Does it look i need to upgrade something?

[mekia02]

I did read the TS3 system requirements and cant figure out if my video card is a good one, it is higher than some of the underlined ones, but also lower than other underlined ones but it is not specifically mentioned.

Also I tried clicking on the link for upgrading computers but I just bet the vbulletin message about not having access to that page.

my system

HP
Windows 7
processor: AMD Athlon II 170u, 2.00GHz
installed memory: 2GB
64 bit Operating system
ATI Radeon HD 4670
Hard drive: 84GB free of 455GB

1.89 GB of CC
13 saved games, smallest is 23 MB, largest game is 332MB, total saved games folder is 1.8GB

Downloads folder has 188MB

I have The Sims 3 basegame, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations. No stuff packs

My biggest problem is lag. I give sims a thing to do and they just stand there looking around for 10-20 sim minutes before moving. It is so bad I can almost never have a good party because the sim will take forever or never answer the door and invite everyone inside.

Another potential problem is that the game I am currently playing is in the custom world of Redcliffs which I know has routing problems, like locations placed to close to the street. I try to fix them as I encounter them.

Just looking for input before I waste money upgrading the wrong thing.

Thanks

[Whiterudder]

Yeah, your computer is well under the minimum requirements for TS3.
Required CPU is at least 2-core 2.0Ghz, preferably 2-core 2.4Ghz; yours is 1-core 2.0Ghz. The single core makes a bigger difference than the speed, and I really wouldn't recommend trying to play TS3 on any single core CPU.
Minimum required RAM (memory) is 4GB, you have 2GB.
Your graphics card isn't listed, but a bit of research places it the equivalent of four generations below the 4770 (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-radeon-hd-6870-geforce-gtx-570,2834-7.html), which doesn't look good for TS3. You might be able to run TS3 on that graphics card if you had a good CPU and plenty of RAM, although you wouldn't want to actually buy a 4670 new for the purposes of playing TS3.

If you're looking to upgrade, some more info would be useful. Since all the components in that computer are relatively new, but also very weak, I'm wondering if maybe you have a very old motherboard or weak power supply which has been limiting your upgrade choices in the past? Or did you just buy an office-type PC rather than a gaming PC?

It's difficult to say what you should look at upgrading first. RAM is the easiest and cheapest upgrade. However, upgrading the RAM alone won't give you much of a performance boost in TS3. So, the next thought is to upgrade the motherboard and CPU (although it might be possible to just upgrade the CPU - we'd need to know the model number of the motherboard to tell you that) - get a decent i5 or i7 (multiple core) CPU in there, which would cope a lot better with TS3. That's a more expensive and more complicated upgrade, but it also gives you the opportunity of upgrading to a motherboard which supports DDR3 RAM, so you could then buy yourself 4GB of nice shiny fast DDR3 RAM. This is why just upgrading the RAM now might be a bad idea - you will need to upgrade your CPU to play TS3 properly; if you buy new RAM now, then in six months time buy a new motherboard and CPU and have to throw that new RAM away and replace it with DDR3, that'd be a waste of money.
I would upgrade the graphics card last, as although it's not a good graphics card, it's not the weakest component here - so if you bought a lovely new graphics card today, it would just be limited and bottlenecked by your other weak components.

Which link gave you that error? The one at the top of this forum?

[mekia02]

The broken link is in the Announcements link at the top of the page in the computer and technical support forum, callistra created that post. I double checked and it still takes me to the bulletin page saying I can't see that page.

<Help Upgrading or Building/Buying a New Computer.

Please refer to our sticky, Help Upgrading or Building/Buying a New Computer if you need help building or buying a new computer to run TS2/TS3, or for help upgrading the computer you already have.>

I bough this desktop about 1-2 yrs ago after my older one crashed will trying to upgrade it, I needed a computer in a hurry and the guy at best buy said this one was considered a gaming computer because of the memory. I guess need to learn about computer hardware so that I know for myself what is a gaming computer.

Do you think it is worth it to upgrade the CPU and then RAM on this machine or just buy a new dedicated gaming desktop? How do I find the model number of my motherboard? Can this type of upgrade be done for under $1000 or can I get a good gaming computer for under $1500?

Thanks