A computer made to play the Sims 2..

N

Nephrinn

n00b
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Aug 2, 2004
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..and the budget is around $400-$500 without a monitor or software. My mother's birthday is coming up and she's a rabid fan of the sims and wants a computer to play the sequel on. I just need some advice and comments on what components to get.

I've read on the Sims 2 website that it's main emphasis is the more video card memory the better. So, I'm not sure if it would be worth getting a 256mb video card over 128mb. Anyway, here's what I have so far (prices from newegg):

AMD Athlon XP 2000+, 266 FSB, 256K Cache Processor - Retail $61
Shuttle "AN35N-Ultra" nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU -RETAIL $56
Maxtor 40GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model 6E040L0, OEM Drive only $46
SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -BULK $138
Crucial 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 8T - OEM $85
ASPIRE Silver Turbo Case with 350W Power Supply, Model "ATXB2KL/350" -RETAIL $32
Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM, Model SOHD-167T White, OEM $28
Keyboard, mouse, speakers - $20

This comes out to $466. Should I spend a little more on getting a faster processor or a video card with more memory, or am I fine? Any suggestions?
 
I think I'd go with a 2400 or 2500 rather then the 2000, it would only be an extra 10-15 bucks and I think it would definately be worth it, especially if you get the 2500 barton with 512 Cache.
As I said in the edit, I don't know much about Sims 2, but I think the 512 PC3200 would be fine also, I don't think you need to drop another 80 bucks for another stick, just stay wth 512, if the system seems sluggish THEN drop the extra money. The rule "It's better to be safe then sorry." doesn't really matter right here.

GL

Edit: I don't know much about the Sims 2, but I think that 9600XT may be overkill, I think you'd save a few bucks just going with a 9600Pro. With the money saved you'd be able to get a faster processor... Just my $0.02
IMO, If I was buying my mom a system for a Sims 2 game, I'd set her up with a GFFX 5200. or even a GF4 MX440... Something cheap.
 
Yeah a 9600XT really does sound like overkill. They dont expect the people who play the sims to buy anything more than a Best Buy garbage PC.
 
Liam said:
Yeah a 9600XT really does sound like overkill. They dont expect the people who play the sims to buy anything more than a Best Buy garbage PC.
Click to expand...

^^ yep. Most of the people who play Sims 2 are the same people you see at Best Buy bugging the retarded computer "tech" to see which one of their Elite E-Machines computers are best :p
 
Minimum requirements for Sims 2

http://thesims2.ea.com/about_system_specs.php

That Radeon 9600XT does seem like overkill for Sims 2, you could make do with Intel Extreme 2 graphics. Besides, not like your mom would be one to start cranking up that res, disable vsync, 4xAA, 16xAF, etc. right?

But, some suggestions...

That 2000+ is old old old. You can have a much better Barton 2500+ for less than $20 more than the current processor selection.

Seeing as how the video card is the most expensive part you have, I think you could probably make do with a Geforce 3 Ti200 or any cheaper card that's newer than a Radeon 7000.
 
Thanks for the responses, I'll go with the 2500 processor like you said. I'm not too thrilled about the GFFX 5200 card(my brother has it and it's dreadfully slow), maybe something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-007&depa=1

Rosewill ATI RADEON 9600LE Video Card, 256MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "96LE-AD-256C" -RETAIL $93

Which is a little faster than the GFFX 5200 and GFFX 5500 cards, plus the 256MB of memory seems to be a good deal.
 
I guess I didn't realize the Sims 2 wasn't as graphic savvy as I had thought it was.. Hmm..
 
Stay away from the LE. LE < 9600 Non pro < 9600 Pro < 9600 XT.

The 256 MB of memory on the LE is useless. The 9600 only has a 128-bit memory path, which makes it meaningless to have that much video memory. Plus, most likely, they used crappier RAM chips for the video RAM.

I'd go for a Radeon 9200 or Geforce 5200 like Corps said for an Fx5200. You might not like it because your brother's comp has one and it stinks, but this is the Sims 2 we're talking about.
 
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