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allyspeidel's avatar
allyspeidel
New Novice
8 months ago
Solved

Best PC for Sims 4 with ALOT of CC and Mods

I currently have a laptop I play on but I want a PC as I LOVE CC and have a bunch of mods and have currently maxed out my storage. I live in the US and I want something with a lot of storage so I can expand on the CC I currently have. I do have all the packs and kits. I would like to be able to play my games and not have lag. My max would probably be $1500 if it was lower that would be better but understand with what I want that may not happen. I do want prebuilt because I don't have any knowledge of building my own. I mainly play Sims 4, planet zoo and both house flippers currently but may get more games in the future. 

10 Replies

  • @allyspeidel  Does this budget include a monitor, or do you already have one (or are you planning on buying it separately)?  I can help you pick one out if necessary, regardless of the PC you buy.

    For the PC itself, this is overkill for Sims 4 and Planet Zoo and would run any game currently available on at least high graphics settings if not ultra:

    https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-omen-35l-gaming-desktop-amd-ryzen-7-8700g-16gb-ddr5-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4060-ti-1tb-ssd-white-black/6589389.p?skuId=6589389

    This is similar but has twice the storage and a significantly faster processor.  That won't help Sims 4 but could help Planet Zoo or other new games that are CPU-heavy, although the CPU in the one above is still more than fast enough to run any current game well.

    https://www.bestbuy.com/site/thermaltake-lcgs-vista-i46ts-gaming-desktop-intel-core-i7-14700f-16gb-rgb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4060-ti-2tb-nvme-m-2-white/6603471.p?skuId=6603471

    This one has a significantly faster graphics card and otherwise almost the same specs as the first model.  (The processor is a bit slower but still overpowered for the games you list.). It's also from a company that does custom PCs and has high build quality in general.

    https://www.bestbuy.com/site/skytech-gaming-king95-gaming-pc-amd-ryzen-7-7700-16gb-memory-nvidia-4070-super-1tb-nvme-ssd-white/6595565.p?skuId=6595565

    This is a good alternative to the first one as well: $50 more for the faster variant of the same graphics card and double the RAM and storage.  The faster GPU won't help Sims 4 but does help with some very new games, e.g. Hogwarts Legacy and Baldur's Gate 3.

    https://cyberpowerpc.com/system/Prebuilt-Gaming-PC-GML-99631

    I checked a few other sites and didn't find anything else with equivalent specs that wasn't significantly more expensive, probably because the Best Buy models are all temporarily on sale.  If you miss this particular sale, there will be others throughout November, so don't worry too much, but also don't pay an extra $200+ for one of these specific systems because you missed out on the sale price.  Something else will show up that's just as cheap and just as good, probably sooner rather than later.

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

  • allyspeidel's avatar
    allyspeidel
    New Novice
    8 months ago

    I have 2 monitors already. I will check these out. Thanks for the reply!

  • allyspeidel's avatar
    allyspeidel
    New Novice
    8 months ago

    I'm going to go with the more storage one. Thanks so much!

  • peno11's avatar
    peno11
    New Veteran
    8 months ago

    I personally would've suggested you to go with more RAM. Sims 4 can be quite memory hungry by itself, but the more mods and CC you add, the more memory will be needed. 16 GB may still be OK for Sims 4 without mods, but with mods, I would really suggest you to go with 32. And if you plan to add more strategy games like the ones you mentioned, more memory will not be wasted, trust me on that.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    8 months ago

    @allyspeidel @peno11  All of these systems have at least 16 GB RAM, which is more than Sims 4 needs.  The one with 32 GB has a slower GPU than the third one, and in case of a tie, it's almost always most important to get the fastest GPU.  I listed other possibilities so you could choose based on price and whatever else mattered.

    Memory and storage are easily upgradable in any desktop, so it's never that important to get extra.  I mean, you could if you wanted to, but given how much cheaper it is to upgrade these compoents than a GPU or CPU, they're not critical at all.

    Having said that, it looks like some of the sales have ended, so if you want more suggestions, please let me know.

  • peno11's avatar
    peno11
    New Veteran
    8 months ago

    @puzzlezaddictI will politely disagree with your  statement. For Sims 4 GPU is not that important and this goes for other management strategies, which seems to me the games OP is mostly interested. Cities: Slylines 2 is the only game in this genre for which GPU is important and that game is still not in a state where it's worth playing. But for others, GPU is pretty much irrelevant. You can still play these games on GTX 1050 and get satisfying results as long as the rest of your PC is decently strong. With this said, I daresay 4060 Ti 16 GB is more than enough for these kind of games. Yes, RAM can be expanded, but in desktop PC it's still better to have two memory sticks for optimal performance. Adding two more 8 GB sticks will lower the performance and that's not ideal. Yes, if the OP would play other games than management strategies, I would agree with you to go with the one with strongest GPU. But as it stands, I recommand more memory. Though, in this particular case, it's also not ideal that the CPU is slower than in the 4070 Super machine, but still not that much, so, in this case, I would go with more memory.

  • @peno11  The OP said they might get more games in the future, not which games, let alone how demanding the games would be on various components.  And NO current game uses more than 16 GB RAM, whereas some of them do benefit from an upgrade over a 4060 ti, although admittedly not much.

    My point is less about proving that they need the GPU more than the extra RAM now because they currently don't need either.  This is about the cost of upgrading either component vs. the benefit of not having to do so.  If they need more memory, they can drop $100-120 or whatever the current price is on a matching kit and install it themselves with minimal computer knowledge.  If they want a faster GPU than a 4060 ti, how much is that going to cost, and can they install it themselves?  And then there's the question of whether the PSU can support the extra power draw.

    There is never a reason to get more memory over more graphics processing power for the sake of playing a game.  Even if the game does need the extra RAM, it's more efficient to add it yourself.

  • peno11's avatar
    peno11
    New Veteran
    8 months ago

    Yes, the OP never mentioned what other games they will play, but they also never mentioned what else besides gaming they plan to do on the PC. If they work with big Excel sheets, for example, there's never enough memory for that. I am the one who chose more memory over stronger GPU and don't regret it. But, of course, that's me. Still, I stand behind the fact that 16 GB for Sims 4 with all packs and a lot of CC and mods, is not enough. Even with 32 GB the game still hiccups on me from time to time and unlike OP, I still don't have all the kits. My friend only has 16 GB and had to reduce the amount of CC and mods to prevent lagging in Sims 4. She also has lagging in Transport Fever 2 on a maps I don't experience that much of a lagging. And her PC is way better than mine otherwise. She surely regrets now that she went with an advice on some computer forums, where she was told exactly what you are suggesting here, that 16 GB is enough for gaming and she should invest to stronger GPU. Well, for Sims 4, that surely is not right. I am saying that from personal experiences.

  • @peno11  16 GB IS enough for Sims 4.  It might not be enough for Sims 4 and everything else you have open at the same time.  But the fact is that saves that use more than about 10 GB are so unwieldy that they don't work on any machine, even a high-end gaming system with 32 or 64 GB RAM.  I've seen this happen and heard from others who test or have had their own saves bloat in size.

    Mods and custom content don't have as much of an impact on the game as you might expect.  Most of the data isn't read at all and never gets anywhere near RAM.

    I always find it interesting to benchmark the game, to see exactly what it's doing to the hardware.  It's simple enough to leave benchmarking software open and logging while you play and check back when you're done.

    Still, my underlying point is that we don't know what else the OP will want to do with this machine, and a RAM upgrade is much cheaper and simpler than a GPU upgrade.

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