Does The Sims 3 run well on Windows 10?
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 anythin...
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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 fine
The 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.
-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 fine
The 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.
