doesn't meet the minimum requirements of the game so I don't think you will be able to run it properly...

If you do want to play it, I would recommend getting more RAM, in your case your motherboard only supports up to 2GB DDR RAM so I would get 2GB.
And you would certainly need a new videocard aswell, the one you have now is an onboard videocard and well they aren't really designed to play games. If you would play it with this one you would get lots of LAG.



EDIT: If you're not really sure about your pc specs, install this program called Everest. It's great it will tell you everything about your pc components and you will also be able to see the temperature of your motherboard, cpu, GPU, etc...

Well I'm starting to seriously wonder about the specs info these companies release. I mean, according to the blurb on Ea/Maxis sites, you need a decent graphics card and 2Ghz machine to run Spore. Yet I have Spore and it runs perfectly on a 1Ghz machine with only the basic 512 ram and 128 mb nvidia. So what the hell? Maybe Sims 3 will run on my machine after all.

just a word of warning before we all get to exited, these minimum specs. that game producers release in order to sell their games, must be taken tongue in cheek, those so called gran. machines may just get by if you tone everything down and have no more than two sims on your screen at any one time.
something else we tend to overlook sometimes. win. xp requires at least 500 mb. to 1 gig. of  ram to run properly.
                                                                vista requires 1gig. ram min.to 2gig.+ to run reasonably smoothly
the above are only for the operating systems, we now need more ram for your aplications, even more ram to run your antivirus etc. if you need to be online to play the game. those who choose to run a modern game on a 6 year old machine will risk frying it, i have also seen the previews of sims3 and as a gamer with many years experience and several burned out computers, i can tell you all that you will need a mid to high end spec. pc. to run that game, try it on an old pentium and if you don't drive yourself mad you will burn it out. you wiil need a minimum  2.4 doucore cpu. 2 gig. ram. and  at least a 9800 gt+ nvidea graphics card. as for ram windows 32bit which we all use will not read anymore than 3.5 gig. of ram. that includes vista. the s__t one reads about pcs. running 4. 8. 12 gig of ram are pcs. running windows or vista 64bit, and as far as i know no game has yet been written for 64bit.
those out there who can still remember playing sims1 on an old pentium3 or 4 with 500meg of sdr. ram and an old agp graphics card will know exactly what i'm talking about.
oops, i almost forgot, it gets worse, your monitor, the larger your monitor the more power your graphics needs to alocate to run it. i find it best to wait for the games to be released and read in gaming magazines just what you realy require to run the things, and not sit in front of a screen watching something struggling along at 3 frames a second and my harddrive working overtime alocating more and more virtual memory untill windows finaly gives up and you're left looking at the blue screan of death. been there? i have, many times, so please take care, after all they're there to sell a product and your pc. is right at the bottom of their priorities
finaly, with ram we are talking about ddr2, not ddr or sdr.and to run ddr2 you will require a modern motherboard.

I have a good computer that can handle the sims 3, cuz I put the sims 2 on it, it's like heaven, the best thing to do is, play your game for  1 hour, that's what I do. I love having new sims

most if not all modern computers are capable of running sims2 and 3, just a word of caution for those who chose to buy a bargain with onboard graphics and no expansion slot for a graphics card, tone everything down to its minimum, texture , lighting, terain etc.and don't have anymore than 2 or 3 sims active at anyone time, and with a bit of luck you just might get by, and limit your playing time.
there are some background tasks that you can turn of, they will be listed in the game manual, but if you need an internet conection to play the game you will have a problem, also keep an eye on your hard drive indicator (the red light) if it is on constantly during play that means windows is using the hard drive for memory, shut the game down, damage will result.

If I'm not wrong, my laptop is royally screwed because it's a laptop AND has Vista.  So I think I made the bare mininum for those requirements.  (This WAS a really good laptop last year; XPS with the upgrades-just not crazy expensive.)  And I was looking forward to TS3.  I just don't want to play on mininum...

vista is a real resource hog and likes at least 1 gig. ram to run smoothly.best wait for windows 7 to be released, or go back to xp. that is unless you are in a position to spend big dollars and get a laptop that can handle the latest generation of games.

I have a gforce nividia 7500LE will it work with sims 3 as its not listed...

I'd tentatively say yes, because it's a newer series than the min. for both laptops and desktops, and as far as I know, nVidia didn't suddenly do a monkeys-with-typewriters thing for the drivers on any one series.

I resent all the fuss that people are making about Vista. As a long-time windows user, I love Vista. I've had absolutely no problem with it, and it's an incredibly smooth OS. Just buy Vista ultimate (or whatever the newest version is) and/or get yourself a better graphics card. As someone who plays at least ONE computer game, you should really be using better technology. Buying a better video card is an inexpensive way to boost your old PC, and it's easy to install. come on, people!

Now, if one could afford to spend money on new technology, I'd probably agree with you.  But considering some people's circumstances and unwillingness to spend money on things when they know they'll need it for necessities and other non-game related things, I don't know... ;)  One would also have to consider those in the age bracket that can't get/don't have jobs and still play the game. 

Speaking from experience, not everyone is going to be able to update their technology in the way they want, but do know that if they can still play the game on what they have they'll make the best of it until they are able to upgrade.  One (but not the main) reason why I know I'll be skipping out on this, as my computer is just barely making it by with Sims 2 up to Seasons (excluding Pets EP and SPs).  College debt will be kicking in eventually, and it's hard enough to budget on small income.  By the time I get a new computer, it's probably going to be time for Sims 4 to make a sneak peek... or 5... or even 6 if the series even lasts through 3, 4 and 5.  :P

(And don't forget the complete economic rain-o'-fire-and-brimstone thing.)

The only reason I've been able to get any new computer at all over the past six years or so is mostly windfalls and mooching off my parents. I'm damn lucky to have my own roof over my head, let alone a snazzy Tosh.

Also, I've used Mac, Linux and Windows and I've got to say, Vista's got some really good stuff, but it's got a lot of stuff that just makes me go "What the hell!". My comp came with XP "downgrade" software, and I'm very tempted.

The web site "Can you Run it" has added the Minamum requierments for The Sims 3 to its list. So now you can Just Check this link!!

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

beautifully said Tenshii Akari. ;D

 1yeah
Throwing money at the problem isn't the answer to 90% of computer slowdowns.  As far a Vista goes, yeah, there are plenty of people who like it.  Does it run well on my computer?  Nope.  Could I throw money at it and make it run well?  Yep.  Here's a fun fact, though.  Windows 7 runs almost as well on my computer as XP Pro SP3 does.  (which is good...)  So right now (or when Sims 3 comes out) buying a new computer with Vista on it is a total waste of money.  Too bad the Windows 7 release won't coincide with Sims 3...  Maybe by June you can get something with a free upgrade to 7 when it's released?

lol! thanks for that helpful hint about system requirements lab updating to Sim3 minimum reqs there Razamataz I checked and look with what I failed on

 System RAM
Minimum: (XP) 1 GB RAM; (Vista) 1.5 GB RAM [If built-in graphics then add 0.5 GB additional RAM]
You Have: 446 MB  FAIL: Sorry, your computer does not meet this minimum requirement. You may be able to add more RAM which could make your computer more powerful. Click the 'We Recommend' to see how.


off to the store we go to buy some more RAM! yay but I'm so happy I can actually run it...

Full System Specs...

  CPU
Minimum: (XP) 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent; (Vista) 2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent [If built-in graphics chipsets then 2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent.]
You Have: AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3400+  PASS   
 CPU Speed
Minimum: 2 GHz
You Have: 1.80 GHz Performance Rated at 3.40 GHz  PASS   
 System RAM
Minimum: (XP) 1 GB RAM; (Vista) 1.5 GB RAM [If built-in graphics then add 0.5 GB additional RAM]
You Have: 446 MB  FAIL: Sorry, your computer does not meet this minimum requirement. You may be able to add more RAM which could make your computer more powerful. Click the 'We Recommend' to see how. 
 Operating System
Minimum: Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista (Service Pack 1)
You Have: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (Build Service Pack 32600)  PASS   
 Video Card
Minimum: 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0 (NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 or above / ATI Radeon 9500 or above / Intel GMA 3-series or above)
You Have: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE (GeForce 6150 LE)  PASS   
 Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card  Video RAM: Required - 128 MB , You have - 256 MB
 Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
 Pixel Shader Ver.: Required - 2.0 , You have - 3.0
 
 
 Video Card Driver Version (DirectX)
Your driver version number is: 6.14.10.8208   FYI: Your video card driver version is provided for your information, but it is not part of this analysis. But proper video card driver versions are important to the proper operation of your product. 
 Sound Card
Minimum: Yes
You Have: Realtek HD Audio rear output   PASS   
 Sound Card Driver Version
Your driver version number is: 5.10   FYI: Your sound card driver version is provided for your information, but it is not part of this analysis. But proper sound card driver versions are important to the proper operation of your product. 
 Free Disk Space
Minimum: 6.1 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB of additional space for custom content and saved games
You Have: 71.3 GB  PASS
 

I realise many out there are very keen to play sims 3 so please don't look on this as being anti sims 3, this is meant to help and hopefully save burning out someones pc.

These minimum requirements that game developers state will run their latest releases are put out to sell the game.
Pcs. that barely meet these requirements will not run the game smoothly. In order to get the game to run at all you will have to turn everything down to its minimum or off not to mention waiting fifteen minutes for it to load.
This is exactly like a car salesman telling you that the little four cylinder SUV. you're looking at will tow your thirty foot caravan. Sure it will, but for how long before either the transmission or motor go pffftt? and that's after you removed the bed and fridge to make it lighter.
The cpu. is the key to what you can and can not do. Throwing more ram. or a larger graphics card into an old pentium will speed up windows and some application but will make very little difference to the latest generation of games. It's like bolting on a supercharger from a street racer on to the old four cylinder piece of junk parked in your backyard and hopping to give your next door neighbours V8 a run for his money.
I have been into the gaming forums including PC.Powerplay and the great majority of the response to these requirements posted by EA. were from scepticism to disbelief. The things that were often mentioned were quad core cpus. and very expensive graphics cards in order to get the thing to run at an acceptable frame rate.
The other thing that's often mentioned is if the game developers release realistic system requirements, you'll be looking at serious dollars and the game will not sell as they hope.
How on earth can EA.stand up and say that the same old tired machine that was struggling to run sims 2.and not including the expansion packs, will run the largely upgraded sims 3 with all its new gameplay smoothly?
As for on board graphics, you're kidding me. They are office machines not gaming machines, try it and you'll have a smoking ruin after a week or your hard drive will fly apart from continuous use.

All the comments were made by members of the gaming community looking at the video releases and comparing that to similar previews of previous releases and the associated unrealistic minimum hardware requirements.

I know many of you are really keen to get the game, and good for you. But do yourselves a favour and ask someone who builds pcs, not someone who flogs software, what you realistically need. Don't just get one opinion get several, compare them and hopefully you'll have an enjoyable experience rather than staring at the blank screen of a burned out pc. (been there, done that, several times)

Just remember this NEVER, I repeat NEVER take the game developers minimum requirements as gospel, they are there to sell a product, nothing else. They have absolutely no interest in your hardware,their interest is solely in selling their new release.

Wise words there roerzman but I can't give you the exact screen of my system requirements for the game but the bar that goes to minimum I was three notches ahead on most of the main requirements such as cpu speed and free disk space, I have hope for EA that maybe they will make this game PC friendly instead of selling something most of us couldn't play on our own 'normal' computers given the economic downfall and condition we are in over money issues I think EA would be doing us a favor by releasing a game that everyone with a half-decent computer could run..more money in there pockets right? 1eyebrow

I would really hate to hear of you destroying your pc. Simgirl so please be careful.
Just a couple of questions, Do you have some of the later expansion packs? BV. is the one that will test your system.
Does your frame rate per second drop when you go on vacation or when the three sims visit when you move into a new home?
Does windows allocate more and more memory to the game as you progress? (abnormal hard drive activity)

If the game begins to get sluggish go into your taskbar and click on your graphics card icon and in the performance and colour setting select 'high performance' and exit, just remember that you must do this every time you start your pc. because the card will reset back to its default settings.
Oh, and don't forget to set your anti aliasing to zero. Don't rely on auto detect.
These actions will give some improvement to the games frame rate and reduce the hard drive activity.

Yes I have all EP's installed except for Pets, Uni and OFB atm but as far as going on vacation I haven't done this as of yet because I just got BV about 2 weeks ago but how and where do I go to click on my taskbar to select my graphics cards color? you lost me there and also here ---> please explain :confused:


If the game begins to get sluggish go into your taskbar and click on your graphics card icon and in the performance and colour setting select 'high performance' and exit, just remember that you must do this every time you start your pc. because the card will reset back to its default settings.
Oh, and don't forget to set your anti aliasing to zero. Don't rely on auto detect.
These actions will give some improvement to the games frame rate and reduce the hard drive activity.
[/quote]

[/quote]
If you have XP it will down the bottom right corner of the desktop screen, if it isn't visible just click on the arrow and it will open further and reveal the icon. 

Roerzman,

I have XP but I do not see anything like that on my taskbar what is it supposed to look like and where else could I go to access my graphics card setting as they are not on my toolbar? :confused:

If it isn't amongst your taskbar icons it will definitely be in your control panel.

Okay I'm in my control panel what catagorey should I try looking under?

Move your cursor to the left hand side on classic view and click on it. that will open it and makes much easier. It opens the control panel up as per win 97. All is revealed, XP hides these in order for the foolish not to mess up their systems.
Then just locate your graphics card icon/controls and go through it until you find the settings, uncheck the auto and set to high performance. There will be a marginal loss in graphics quality, but none that you will readily notice and the game will run much more smoothly putting less strain on the whole system.

lmfao! I switched by start bar to classic mode and I STILL cannot find my damn graphics card icon I'm really not this much of an idiot I just simply am unable to locate it I guess :(

I realise that this is probably a dumb question but here goes. Do you have a graphics card or on board graphics? Did you install all the software not just the driver? For  onboard graphics you should be able to access the settings in 'display' just go into advanced and it should be there.

That I am un-sure of the graphics card whether it be on board graphics card or just a regular run of the mill graphics card is oblivious to me because whatever graphics card I have came with my computer when I bought it 3 years ago so thats just something I can't answer that but when I go into Control Panel: Apperance and Themes: Display: Settings: Advanced and I click on the tab GeForce 6150 LE (Would that be my graphics card?) but let me send you a screenshot of all the options that come up when I click on it.. maybe you'll know where to tell me to go to next by looking at the screen that is IF I'm even on the right thing..which is unlikely lmfao :D

I think I can work this.
In the middle box, the white one that has GeForce 6150LE highlighted. place your mouse on performance and quality settings and double left click. That should bring up the menu. if so select high performance and then OK or apply changes or in whatever order it comes.
Your screen resolution is fine, (19" monitor)the graphics card is marginal but if set to high performance it will get you there, however, I strongly recommend you update your ram to 2gb.Believe me it makes a world of difference. ram is very cheap and very easy to install.
I hope this helps. If you have any issues please let me know.

Hey Roerzman,

Good morning and sorry for such a early response but I was babysitting last night and was un-able to reply to your post but now I am, okay I will try clicking on those settings some time today and  get back to you tonight to let you know if it works but I can see your very knowlegable about computers so heres a very **important** question I have for you..okay I checked my system info and of-course as you may already know I don't even have a GB of physical memory left in the CPU and I already planned on buying some additional RAM this month for my computer but I had no idea what the heck RAM was so I went looking at some pictures of it and I am kind of on the defense now about installing any, see the kind I seen you had to take the back of your tower off and install it with some kind of special glove to risk getting electrocuted now I don't know about you but that seems a little risky to me because I know NOTHING about doing anything like that, so I was wondering if there were some other alternate way installing RAM instead having to take your computer apart because I just don't know how I am going to manage that I would be too afraid I would mess something up in the tower so is there like some kind of 'memory stick' if you will, that maybe you could stick in your UBS port or anything, please do get back to me on this I just don't wont to mess this 800$ computer up :-[

My computer just can´t handle sims 3 anymore. Luckily i have been planning on bying new machine for long time and saved money for that. Now i have a huge problem and difficulties in choosing wich would be good machine to buy. There are hundreds of them!? For a change i would like laptop but i am afraid how well laptops can actually run sims 3.. I am confused about this card: 9600M GT , it´s mentioned in the list of supportet mac cards, does that mean that is supported in other laptops too?

Simgirl it's best you find a friend that knows to do this. Or better take take it to pc dealer and get them to install it. They're very cheap aprox. 80$ AUS. for 1gb.
It is remarkably simple to mess up a pc that's why the side panels are screwed on, Ram and expansion cards are very easy to install, they just clip in,however if one has no knowledge about these things it's best to leave these things to someone who does.
Looking at the specs of your pc it says 446mb. ram, a strange number, I think you have 512mb. and the rest has been allocated for the onboard sound?
The question that begs is what kind of ram is installed in your pc. sdr. ddr. or ddr2, If it's sdr you may have difficulty getting it. Your pc will have 2 sticks of 256 mb. to upgrade to 1gb you will require 2 sticks of 512mb. and so on, they come in equal pairs.
By the way, 512mb. is the minimum that windows xp requires. I'm writing all this assuming you have a desktop and not a laptop, laptops are left to dealers and such to open, unless you are very technically minded and know exactly what you are doing. never attempt to open them.
The machine you have is somewhat old and has an old amd. cpu.Its the speed of the cpu that governs just how much you can upgrade and get any benefit from it. Every thing is run through the cpu, ram. graphics etc. more ram and more graphics all has to run through the cpu, If the cpu is to small it won't handle all that traffic.
Upgrading to 10024gb. ram is about the best you can do. your graphics card will do the job so don't waste money on another one. It's far better to save up for a new pc.
I know this is a bit long winded but I hope it helps. Oh, by the way your usb ports are for plug and play devices not upgrades.

Hey..thanks for getting back to me on the issue, I will probably more than likely get 2 GB of RAM so that I am sure I have enough to run the game properly, hm 80$ for 1 GB thats a bit too expensive for me :-[ If its going to be that much trouble I will probably just wait and not get the Sims3 for awhile because I know I don't even have GB of memory atm to barely even play TS2, my computer isn't old..I got it about 2 years ago so I wouldn't consider it 'old' :confused: but maybe my reading the instructions I would be able to install it, my boyfriend is pretty good with electronics and stuff so maybe he will know how to do it also I have no idea what your'e talking about when you ask

The question that begs is what kind of ram is installed in your pc. sdr. ddr. or ddr2

so there is no other way to upgrade memory but the RAM cards? I mean my goodness they should be RAM that goes into your USB ports and upgrades straight to the motherboard right? I'm confused and have to look into it, but right now I just don't have the money to buy a new computer so maybe TS3 just isn't worth the stress atm... :'(

When you turn your PC on it should say on the screen 'press F10' or delete, etc. to enter setup once in setup it should tell you what type of RAM is installed.

If you tell me your exact model Compaq, etc. I can look it up for you but if it's a custom PC then you will have to do what I posted above.

Thanks a bunch Squinge, I will get back to you on that tomorrow night once I re-boot my computer, it is a desktop by the way ..oh wait is this the information you need or should I get it from the F10 menu



Hewlett-Packard Company
Compaq Presario
AMD Sepron(tm) Processor
3400+
1.80 GHz, 448 MB of RAM

Microsoft Windows XP
Home Edition
Version 2002 (maybe it is a bit on the old side :D)
Service Pack 3

Okay let me know if any of that helps or if I need to re-boot thanks again Squinge

Be very careful when you are in the bios setup DO NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES. when exiting you will receive a choise "save changes yes or no" select NO and you will exit automatically.

Thanks for the tip hon ;)

I agree with you so much! I dont know what all the fuss is about vista! I think its easier to use. xp was fine but there is so much more that vista does for you. it tells you when you are making changes and it lets you know when and what is going on with your pc. if anything i believed that with xp i got more viruses and infections, with vista it cleans it all up for you. I have windows live one care and i love the back ups it does for you b/c i delete things on accident all the time. say what you want about vista, its better than xp!

Vista is more secure than XP.  Most people who have problems with it are people who had existing hardware and software that would not work on Vista.  Having to buy hardware to run a OS sucks, period.  Yeah, if you bought a laptop with Vista on it, chances are it would work great, since they would have probably loaded drivers and programs that worked in Vista or set up any compatibilities that they needed to.  Some problems were actually 32-bit to 64-bit problems, though.  Also users who already pretty much know what's going on with there computers and don't need settings and files locked away didn't care for those 'features'.  Windows 7 is, for me at least, what Vista should have been when it came out.  Yeah, it's annoying to have to learn how to change it to the way I want it, but hey, change comes wether you like it or not.  BTW I'm using x86 Windows 7 because there aren't drivers to be found for my printer in x64, but it's about time I look again, since I did download both betas.

And the same goes for the latest games, hardware update$, a never ending cycle of expensive updates.

That's one of the reasons I don't buy "the latest" games.  Once was all it took for me to simply not buy a game if my computer wouldn't run it.  Spending $150 on a new video card to run a $50 game just doesn't make any sense to me.  The same goes for Vista.  Maybe EAxis should release a full demo like M$ did with 7.  Pretend I didn't say that.  I don't need to be doing their jobs for them...

I will give this much to Microsoft. They are certainly in touch with the currant economic situation, no hardware upgrades are required for Windows 7. I f it can run xp it'll fly with win. 7.
150$ for a graphics card? here in good old Aus. you pay around 400$ for a mid range and up tp 1000$+ for a high end card. More that than cost of a low end pc.

Well, I really wasn't going to say anything more, but I really finally got [how to say] what was so annoying about it.  No one NEEDED Vista.  There was nothing that Vista did that couldn't be done with XP.  And that's it.  Why spend for the OS AND new hardware?  A better looking interface isn't worth it.  And therein lies my lack of enthusiasm for Sims 3 as well.  Well, my hardware will run it fine (with the minor exception of my geForce 7100 not being supported, but meeting requirements) but what do I have to gain besides shiny-new and not necessarily better packaging?

Squinge & Roerzman,

I had a look at my computers set-up menu and my installed components are as followed..



Installed Memory- 512 MB MB/ PC- 4200

Memory Bank 1- 256 MB/ DDR2 SDRAM
Memory Bank 2- 256 MB/ DDR2 SDRAM

I hope that helps I also found a program that scans my computer and emails me with the correct RAM needed for the computer here is their response to me

http://www.memorystock.com/memory/CompaqPresarioSR2010NX.html

I also have found a how-to-install user guide on their website which mentions my RAM which is SDRAM or would it be DDR? I am confused on that part here are both guides with SDRAM and DDR respectively

http://www.memorystock.com/how_to_install_184pin_ddr.htm

http://www.memorystock.com/how_to_install_168_pin_dimm.htm


Confused on which one I should refer to any insight would be greatly appreciated 1dunno



Thanks Again for all help
-Amb

Get either 2x512 or 2x 10024 ddr2 memory sticks as mentioned in the Compaq guide, ram should be install in equal amounts. don't mix 512 and 10024 and so on. Get your boyfriend to install it, it's just a mater of removing the old ram and install the new.
To remove the ram sticks , turn of your pc at the wall remove the left panel and gently push down evenly  on two the tabs that keep the sticks in place, they should just pop out. to install is just the same in reverse, on the bottom of the stick is a small slot slightly offset line it up with the dimm slot, it can only be installed one way, push down gently but firmly and tabs will pop into place, ensure that the stick is firmly in place by evenly pushing the tabs in they will click all the way home.
That's it the bios and windows will instantly recognise the new installed memory no set up and no installation.

Just a bit of advice don't mix old and new ram, get 2 new sticks and discard the old that will save you the dreaded beep, beep,beep when you boot up.Oops i nearly forgot, DON'T MIX DIFERENT BRANDS, keep them identical.

Thank you so much for helping me out with that Roerzman I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't have helped me :-[ so it would just be best if I took the old ram sticks out and buy 2 GB of RAM 1 GB of ram a stick okay thanks for letting me know that because knowing me I would probably just get one GB and keep the other one in there but I will discard both of them and buy 2 GB's thanks again hon

Don't toss them out completely...  If you know they are good, an extra stick or two of memory are very useful if you need to diagnose a computer problem in the future.

Happy to help, enjoy your pc. with a bit more speed.