Sims 3 PC Build

Great_8_Girl · April 2013

Since I can't play Sims 3 on my laptop anymore (remember this those of you who insist on playing this game on a laptop), I've decided to build my own desktop. I have quite a few parts purchased already but, sadly, even with all the research I've done about the components, I'm having a bit of regret and doubt over my chosen CPU, a Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition. Now don't get me wrong, I don't wish I'd picked Intel instead. Far from it. I'm thinking of getting an FX-6300. I chose the Phenom II before I knew of a little store called Microcenter and their outrageously good CPU deals. I can get an FX-6300 from there for $120! Now you can understand why I have doubts.

Luckily I have not yet bought the graphics card. I'm torn between an HD 7850 and a 7790. Besides The Sims 3 + EPs/SPs, I want to be able to play Bioshock Infinite and a few others. But The Sims 3 is the only one I want to be able to run with most of the settings on HIGH, at 1080p resolution.

Also, I'm thinking highly of getting an SSD, even a small one like 60GB, as I've heard it makes a world of difference for this game. Would this be a worthy investment?

So, to summarize: Should I get an FX-6300 instead? (and give my dad the Phenom II for a new build he's going to do after mine), get a 7790 or 7850, and would a 60GB SSD be worth the money?

MiyuEmi · April 2013

I have a Phenom II x4 965 BE and it's a good CPU, haven't had any problems with it and it runs the game perfectly and it will run Bioshock and others too. I also have the 7850 and again, it runs the game perfectly.

SSD's are quite new so people are kind of on the fence about them or really jazzed about them. I've been tempted to get one, but as I did my first build recently too, I just thought they were too expensive. I suppose whether or not you get one and install it will all come down to price but they do increase program load speed etc.

Here is a review of the 7790 which also includes stats for the 7850: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6837/amd-radeon-7790-review-feat-sapphire-the-first-desktop-sea-islands/16.

I will say that the 7850 runs very cool in my experience. I also have a HAF case for lots of air flow which makes things more comfortable, plus the addition of a lot of fans. I would think that the Phenom II x4 965 and the 7850 would be a good combination, but that is just me and based on my experience with both of these components. My build was done with the Sims 3, and cost in mind and other processors (even the i5), were out of my price range.

MiyuEmi · April 2013

You might also want to look at these, I'm sure there are more comparisons out there too:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/352486-28-6300-phenom-gaming

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/369430-31-phenom-6300

Great_8_Girl · April 2013

Thanks for the links friend.

I understand the Phenom II X4 is a great chip, but it's about 3 or 4 years old now and it's starting to show its age compared to the FX line. I think the FX-6300 is about the BEST AMD CPU you can get for the $130-$140 USD price point (excluding Microcenter), and it's newer technology over the Phenom gives a little "future-proof" if there is such a thing.

About the graphics card, whether I get the 7850 or 7790, I get a free copy of Bioshock either way

so to that end, it's a win-win for me. Though, I think I may choose the HD 7790 because I've read some great reviews on it and most everyone says it's quite a capable little graphics card (until Nvidia had to come along and ruin things with their stupidly named 650 Ti BOOST Edition, boo!)

The 1GB version of Sapphire's Dual-X HD 7790 should be good enough to max out most Sims 3 settings and play in 1080p right? Even with a bunch of EPs and SPs installed?

MiyuEmi · April 2013

Here is a review of the two cards. Although the card you're looking to get is being said to perform on par with the 650ti, it's not performing as well with newer games as teh 7850 (Skyrim is the example they give). The 7850 is generally reviewed more favourably here, but the decision of course is yours. Here's the comparison page with results. I have the HD 7850 1GB OC, the overclocked card. Again, it works a dream and runs cool, but you might look around and check some other reviews on both the CPU and the GPU as future proofing can only take you so far with new chips etc being released on an annual basis. The 8350 is the newest AMD processor with a price tag here of about Euro185. Unfortunately it wasn't in my price range!

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2013/03/22/sapphire-radeon-hd-7790-1gb-review/10

Great_8_Girl · April 2013

Boy deciding on a graphics card is hard :?

So far I've went from a 7750 to a 7770, and now a 7790 or 7850, lol. It was easy when all I wanted to play was The Sims 3, but all the sudden I want to play all these different PC games, like Bioshock and Tomb Raider, The Walking Dead, etc. And seeing how those 3 games are more GPU dependent than CPU dependent, I'm not entirely sure the 7790 would be up to the task, but I can't say for sure. I have a little more faith in the 7850 being able to handle them though.

Decisions, decisions, lol.

Though, I may be able to fit a 7850 into the mix if I got an FX-6100 "Zambezi" CPU for $89 at the Microcenter I'm going to in a few days. Though, a lot of the reviews I've read for the Bulldozer CPUs paint a very depressing picture of them. And especially now with Vishera, the 2nd gen FX chips being out. I guess they fixed a lot of the issues Bulldozer had and increased the performance by something like 10 or 15 percent. Granted, most reviews are nothing but pointless benchmarks. The average user probably wouldn't notice a difference between an FX-6100 or an FX-6300. To make things clearr, Zambezi CPUs are based on Bulldozer, and Vishera is based on Piledriver. Confusing, I know.

MiyuEmi · April 2013

I researched my build for several months and eventually went with the componants that I knew would do what I wanted them to do and which were within my budget. Have you chosen a PSU yet? I can highly recommend the Evga NEX 650g or if you want to go higher, I suppose anything within that range. It is a long PSU though at 180mm so make sure it will fit in your case. You've probably built a PC before or hear this before, but never go cheap on your PSU. The Evga NEX 650g PSU is modular which made it easier to work with and I went with a Coolermaster HAF XB case because I love me so high air flow in a pc so nothing gets too warm. Eventually I want to get an SSD, but I think that will wait as it's not really necessary for anything I'm doing at the moment.

Great_8_Girl · April 2013

I've been researching since November-December last year. Here's what I've got in my possession thus far:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (Dad wants it so I'm going to get an FX-6100 or FX-6300 instead)

Motherboard: ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 (970 Chipset up to 32 GB of RAM, CrossfireX Capable)

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3-1600

PSU: Corsair CX 600M 80+ Bronze certified, semi modular

CPU cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

Case: Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus (painting the front of it green at the moment)

So these are the parts I have thus far. After I get either the 7790 or 7850 GPU, I'm going to get a Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB hard drive and a refurbished OCZ Vertex 60GB SSD specifically to store my Sims 3 games on (so they load faster), an ASUS optical drive, Azio Large Print Tri-illuminated keyboard(because my vision isn't too great), Logitech G300 gaming mouse, two Cooler Master green LED case fans, a wireless adapter and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

ceejay402 · April 2013

hey Great_8_Girl

so u definitely sound like you are on top of it and know a lot re AMD...and though i know users think very highly of AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition

just i though i add my 2 cents for whats it worth ..FX series or the fusion series seem better equipped for the higher end cards.....but ill admit my an intel gal..so this is all just academic to me

though if helpful since amd is no longer adding to the pheomon series for future upgrades it may also be beneficial to consider more current options

HTH

Great_8_Girl · April 2013

Hiya ceejay!

Yes as far as I know, the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition has reached EOL status, though you can still buy them they are no longer being produced.

The FX-6100 is looking like a sure thing purchase-wise at this point. Considering it's $89 dollars at the closest Micrcenter (some 400-something miles away from me,lol) to me, it's a steal.

I actually have an Intel Core 2 Duo in the laptop I use to play Sims 3 on. I just prefer AMD.

MiyuEmi · April 2013

It's all very exciting I would love to build another one! I would also love to get an i7, but it was way out of my price range. One day maybe I'll have the cash handy and I can hope I haven't retired by the time that's a possibility!

ceejay402 · April 2013

hey Great_8_Girl ! FX very nice! and it sounds like your dad will help with the build ...very cool!

MiyuEmi wrote:

It's all very exciting I would love to build another one! I would also love to get an i7, but it was way out of my price range. One day maybe I'll have the cash handy and I can hope I haven't retired by the time that's a possibility!

hey MiyuEmi! i know what u mean stuff is getting sooo good and i just want to keep upgrading!! re intel..im soo excited for the release this summer of the latest chip haswell.. im sure it will make the 3rd gen i7 more affordable.

for me im waiting for the ssd cards market to be more competitive and to see if they can hold up to normal use...once this happens upgrades all the way

DarkAmaranth1966 · April 2013

I was unsure on the SSD too, so I go one of those and a IDE hard drive as well, just to see which does better. I like the SSD r/w speed but, not sure how durable it will be.

My "pet" component right now is my new (last week) Nvidia Titan. Now that's a GPU I don't think EA or any other gaming company will outdo for a while.

Back in college, I'd never have imagined the day we actually wanted, or needed 6 GB on a GPU but then back then we never imagined home computers would have liquid cooling either.

MiyuEmi · April 2013

ceejay402 wrote:

hey Great_8_Girl ! FX very nice! and it sounds like your dad will help with the build ...very cool!

MiyuEmi wrote:

It's all very exciting I would love to build another one! I would also love to get an i7, but it was way out of my price range. One day maybe I'll have the cash handy and I can hope I haven't retired by the time that's a possibility!

hey MiyuEmi! i know what u mean stuff is getting sooo good and i just want to keep upgrading!! re intel..im soo excited for the release this summer of the latest chip haswell.. im sure it will make the 3rd gen i7 more affordable.

for me im waiting for the ssd cards market to be more competitive and to see if they can hold up to normal use...once this happens upgrades all the way

I'm hoping they'll be more affordable! As for the SSD's, all I had to see was a price tag of €473 for a 500GB SSD with the transfer software. That was nearly the cost of my entire upgrade. It is however something I think I'm going to save up for and eventually replace my current HD with something newer. It does the job at the moment, but tech changes so fast and I know the minute I upgrade it I'll see something better.

Actually hoping to build another one later this year as my daughter and I are now fighting over the PC for Sims 3 purposes. See the PC is mine, but apparently what's mine is 'ours', even though I can't go anywhere near her PC!

MiyuEmi · April 2013

DarkAmaranth1966 wrote:

I was unsure on the SSD too, so I go one of those and a IDE hard drive as well, just to see which does better. I like the SSD r/w speed but, not sure how durable it will be.

My "pet" component right now is my new (last week) Nvidia Titan. Now that's a GPU I don't think EA or any other gaming company will outdo for a while.

Back in college, I'd never have imagined the day we actually wanted, or needed 6 GB on a GPU but then back then we never imagined home computers would have liquid cooling either.

I'm curious, how difficult is liquid cooling to maintain? I was curious about it as a CPU cooler but admit I'm completely unfamiliar with them. How often do you have to replace the solution and are they tricky to deal with?

Goldmoldar · April 2013

MiyuEmi wrote:

DarkAmaranth1966 wrote:

I was unsure on the SSD too, so I go one of those and a IDE hard drive as well, just to see which does better. I like the SSD r/w speed but, not sure how durable it will be.

My "pet" component right now is my new (last week) Nvidia Titan. Now that's a GPU I don't think EA or any other gaming company will outdo for a while.

Back in college, I'd never have imagined the day we actually wanted, or needed 6 GB on a GPU but then back then we never imagined home computers would have liquid cooling either.

I'm curious, how difficult is liquid cooling to maintain? I was curious about it as a CPU cooler but admit I'm completely unfamiliar with them. How often do you have to replace the solution and are they tricky to deal with?

If the liquid is water, it will have to be refilled over time, if it is other than water I do not know.

Sid1701D9 · April 2013

if your gonna use water cooling make sure you put the tank where it don't leak onto the electronic components wile they are on. This to me seems more trouble than its worth as you got to run the water around the loop 5 or 6 times to get the majority of the air bubbles out. Also don't put it over the power supply that would be a bad combination. Also a little bit of food color can give the water cooling tube a cool color effect. I personally don't use it as mixing electric and water is very dangerous when on. Anyways that said use destaled water and a tiny bit of clorine that you put in foutain water this will help keep residue from forming in the water tank when it sits for long periods of time. I don't know the exact measurements, but run the water through its cycle first as a water tube with air bubbles does nothing for cpu performace. I believe there is a special power pin that will allow you to run the fans without starting the electronic components of the motherboard using a jumper cable that switches the power off the motherboard but allows all power to go through to check for leaks. Look for in utube under computer system water coolers, and don't use them if you don't want to get shocked if something goes wrong, or fry a component.

DarkAmaranth1966 · April 2013

This one is PG (Propylene Glycol) Similar to glycerin and used in automotive coolant, asthma inhalers and electronic cigs. (My Idea, I asked my tech if that would work since it would be a mess to clean up a leak but, it wouldn't damage the electronics. (Unless you didn't clean up and let it get sticky.)

That part I'm not worried about, it's my third liquid cooled rig, the SSD is new, first time owning one and, too new to have any longevity reports on them.

Logically it seems they should last a lot longer since the have no moving parts but, common sense logic does not always apply to computers LOL.

Sid1701D9 · April 2013

oh but they do have a moving parts, just because you can't see it don't mean the fans are not there. The standard of the liquid cooling uses the same radiation technology as a cars engine. The hot can at times over heat so a water line travels from the water tank in the engine compartment throughout the whole engine and than goes into a radiator that has fans that blow all the heat out the radiator and the cold line goes back into the tank to start the cycle over again.

Oh and over time you will have to add some water/liquid you use too it as its called condensation cooling and heat displacement cooling.

Oh I almost forgot silly me.
your best bet is stick with luquid that can be liquid solid or vaper in teh same temperature range. This will allow better cooling. Now it won't work vary well in times of High Humidity as the air is pretty munch already saturated with water vapers and on very hot humid days over 100 degrees in order for the water cooling to be very effective is the air around it has to have less humity and has to be colder than the air coming out otherwise your just be sucking the humid air into your computer and that will create condensation into your computer.

Great_8_Girl · April 2013

Hehe, it's kinda of ironic how people use liquid cooling in their high-end PCs nowadays, and yet we all know water and electronics don't mix.

Unless I become a rabid PC gaming junkie with an affinity for extreme overclocking, which is about as likely as EA giving us a glitch-less Sims 3 experience, I'll never have need for liquid cooling myself. To each his own I suppose.

About the i7's, I think they're a waste for anything but serious computing, like workstation setups and whatnot. I know for a fact they are money wasted if all the person wants to do is game on them. Better off just getting an i5 for the same amount of gaming performance while spending less money.

And don't even get me started on the i7 Extreme Editions. :roll:

On the AMD side of things to come, I can't wait to see Steamroller, the 3rd generation of FX CPUs. And then the 3rd gen APUs, codenamed Richland, are coming out this summer I believe. So those ought to be interesting.

The Sims Forums

Sims 3 PC Build

Comments