a pc for sims 3 + all expansions and mods

@mercyheals  This computer has hardware that's overkill for Sims 3, and it can handle Minecraft with Raytracing too if that matters to you.  However, I wouldn't buy this exact product for a couple of reasons.  One is that the system integrator is an unknown, as far as I'm aware, meaning you can't trust that the computer is built correctly or that the company would stand behind the product if you ran into problems.

The other reason is that bundles like this typically include either low-quality peripherals or decent ones but at a price premium.  It's almost always better to buy the PC and monitor separately.  Good monitors are a huge quality of life improvement over mediocre ones and, these days at least, are not much more expensive.  The PC will likely come with a cheap keyboard and mouse in any case, and you can get better versions of both once you figure out what you like.  These are very personal choices, so don't simply get something that sounds good, try to test it out in a store if you can.

I'd be happy to look around for better options for you, if you'd like.  Just list the websites and online stores where you'd be comfortable shopping.  Amazon isn't the cheapest option these days and often doesn't have the best selection either, so it's usually better to look elsewhere.

If you'd rather shop yourself, an RTX 3060 is more than enough for both games, as is any 40-series GPU.  The VRAM here doesn't matter for Sims 3 because it can only use 800 MB of video memory; Minecraft can use more, but I believe the limit will be the speed of the GPU, not how much VRAM it has.  For a prebuilt PC, any processor paired with one of these graphics cards will be fine because the GPU is the more expensive component, and no one wants their card limited by a low-end CPU.  16 GB RAM is more than enough for both games and multitasking.

As for the monitor, its size has no bearing at all on performance.  What matters is the resolution, as in, the number of pixels the GPU needs to render.  An RTX 3060 can run Sims 3 at 2560x1440 at high framerates, minus when the game itself has dips, without any trouble, and 1440p looks a lot better than 1920x1080, although the latter is okay on a small (24" or under) monitor.  Other than that, the important details are that the monitor has an IPS panel, the highest quality; and that it has a peak brightness of at least 300 nits, unless you plan to play in a darkened room.  A high refresh rate is very nice to have too if you can tell the difference, but 100 Hz is high enough to make both games feel smooth.

If you have more questions about any of this, please feel free to ask.

hi! thanks so much for your reply, in fact i created this post in hope you’d be able to help, as i’ve seen your replies in other posts with similar requests. 🙂 i would actually be extremely grateful if you could help me with finding an exact model, but will it be okay for you if the websites are in spanish? if it is, i’ll send you links to a few websites that look fine to me. 

also thanks for the advice about keyboard etc, after giving it a thought i realised that trying them out myself first is indeed a better idea. i’m planning to go to my local mediamarkt to test them tomorrow + i’ll be able to check what size of monitor is better for me after all. i didn’t want to have to buy anything in person because i’m very bad at irl interactions, but now i realise i’d rather take some courage to do it rather than buy stuff that won’t do for me, especially since it’s quite a big amount of money. 

you’re really helping me out with this, so again – i’m very-very grateful you were able to reply and explain all that stuff!! <3 

@mercyheals  I actually do speak some Spanish, but even if not, it's easy to find the important computer specs in any language that uses the Roman alphabet.  So feel free to link the sites, and I'll have a look.

It's definitely a good idea to look at monitors in person too, not only for their size but for certain subjective qualities like how the colors feel to you.  As an example, I would never buy a standard Dell monitor, even though they're good quality in general, because I don't like the way they look.  But I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't visited a store and seen a number of examples.  Take note of which brands have IPS monitors you like, and other IPS monitors from that brand will likely look very similar if not identical.

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@puzzlezaddict wrote:

@mercyheals  I actually do speak some Spanish, but even if not, it's easy to find the important computer specs in any language that uses the Roman alphabet.  So feel free to link the sites, and I'll have a look.

It's definitely a good idea to look at monitors in person too, not only for their size but for certain subjective qualities like how the colors feel to you.  As an example, I would never buy a standard Dell monitor, even though they're good quality in general, because I don't like the way they look.  But I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't visited a store and seen a number of examples.  Take note of which brands have IPS monitors you like, and other IPS monitors from that brand will likely look very similar if not identical.

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it appears that my reply was either not sent successfully or deleted, so i’ll write it once again. ^^ here are some websites that i’ve found and that should be legit:

https://www.mediamarkt.es

https://deepgaming.es

https://www.pcspecialist.es/pc-gaming

https://www.pccomponentes.com/

i have visited a local store and checked some keyboards out, and i’ve also looked at monitors and their sizes. so now i’m basically ready to purchase everything! if you’re able to find a pc that fits for me, it will be the greatest help ever. thank you sooooo much again! this would help me with the most important and at the same time the hardest part. xD

@mercyheals  The second and third stores provide custom-built PCs, not a bad option in general but also not great in your price range.  You'd be spending more money to get the same components and no real benefit since you don't need a specialized build.  So I crossed those off the list.

For the first and fourth options, I only went with what those stores sell themselves, since it's often difficult to get support for something that comes from a third-party vendor.  I did look at the third-party prices though, and they're a bit cheaper, so let me know if you'd like to go that route.  I really have no idea how good your consumer protections are, only that here in the U.S., I would never recommend these options, at least not for an entire computer.  But then our consumer protections are pretty meager.

At any rate, here is the best system I found for under 800€:

https://www.mediamarkt.es/es/product/_pc-gaming-lenovo-ideacentre-gaming-5-17iab7-intelr-coretm-i5-12400f-16-gb-ram-512-gb-ssd-geforce-rtxtm-3050-windows-11-home-1548573.html

Its processor and graphics card are capable of running all Sims 3 content at a 1920x1080 resolution on ultra graphics settings, minus the two (water and high-detail lots) that need to be turned down to lower the stress on the game engine.  It comes with more than enough storage, plus 16 GB RAM, which is great to have if not strictly necessary for Sims 3.

If you'd like to spend a little less, this one has a slower graphics card, but one still capable of ultra settings minus water and high-detail lots.  Its processor is a bit slower but still more than capable, and it has more storage, although the 500 GB in the one above is plenty.

https://www.pccomponentes.com/pccom-lite-intel-core-i5-11400f-16gb-1tb-ssd-gtx-1650-windows-11-home

There are other options if you're comfortable installing Windows yourself, which is not a difficult process.  (All you'd need is a USB stick you don't mind erasing and temporary access to a PC already running Windows 10 or 11.)  The key here is that these computers are cheaper, not including a Windows license, so you could buy your own license online for whatever price you find.  I've seen relatively cheap, perfectly legitimate options that come with an old install medium, one you wouldn't want to use, but that doesn't matter because you're really just buying the Windows key and creating your own install medium.  The questions here are whether you'd be willing to install Windows and whether the price of a key means this option makes sense.

At any rate, all but the first of these would be a hardware upgrade over the ones above, although you don't actually need an upgrade.  (The first is equivalent to the first one above.)  It's more a matter of whether you want the extra power for the future, or for a monitor with a higher resolution than 1080p or a higher refresh rate than 100 Hz.

https://www.pccomponentes.com/pccom-lite-intel-core-i5-11400f-16gb-1tb-ssd-rtx-3050-negro

https://www.mediamarkt.es/es/product/_pc-gaming-lenovo-ideacentre-gaming-5-17iab7-intelr-coretm-i7-12700f-16gb-ram-512gb-ssd-geforce-gtx-1660-super-sin-sistema-operativo-1544121.html

https://www.mediamarkt.es/es/product/_pc-gaming-hp-victus-15l-tg02-0049ns-intel%C2%AE-coretm-i5-12400f-16gb-ram-512gb-ssd-1tb-hdd-rtxtm-3060-sin-sistema-operativo-plata-1532892.html

If none of these is exactly what you want, let me know why, and I'll do a more focused search.  And if you are in fact comfortable with buying from a third-party vendor through one of these sites, let me know, and I'll list some of those options as well.

By the way, this site's spam filter sometimes eats posts with too many links, or that have been edited too often.  That's probably what happened to your previous post.

yep, i thought that urls may have been the case, so i tried to format the message a little for it to be sent successfully. 

this have been a lot of help, thank you soooo much!!! i’ve browsed the options and the price for windows license that i was able to find, and so far it kinda seems like the difference between buying it separately or not is not significant. do i understand it correctly: the very first option you found (from mediamarkt) is basically the same as the first one in the list without windows (from pc components)? as i see the memory is different (512 gb vs 1 tb), but are they overall the same? sorry if i didn’t get that correctly >w>’’

overall, the options you’ve sent to me seems pretty great (thank you!!), right now i’m leaning towards the first one without windows (pccomponentes.com/pccom-lite-intel-core-i5-11400f-16gb-1tb-ssd-rtx-3050-negro) because of the reviews and 1tb memory (just in case, haha). so, did i understand you right about them being the same with the very first option (from mediamarkt) that you said was the best? or should i just stick with that one with windows included? it would actually be even more convenient as i’m planning to buy the keyboard and other things from mediamarkt, i’m probably just being a little tempted by the amount of positive reviews on pccomponents lol. 

@mercyheals  Yes, the two options with an RTX 3050 are essentially the same.  The i5-12400F is a faster processor than the i5-11400F, but not in a way that will have any impact on Sims 3—both will have no trouble keeping up with the game or the RTX 3050, which will be the limiting factor whenever the game engine is not.  So it makes no difference which processor you get.

The extra storage is nice to have but not necessary for Sims 3, so I wouldn't suggest deciding only because of that.  The game itself takes up about 32 GB storage, and it won't perform well with over about 10 GB custom content, give or take, so the rest of the storage needs would be for extra saves and Store content.  That's not to say that you couldn't use more storage for other reasons, only that you'd never need it for Sims 3.

Either computer would be fine, but the reviews from PCComponentes are worth considering given the product.  Your computer should be fine out of the box and for years to come, but it's always nice to know you have extra support, or a higher build quality, or whatever matters to you, even if you never need it.  It's one of those things that matters a lot more to some people than others, and I can't tell you how much weight to give it.

I will say that installing Windows yourself is actually a great idea regardless of the computer you buy.  You get to blow away all the bloatware already on the system; you give yourself a pristine, fully-updated Windows right away, rather than relying on the built-in software to update everything correctly; and you learn something about how your system works, at a time when you don't have any data to lose or program installs to corrupt.  You don't have to do this, of course, but it's the kind of thing everyone should do once just so they understand the process.