PC Suggestions (Sincerely, A Confused 22 Year Old Girl)
@audreymattea An Nvidia RTX 3050 can run Sims 4 on ultra settings with some room to spare, or at least the desktop version can. But looking at prices, systems with the faster RTX 3060 start at less than $100 more expensive, so those are the options I'd recommend. A 3060 is a bit of overkill for Sims 4, but that's not a bad thing, and it will give you room to add HQ or lighting mods or high poly custom content or whatever else you might want in the future.
These three computers should all run Sims 4 pretty much the same. Their processors are all overpowered for the game, they all have 16 GB RAM and plenty of storage, and the only meaningful difference in performance is that the last one has significantly faster memory. That probably won't make any noticeable difference to Sims 4 itself; I'm just mentioning it because it's true. The build quality of these systems is very good too, about as good as you'd see outside a significantly more expensive service.
https://www.newegg.com/skytech-st-shadow4-0629-b-ne/p/3D5-000Z-000Y6
https://www.newegg.com/skytech-st-azure-0641-b-ne/p/3D5-000Z-000Z2
Since there's no practical difference among these, for your purposes anyway, it's fine to choose based on aesthetics or some other subjective measure. If you don't like any of them, let me know why, and I'll look for options that fit better.
As for a monitor, the most important feature is an IPS panel, which has the best colors and viewing angles. In your budget, you're mostly looking at a 1920x1080 resolution and a lower refresh rate—increasing the resolution would the price up to $150, which with tax could put you over budget. And most higher-refresh-rate monitors are more expensive too, but not all. And personally, I would stay at or below 24" because to me, 1080p looks grainy at 27", but that's a personal preference.
Still, let me know if you'd like to see some options in that range. Keep in mind that Black Friday sales won't last that long, so if this would delay your purchase by a month or two, the prices for both computer and monitor might be enough higher to delay the purchase further.
Having said that, there are plenty of 1080p, 75 Hz IPS monitors around $100, so you can afford to be somewhat picky. Here are a few options to get you started:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1780264-REG/asus_vy229he_22_full_hd_ips.html
https://www.newegg.com/asus-vz22ehe-22-fhd/p/N82E16824281270
I did see this 1080p, 165 Hz, 24" IPS monitor for $110:
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16824160515
And this one that runs at 100 Hz, for $100:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1773671-REG/msi_g2412v_24_100_hz.html
AOC makes panels for better-known manufacturers and also produces some of its own, so it's not a cheap untrustworthy option like some others you'd see at this price range. I can't tell you whether the higher refresh rate will improve the experience of playing Sims 4 for you personally, but if you're young-ish, you'd probably notice the difference if you're looking for it. A higher refresh rate makes everything from games to casual desktop use smoother. It's absolutely not necessary, just nice to have. And the RTX 3060 can handle the higher workload as well.
If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.
