Sims 3 Supported Graphics Cards

@Briee2122  To be honest, if your goal is to play Sims 3, you should probably cancel the order.  (Sims 4 is a different story, although I still think you could probably do better.)  The G1 graphics chip is fine as far as integrated graphics go, but it's far from ideal for Sims 3, especially if you want to play with most or all packs.  The most demanding packs—Pets, Seasons, then Island Paradise and Into the Future—may run very poorly or not at all on this laptop.

If you'd like advice on what might work better, feel free to post your budget and country, as well as any other details that matter ot you.  And if you'd like some advice before you decide whether to cancel your order, I'll be around tonight.

Thank you for the fast reply! My budget is around $600. And I want something that will just run the sims 3 pretty well since I have a different laptop for everything else. 

@puzzlezaddict I canceled the order it is giving me too much anxiety 😢 and I already have a good laptop for everything else, so I just want this to play sims. It doesn't have to be top tier. Just something that will run the entire game smooth with good graphics. My budget is around $600 and I would really appreciate recommendations, please ! Thank you!

@Briee2122  Is this $600 U.S.?  If so, you can definitely do better than the laptop you found.  The question becomes whether you want a faster graphics card, capable of ultra graphics settings instead of high; or more storage, 512 GB instead of 256; or both, with a slightly higher price tag.

This laptop ($600) has an Nvidia 1050, which is capable of high or a mix of high and ultra settings, although all ultra settings might be difficult if you have the most demanding packs installed.  If you use high poly (high-resolution) custom content, you might have to dial back the settings a bit more.  Still, you should be able to run all the Sims 3 content you want.  It also has a 512  GB hard drive, in case you need a lot of storage.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/6409467.p?skuId=6409467

This one has an Nvidia 1650, which is around 40% faster for gaming, although the gap seems to be smaller for Sims 3.  (It still does better than the 1050 though.)  It does only have 256 GB storage, but that should be more than enough for all your Sims 3 content.  You could actually fit all of Sims 4 on that drive too, if you're looking to play especially if your other computer is going to hold the rest of your non-gaming data.  Where it might get dicey is if you had a large amount of cc for both games (think > 50 GB total) and liked to keep a lot of backup saves.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/806865249

There aren't a lot of other options in your price range, unless you're willing to go open-box.  As a good example, this one has an AMD RX 5600M graphics card that's significantly faster than an Nvidia 1650, a stronger processor than both laptops above, and has an "open-box: excellent" opeion available from Best Buy for $612.  This is also a very highly rated gaming laptop overall, one of the best in the "cheap" (under about $1,200) category.  It does only have 256 GB storage though.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/6409419.p?skuId=6409419

Beyond that, the next good options start close to $700, which it sounds like you'd rather not spend.  And the options with slower dedicated graphics cards are close to $600 as well, so you'd be sacrificing some performance without saving much money.

If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.

@puzzlezaddict I would be willing to go up in price, but I play the sims very sporadically. the thing is I play with lots of expansions and CC so I am use to it running slow sometimes. How about this laptop? (I noticed you recommended something similar) My friend has this but she typically plays sims 4 but she said she has played sims 3 but not with an expansions cause she doesn't have any. 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/acer-nitro-5-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1650-256gb-ssd-obsidian-black/6413247.p?skuId=6413247&ref=212&loc=1&ref=212&loc=1&ds_rl=1264993&ds_rl=1264987&gclid=Cj0KCQiA2uH-BRCCARIsAEeef3mCt_Ju1xMTfb2zdZ4WsUwz_6RSjlP51LtFDo_f4R3KQY32PiNuD6caAhOxEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds 

My concern is the graphics card because I want something that has decent quality since I am not by any means a gamer, but also I heard the Sims 3 has a hard time recognizing new graphics cards so is there a fix to that? Is the game compatible with these graphics cards? Thank you sm!

@puzzlezaddict Yes, it is USD. & I am concerned with the faster graphics rather than storage because nothing will be on the laptop but sims. Also, out of the ones you recommended and the one I just linked for you(Acer Nitro 5 Intel i5) , which do recommend is the best? I am most interested in the Acers . Thank you!

@Briee2122  The Acer you linked is also an excellent choice, and I see it's on sale today for $100 less than yesterday, which is convenient timing.  If you're not worried about the storage, then yes, it's a much better option than the Asus with the Nvidia 1050.  It's also a little better than the Acer from Walmart because the Intel processor is a bit better for gaming, although that shouldn't make much difference to Sims 3.

As far as faster graphics cards go, the 1650 ti is a few percentage points faster than the 1650, but the only laptop I saw with a 1650 ti for under $700 is model with moderate overheating issues, enough to throttle performance to the point where the GPU probably wouldn't end up running any faster than a regular 1650.  Laptops with significantly faster cards tend to be $850 and up, and the extra speed isn't really necessary for Sims 3.

So yes, if you like the Acer, go ahead and get it.  The current Nitro is a pretty good gaming laptop, especially for the price.