Is this a good pc to play sims 4 with expansions?

yanti68

Hi guys,

I am planning to buy this pc and I would appreciate feedbacks from experts here in the forums. Please help. Will this pc run sims 4 and expansions well?

Power supply: Corsair 430W
Motherboard: Asus H81M-Plus
Processor: Intel i5-4460
RAM: 2x8 GB DDR3 1333MHz cl9
Hard drive: Western Digital blue 1TB
SSD: OCZ Vector 120 GB
Graphics card: Asus GeForce GTX660 DCII OC, 2GB
Windows: 8.1

SungFishy

Yes, it can. My brother has that card and he plays his games on Ultra fine. The 660 would be in the green zone here http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Sims_4:System_Requirements which is good.

chesterbigbird

The psu is cutting it close..
Power supply: Corsair 430W
I would go 600 or more watt corsair or equal quality.

yanti68

@SungFishy - Thank you very much for taking a look. The link is very useful too!
@chesterbigbird - Thanks for the feedback. Does psu influence game performance? I am totally a novice when it comes to technical issues of computers. What sort of problem I can anticipate with 430W?

bob007

An marginal and/or underpowered pc can cause the video card to stop working at times or not work at all when in the graphical mode. If the power supply (psu) is marginal that may cause early failure of the unit. If a psu fails it could (depending on what component fails) damage other components causing an expensive repair. Marginal psus (especially the cheaper ones) can cause random reboots and/or computer lock ups and/or crashes. This problem is sometimes hard to trouble shoot because the computer does work (most of the time). Most psus that are used at or near capacity usually fail after time. Major power supply manufacturers spec are usually conservative meaning the specs are under stated. What I look for is 20% more then I need when the compute is put in service. This should be able to power external devices and additional storage devices should you add one later.

hth

Syronin

My PC is about 5 years old now and I recently installed a GTX 660 myself and it plays sims 3 great so this graphics card will handle sims 4 no problem.

The rest of your PC specs are also much stronger too. My CPU is old and I only have 4gb ram where yours will have 16gb which will serve you well. I expect sims 4 to use less than sims 3 in this area so I am sure your PC will perform way beyond the needs of sims 4.

Having the SSD is also a great choice too especially with sims 4 having more load screens!

Personally I dont think you need to worry about getting a bigger power supply unless you plan on overclocking.

yanti68

@bob007 - Thanks for the explanation. It is very helpful. So do you think 430W is enough?
@Syronin - Thanks so much. I do not know what overclocking is! LOL! So I guess I wouldn't be doing that anyway! I feel relieved that I do not need a bigger power supply. That is going to cost a lot more. I think I will stick to 430W then.

chesterbigbird

Syronin wrote: »

My PC is about 5 years old now and I recently installed a GTX 660 myself and it plays sims 3 great so this graphics card will handle sims 4 no problem.

The rest of your PC specs are also much stronger too. My CPU is old and I only have 4gb ram where yours will have 16gb which will serve you well. I expect sims 4 to use less than sims 3 in this area so I am sure your PC will perform way beyond the needs of sims 4.

Having the SSD is also a great choice too especially with sims 4 having more load screens!

Personally I dont think you need to worry about getting a bigger power supply unless you plan on overclocking.

The ssd will only load maybe a few seconds faster.. that's all.
A bigger power supply is a must.. people often forget it's the most important part of your pc.. it's what makes everything run basically.
The 660

yanti68 wrote: »

@bob007 - Thanks for the explanation. It is very helpful. So do you think 430W is enough?
@Syronin - Thanks so much. I do not know what overclocking is! LOL! So I guess I wouldn't be doing that anyway! I feel relieved that I do not need a bigger power supply. That is going to cost a lot more. I think I will stick to 430W then.

It's up to you but honestly I would get a bigger power supply.. if your power supply dies then you could put your whole system at risk.

yanti68

@chesterbigbird - Thank you for your honesty. I appreciate it.

bob007

I would recommend a 500W psu at the least. add: get a name brand

Ssd drives are fast but - There is a finite number of times you can access the memory cells and while this number is high it is a finite number to failure. Ssd drive have NOT been on the market long enough to prove their reliability. I still have Seagate ST225 (circa 1983) that still work today. The density of ssds is not as great as a conventional hard drive and that makes the cost of storage (price per mb) much more expensive for a ssd. Because of the low density many people have to off load applications to a data drive and you loose part (most) of the advantage of the ssd. Maintaining your operating system (Windows) is more complicated when you use a low density ssd. I would not recommend any ssd less then 500gb (and that would be the least) for a user with the Windows operating system. For these reasons I put ssd drive in the hobbyist catagory - nice to play with but expensive. At this point I would like to add that ram drives have been around for some time so this is just a modern spin on an old idea.

sweetest85

Hey there yanti68, I just wanted to throw my two cents in on your post. For the GeForce GTX 660 the minimum power supply needed is a 450W as per their official website here. I would go with a minimum of a 500 if not a little higher. Hope that helps!

chesterbigbird

see I told you 430 watt was not enough.. I would recommend 600 watt or even 700 watt.. but a quality one, like corsair or seasonic.
If you do not have enough power then during gaming you will crash and have all sorts of problems.. always get more than you need.

chesterbigbird

@sweetest.. thankyou for pointing that out.. I was on my phone and couldn't look that up

Syronin

I will still stand by the 430 watt PSU being perfectly fine for the specs. I did look at the 450 watt recommended minimum for the 660 GTX but they have to be a lot more cautious as they dont know the other components you will be using.

Of course I am not going to advise against getting a bigger PSU if you can afford it because I would definitely get at least 600 watt myself if I was buying all new stuff!

It probably sounds like I am trying to save face now though as I do agree with chesterbigbirds recommendation also.

Anyway, I am using the OCZ Modstream 450watt PSU which has lasted me about 9 years now. Its the oldest thing in my PC and is why I wasnt concerned about too much about the wattage. I did pay for quality at the time and it was one of the first few modular PSUs out there. It will be a shame to see it go as I doubt it will be enough for future upgrades.

SammyAndJammy

It'd be more than good enough to run the Sims 4 (and a lot of other titles). I'd recommend manually upgrading the PSU yourself though, as 430 watts is a bit weak if you're ever going to consider replacing some of your parts down the line. You'd just be making it with that power supply, you could get a decent one off Newegg (never shopped there personally as I live in Australia, but they're the equivalent of PCCG for Americans).

If you're worried about replacing your PSU, as long as you research a bit and follow carefully you'll be fine. As other 'experts' have said, it's like building a slightly complicated lego set (alternatively you could hire someone to do it for you, but they'd charge $50+ for a $5 job).

yanti68

@bob007 - Thanks! It is very kind of you to take the time to explain things. I am going for Corsair 600W. About the SSD that is the only one I could find in the local store. 120GB

@sweetest85 - Thanks a lot for taking a look. I am taking everyone's advice and going for the Corsair 600W. Just want to be on the safe side.

@chesterbigbird - I cannot thank you enough for the good advice. I ordered Corsair 600W. Definitely want to avoid crashes like in the sims 3.

@Syronin - Thanks for taking the time to look at the specs for the video card. Very sweet of you. I appreciate your help!

@SammyAndJammy - Thanks! That is good to know. I am not making the computer myself. Someone else is assembling it for me. I am a total novice where technical things are concerned. LOL! I am going for Corsair 600W. Hope that should be enough.

SammyAndJammy

@yanti68, that's going to be more than good enough. :)

fede1408uy

how much ($$) is that pc? or laptop?

chesterbigbird

@yanti68, your welcome, you made the right choice.

yanti68

@ SammyAndJammy @chesterbigbird - Thank you both! I appreciate all the help you guys have given me.
@fede1408uy - It costs a little over 900 euros