Re: What computer is best for the Sims 4 including packs, mods, and cc?

@Tikathau  Sure, I'd be happy to help.  Please link any websites you'd be willing to buy from—I don't know the Norwegian market at all and don't want to recommend something from a dubious site.  The language barrier isn't a problem since all the important information looks the same in any language.

Please also list any details that matter to you, for example screen size or weight.

Hi, is there any chance you can help me too please? 

I'm thinking about buying a desktop in the UK market purposefully for playing the Sims 4 with lots of packs and some mods and CC. I'm willing to wait a couple months until Black Friday or the January sales for a better deal, but wanted to start researching my option (if any) now. I'm only willing to spend about £500 excluding the monitor at the moment. Is that too low a budget to get a decent desktop for literally just the Sims? I wanna make sure I'm not going to waste my money on something that ultimately won't end up working in the long run. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks. 

@Simswhynotplay  £500 is right on the edge of where you might find an entry-level gaming desktop during Black Friday sales.  It's not enough for a gaming rig during normal times, so if you're not interested in spending more, I'd suggest waiting until November.  If you're willing to go a bit higher though, either of these would be able to run all current Sims 4 content on ultra graphics settings:

https://ao.com/product/ao22225-cyberpowerpc-ao22225-desktop-black-99497-253.aspx

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/4191874?clickPR=plp:5:60

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/medion-erazer-recon-e20-gaming-pc-intel-core-i5-gtx-1650-512-gb-ssd-10254876.html

The 16 GB RAM makes the third one a better option overall, but the first two could be upgraded later for cheap (another 8 GB RAM might cost £20) if necessary.  And the first is only £520 if you're a member, so very close to your preferred budget.  If you're ready to buy now, I'd consider this a win rather than waiting three months for a small price decrease.

The next-lower performance tier is within your budget, but these systems don't have a dedicated graphics card at all, only integrated graphics.  This would limit you to medium-high to high graphics settings, at least with most expansions installed.  This is the cheapest good example I'm seeing of that tier:

https://ao.com/product/ao22215-cyberpowerpc-ao22215-desktop-black-94327-253.aspx

This is the same, just more expensive:

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/4845388?clickPR=plp:1:60

If you're going to get a computer without a dedicated graphics card, I would absolutely invest in 16 GB RAM, likely as an upgrade you install yourself since the cheapest systems typically come with 8 GB installed.  This is an extremely easy upgrade, even for a beginner, and as mentioned, memory is cheap, so don't let this put you off an otherwise good-enough option.

I've listed these computers in case you're interested in buying now but also so you get an idea of what's available.  There are a lot of low-end systems in this price range too, so check the product pages carefully.  In general, if you see a computer has a dedicated graphics card (the GTX 1650 in the first three examples), you don't need to worry about the other specs, which will be good enough—the GPU is the most expensive component and the critical feature for most gamers, so a manufacturer isn't going to pair it with other hardware that can't keep up.  When looking at integrated graphics, it gets a bit more complicated, so it's best to ask if you're not sure.

In your position, I would really encourage you to consider a gaming system given that they're very close to your preferred budget and the upgrade is significant.  But it's not required for Sims 4, especially if you're content with medium-high graphics settings.

Hey, sorry I wasn't expecting a reply so quickly! Thank you so much for your advice this is all super helpful and I really appreciate it! 

Hi, I know absolutely nothing about computers, so sorry if I sound clueless.

Would you know if a dell precision t5810 would be good for the sims? I recently received one for free, and I’m currently (attempting) to play on my extremely laggy and old macbook, so I just want to find out if it’s worth keeping or if I should give it away before I go and buy a monitor for it. I also own gta 5 on my Mac but can’t play it because it just crashes, so do you know if it’ll be able to run both of those games? Also note that I mostly play the sims with mods and cc

@kalirodak  I could guess, but it's better to have more information and therfore a more accurate answer.  So please run a dxdiag on this Dell so I can take a look.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

This will list the essential components plus any errors that might need to be resolved before you try to play.

Are you able to get anything from this? The computer’s in another language and I can’t connect it to WiFi yet, so can’t change it to English and have had to translate as best as I could

@kalirodak  That's somewhat helpful, but there's one remaining critical question, which is what GPU the system has.  I take it you still can't take this system online?  Please run the dxdiag again, click "save all information," scroll down to Display Devices (not that far), post a screenshot or two of the information there.  I'd like everything from Card Name through Driver Version, about 30 lines in total.

The point here is that the CPU is okay (not ideal but not bad if you're on a budget), the RAM is sufficient, and the storage is probably okay if not ideal, but the graphics card will be the limiting factor in determining how well this system runs Sims 4.

is this better? Thank you so much for helping btw 

@kalirodak  That's the information I was looking for.  The system is using the Microsoft Basic Display Driver, which will make Sims 4 and any other graphically-demanding apps run extremely slowly.  The question is whether the computer actually has a proper graphics card or not.  You can check in Device Manager (click Windows key-X and select it), under Display adapters, but if you don't see one, you'll want to open the case and have a look.

No GPU means this is not a good choice for gaming.  But if the motherboard has a PCIe x16 slot (do a google image search if you don't know what to look for), you could install a used card for a lot cheaper than getting a new system.  Please check the power supply's wattage first though—it might not be sufficient to support a graphics card and the rest of the system's demands.  While that could be upgraded as well in theory, in practice, OEM systems like this often aren't compatible with standard components.

If the PSU is around, say, 400W, you could install a graphics card that does NOT need a supplemental power connector, for example an Nvidia GTX 1050 ti or some models of 1650.  They should be relatively cheap given their age and what's currently available but would also run Sims 4 on high or ultra graphics settings.  A GTX 950 would also be okay if a bit slower, as would a GT 1030, although you'd want to make sure you were getting the GDDR5 version of the 1030.

For anyone else with this question, please create your own new thread in this forum.  The information in this thread is a bit out of date.