Buying a computer
Hello. I hope I've put this in the right section. My current computer is getting on in years. I bought it because it's designed as a gaming computer. It's done well with sims 4 and all the expansion...
Forum Discussion
@ArchAngel1294 Some laptop components can be upgraded or replaced, like RAM or hard drives. But the component that's likely holding you back the most here is the graphics card. It looks like your particular model does technically support an upgrade, but likely only to a slightly better card, i.e. a 675MX or maybe something in the 700M series.
If you could get your hands on a compatible card, it would probably be used, and there's no guarantee that it would be in better condition than your current one. Plus, you'd need to actually install it, which requires pretty much completely disassembling the laptop, and you'd need to find a BIOS update that would support the upgrade. There's no guarantee that this process would work, and you probably wouldn't get the kind of performance you're looking for.
There are a couple of things you can do to improve performance without upgrading your hardware though. The first is to update your graphics card driver. Yours is dated 2013, and Nvidia released one for your card in April. You can download it from here:
https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/145873/en-us
It's also a good idea to clean the fans, if you haven't done so recently. One of the reasons a game might lag is if the laptop is overheating, in which case the components would throttle to compensate. Cleaning the fans should be as simple as removing the bottom cover and dusting.
Finally, you have a number of failed Windows updates. Even if you're not interested in installing Windows 10, it's still a good idea to keep your current OS up to date. You should be able to manually run updates through Settings, although I don't have access to an 8.1 install, so I can't tell you exactly where to click.
If you find you still can't get the performance you're looking for in this laptop, I could link a few desktops for you that would do quite well. Just as an example I found for someone else, this one is currently $830 on Amazon. Its hardware is strong enough that it should always run TS4 on the highest graphics settings, with plenty of room to spare. Its main drawback is that it only has 8 GB memory, but a matching RAM stick might cost you $40 and would be extremely simple to install.
https://www.amazon.com/SkyTech-Blaze-Gaming-Computer-Desktop/dp/B07RL4K6CN
With your budget, you could afford significantly better hardware, of course, but this is a good place to start thinking about what you want.
Hi!
I had no idea new decent computers could cost less than $1000. And I don't have the money now - I was going to save up for a year or more. So I'll definitely try these things out to improve my current computer. I'll do the dusting and download that new graphics card driver. With the windows update - would it improve my gameplay to update to windows 10? What does it cost? And will it affect what i have saved and installed on my computer? How do I go about it?
thank you!
@ArchAngel1294 I'm not sure it would help performance all that much to upgrade to Windows 10, and it might not help at all. I was just saying that even if you're not making that leap, you should definitely still run all the updates for Windows 8.1, because that will help performance, in-game and otherwise.
I know that people on Windows 7 have been offered an upgrade to 10 for free, but I'm not sure that's true for 8 or 8.1, the difference being that 7 will no longer be supported after this January. 8.1 will be phased out too, but not quite so soon. Otherwise, a (legitimate) retail key for Windows 10 can be as cheap as $110 if you just need the code and can create the install medium yourself. It's not actually cheap, but still better than the $140 you'd pay normally. On the other hand, it's overall probably a better idea to save the money and put it towards the new computer you're planning to get.
Speaking of which, the model I linked isn't even the cheapest good option for Sims 4. You don't need a 1660 ti to run the game, or a Ryzen 2600, although you might appreciate the extra power if you're planning on playing other games. If you waited for the right sale, you could probably get something that would run all current and future TS4 packs on ultra settings for under $700, not including the monitor.
Whenever you're ready to buy that new computer, you're welcome to come back and ask for help picking one out, or for an opinion on a couple of models you have in mind. And if you'd like to keep troubleshooting on your current laptop, feel free to keep asking, although I'm not sure how much better performance is going to be given its hardware. You should still be able to play on medium-high settings reasonably well though, as long as the components are holding up.
