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Definitely worth upgrading!
amjoie
Posts: 3,516 Member
For all those of you who are on the line about upgrading your aging computer to play Sims 3, just do it. You won't believe the difference in how your game plays.
So you can make the comparison, I upgraded from an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 (which was a step up from Core 2 Duo) to an AMD Phenom II X4 965. From 4GB to 16 GB. From 3 GHz to 3.4GHz. From Dual NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768 MB to Nvidia Geforce 680 GTX 2GB GDDR5. From two 500GB 7200 RPM to a 2TB Hard Drive 7200 RPM. From Windows XP Pro to Windows 7 Home Premium.
My old computer was a 4-5 year old workhorse that, in its day, was top of the line. My new computer isn't top of the line. It's more a medium grade computer with a really great graphics card. And it didn't cost a whole lot. Around $1,400.00, which is a medium priced computer.
But the difference is night and day. I have NEVER seen my sims game play so good. Never. Not even when it was just a base game, the day Sims 3 was released, and my old workhorse was a brand new colt.
Now I have all the expansions and stuff packs installed, along with a ton of store stuff. I even added all the things I personally made for the game, which count as CC (although I made those things myself, and I know they are done right). Even with all that, the game plays better on my new computer than I have ever seen it play, before.
I am beyond thrilled. My new computer is fast. It is quiet, so that I hardly notice it is running. I had it on all day long, setting it up and doing all my program installations, before I started playing Sims 3. I played two hours, saved and quit, and then played for and additional three and one half straight hours. It never broke a sweat, played flawlessly, saved flawlessly, no glitches, no problems. I was having so much hassle-free fun playing, that I played straight through the night.
So, even though I got a medium grade computer instead of paying the big bucks for top of the line, it was so totally worth getting. I would encourage anyone who has a computer with specs like my old one, to upgrade whenever you possibly can to a computer with specs the same or similar to my new one, if you can't afford more. You will be so glad you did.
(My daughter told me the day she ordered my computer, it was the last one Amazon had in stock. I don't know if they are getting more, or not. But she bought me a pre-built Microtel Computer® AM6022 Gaming PC Computer.)
Oh, and for those of you who are still on Windows XP and hesitant to go to Windows 7, go ahead and make the leap. You'll be really happy once you get used to it, and optimize it for the way you work. A few things are different and require new ways of doing things, but overall the increase in productivity is well worth the switch. I really like Windows 7. It is stable, fast, and a lot easier to use, overall.
One other thing, and this was a huge thing for me: My launcher works really good, now. I was having problems with it, before. But now it runs great. So some of my Launcher problems were actually computer related.
I suppose you can't tell I'm excited.
LOL (Big grins, doing a Happy Dance and back flips.) 
So you can make the comparison, I upgraded from an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 (which was a step up from Core 2 Duo) to an AMD Phenom II X4 965. From 4GB to 16 GB. From 3 GHz to 3.4GHz. From Dual NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768 MB to Nvidia Geforce 680 GTX 2GB GDDR5. From two 500GB 7200 RPM to a 2TB Hard Drive 7200 RPM. From Windows XP Pro to Windows 7 Home Premium.
My old computer was a 4-5 year old workhorse that, in its day, was top of the line. My new computer isn't top of the line. It's more a medium grade computer with a really great graphics card. And it didn't cost a whole lot. Around $1,400.00, which is a medium priced computer.
But the difference is night and day. I have NEVER seen my sims game play so good. Never. Not even when it was just a base game, the day Sims 3 was released, and my old workhorse was a brand new colt.
Now I have all the expansions and stuff packs installed, along with a ton of store stuff. I even added all the things I personally made for the game, which count as CC (although I made those things myself, and I know they are done right). Even with all that, the game plays better on my new computer than I have ever seen it play, before.
I am beyond thrilled. My new computer is fast. It is quiet, so that I hardly notice it is running. I had it on all day long, setting it up and doing all my program installations, before I started playing Sims 3. I played two hours, saved and quit, and then played for and additional three and one half straight hours. It never broke a sweat, played flawlessly, saved flawlessly, no glitches, no problems. I was having so much hassle-free fun playing, that I played straight through the night.
So, even though I got a medium grade computer instead of paying the big bucks for top of the line, it was so totally worth getting. I would encourage anyone who has a computer with specs like my old one, to upgrade whenever you possibly can to a computer with specs the same or similar to my new one, if you can't afford more. You will be so glad you did.
(My daughter told me the day she ordered my computer, it was the last one Amazon had in stock. I don't know if they are getting more, or not. But she bought me a pre-built Microtel Computer® AM6022 Gaming PC Computer.)
Oh, and for those of you who are still on Windows XP and hesitant to go to Windows 7, go ahead and make the leap. You'll be really happy once you get used to it, and optimize it for the way you work. A few things are different and require new ways of doing things, but overall the increase in productivity is well worth the switch. I really like Windows 7. It is stable, fast, and a lot easier to use, overall.
One other thing, and this was a huge thing for me: My launcher works really good, now. I was having problems with it, before. But now it runs great. So some of my Launcher problems were actually computer related.
I suppose you can't tell I'm excited.
LOL (Big grins, doing a Happy Dance and back flips.) 0
Comments
I've been looking at an AMD DC A6-4400M 2.7GHz, 6GB ram, 500GB hard drive and ummm... AMD Radeon HD 7520G graphics card. I don't know if it's good enough or not. :?
Oh! But congrats on your new computer! I'm happy you're so happy with it!!! I want to do backflips too!
Not sure what I am getting, but this will make me look even harder.
To give you some perspective, on my laptop it literally takes my game over 10 minutes to load in (I own all EPs/most SPs and gigs of store content) and on my new desktop it boots in about 20 seconds lol!
It's just beautiful, the weather and the water are the best and it's so great to play lag free and be able to use all the content you want. We didn't necessarily NEED a new computer but gaming is our main hobby so I consider it our entertainment budget- we don't go out too much. :oops:
My old computer wasn't playing the game. It was crashing more than it played. Part of the reason was that it was failing fast. But I really do think part of the reason was that it was underpowered.
Before you buy, check out every little component of a new computer you are considering, to make sure it will actually play the game, not play and then crash periodically. You don't want to waste your hard earned money on something that doesn't really work for you.
Do your research, and if you have to save a little longer to get something that will actually play the game, then save a little longer. It is better to wait a while rather than be stuck with a computer that makes you tear your hair out.
Really. Playing the game on an underpowered computer is so very frustrating. And it is such a joy to play on one that works right.
I just posted the specs for the one I'm looking at in the technical forum. I've been playing on a laptop that is well below spec so I'd love to have a good one that runs the game well. I really can't afford it but I'm so sad without the sims! I'm a mum of two young children and I'm also a part-time uni student so I spend all day running around and the sims is the only thing that is my own little thing. I'm going to have to use credit to get a new one so I need to know that I'm buying the right thing. You're right though... it's better to wait and save that bit longer to get the exact right one.
But I kept getting a lot of disbelief that I never have pc and launcher problems - glad you have almost the same thing and see what I said is very true. It runs this game perfectly - 24 - 7. I learned to drop Intells with Sims 2 - the game became unplayable. But AMD a big difference at least for the sims game.
I see you had no problem with Windows either - I did not think you would, but as I said before you needed to wait until you had it in front of you, and then if you had questions, I'd answer. But I knew if it was a breeze for me it would definitely be a breeze for you. You will probably still run into a thing or two you need to find or something, but generally it is just a matter of typing the right thing into the OS search. But now it probably makes a lot more sense when I told you to relax and wait for it to get there. I am definitely smiling along with you. I knew you'd be happy and it was nothing to fear. Amazingly easy too. Did you go through the tour like I suggested or just dig in?
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
I just realized today (after checking an account which I tend to avoid looking at too closely, cos I'm afraid there's not much money in there) that not only is that particular kitty full, the kittens even had kittens!
Your new processor is a 3.4 gHz? That drives me insane to hear things like that because this one, which is 2 or 3 years old, is a 3 (and is only short on ram). Expecting 6 gHz to be standard by now and it's not. And as soon as I get one, the processor engineers are going to do something funky to the... threading technology or whatever it's called... rendering my new machine awkward for future upgrading. See, I have figured out that the universe is out to get me. uhuh.
awww gee a dying computer sucks Cinderellimouse. Hang in there for better prices if you can, seems like you'd want a bigger processor for a new computer which you'll be using for quite a while. Computer prices drop seriously fast, waiting two months would be like having an extra $400-$600 to spend without needing to actually dig that deep into your wallet.
And I totally understand what it's like to have a very tight budget. Had to take less hours at work in order to care for my disabled sister and the little monetary aid she gets is not enough to cover the loss OR cover the additional expenses. And then there's my lost retirement benefits caused by no longer working full-time...
Have you read any of The Tightwad Gazette books by Amy Dacyczyn? They were extremely helpful to me when figuring out how to cut costs while actually *increasing* the quality of life for me and my sister.
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Tightwad-Gazette-Amy-Dacyczyn/dp/0375752250
Covers face. I ... didn't see any tour. :oops:
I did look for a tiny while, but nothing popped up and, well, I just couldn't help myself. I HAD to start messing with how things looked, because it was all wrong. I'm very fussy about my desktop. LOL
After I got the colors mostly right and the background just a plain blue gray (I didn't want to be distracted with pretty backgrounds when I was doing installations and setting things up) then I started installing the stuff I needed for pure functionality. That took a while, because I had to discover the programs that worked and find substitutes for the ones that were no longer viable. I lost a few, but nothing I couldn't easily replace, except a couple simulation games that were originally made for Windows 95. I waved a fond farewell, but couldn't complain. They were just for nostalgia. I didn't really play them, anymore.
OpenOffice was on the computer, so I didn't bother to try my old copy of Word. I really like OpenOffice. It is missing some of the aggravations of Word, and for my purposes, works just as well or better. I uninstalled Bing and Steam, which was the only real bloatware that was installed. The rest of the stuff that came with the computer was eminently useful and/or necessary.
I had to laugh at the one program, though: it tested to see if my setup was ready for Blue Ray. My computer passed with flying colors, but it failed my monitor. Awwwww. I guess a six year old flat panel monitor isn't up to snuff.
I thought I was doing good, though, because I didn't need an adapter for the old monitor. It just plugged right in -- I breathed a big sigh of relief, because I could dig right in and get started immediately.
Most things in Windows 7 are a big improvement over XP. It is just easier all around. I really like it.
Well, except for a couple things. I don't like that when I get near the edge of the screen with a window, it goes transparent blue for a second. I don't know why it does that, but it's annoying.
The other thing is that the taskbar/dock bothers me, intensely. I was used to putting all kinds of stuff there. And the new taskbar/dock wouldn't let me put a shortcut to my external drives or folders or documents in it. It wouldn't even take some program execs. It's unlocked and all, so I don't know why it has gotten so fussy. (Is there some way to make it accept folders, etc?)
But I do have a workaround. I made several tool bar addons of the folders I wanted to access, etc. I think it will work better than just using the taskbar/dock, once I get used to working with it. I'll be tweaking that in the days to come until it is fast and easy for me to open what I want, when I want.
It took me a while to figure out how to get my menu back in each open window, so I could "select all." But I found it.
After I had my computer working nicely, I finally installed Sims 3 and expansions/stuff packs, store stuff, ect. Working with DEP was easy. And then I opened up my game and fell in love with my computer, because my game just runs sooooo great. You were 100% right about that. Yes, you were. Yup, indeedy-do. (shakes head in perfect agreement)
I may someday upgrade to a X6 or X8 or whatever it will take by then, just because I can. And I'll eventually add more memory. I can double it, at some future date, if I choose. I'll also likely add another 2TB internal drive at some point. But all that is far in the future. I'm completely satisfied, right now.
Oh, there was one thing that wasn't perfect when I got the computer -- some ... nice person ... forgot to set the bios to start up with the internal hard drive. When I turned on the computer it said no OS was found. Duh. I looked at all the DVD disks and unopened OS I was holding in my hand, and thought to myself, "Surely they didn't expect me to install all my own drivers and OS, just to start up the computer."
Then I started laughing when I realized what had happened, and restarted the computer in the Bios, to choose my internal drive as the startup disk. If I hadn't had experience with messing around in the Bios, though, I would have been making frantic phone calls, until some hapless person on the other end could talk me through it. As it was, it took a bit of head scratching to figure out how to make my settings stick, because it worked a bit different than the Bios I was used to, before. But I got it working.
I may have a question or two, at some point, as I settle in more. Right now I am doing good.
As for my other drives I will have to ask my hubby, to be sure as I am trying to recall if we just had the pc locate the drives or went through control panel or what. It has been a while. So I will have to ask him in the morning as I would hate to steer you wrong. But I just go through Explorer and it shows all my other drives there, and I just click on them just like I click on the C drive. I recall I had to give them each a name besides just the Alphabet also. That's why I am wondering if perhaps he did something to make them show up or if they just showed up. Don't forget he built my system and installed Windows 7 from a disk we bought so, it is very possible he did things before I sat down to install all my stuff. One thing he won't stand for is me standing over his shoulder while he is doing stuff, so I generally leave him alone until he is done.
Yeah I had a number of old games, like Heroes of Might and Magic and a few other that visiting family kids liked to play, that wouldn't work. if you ever upgrade to Windows 7 pro, you can get those games to work again, but I am not even missing any of my old ones that didn't. Yes, Open Office is way better than Windows Office which is getting even more complicated than ever. I actually don't use either, but have a writer's program on my pc specifically for writers, but I have used Open Office on my hubbies laptop a few times and I recalled it was much better.
Oh I can imagine, going in the Bios is daunting, and having a pc tech for hubby isn't really something I ever really mess with. I do look over his should though when he is in the bios just to memorize different things just in case they are needed. But he generally handles that as well as flashing if the motherboard needs to be updated. Asus is pretty good at keeping their MOBO's up to date as needed. I refuse to flash - long story I'd rather forget.
Yeah the tour should have came up when you first started the pc where it says welcome to windows 7 and it has a bunch of freebie things and aps and such you can get for having windows 7. There is also a offer to take a tour.
But it is probably not needed seeing you have gotten this far without any problems. But if you do get hung up - give me a shout and I will make sure I run it through hubby to double check. It's like having your own pc guy - only free. hehehe He's real good about helping me with my friends and such. Even when I am pretty sure I know the answer I do always double check with him.
Anyway, so glad and happy for you that you should be all set now for sure. I knew you would love it after you listed the specs I went right to Amazon and checked it out. Then I gave all the info to Pete and he checked it out and said you would definitely be happy with it. He even said it was fully upgradable as far as he could see.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Are you talking about the external drives showing up in the very beginning? The OS "finds" them automatically when they first get plugged in. All that happened nicely. And I can see them all when I open up "computer," from the start menu. I just like to have an alias in the taskbar/dock for one click opening when I want to see my data. And for some reason, the taskbar/dock wouldn't accept the drive alias, even though the taskbar/dock is unlocked.
You really are spoiled having someone do all the OS installations, etc. I'm the one everyone turns to around here to do that kind of thing. I had to update the Bios once on my old computer. It made me nervous, but it turned out fine. And I've fresh installed Windows XP, and all the associated drivers, so many times over the years that I've lost count. I did it just a while ago, in a vain attempt to make a failing computer last just a bit longer. The up side of having just done a fresh install is that I already had all my installers updated to the latest versions, and all my disks organized. So it was easy as pie to tackle a new computer whose OS and drivers had already been installed. It went real fast, in comparison to being caught off-guard and having to scramble to locate everything needed.
I had both Programs and Programs x86 open as I installed things, so I could see what fell where. Some old programs I expected to land in the regular Programs folder ended up in the new one, and surprised me. The iffy part was deciding where to slide some of the stuff that would work even from the desktop, but that I would prefer to have in one of the Programs folders. I figured it all out, though. I don't like anything sitting in either of the Programs folders unless I know exactly what it is, and why it is there. So I took a good long look at what was already in both of them when I first opened the computer.
It sounds like the offer for the tour came up in a browser? I probably just shut that down, because it would have come up in Chrome, which was installed as a default browser. I looked around to see what Chrome could do, and then removed it. I prefer Firefox. That's probably what happened. I had expected the tour offer to come up in a help window. Oh well. I could always check out Explorer. It will no doubt have all that somewhere within the Microsoft warren.
At the moment, the only thing I'm unsure about is networking my Mac to my PC over a wireless network or LAN. The Mac is really simple, but I have no idea what to do in order to persuade the PC to talk to the Mac. I'll tackle that, eventually. Right now, I'm making good use of 16GB flash drives. LOL
I have hours and hours of copying to do from my external drive backup, organizing as I go, in order to get all my data exactly where I want it on the internal drive. But before that me and my wrist need a long rest. I'll check back in when my eyes reopen.
I upgraded in November and splurged on a pimped out system. Totally worth it imo.
And, it's frickin' FRIDAY. Always happens on a Friday, usually around 4:30.
Isn't hardware failure supposed to be accompanied by grinding noises? It sounds okay...
[edit] LOL I was downloading something from the exchange, a pattern and just as it finished installing, that's when it shut down and said "we're shutting down to prevent hardware failure". The exchange is a very dangerous place... :P But still, what kind of computer can't even cope with the Exchange?
Was your message on a blue screen? Did you recently add a new driver or new program? Blue screening is usually your computer choking on something incompatible, that recently happened. The exchange was likely just a coincidence.
Of course, it might be a sign of impending doom, especially if it happens with increased frequency. But just once, after an installation of a new driver, might mean you need to roll back the driver to the old one. Or maybe uninstall the program just installed.
I'm hoping with you that it hangs on until you are ready to get your new one. Failing computers are such heartbreak. (hugs)
I was also thinking on buying a 2TB Seagate HD. I actually have 1TB.
just out of curiosity, what's the brand and the model of your mobo? :P
Have him read this thread. My old computer, before failing, was still good for word processing and the occasional Photoshop thrashing. But it was NOT ok for gaming. Underpowered computers are one frustration after another with a game that eats them for lunch. Sims 3 is a processor hog, but on a computer built to handle it, the game runs like a dream. My situation is a case in point.
I could beg him to remove the torture and soothe your frayed nerves. Do you think he'd listen? Worth a try ....
PLEASE (note big puppy dog eyes and trembling lip) be soooo understanding and open your heart. It isn't that she just WANTS a new toy. She really does NEED a new computer that will make her game a joy instead of a trial. You do want her happy, don't you? She's not blowing smoke. Her old computer is trying, but it just can't lift the heavy load, anymore. Oh, please. Please? (falls to the floor on knees and looks up with tears pooling in eyes) Please. Have compassion. (smile of hope and eyes brightening) Please?
It was a prebuilt. I'm not sure. How would I find out that information?