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What's the best laptop to play Sims 3 on?

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  • puzzlezaddictpuzzlezaddict Posts: 1,877 Member
    edited March 2019
    @Dag I just had a look at gaming laptops, because I was curious kind of can't help myself, and I found a few that would work for you. If you find something else, feel free to link it for igazor to look over.

    Given your budget, I didn't look much at models with an Intel i5-8300H. It's a good processor, more than fine for TS3, but the i7-8750H is better, and you can afford it with a budget of £1000. Still, here's an example of what you could get if you wanted to save money—it's £650. It has the required Nvidia 1050 ti and would run all TS3 packs on high settings:
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Nitro-AN515-52-Gaming-Notebook/dp/B07FLWJQJK

    This model has the 8750H, a 1050 ti, and a 17" screen, and is on sale for £900. MSI makes great gaming laptops, even at the entry level.
    https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-gl73-nvidia-gtx-1050-ti-8gb-17.3-fhd-i7-8750h-gaming-laptop-lt-27d-ms.html

    For £1000, you could upgrade to an Nvidia 1060 6 GB, which isn't necessary for TS3 but would run other games better, as well as programs like Photoshop (although a 1050 ti would also do fine). Both of these are from ASUS, which also makes good gaming laptops. One has a 17" screen; the other has a larger 256 GB SSD.
    https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-tuf-fx504gm-nvidia-gtx-1060-8gb-15.6-120hz-3ms-i7-8750h-8gb-ddr4-gaming-laptop-lt-25n-as.html
    https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-tuf-fx705gm-nvidia-gtx-1060-8gb-17.3-fhd-i7-8750h-gaming-laptop-lt-26h-as.html

    All of the above models have only 8 GB RAM, which is fine for TS3 but not a whole lot of multitasking. All of those models have room to add more memory, if and when you want. But the cheapest option I could find that comes with 16 GB already installed costs £1100. It also has an 8750H, an Nvidia 1060 6 GB, a 17" screen, and an extremely fast PCIe SSD in addition to its mechanical drive.
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-FX705GM-EV101T-Bezel-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B07HH5XR8K

    All of these laptops would handle everything you'd want to do with TS3, both EA and custom content. One note: A 128 GB drive is too small to play from; you'd need to install the game on and redirect Documents to the larger HDD. Then you'd lose the benefits of running TS3 on an SSD, namely faster loading and less time required to save. A 256 GB SSD might also be too small, depending on how good you are with organizing your files. Some people play on drives that size, but they need to be careful to leave enough space for Windows 10 to run well.
  • DagDag Posts: 12 New Member
    @puzzlezaddict

    Thank you so much for this 😱 this is more I could ask for! Really! You helped me a lot. I’ll check all your recommendations and let you know what I decided to buy 😁
  • DagDag Posts: 12 New Member
    @igazor I'm sorry! I just saw your answer. Thank you so much! :)
  • DagDag Posts: 12 New Member
    @puzzlezaddict so I bought Asus TUF FX504GM 15.6" Gaming Laptop with 256GB SSD drive. It's so fast! I can play all the expansions and accessories at once :O this is a whole new experience for me!

    Just one more question, other than Sims 3 I'm not really installing other programs (just a few, I don't need a lot) is there any particular free disc space I should leave so both Sims and Windows would run smoothly?

    Thank you so much for your help again! I'm so happy with my purchase.
  • puzzlezaddictpuzzlezaddict Posts: 1,877 Member
    edited March 2019
    @Dag The best practice is to consistently have 35-40 GB free on your C drive, so that Windows has enough room to maneuver. Downloaded updates pending installation will take up some space, as will temp files from apps installed on C (like TS3). You can move saves you're not currently playing to D, as well as almost anything else. Data like movies and music will be written more slowly to D than to C, since D is a mechanical drive, but they'll play back the same regardless. Even some games, like TS4 for example, don't run any faster on a solid state drive. TS3 does though, as you're seeing right now.

    It should also be noted that TS3 saves can get much larger as you play them longer, especially if your sims travel to several different worlds. Once you start adding backup saves, which is always a good idea in case something goes wrong, your Saves folder could easily be 5-10 GB or more. And installed store and custom content can take up a lot of space as well. So if you like having lots of backups, or you have multiple saves going at the same time, it's a good idea to move the extra files to D whenever you don't need them.

    So the short answer is, if you'd like to keep TS3 and your Documents folder on C to take advantage of your SSD, it's best to have everything else on D. 256 GB isn't too small to work with as long as you're reasonably careful, but it can get taken up quickly if you add other apps.

    One other critical point: With an Nvidia 1060, you'll need to manually cap your in-game frame rates to match the refresh rate of your monitor, which in your case is 120 Hz. (You could also cap it at 60, and you wouldn't notice a difference.) TS3's fps limiter doesn't work, and a 1060 is capable of throwing rates into the hundreds or maybe even thousands if left uncapped, and over time, which is enough extra stress to damage the card over time. To see your frame rates, bring up the cheats console (crtl-shift-c) and enter "fps on" without quotes. A number will appear in the upper right corner; "fps off" makes it go away.

    The first fps limiter to try for an Nvidia card is the built-in Control Panel. But it doesn't always work, and never works in windowed mode, so the next tool is Nvidia Inspector (free download). Here are screenshots of the setups for both tools, under the spoilers:

    https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16540301/#Comment_16540301

    And I'm really happy to hear you're having so much fun. It's amazing how much better the game runs on higher-end hardware, not to mention the beautiful graphics. That's a really nice computer, and I'm glad you found something you like.
  • DagDag Posts: 12 New Member
    @puzzlezaddict thank you so much for those tips :heart:
  • DagDag Posts: 12 New Member
    @puzzlezaddict is there any chance you can PM here somehow?
  • SephardicSephardic Posts: 251 Member
    @Dag Hi! Same as you! I got a HP laptop and tried to download Sims 4 on to the laptop and it worked! You just have to make sure that the laptop has enough space for other things AND video games. Keep in mind that those Apple laptops seem good as well. Ask friends that have video games on their laptops. Last tip is to shop around for a very good brand, with a budget in mind as gaming laptops are fairly expensive. If you live in the UK, I recommend Currys PC World, discuss your problem and they'll help. If not, use Amazon! NEVER use Ebay as that site is such a rip off. I haven't tried Sims 3 on laptop but that works on desktop. If you can't find a laptop, try going for a desktop as they have more space. Desktops are worth it, don't worry about the price.
  • SimplyJenSimplyJen Posts: 14,823 Member
    I don't mean to step on your toes but it's more than just the brand and drive space. Processor, video card, memory/ram, and even cooling matter too. Video games have requirements. Sims 3 on a Mac VS Windows is another discussion... Mac has certain limitations. You can actually find laptops with large drives just like desktops. It's the small notebooks used for simple task like browsing the web that typically have small drives. Those computers are never intended for gaming.

    It seems Dag has already found a laptop (Asus TUF FX504GM) that will work great for gaming. puzzlezaddict has been very helpful helping Dag here and others.
    i7-13700K • 16GB • RTX 4070
    S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
    S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
  • EvalenEvalen Posts: 10,223 Member
    Jemkatk wrote: »
    I have an Asus ROG.. i7 processor, Nvidia 960m graphics card and I believe 16gb of ram. I paid around $1100 for it a couple of years ago but I can run TS3 on the highest settings and the laptop will barely get warm. It also runs most games on high.
    Highly recommend ASUS.

    @Jemkatk I have the same laptop, same specks and I have no problems with my game. it runs great, and I agree about the heat, it barely gets warm, I love this laptop and play long hours without any problems I too recommend the ASUS.
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