Hi :) I would like to try and play The Sims 3 again as I never really got into it the first time. How well does it run on Windows 10? (I tried to google the answer but couldn't really find anything clear)If it helps I play on an HP Pavilion gaming laptop with the following specs:AMD Ryzen 5 3550H processor.Quad core processor.2.1GHz processor speed with a burst speed of 3.7GHz.8GB RAM DDR4.256GB SSD storage.Microsoft Windows 10.Graphics:NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card with 3GB RAM GDDR5.Dedicated graphics card.

TS3 runs fine on Win 10 for most of us. Your hardware set is just strong enough to carry the entire game, meaning all EPs and all the store content you may want, although possibly not entirely on the highest of graphics settings in game options. Player experiences will differ there, but a GTX 1050 should be able to manage most of it. You will most certainly need to cap the frame rates (fps) and check to make sure that they are staying at or below the refresh rate of your monitor as unlike newer games, TS3 has no functional built-in fps limiter and your graphics card is strong enough to be throwing too high frame rates if left untended to and that is bad for both game performance and the lifespan of the computer. But we can help with that as needed if/when you get the game installed again. :)

The goal for the upper limit would be the refresh rate of your monitor. Most are 60 Hz, so that's 60 fps but some can run higher. If you aren't sure what yours is, right-click on your desktop, Display Properties, Advanced Display Properties, and it should be one of about six things that show up there.To see the actual frame rates you are getting in-game, Ctrl+Shift+C to bring up the cheats console and type fps on (enter). As you play and move the game camera around, the displayed fps rate should never exceed 60 or whatever the refresh of your monitor is. To make the display go away, cheats console again and type fps off (enter).To cap the rates, first we try the Nvidia Control Panel. Set up a profile for the correct executable program, that's TS3.exe (for Patch 1.69/Origin) or TS3w.exe (with the "w" for 1.67/Disc or Steam). Set Vertical Sync to On or Adaptive (whichever one works better), Triple Buffering to On, and if your Control Panel is new enough it will include a setting to explicitly designate a maximum frame rate at or just under the refresh rate goal (so usually 60 or 59.something).If the above is not enough to keep things locked in, or the Control Panel does not include a max rate setting and vertical sync alone does not do the job sufficiently, then we move on and add Nvidia Inspector which includes its own maximum frame rate setting that it will apply on top of the Control Panel settings.

"SuzyCue72;c-17533632" wrote:"igazor;c-17532884" wrote:TS3 runs fine on Win 10 for most of us. Your hardware set is just strong enough to carry the entire game, meaning all EPs and all the store content you may want, although possibly not entirely on the highest of graphics settings in game options. Player experiences will differ there, but a GTX 1050 should be able to manage most of it. You will most certainly need to cap the frame rates (fps) and check to make sure that they are staying at or below the refresh rate of your monitor as unlike newer games, TS3 has no functional built-in fps limiter and your graphics card is strong enough to be throwing too high frame rates if left untended to and that is bad for both game performance and the lifespan of the computer. But we can help with that as needed if/when you get the game installed again. :) It sounds as if you don't think that the GTX 1050 (mobile) is powerful enough to handle TS3 with all its content? It would be interesting to know exactly what you base that opinion/assumption on.I never said that. A 1050 mobile is the lowest ranked of the cards in that series that should be capable of carrying all 11 EPs. The question of can a piece of hardware run a complicated program with many variables in play well is not a strictly binary one that can always be answered just yes/no. Some players will have absolutely no problems with it, some will depending on their play styles find that they need to turn some of the graphics settings down a bit to maintain stability and may have more struggles with higher populated worlds, overly ornate lots, intense weather, and pet fur than those with slightly higher ranking cards like the 1050Ti and 1060s. In theory it shouldn't matter since the game is only programmed to make use of 800 MB of Vram and these cards all have much more than that with speeds and bus widths that are adequate, but actual real live players report otherwise.If I had a 1050 mobile already, I would run the entire game on it (if I wanted to play TS3 on a laptop, that is). If I were in the market for a new machine with TS3 in mind specifically, budget permitting I would try to aim a little bit higher and advise the same.I base this conclusion on the same thing I base everything else that you argue with me about on this forum. It's all random gibberish I like to spout to confuse the players because I don't really like helping them, and it comes to me by way of strange voices in the middle of the night that emanate from deep inside my wardrobe. (that's of course not true, but it may as well be since you never listen to the real answer anyway...so do kindly stop asking me.)

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/asus-tuf-fx505dt-15-6-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-gtx-1650-512-gb-ssd-10200640-pdt.html - this is mine and it runs so well, don't even hear the fans whirring <3 .

I beg to differ. The game is GPU intensive (by 2009 standards). What that means in a practical sense today in 2020, since probably no one is going back in time to buy 2009 computers to run it, is that the following kinds of cards will not be sufficient to carry all 11 EPs well even though they are newer than 15 years old and some are considered current but are to be found on systems not meant to be playing such games. These are not borderline cases like mentioned prior, this is a matter of the cards not being designed to handle the required throughput.-Just about any integrated graphics chip (so that's Intel or some of the AMD's like the now popular Vega 8s); the newest, strongest ones can actually give the game a run for its money, but only up to a point, they still put too much stress on RAM usage, and the heavier EPs are still likely to be too much for them-Nvidia cards in the 0-4 levels (middle digits) of each series. Examples would be GT 705s/710s (through 740s), 820Ms, 920s (through 940MXs), 1030s, MX 130s and 150s, I think there are some newer ones out now just like the recent MX series. In some ways, some (but not all) of these weaker but still dedicated cards would actually be worse for the game than integrated, depending on how much stress was thrown at them.- Some AMD hybrid cards and those that are just not strong enough like the Nvidias above, unlike stronger AMD cards like Radeon Pros that can handle the throughput and are fineThe older AMD HD cards from so many years ago mentioned in particular were not low-end cards. They each had lower-end counterparts back then that also made a mess of the game as the EPs were rolling out. I played on an older AMD series card myself, a Radeon HD 6670M, until just over a year ago and although there were some minor limitations, for the most part the entire game was fine and its age was not really a factor over its throughput.Not that this should make too much difference to the player today, but the game is programmed to work with up to 2 cores, not single-core only. Quad cores and higher cannot be utilized by the game more effectively, but where they can help is by handling other system processes they are given to do while the game is running. It's TS2 that is single-core only, but that game is from 2004 and doesn't require nearly as much processor power to run anyway, so it's much less likely to stress out a modern system.The processor and RAM matter too, up to a point each as does of course the built in 32-bit limitations, so having a better card alone is not a magic solution to make the game operate smoothly at all times. But there is a threshold that has to be passed on the GPU first or else we are limiting the player to base game only or base game plus a small number of the earliest released EPs. And some of you may disagree and even argue back if you like, doesn't really matter. The point is that a player who is going shopping for a new computer and is ready to spend what is (to them) a large amount of money, or is trying to determine how far they can take this game on their existing hardware, is not served well when they are told that any GPU manufactured in the last 15 years can be expected to run this game with all EPs on more than low graphics setting in Game Options because this is just not true.

Does The Sims 3 run well on Windows 10?

27 Replies

igazor
6 years ago
TS3 runs fine on Win 10 for most of us. Your hardware set is just strong enough to carry the entire game, meaning all EPs and all the store content you may want, although possibly not entirely on the highest of graphics settings in game options. Player experiences will differ there, but a GTX 1050 should be able to manage most of it.

You will most certainly need to cap the frame rates (fps) and check to make sure that they are staying at or below the refresh rate of your monitor as unlike newer games, TS3 has no functional built-in fps limiter and your graphics card is strong enough to be throwing too high frame rates if left untended to and that is bad for both game performance and the lifespan of the computer. But we can help with that as needed if/when you get the game installed again. :)
harriet_daisy23
6 years ago
That's really helpful, thank you!

I think I probably will download it, so how would I go about capping the frame rate?
igazor
6 years ago
The goal for the upper limit would be the refresh rate of your monitor. Most are 60 Hz, so that's 60 fps but some can run higher. If you aren't sure what yours is, right-click on your desktop, Display Properties, Advanced Display Properties, and it should be one of about six things that show up there.

To see the actual frame rates you are getting in-game, Ctrl+Shift+C to bring up the cheats console and type fps on (enter). As you play and move the game camera around, the displayed fps rate should never exceed 60 or whatever the refresh of your monitor is. To make the display go away, cheats console again and type fps off (enter).

To cap the rates, first we try the Nvidia Control Panel. Set up a profile for the correct executable program, that's TS3.exe (for Patch 1.69/Origin) or TS3w.exe (with the "w" for 1.67/Disc or Steam). Set Vertical Sync to On or Adaptive (whichever one works better), Triple Buffering to On, and if your Control Panel is new enough it will include a setting to explicitly designate a maximum frame rate at or just under the refresh rate goal (so usually 60 or 59.something).

If the above is not enough to keep things locked in, or the Control Panel does not include a max rate setting and vertical sync alone does not do the job sufficiently, then we move on and add Nvidia Inspector which includes its own maximum frame rate setting that it will apply on top of the Control Panel settings.
commandermctosh
6 years ago
runs fine for me. capping fps via drivers never works for me though i have to use rivatuner to do it :)

edit: huh, rivatuner no longer works for me. RadeonPro (2013 version) does though.
SuzyCue72
6 years ago
"igazor;c-17532884" wrote:
TS3 runs fine on Win 10 for most of us. Your hardware set is just strong enough to carry the entire game, meaning all EPs and all the store content you may want, although possibly not entirely on the highest of graphics settings in game options. Player experiences will differ there, but a GTX 1050 should be able to manage most of it.

You will most certainly need to cap the frame rates (fps) and check to make sure that they are staying at or below the refresh rate of your monitor as unlike newer games, TS3 has no functional built-in fps limiter and your graphics card is strong enough to be throwing too high frame rates if left untended to and that is bad for both game performance and the lifespan of the computer. But we can help with that as needed if/when you get the game installed again. :)

It sounds as if you don't think that the GTX 1050 (mobile) is powerful enough to handle TS3 with all its content? It would be interesting to know exactly what you base that opinion/assumption on.

"daisy1989;c-17532913" wrote:
That's really helpful, thank you!

I think I probably will download it, so how would I go about capping the frame rate?

@daisy1989 Does your laptop have dual graphics? If so, don't be surprised if turning on Vsync in the Nvidia Control Panel doesn't work. So far I've never seen it work for anyone with that kind of laptop.
igazor
6 years ago
"SuzyCue72;c-17533632" wrote:
"igazor;c-17532884" wrote:
TS3 runs fine on Win 10 for most of us. Your hardware set is just strong enough to carry the entire game, meaning all EPs and all the store content you may want, although possibly not entirely on the highest of graphics settings in game options. Player experiences will differ there, but a GTX 1050 should be able to manage most of it.

You will most certainly need to cap the frame rates (fps) and check to make sure that they are staying at or below the refresh rate of your monitor as unlike newer games, TS3 has no functional built-in fps limiter and your graphics card is strong enough to be throwing too high frame rates if left untended to and that is bad for both game performance and the lifespan of the computer. But we can help with that as needed if/when you get the game installed again. :)

It sounds as if you don't think that the GTX 1050 (mobile) is powerful enough to handle TS3 with all its content? It would be interesting to know exactly what you base that opinion/assumption on.

I never said that. A 1050 mobile is the lowest ranked of the cards in that series that should be capable of carrying all 11 EPs. The question of can a piece of hardware run a complicated program with many variables in play well is not a strictly binary one that can always be answered just yes/no. Some players will have absolutely no problems with it, some will depending on their play styles find that they need to turn some of the graphics settings down a bit to maintain stability and may have more struggles with higher populated worlds, overly ornate lots, intense weather, and pet fur than those with slightly higher ranking cards like the 1050Ti and 1060s. In theory it shouldn't matter since the game is only programmed to make use of 800 MB of Vram and these cards all have much more than that with speeds and bus widths that are adequate, but actual real live players report otherwise.

If I had a 1050 mobile already, I would run the entire game on it (if I wanted to play TS3 on a laptop, that is). If I were in the market for a new machine with TS3 in mind specifically, budget permitting I would try to aim a little bit higher and advise the same.

I base this conclusion on the same thing I base everything else that you argue with me about on this forum. It's all random gibberish I like to spout to confuse the players because I don't really like helping them, and it comes to me by way of strange voices in the middle of the night that emanate from deep inside my wardrobe. (that's of course not true, but it may as well be since you never listen to the real answer anyway...so do kindly stop asking me.)
commandermctosh
6 years ago
"SuzyCue72;c-17533632" wrote:

It sounds as if you don't think that the GTX 1050 (mobile) is powerful enough to handle TS3 with all its content? It would be interesting to know exactly what you base that opinion/assumption on.

It's not GPU that's the problem. Any old GPU made in the last 15 years can run sims 3 just fine.

The 2 problems are CPU and RAM.

Sims 3 is only 32bit, which means it can only use 4gb of ram. No matter what hardware you have or what you do it will never be able to use more than 4gb of ram and that's the biggest problem of running all eps, plus a large world, plus mods etc. 4gb doesn't go very far!

the other problem though to a much lesser extent is CPU. sims 3 wasn't made for multithreading, which most modern processors are made for. Single core.
SuzyCue72
6 years ago
"igazor;c-17533659" wrote:
"SuzyCue72;c-17533632" wrote:
"igazor;c-17532884" wrote:
TS3 runs fine on Win 10 for most of us. Your hardware set is just strong enough to carry the entire game, meaning all EPs and all the store content you may want, although possibly not entirely on the highest of graphics settings in game options. Player experiences will differ there, but a GTX 1050 should be able to manage most of it.

You will most certainly need to cap the frame rates (fps) and check to make sure that they are staying at or below the refresh rate of your monitor as unlike newer games, TS3 has no functional built-in fps limiter and your graphics card is strong enough to be throwing too high frame rates if left untended to and that is bad for both game performance and the lifespan of the computer. But we can help with that as needed if/when you get the game installed again. :)

It sounds as if you don't think that the GTX 1050 (mobile) is powerful enough to handle TS3 with all its content? It would be interesting to know exactly what you base that opinion/assumption on.

I never said that. A 1050 mobile is the lowest ranked of the cards in that series that should be capable of carrying all 11 EPs. The question of can a piece of hardware run a complicated program with many variables in play well is not a strictly binary one that can always be answered just yes/no. Some players will have absolutely no problems with it, some will depending on their play styles find that they need to turn some of the graphics settings down a bit to maintain stability and may have more struggles with higher populated worlds, overly ornate lots, intense weather, and pet fur than those with slightly higher ranking cards like the 1050Ti and 1060s. In theory it shouldn't matter since the game is only programmed to make use of 800 MB of Vram and these cards all have much more than that with speeds and bus widths that are adequate, but actual real live players report otherwise.

If I had a 1050 mobile already, I would run the entire game on it (if I wanted to play TS3 on a laptop, that is). If I were in the market for a new machine with TS3 in mind specifically, budget permitting I would try to aim a little bit higher and advise the same.

I base this conclusion on the same thing I base everything else that you argue with me about on this forum. It's all random gibberish I like to spout to confuse the players because I don't really like helping them, and it comes to me by way of strange voices in the middle of the night that emanate from deep inside my wardrobe. (that's of course not true, but it may as well be since you never listen to the real answer anyway...so do kindly stop asking me.)

It seems that you don't have any real facts after all, no personal experience or reliable sources to base your assumption on, that the 1050 is not quite up to the task, you're only guessing. That's just what I thought. Thanks for confirming it.
SuzyCue72
6 years ago
"McTosh;c-17533671" wrote:
"SuzyCue72;c-17533632" wrote:

It sounds as if you don't think that the GTX 1050 (mobile) is powerful enough to handle TS3 with all its content? It would be interesting to know exactly what you base that opinion/assumption on.

It's not GPU that's the problem. Any old GPU made in the last 15 years can run sims 3 just fine.

The 2 problems are CPU and RAM.

Sims 3 is only 32bit, which means it can only use 4gb of ram. No matter what hardware you have or what you do it will never be able to use more than 4gb of ram and that's the biggest problem of running all eps, plus a large world, plus mods etc. 4gb doesn't go very far!

the other problem though to a much lesser extent is CPU. sims 3 wasn't made for multithreading, which most modern processors are made for. Single core.

No, I wouldn't go that far, but I have six years of personal experience from successfully running the whole TS3 with all its content, (all EPs, SPs and everything from the Store) on computers with four different GPUs: GTX 550 Ti, GTX 760 (192 bit), GTX 770M and GTX 860M, and they're all both older and weaker than the GTX 1050 mobile, so I'm pretty sure the 1050 wouldn't have any problems either. But you never know for sure until you've tried it yourself. The CPUs on the above mentioned computers are all fairly strong Intel i7:s, that may have something to do with it too.
Kylieb191
6 years ago
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/asus-tuf-fx505dt-15-6-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-gtx-1650-512-gb-ssd-10200640-pdt.html - this is mine and it runs so well, don't even hear the fans whirring <3 .