A good, affordable gaming PC?!

I’m looking to buy a gaming PC that will run sims 3 and all packs pretty flawlessly, I’ll also play some sims 4, and sims 2. I’m looking to spend no more than like $700 (not including monitor) suggestions please!

I'm sure some suggestions will be forthcoming, but afraid there's some information missing here that would help. Which country are you in and 700-800 what (which currency)?

Sorry! I’m in the US so it’s American dollars. I’m thinking about this, but I’d love some advice if it’s good or not

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/cyberpowerpc-gamer-ultra-desktop-amd-fx-6300-8gb-memory-amd-radeon-rx-560-1tb-hard-drive-black/6072200.p?skuId=6072200

I wouldn't say the processor is among the strongest out there (this would have more of an impact on TS4 and other games than TS2/3) and its graphics card is as low as I would go on the newer AMD RX series. But it looks fine for all of the sims games mentioned to me and the price is very reasonable. You don't get an SSD for a hard drive, but at that price level one wouldn't be expected. Let's get another opinion, though.

@phoebebebe13

"igazor;c-16376564" wrote:
I wouldn't say the processor is among the strongest out there (this would have more of an impact on TS4 and other games than TS2/3) and its graphics card is as low as I would go on the newer AMD RX series. But it looks fine for all of the sims games mentioned to me and the price is very reasonable. You don't get an SSD for a hard drive, but at that price level one wouldn't be expected. Let's get another opinion, though.

@phoebebebe13

Sweet, thank you! I was also looking at this one, it has everything I want, although it’s a little more, I think it’ll be worth it.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/cyberpowerpc-gamer-ultra-desktop-amd-fx-6300-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx1060-1tb-hard-drive-120gb-solid-state-drive-black/5511009.p?skuId=5511009

Same processor, but I like this one better if you can withstand the higher price. The 16 GB RAM makes it more future-proof and the Nvidia 1060 graphics card is I think a better choice. This one does have an SSD, but it's too small to be used for anything besides Windows and system applications like anti-virus, you would have to install the games on and redirect the user Documents folder to the much larger regular hard drive.

"igazor;c-16376598" wrote:
Same processor, but I like this one better if you can withstand the higher price. The 16 GB RAM makes it more future-proof and the Nvidia 1060 graphics card is I think a better choice. This one does have an SSD, but it's too small to be used for anything besides Windows and system applications like anti-virus, you would have to install the games on and redirect the user Documents folder to the much larger regular hard drive.

How does one do that?

"Olivesplum06;c-16376600" wrote:
How does one do that?

The system has two drives on it. Usually the SSD will be the C drive and the regular, much larger HDD will be the D drive but there can be some variation. It's not really that big a deal, you create a new folder on D (call it "Program Files on D" or whatever you want) and then tell the installer or Origin that you want things installed there instead of the default C.

Instructing Windows to redirect the Documents folder to D in its entirety just takes a step or two.
http://www.dummies.com/computers/operating-systems/windows-10/how-to-change-the-location-of-user-folders-in-windows-10
(sorry about the "dummies" link but this page has good, simple illustrations)

If you leave everything on C with an SSD that small (120 GB), you will likely run out of drive space before you even begin to play or soon thereafter and things will start malfunctioning so it's better to plan ahead a little.

"igazor;c-16376623" wrote:

"Olivesplum06;c-16376600" wrote:
How does one do that?

The system has two drives on it. Usually the SSD will be the C drive and the regular, much larger HDD will be the D drive but there can be some variation. It's not really that big a deal, you create a new folder on D (call it "Program Files on D" or whatever you want) and then tell the installer or Origin that you want things installed there instead of the default C.

Instructing Windows to redirect the Documents folder to D in its entirety just takes a step or two.
http://www.dummies.com/computers/operating-systems/windows-10/how-to-change-the-location-of-user-folders-in-windows-10
(sorry about the "dummies" link but this page has good, simple illustrations)

If you leave everything on C with an SSD that small (120 GB), you will likely run out of drive space before you even begin to play or soon thereafter and things will start malfunctioning so it's better to plan ahead a little.

Hmm.. so if I’m going for overall smoothness and the least amount of lag possible (I know TS3 is laggy to begin with) should my primary focus me on the graphics card? Like, should I sacrifice RAM (maybe 8 GB) for a better graphics card?

TS3 can only use just under 4 GB of RAM itself on any system as it's a 32-bit application. Of course we need RAM for Windows and systems applications too, but 8 GB is usually considered plenty. With 16 GB, the game might not run any differently but there would less chance of opening browser windows and tabs (for example) or other applications during gameplay getting in the way of the game's performance.

We don't know what TS4 will actually require when all of its EPs are done coming out, the game isn't finished yet. But it can already use more RAM than TS3 can.

That's why I like the second system linked to, it had both a stronger graphics card and the 16 GB. Of course, if one must cut corners to bring down the price it's not that difficult to start with 8 GB and consider a RAM upgrade later. Graphics cards can be upgraded later too on desktops, but that's a bit more complicated as they bring temperature control and power supplies into the picture.