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Help Upgrading or Building/Buying a New Computer
Guide to Buying a New Graphics Card
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How Do I Find Out What My Specs Are?

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Sims 2 System Requirements:

Minimum system requirements for playing TS2 and each expansion can be found here. However, it is best to keep in mind that just because your computer meets minimum requirements, doesn’t mean that it will run TS2 well! The first section of the guide goes beyond what EA has recommended and states what experienced game players feel is more realistic.


It is recommended that for the base game you have at least:

• A 1.5 GHz processor
  
• A 128 MB dedicated video card
  
• 512 MB of RAM.

If you are running Windows Vista you should have at least DOUBLE those specs for the base game!

It is recommended for expansions, especially Pets or later, that you have at least:

• A 2.5 GHz processor
  
• A 256 MB dedicated video card - a newer, better one (higher MIDDLE numbers = better. For example a Nvidia 7600 would be faster than the newer 8400. Newer does not necessarily equal better. Generally speaking, expect the previous series mid-range cards to perform similar to the current series low-end, and so forth.)
  
• 1 gig of RAM (2gb Vista)

If you have questions about whether or not specific cards will run the game well, please view the above linked guide.

Please note that nVidia GO series cards (found in laptops) are widely thought of as being NOT compatible with Sims 2 and are not supported for use with Sims 2 or its expansions! While some people report no problems, it is far more likely that you -will- have problems running Sims 2 if you have a GO card. Updating drivers can help sometimes but usually not. If you already have a laptop with a GO card it will not hurt your computer to try to run the game on it, however it is certainly recommended that when getting a new laptop you choose one without a GO card. The best thing to do if you have a GO card and you would like to play Sims 2 is to pick up one of the Stories series games (Life Stories, Pet Stories, or Castaway Stories) which are specifically made for laptop gaming and do support the nVidia GO series cards.

Mobile GPUs which CAN play TS2/TS3:

NVIDIA GeForce series:
8600*, 8700*, 8800
9500, 9600, 9700, 9800
120M, 130M, 150M, 160M
230M, 240M, 260M, 280M
325M, 330M, 335M, 350M, 360M
480M

ATI Radeon™ series:
2600, 2700
3600, 3800
4600, 4800
5600, 5700, 5800

*Are known to be defective and therefore are not recommended.


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Sims 3 System Requirements

Minimum system specs for TS3 have just been released and are as follows (S2C recommendations are also noted in parentheses and underlined below):




If you have the absolute minimums and the lowest listed graphics card, that does not mean the game will look good or play well - or even be decently playable at all! As with Sims 2, it is likely that Sims 3 will require a considerably stronger system than the minimum requirements for nice graphics and decent gameplay. Systems under the minimums will not be able to play the game!

It's also very important to remember that the requirements will only increase for expansions, so it would be extremely unwise to buy a new system or upgrade based on these stats without well exceeding the minimums! You can see the system requirements for TS3 with expansions here.

What to include if you are asked to provide your "system specs"

FORM:


Most of the information needed can be found by clicking on the 'Start Menu' -> 'Run' -> typing in 'dxdiag'.

The very first 'System' tab will always accurately tell you what processor you have, how much RAM you have, and what operating system you are running:





The 'Display' tab will tell you what graphics card/chip you have:






To find the manufacturer and model you can run this program:http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php. Look to the left where there are several rows of icons. Click on the middle icon on the top row. Click 'Manufacturer' in the box that pops up next to it. In the box below, it should display the information under 'Product' and 'Version'.

If you have a custom built computer, you will probably see the motherboard manufacturer and model information listed. If you have purchased a prebuilt computer from a mainstream company, like Dell, HP, Emachines, Gateway, etc, it will display information somewhat differently. Do not be worried if you see something slightly different.



COMPLETED EXAMPLE: