Would like some PC input please

Mmdrgntobldrgn

Hope this is the right place to ask.

In December my pc tower went toasty .... it was ugly. Sadly we also had two major appliances die in close timing to the pc.

Currently I'm sharing hubby's pc (an all in one meant for office work not games), it doesn't do games well, and loves to randomly impersonate holiday lights at the least opportune moments. A glitch that kicked in shortly after the warranty expired. (eyeroll)

I've got at least 4 months, which is decades in the computer world, before I can seriously entertain getting a new pc, for just me. In the meantime I keep browsing.

When the time comes I'll be needing/wanting something with a disc drive, and on a tight budget, as 90% of my games are still on disc. Current game collection, including a few titles I don't play much any more & one wanted game: civ4 & 6, cities skylines, sims 2 (all disc), sims 3 (all disc) + 99.9% store content*, roller coaster tycoon, sims 4 base only (only 364 hours played since release), zoo tycoon, farm frenzy - complete collection, Banished + mods/cc, sims medieval + (played even less than s4).

Out of the choices I'm seeing so far what looks to be a best option
Fry's pc tower's http://www.frys.com/search?to=24&cat=-68380&sort=price asc&zipCodeFound=true&from=0&query_search=&pType=pDisplay&rows=50&fq=100316 3-100311 Gaming-101628 NVIDIA_GeForce-101628 AMD_Radeon-100320 DVD__RW-101627 Mid_Size_Towers-101627 Small_Form_Factors-p10099997 500.01*1000-p10099997 200.01*500

newegg pc tower's https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100019096 4814 600566606 600566608 600373486 600015234 600015236 600015237 600015240 600015243 600093953 4114 4115 600030537 600014651 600014652 600014655 600014656&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&PageSize=96&order=PRICE&LeftPriceRange=0 1000

Ruedii

Well first thing, if you have the knowledge to build your own, I highly recommend doing that. I'll include tips for that later:

As of optimal setup for Sims 3 as the most demanding game played:

64bit quad core processor. (This provides 2 cores for the game and 2 additional cores to offload the OS and driver functions to.) 4 threads is not the same as 4 cores. Some processors allow 2 threads to share cores.

If you aren't going for the i7 or top of the line i5s I recommend AMD FX, or AMD A10+ APUs. The AMD Athlon is also a pretty good line. I recommend against the AMD Semperon line or the i3, and you may pay an unnecessary brand premium for the low-end to middle end i5s without getting any benefit.

8GB-16GB of memory, DDR3 or better. (This provides 4GB for the game and plenty of extra for OS and background tasks.)

Dedicated entry level gaming video card with 2GB or more GDDR5 video memory. Of course it's hard to find an entry-level gaming card with less than 2GB these days. You may end up with 8GB just because that's what's available.

I personally recommend the RX Series GPUs if you can get them. They run cooler, use less power, are loaded with video memory and are competitively priced. You can check with AMD's websites for the various OEM brandings of those.

If you want to go with integrated graphics, only the AMD A10 or better APUs are acceptable, and you will still have performance penalty at high resolutions, due to fill rate limitations, but you won't stress the renderer for anything else.

I recommend getting a 1TB hard drive, they are pretty much standard these days and will serve you well. If you want to you can get a SSD as well. It will boost loading times, saving times and lot transition times, but other things are fine.

64bit OS (Unless you feel like trying Linux, as the Sims 3 now runs great under Wine with the Open Source drivers.)

If you build your own computer I recommend not to skimp on the motherboard or power supply. A good gaming grade 80 Gold+ efficiency power supply with 20% surplus power and a good overclocker's grade motherboard, because they last longer and are more reliable. When not overclocking they are almost as reliable as a Workstation grade motherboard, at far lower prices. Also get the overclocker-grade CPUs, they are worth the extra 10 bucks because they last longer when not overclocked.

I'd avoid the pre-overclocked video cards, the latest generation tends to overheat a little and can be tempermental. (On Linux I had trouble with the Linux AMDGPU-Pro driver causing mine to have Graphics Memory overheat. I switched to the Open Source driver and it runs smoothly, although a little on the hot side, pushing 50-65 degrees C, well under the 70 degree critical mark even overclocked 5%, though. Considering the AMDGPU-Pro driver didn't agree with The Sims 3 and the Open Source driver runs like a dream, I'm perfectly fine with that.) However, I do recommend the Overclocker's models that come with the better than standard hardware they run cooler and last longer.

phoebebebe13

@Mmdrgntobldrgn What is your exact budget? Roller Coaster Tycoon is a pretty heavy game. So is city skylines

Your going to need something like this to run roller coaster tycoon and city skylines https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AT53B8809&cm_re=rx_480_desktop_fx_8320-_-9SIA0AT53B8809-_-Product

phoebebebe13

If you have a lower budget This will run the sims though I don't know how well it will run roller coaster tycoon and city skylines https://www.walmart.com/ip/iBUYPOWER-Gamer-WA583R7-Black-Desktop-PC-with-AMD-Eight-Core-FX-8320-Vishera-Processor-8GB-Memory-1TB-Hard-Drive-and-Windows-10-Home-Monitor-Not-In/35119954#about-item

Mmdrgntobldrgn

Probably should clarify, my disc copy of RT and zoo tycoon are older generations (90s) of the game. Outside of civ 6, Banished, and cities skylines, s4 is my only newer game.

As to budget I need to stay between the 500 to 8/900 range. We went from two incomes to one, otherwise I would just get whatever is available.

phoebebebe13

I don't know if certain 90's games will run on windows 10 or not. That is something you would need to check into.

If your looking to play city skylines and rollercoaster tycoon those need a better pc.

The computer I posted at walmart would be fine for sims and lower spec games. The one I posted from newegg would be better if your going to run city skylines and rollercoaster tycoon

Both computers I posted come with a dvd/disc player

phoebebebe13

This computer would also be enough to run the sims but you would have trouble with city skylines and roller coaster tycoon. It comes with an intel i5 processor not an intel i7 . i7 is a typo. It has a GTX 950 card https://www.walmart.com/ip/iBUYPOWER-Phantom-Gamer-WA501i-Desktop-PC-with-Intel-Skylake-Core-i7-6600K-Quad-Core-Processor-8GB-Memory-1TB-Hard-Drive-and-Windows-10-Home-Monito/52130981#about-item

This is better than the one I posted above . It has a new i5 and a 1060 card though the power supply is really weak and might have to be replaced https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883230178&cm_re=gtx_1060_desktop-_-83-230-178-_-Product