Hi, I've seen you in a couple of threads helping people with similar issues like me. I've been trying to find a good gaming pc for the sims 4, could you help/advice me please?
@soogyus I wrote out a reply last night for someone looking for a sub-$900 PC here:
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/TS4-PC-Help/m-p/12278815#M243591
Please let me know what you think of the options, particularly the first one.
@soogyus What matters to Sims 4 is essentially the turbo clock speed of the processor. It's not quite that simple, as newer CPUs are more efficient than older ones, so a core running at 3 GHz from eight years ago isn't going to accomplish nearly as much in a given amount of time as a current one. The difference is usually not that significant from one generation to the next.
Sims 4 can only use 4 cores, so as far as the game is concerned, there isn't any benefit to having more than six: four dedicated to Sims 4 and two to run everything else. The OS and your web browser or whatever else you're running in the background aren't going to use these full two cores; the point is just to give the game four cores it doesn't have to share. These days, the advantage of an i7 is that it has extra cores relative to the i5, but that's irrelevant here. So sure, it's "better," but not in a way that will matter to you.
Besides, as noted before, the limiting factor for Sims 4 will be the graphics card. Good processors are cheap enough these days, and GPUs so expensive, that any computer manufacturer or system integrator is going to include a CPU that will outpace the GPU—no one wants to spend a lot of money on an expensive graphics card only to find the processor is holding the GPU back from its full potential. And all these computers I listed have CPUs that will more than keep up with the GPU.
As far as Sims 4 is concerned, and this is true with most games, it's much better to spend whatever extra money you have on a faster graphics card than a better processor.
@soogyus In your position, I'd likely go with this one:
I care a lot about build quality and being able to maintain or upgrade in the future, which eliminates the HP. And while I think the build quality of a Skytech machine is slightly better than that of a ROG desktop, it's close enough that it's not worth spending the extra $100 if you have other uses for that money. While I'd prefer to have an RTX 2060 rather than a 1660 ti, it's also not worth $200 to upgrade.
However, any of these choices should be fine, so if you have other priorities, just go with what feels right to you.
This is gonna sound crazy but due to my situations I decided to do installment payments with this rising star pc builder he has a lot of good reviews haven’t seen a bad one and he does refunds too.And these are the specs my total is 1400+ I went over board because of the installment payments I’m confident I can pay 97 bucks a month.So what monitor do you recommend with this.After all my antics to be cheap I finally was able to decide on this and what do you think about these specs?I wanted a curved monitor it doesn’t have to be curved but something nice and slick
@soogyus What size monitor do you want, and how much do you want to pay?
The specs are even more overkill for Sims 4 than the options I listed. But that's fine, it's not like the game will run worse because of it. The one issue I have is with the AMD graphics card: it's a perfectly good GPU, but Sims 4 occasionally has issues with AMD cards that don't get cleared up right away. The mirrors issue took a year to resolve.
@puzzlezaddictWhat graphics card do you recommend?I want to know so I can replace later after I pay it in full.Also I want one for my 47 inch desk I’ll give you a link to the one I’m getting from Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08B1HRLDS/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=A35AFGI1NIBTZD&psc=1
@soogyus I usually recommend Nvidia cards because the support is better from both Nvidia and Sims 4. That doesn't mean that an AMD card would definitely cause you problems, only that those problems are less likely with Nvidia. I definitely would NOT recommend an Intel Arc GPU, at least not this generation. Intel has some issues to work out with support for older games and older runtimes.
On average, the 6600 XT is a little faster than an RTX 3060 and a lot slower than a 3060 ti. So it's better than the GPUs in the desktops we were talking about before if you don't consider the possibility of AMD-specific glitchiness. If you still want it, it should be fine overall; the glitches tend to be on the inconvenient end of the spectrum, nothing game-breaking.
If you want a different GPU, you'd be better off getting it now rather than switching it later. The cheapest 3060s are $350 right now, and you won't get the full cost of the 6600 XT back if you sell it later. But it's not critical to switch, and you might never notice any significant issue. I'm just saying that all things being equal, and all choices being on the table, I'd choose an Nvidia card first.
For the monitor, I don't need to know the size of your desk, I need to know what size monitor you'd like. If you have no idea, go to a computer store, for example a Best Buy, and have a look at the various sizes to get a sense of what might work for you.
I think that at that price point you should just buy a used or refurbished gaming laptop it will be much better and maybe even cheaper!
Community Manager
