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SuperNTG's avatar
SuperNTG
Seasoned Adventurer
2 years ago
Solved

can a surface pro 9 play sims 4 at its best settings?

Hello

I am looking to get a Surface Pro 9 and was wondering which version of the 9 would be best to run Sims 4 at its best settings?

Or course it has integrated graphics

Thank you for your time

pc
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    2 years ago

    @SuperNTG  Even the highest-spec Surface Pro 9 is not going to handle Sims 4 on ultra graphics settings, at least not very well, if you have most of the expansions installed.  The integrated graphics might be able to manage high settings, just not ultra.  The problem is both the speed of the available iGPUs and the fact that the laptop has a high-resolution screen.  More pixels to render means more work for the graphics processor.

    On the other hand, if you want to play at a lower resolution and/or you don't mind lower framerates, you might be able to get away with mostly ultra settings.  It's fine to experiment with the settings until you get something you like.

    The graphics chip of the i7 is a little faster than the i5, but probably not worth the upgrade if it costs more than a trivial amount.  The graphics chip of the SQ processor is slower and not worth buying from a gaming standpoint.

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  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @SuperNTG  Even the highest-spec Surface Pro 9 is not going to handle Sims 4 on ultra graphics settings, at least not very well, if you have most of the expansions installed.  The integrated graphics might be able to manage high settings, just not ultra.  The problem is both the speed of the available iGPUs and the fact that the laptop has a high-resolution screen.  More pixels to render means more work for the graphics processor.

    On the other hand, if you want to play at a lower resolution and/or you don't mind lower framerates, you might be able to get away with mostly ultra settings.  It's fine to experiment with the settings until you get something you like.

    The graphics chip of the i7 is a little faster than the i5, but probably not worth the upgrade if it costs more than a trivial amount.  The graphics chip of the SQ processor is slower and not worth buying from a gaming standpoint.

  • SuperNTG's avatar
    SuperNTG
    Seasoned Adventurer
    2 years ago
    @puzzlezaddict Thank you so much for replying. I 100 percent appreciate it. How much difference would an i7 with 32GB ram be from i5 with 16 GB ram for this game? If it is not going to make a huge difference, that could save me tons of money.
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @SuperNTG  Upgrading to 32 GB RAM shouldn't have any effect on how Sims 4 runs.  If the game's using more than about 8 GB, it's because of a problem that's likely going to cause a freeze or crash on any system.  And your other background tasks shouldn't use enough memory for the computer to run out either.

    The upgrade to an i7 would improve performance, but not by a large margin.  It's difficult to say precisely how big the gap would be because I can't run my own tests, but it would probably be about 5-10% based on the relative performance of the two graphics chips in other games.  If it's a cheap upgrade (when separated from the extra RAM), it's worth considering.  But it's certainly not necessary for Sims 4.

  • SuperNTG's avatar
    SuperNTG
    Seasoned Adventurer
    2 years ago
    @puzzlezaddict Thank you, thank you, thank you for your input!!! I really appreciate it! I have Sims 4 on my Xbox Series S but I was told that mods were only available for PC version so now I am looking into that. I want smarter AI and more Realism with added mods so that I can just watch them live, build houses, apartments, restaurants, shopping centers, parks etc and watch all my Sims I create live their lives without me having to do anything except watch. I want the best mods for that so do you have any suggestions?
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @SuperNTG  I'm glad to help with the tech aspect of this question, but I don't know enough about Sims 4 mods to give you good advice on the topic.  I'd suggest asking in the Game and Mods/CC Issues forum:

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/Game-and-Mod-CC-Issues/bd-p/the-sims-4-game-issues-mods-en

    If you're not getting the feedback you want, the official Sims forums might be a better bet, specifically one of these sections:

    https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/categories/the-sims-4-modding-and-custom-content

    If you don't already have an account, you'll be a New Member with restricted abilities, including not being able to create your own thread.  (This is because of issues with spam and trolling in the past.)  But it's usually easy enough to find a relatively recent, somewhat on-topic thread where you can post as well.

  • SuperNTG's avatar
    SuperNTG
    Seasoned Adventurer
    2 years ago

    I started a thread asking about MODs.  Have only gotten one response.  I will look into the other forum.  Thanks again for your advice!

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