PC parts/specs needed for lots of sims at once

Question

Hi everyone! I am ready to upgrade from my old laptop to a gaming pc. I’m having a hard time finding info on what specs/parts are needed to ensure i can: a) use ultra graphics settings, b) have many (~50) sims on a huge and detailed lot at once as part of a big club i have in game, and c) keeping in mind there’d be lots of custom content as well as the majority of packs. I know there will be a frame rate drop with that many sims, but maybe there’s a way to have it so when it does drop it’s not below 60? No idea, tried to learn online but everything is quite confusing.

I’m willing to spend what’s needed to accomplish this, ideally $2,000 or less if it’s realistic? I really don’t know. I see things like the RTX 50 series as a top of the line graphics card and other examples of high end gear like that but i don’t know what is needed vs what’s overkill.

I’m leaning toward a custom prebuilt but may end up building myself if i can successfully put a part list together that’s compatible. I know about Pc part picker but i read online that it isn’t always reliable in terms of compatibility. Thank you so much!!

haneulfier · Answer

I think it's hard to answer this question with specifics, so I'll just share my experience. I'm not sure if it'll be helpful, but maybe ... 😄

My computer stats: 13th gen i9, 64 GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24 GB graphics card) - it's 1.5 years old

I play on the highest settings, use ReShade, have almost 7,000 CC/mod files installed (almost 30 GB), use MCCC to up the lot limit to about 50 Sims (full disclosure: I can't remember if I made this lower because sometimes small lots actually get too crowded and there are no seats or my Sims cannot use objects I want them to use because they're already in use). I have every EP, GP, and SP except Werewolves and Batuu. I have several kits too. I have basically no lag (cooking menu takes a second or so to pop up probably because I have almost 200 food-related mods installed - there's a noticeable pause, but it's very very short). The game loads in about a min. The main lot I play on is a detailed 64x64 lot valued at $1.1M simoleons. My save file is under 40MB, though. I think FPS is about 150 on a widescreen monitor, but I don't pay attention to that so I could be wrong. I constantly run other applications on a second monitor and I generally don't use more than 50% of my CPU or GPU power with everything going.

I didn't have issues on my old computer, which is 6 years old either. I don't remember the CPU, but 32 GB RAM, RTX 2080. I did basically the same things.

BUT there IS NOT any computer that can guarantee this game runs well under stress (huge save file, lots of sims, detailed lot). A lot of people are running into save corruption issues, which seem to be exacerbated by customizing lots, Sims, etc.

Back of main lot for reference (originally the park in San Myshuno):

puzzlezaddict · Answer

kerokerokipper​&nbsp; If you're still looking for help with this, let me know.&nbsp; As mentioned above, there's no way to entirely prevent lag, framerate drops, or other performance issues, even on the most expensive hardware available.&nbsp; The game engine has its own issues.
However, you can help yourself immensely by getting a processor with a high clock speed.&nbsp; More cores aren't going to help beyond six, unless you're heavily multitasking, because Sims 4 can only use four.&nbsp; So the speed of the cores matters more than the number.&nbsp; But absolute clock speed isn't the best metric—you'd need to consider AMD vs. Intel and the particular generation, with newer CPUs getting more done per clock cycle than older ones.
Something like a Ryzen 7 7800X3D (currently $400 on Amazon) would be an excellent choice—when it was released, it was the second-best option for gaming, only a couple percentage points behind the much more expensive 7900X3D.&nbsp; I doubt the latter or the newer 9800X3D would make a difference to Sims 4.
DDR5 memory is going to help, and it's the only option with the above CPUs, but if you go Intel, make sure you get a DDR5-compatible motherboard.&nbsp; You don't need more than 16 GB RAM for Sims 4, but if you want more, that's not a bad thing.&nbsp; Above about 6000 MT/s, the first-word latency matters more than the absolute speed.
For the graphics card, Sims 4 won't benefit much, and probably not at all, from anything above an RTX 4060, unless you're playing at a high resolution AND a high refresh rate.&nbsp; Even my RTX 2070 has never been maxed out in the game.&nbsp; On the other hand, if you want to play other, newer games too, they may benefit from a faster GPU.
For storage, any NVMe SSD from a reputable brand is not going to be maxed out under any Sims 4-related load.&nbsp; So figure out how much storage you need and buy one or two drives that fit.&nbsp; Even a (significantly slower) SATA SSD would be fast enough for Sims 4, but they're typically not much cheaper than NVME drives these days.
Aside from that, don't cheap out on the motherboard, and absolutely do not get a low-quality power supply.&nbsp; A bad PSU can wreck your entire computer, literally.
If you put together a parts list, or you find a prebuild that you like, feel free to link it for a second opinion.&nbsp; As far as pcpartpicker is concerned, I wouldn't absolutely trust every detail on the site, but it's at least good about the big picture, for example not listing DDR4 memory for a CPU or motherboard that only supports DDR5, and vice versa.