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shanellr82's avatar
shanellr82
6 years ago
Solved

Is it compatible?

I bought a computer that I plan to use for school, watching movies and videos, and even some slight Sims 4 playing. I was wondering if its specs would be good enough for Sims 4 and I was also wondering what levels should I set my graphics too if it is compatible? Here’s my computer: 

Acer Aspire E5-575-5493

Intel HD Graphics 620

HDD (Hard Disk Drive)

4 GB RAM

2.50 GHz

Intel Core I5-7200U

1TB HDD

Hopefully someone sees this quickly. Thanks!

pc
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    6 years ago

    @shanellr82  Before you buy anything else, it's a good idea to run the base game alone and see if you like how it plays.  Some people would be fine with the performance you'd typically see on your hardware, and others might not enjoy playing like that.  If you do want to keep playing, it's best to add content a little at a time and make sure the game still runs okay.  Each pack adds a little bit to the game's demands, so if you downloaded a bunch of packs at once, you could easily go from okay to not playable all at once.

    Stuff packs are not demanding at all and add very little to overhead, so you could (probably) play with all of them without noticing much of an impact.  Game packs are a bit more taxing but still have a smaller effect, with the possible exception of Realm of Magic.  Expansion packs are the most demanding, but the oldest three (Get to Work, Get Together, City Living) are less so than the newer ones.  Even so, the world that comes with City Living doesn't run as well as most others, although you could certainly use the content from the packs while your sims lived elsewhere, and maybe only send them to the city to visit sometimes.

    If you do want a particular expansion pack, definitely install it alone, without any other content, and check out the impact on gameplay.  Packs are generally not eligible for refunds, but if you test right away and find that your game grinds to a halt with a new EP, you might be able to convince an EA customer support rep to refund the pack.

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  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    @shanellr82  I've moved your post to the Sims 4 PC tech section.

    Your laptop's hardware isn't great for Sims 4, but you should be able to play on low-medium or medium graphics settings.  With only 4 GB memory, it may be difficult to run a number of expansion packs together—the newer ones starting with Cats & Dogs run much better with 8 GB installed RAM.  (Game and stuff packs have a much smaller impact on resource use.)  But you can try adding packs one at a time and see how it goes.

    In case you're interested, you could easily add more memory to your laptop, or have a computer store do it for you.  The laptop has two slots, one of which is occupied by a 4 GB stick.  Just make sure the RAM you're adding exactly matches what's already in your laptop (consult the manual).

    Even with more memory though, the integrated graphics chip is going to limit performance.  You can play with the settings a bit to get the effects you want, just don't expect to be able to play on high settings unless you're comfortable with correspondingly low framerates.

  • shanellr82's avatar
    shanellr82
    6 years ago

    This all sounds fine. Do you have any idea on which expansion packs I could use? I wasn’t planning on buying too many.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    @shanellr82  Before you buy anything else, it's a good idea to run the base game alone and see if you like how it plays.  Some people would be fine with the performance you'd typically see on your hardware, and others might not enjoy playing like that.  If you do want to keep playing, it's best to add content a little at a time and make sure the game still runs okay.  Each pack adds a little bit to the game's demands, so if you downloaded a bunch of packs at once, you could easily go from okay to not playable all at once.

    Stuff packs are not demanding at all and add very little to overhead, so you could (probably) play with all of them without noticing much of an impact.  Game packs are a bit more taxing but still have a smaller effect, with the possible exception of Realm of Magic.  Expansion packs are the most demanding, but the oldest three (Get to Work, Get Together, City Living) are less so than the newer ones.  Even so, the world that comes with City Living doesn't run as well as most others, although you could certainly use the content from the packs while your sims lived elsewhere, and maybe only send them to the city to visit sometimes.

    If you do want a particular expansion pack, definitely install it alone, without any other content, and check out the impact on gameplay.  Packs are generally not eligible for refunds, but if you test right away and find that your game grinds to a halt with a new EP, you might be able to convince an EA customer support rep to refund the pack.

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