Hi everyone! So I finally have enough money to get my dream pc to run the sims 3 and most of the expansion packs, after years of having problems with basic pcs and laptops!

I have been researching what I need for a while but basically have no other experience in the really teck side of computers. I know from researching that I will get more for my money by building a custom pc rather than buying a pre-built, however doing this myself is way above what I am capable of doing! So I have found a reputable on-line company that will build a pc to my specs. I am based in the UK and can spend up to £1000 ($1500)but would like to spend more like £800 ($1200).

Basically, my current worries with what I'm considering ordering is, some of the teck side that I'm completely unfamiliar with – the case, motherboard and power supply and I am also worried that in my eagerness to have the perfect pc, with little to no lag/crashing, that I am going way over what I need and spending money that isn't necessary!

Some of the specs I'm looking at getting;

Case – COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE – I really don't know what one to pick
Processor - Intel Core i5 Quad Core i5-4670K (3.4ghz) 6MB cache
Motherboard – Asus Z87-PLUS:m-ATX, USB3.0 XFIRE – I have no idea what one to get this one is standard
Memory – 16gb Kingston Dual-DDR3 1600MHz (2x8gb) – I'm worried this is over kill
Graphics Card – 2gb NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 660
Memory – 1TB 3.5” SATA-III 6GB HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE – I know I don't need a 1TB for sims 3
Power supply – I have no idea what to pick it! comes with a 350w dual rail as standard and I was thinking about paying an extra £79 for a Corsair 650w enthusiast series, as I read it affects how well the graphics card performs, but I don't want to, if I don't need to.
Processor Cooling – Intel standard cooler – this was standard, I assume this would do?
Operating System – Windows 7 Home premium 64 bit.

Total - £921 ($1395)

This is the company I'm looking at buying from - http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/
They will make sure everything is compatible before I buy.

Any and ALL advice welcome! Thanks in advance!

Are you going to be overclocking?

I don't really know what that is or how to do it! Sorry, all i know about pc's i have learned in the quest to have a good pc for sims 3.

Should I?

Overclocking is giving your computer more juice to force it to run faster. If you haven't heard of it before you probably shouldn't do it. It's more of an advanced and somewhat complicated process. It also voids your warranty.

What else are you going to be doing with the computer? Video Editing? What are some other games you're thinking about playing? Do you already have any computer parts such as screen, mouse, keyboard? If you do have a screen already, what is its native resolution?

Yeh, i read a bit about overclocking and it sounds a bit above my abilities!

I have a few other games that I play now and again, Spore and Sim city but I tend to play them when I get so fed up with my old computers crashing, freezing with sims 3. So I feel if I can get a computed to run sims and the expansions I won't be so interested in playing other games. No video editing or anything like that, basic surfing the net and some uni work.

I should probably mention I do tend to download quite a bit of custom content, not thousands, but quite a lot of CAS items,

I was still deciding on a screen, if you have any suggestions that would be really helpful? I was thinking a 24"? I have a pretty basic keyboard and mouse from my old crappy pc, I was considering getting a better mouse.

Thanks so much for your input!

So you're thinking about buying a new screen? Does your GBP 800 budget include the cost of the screen or is that separate?

Well no, I have managed to save £1500 ($2000) witch i was going to use for the screen and other extras (maybe another expansion pack! or two). However the current build is coming in at over £900 and the advice I'm getting from the sims 3 forum is that I will need the better PSU and possibly the i7 processor. Both of those upgrades bring the total to just over £1000.

You don't need an i7 but you may or may not need a better PSU. Which PSU you need depends on the graphics card you want. Can you do me a favor and tell me how much total hard drive space you're using right now? (For Windows, Sims 3, custom content, your movies and pictures, everything)

Well I haven't been able to play sims for over 6 months because my laptop wasn't able to handle it, became completely unplayable after a few months. I did backup my CC and saved game onto my external hard drive before uninstalling - My custom content folder comes to 3.52GB. So unfortunately I can't really answer that question.I have Wold Adventures, Pets and Seasons.

On my laptop I'm currently using 218GB, but I have loads of movies and tv shows on it. This won't be the case with the pc I'm getting, it will be exclusively for sims 3 and some uni work (win office).

So here's what I'm looking at right now:

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4430 (3.0GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z87-K: ATX, USB2.0, USB3.0, SATA6GB/S, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 650Ti BOOST- 2 x DVI, HDMI, - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
650W FSP RAIDER SERIES RA-650 80 PLUS® BRONZE (£59)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days

£936.00

The only thing is that this supplier is somewhat expensive, and you're close already to your upper limit of £1000. The system as I have set it is powerful enough to run the sims 3 at maximum settings on a 1080p screen. In some ways it is overkill but at least you can be fairly confident it'll play the sims 4.

If you're sure you'll never play the sims 4, you could get a cheaper GPU and save £30.00. But honestly I would just spend it now and not have to upgrade later just to play the sims 4 if you change your mind.

For the power supply I chose the 650W one, which is overkill, because they don't mention what brand their 430W one is (which means they could be using bad quality parts) and because it gives you room to switch the GPU out for a better one later if you feel the need to to play other more demanding games.

Other than that it depends on how close to £1000.00 you want to get. If you feel the option I've given is still too expensive, you could cut the 240GB Kingston SSD. A SSD is basically a very fast hard drive. While it won't reduce lag while playing, it will cut your load times. When I switched to an SSD, I saw my load times cut in almost half. If you feel that you have no problem getting closer to £1000.00 you could spend a little more on the case. I prefer the CoolerMaster 690 II or the Fractal Design ARC MIDI R2, but they cost a little more than the HAF.

wow thanks so much for doing that, so this is the set up you would recommend? The build you have done is only like £10 more than the build I was looking at. I don't really mind going right up to the £1000 as long as I'm getting a good product for the money.

I know it would be cheaper to build myself but find it a little intimidating, but feel it would be hard to find these kind of spec options within a per-built without spending a lot more, would you agree?

I would like to be covered for sims 4! Another worry of mine!

Do you feel i really don't need the 16GB of RAM? Lots that I've read is all about RAM, RAM RAM! So I thought going way over recommendations would cover me. Adding more pushes the price up so much though!

Would you have any recommendations for a screen with this set up? I felt I might be better shopping around for a screen rather than buying along with the pc.

Thanks again!

"Do you feel i really don't need the 16GB of RAM?" Yes I do. If you're going to be doing AutoCAD, Photoshop, Sony Vegas, Maya etc. or gaming on multiple monitors then 12GB+ is a good idea. But if you're going to be gaming on a single monitor then more than 8GB is overkill. Don't get less than 4GB, but don't get more than 8GB.

For screens its really hard because there are so many types and really you get what you pay for. Also screen quality isn't as important to some people as it is to others. Your mileage may vary. All I can say is that for 1080p I find 23 - 24 inches to be good. If you go 27 inches the dpi starts to get low.

I would say take the build above, Switch the case to the CoolerMaster 690 II or the Fractal Design Arc Midi (choose which ever you like best) and go with it. The sims 4 has not been released yet and we don't know what the system requirements are for it yet, but based on what I've seen with The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, you should be okay since the 650 Ti Boost is powerful enough to run The Sims 3 at max settings. If 2-3 years down the road from now you find you want a more powerful GPU, you can simply remove the 650Ti Boost, sell it second hand, buy a more powerful one and plug it in. You won't even have to change your Power Supply Unit.

Excellent, think I'm going to go for the specs you suggested. I'm going to with only the 500MB in the second hard drive as I don't think I'm really going to need the 1TB one, I have an external with a 1TB and with 240MB on the SSD drive the 500 should be fine. Unless there is some reason I'm missing for getting the 1TB one? Also think I'm going to go with the CoolerMaster 690.

Can't thank you enough for all your help! Also can't wait to get this ordered and set up!

I just went with the 1TB because it really wasn't that much more expensive than the 500GB one.