PC Recommendation to Play With Mods+CC (+16go File)
Hello, how are you doing ?
I am looking for advice to purchase a new PC. I've been playing on my MacBookAir 2020 for 3 years now. But my Mod file's been expanding quite a bit, I'm now at 16,84 GO and only so because I've recently cleaned it out to help my game run smoothly.
I play on my laptop because it's quite practical, but I'd like to invest in a good PC. I plan to play the SIMS4 with mods and might as well buy the new Harry Potter game.
I have most of the expansion packs and a few kits. I mostly use the game to build as I'm not much of a player. But my game tends to lag, take up a long time to charge and my MacPaw App often warns that there's too much going on for the computer, even though I'm only running the SIMS4.
I use TMEX mods to clean out conflicting mods/CC, but I've never managed to make his TOOL mod work (I've tried many ways to fix it).
I'd love to not be as restricted as I am now in my playing, I'd love to use preset / reshade to make it more aesthetic and comfortable experience but it's not supported on Mac.
All in all, I hope not to spend more than 1000-1500 CHF, monitor and pc included. I've been eyeing the Samsung Monitor M8 for its sleek design and the option to use it for watching streaming sites quite easily. Apart from that, I don't know much about computers. I've tried learning but to be honest it's a bit overwhelming for me.
Regarding stores availability, I live in Switzerland but can go buy them in France quite easily. I know that purchases can get taxed quite heavily passing the border so it's something to consider as well.
Thank you in advance, and my apologies if some sentences are not quite comprehensible as it's not my mother tongue.
PS : I've read trough this thread https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion-Feedback/Best-pc-for-the-sims-4-with-the-highest-settings-A-LOT-OF-MODS/td-p/8041841 but wasn't really helped as they've mentioned that prices change very quickly and it's dated back in 2021. But puzzleaddict's answers were very complete!
@6lz1s3gr5qos The developers of Hogwarts Legacy recommend an AMD 7900 XT or faster to play in 4k. That card is about 50% faster than a 4060 ti and maybe 15-20% faster than a 4070. But that's not the whole picture. For many people, not all but a fair number, 80 or 90 fps looks a lot smoother than 60 and thus gives a much better playing experience. Then there are upscaling technologies, like Nvidia's DLSS that I mentioned earlier, that help increase framerates at the expense of some small details that you might not notice at 1440p but would at 4k. (AMD has one too, but apparently Hogwarts Legacy doesn't look great with it in use.)
The one thing I can tell you is that it would take more than 1500 CHF to get a computer that would run Hogwarts Legacy in 4k at even 60 fps. But the game looks great at 1080p and 1440p, probably better at 1440p on ultra than at 4k on medium. (This is somewhat subjective though.)
When you run a 1080p game or video on a 4k monitor, the scaling is straightforward because the screen has double the pixels in each direction. Each 1080p pixel corresponds to a 2x2 square on the 4k monitor, simple as that. The image won't look as crisp as if it were running in 4k, but then the graphics card can also run games at much higher fps at the lower resolution. That's not to say scaling doesn't work well in other configurations (e.g. gaming at 1440p on a 4k monitor), just that you're definitely not going to run into any weirdness around the graphics if you play in 1080p on a 4k screen.
The other factor to note is that both monitors you've linked run at 60 Hz. If you can tell the difference, I'd highly recommend something that goes up to at least 120—everything from gaming to just using the desktop feels much smoother at a higher refresh rate. Above 120, there are diminishing returns, plus the price goes up and the selection narrows, so 120-165 is the sweet spot.
Given how much of an investment this is, I'd suggest going to a physical store that has monitors set up and looking at screens running at different refresh rates. Even if you can't run games on them, you can open a File Explorer window and drag it around to see the difference. If everything looks the same to you, then getting a 60 Hz monitor is fine. If you notice the difference, consider going higher. I think once you figure this out, it'll be easier to make a decision about the monitor. It's kind of difficult to visualize these concepts without having any exposure yourself, but once you know what looks good to you, things start to fall into place.
The 4070 or even the 4060 ti is more than fast enough for standard video editing. If you were a professional looking to increase your productivity, the answer might be different, but for a hobby, both cards would do great.
The PCs I linked are assembled from standard components that you could buy yourself. It's basically a custom-built computer that someone else put together for you. You'd need to make sure that any new hardware you wanted to add was compatible, for example a newer processor probably wouldn't work with the motherboard, but that's a limit imposed by Intel and would also apply if you were building your own system.
