Forum Discussion
@irisfandom While your laptop should be able to handle the Sims 3 base game and a few early expansion packs (and all the stuff packs you'd like), the most demanding EPs—Pets, Seasons, Island Paradise and Into the Future—would likely not run well at all. Even though your hardware is far above the minimum specs listed for TS3, that refers to the original requirements of the unpatched base game.
Other people with your same configuration usually find that the early EPs (up to Generations) run fine, but the more demanding ones require interventions such as turning off rain and snow, disabling wild horses and maybe long-haired pets, etc. How the packs in the middle run will depend on your system: how well it cools itself, probably something to do with the individual manufacturer, and some element of randomness.
So if you want to play with the most demanding packs, you're probably better off buying a new laptop. You could always try playing on your current one; as long as you carefully monitor the CPU and GPU temps, you shouldn't do any harm by experimenting. If you do want to go straight to a new laptop though, I'm not sure exactly what would be available for 800€. It would depend on your country and what happens to be on sale right now. Of course, you could buy from another E.U. country, but then the keyboard language would be an issue.
In case you're looking for yourself, this is what you'd want:
- Processor: Any new or new-ish CPU that doesn't have a U or Y on the end of it is fine.
- Graphics card: At least an Nvidia 1050 ti to guarantee ultra graphics settings; a 1050 would still be fine if you turned a few settings to high. A 1650 is better than a 1050 ti. You could also get by with high settings on an AMD RX 560.
- Memory: 8 GB is enough. The game won't use more than ~3.7 without crashing anyway.
- Storage: TS3 loads faster when installed onto a solid state drive, and you'd want at least 256 GB. If you're installing TS4 too, you'll need more storage, but there's no reason it couldn't go on a larger mechanical drive; unlike TS3, it doesn't run much faster on an SSD anyway.
Feel free to ask more questions, or to link any models you have in mind. If you're stuck, I can look around a bit for you; just let me know.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate this!! :D