Sims 3 Supported Graphics Cards
I just bought a new laptop, and I saw many people recommending an Acer Aspire 5 for playing sims. So I bought the laptop (Acer Aspire 5 A515-55-576H Intel Core i5 10th Gen 1035G1) just to play sims....
Forum Discussion
@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.
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!
@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.
