Computer specs for sims 3 to run perfectly

[Elchie]

Hihi!

I've had the sims 3 for probably 6-7 years now and have always loved it (way better then sims 4 in my opinion) When I first started playing it I was on a crappy laptop so it running not so great was expected but over the years I've upgraded to an actual PC and it doesn't seem to run any different. The create a sim menu has always been very slow and as I play the game (get more sims in my household etc) it gets slower and more spikey. I want to be able to play all the dlcs I have, mods, and custom content without it lagging. What computer specs will I need to run the sims 3 perfectly. I'm so tired and when changing a clothing section in create a sim waiting for it too all load up, and the loading screens taking forever.

Thank you so much for any replies I may receive.

[HiFive]

My two favorite guides for getting Sims 3 to run better:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=279488894
I don't think there exists any perfect specs for computers to run the game perfectly. You could try to emulate the specs listed on the store page for this game, but that would mean finding an older machine. :)

[HiFive]

From the store page:

OS: Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista (Service Pack 1)
Processor: (XP) 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent; (Vista) 2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
Memory: (XP) 1 GB; (Vista) 1.5 GB
Graphics: 128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
DirectX®:
Hard Drive: At least 6.5 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content
Sound:
Built-in Graphics:
Intel Integrated Chipset, GMA X3000 or above.
2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent
0.5 GB additional RAM
Supported Video Cards:Nvidia GeForce series: FX5900 or greater, G100, GT 120, GT 130, GTS 150, GTS 250, GTX 260, GTX 275, GTX 280, GTX 285, GTX 295; ATI Radeon™ series: ATI Radeon 9500 series of greater, X300, X600, X700, X800, X850, X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950, 2400, 2600, 2900, 3450, 3650, 3850, 3870, 4850, 4870 series or greater; Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA): GMA 3-Series, GMA 4-Series
*Please note that the GeForce 6100 and 7100 cards are not supported

[AUDIRS6]

Lll

[cruinne]

Let me say that the three things that will matter most to the game running are:

1) Your processor. Sims 3 can't make a lot of use of multiple cores or anything like that so you get better results out of processors with fewer cores but higher base frequencies. I say "base frequencies" because there is a lot of marketing these days that say the processor has speeds "up to xxx" but you want the base to be high, not the top end. The desktop I use is older but has an i7 processor with a base frequency of 3.4 GHz, and that is more than adequate.

2) Your video card. Sims will actually run OK on a computer with integrated graphics (that is, the graphics are part of the motherboard chipset), but it does best when you have a dedicated (separate) video card plugged into that motherboard. It doesn't actually have to be all that powerful - the requirements HiFive posted above say "128 MB with pixel shader 2.0". I seriously doubt you could even find a graphics card that tiny these days - most start at 2 GB and only get more impressive from there. I'd recommend 4GB+ but seriously anything dedicated will do as it takes the stress off the processor.

3) Your RAM. The newer the version of Windows you have, the more RAM I recommend. The requirements above say you need 1 GB, but remember that is above and beyond what is being used by your operating system and all the other little processes running on your computer. These days, any so-called "decent" machine will have at least 4GB RAM, and I recommend 6+ if you are running Windows 10. However keep in mind that whatever you do, it can't use more than 4GB itself, so the 6+ recommendation is 2GB for Windows 10 and 4GB for the game. Slightly more is better; lots more is pointless (for Sims 3 anyway).

The other things:

• Make sure you're not running anything else while running the game: even streaming music while you play can affect how the game runs, so eliminate all unnecessary processes from your computer before playing. You can even use a tool like the PC Decrapifier to do it (though support for that particular tool has ceased and it can be hard to find).
  
  
• Turn off the game's social functions and in-game store. Both of those stream data to and from EA and, as EA's servers are often painfully slow, will bog down your game (or even crash it) was it waits for the slow-as-molasses reply from EA.

[DV]

The Sims is 32-bit program so it can't use more then 3.(something) gigs of RAM. Also it helps to run The Sims 3 off of an SSD as it will improve your load times by a lot.

[x Higgnz]

Capping your fps to 60 and turning on vsync in nivida settings done wonders for me the game is alot smoother less lag spikes

[Donald j. Trump]

Bought this today, installed on a alienware m15 r3
Nvidia 2070 super
i7 10750H
16G Ram

10 mins in it freezes for about 5-8 seconds every 5 seconds. About half the DLC Installed.
I did everything on this help page

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350

Turned all setting as low as possible...... Still lags.

Thought?

[DV]

This is a long shot but try projecting the game window to a monitor or TV and set it to 60 FPS or less and see if that might help. The other option is setting up a Virtual Machine and trying to run the game from within that environment to see if it's just your computer being too powerful. If you done everything under that guide I can't really think of anything beyond what I just recommended.

[cruinne]

I haven't read that guide but does it include turning off the phones-back-to-EA stuff?

Section 3.12 of my guide has some steps to follow:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=279488894

[DV]

Yes it does include turning off the EA online stuff and several other features which might use grind up memory and processing power.