Help choosing a desktop for the Sims 4

Marmalade27

Hi,

I currently play the Sims 4 on a laptop but I want to buy a desktop so that I can play the game on Ultra with high graphics. What kind of desktop should I buy? The Sims 4 and possibly Planet Coaster are the only games I plan to play on the new desktop. I would also be using the desktop for editing photos in Adobe CS6, surfing the Internet and watching Netflix. I also need to buy a keyboard and a monitor. Should I buy the keyboard and monitor from the same brand I buy the desktop from? What kind of monitor is best for Sims? How big should it be? I live in Canada and I'm willing to spend up to $2000 CAD on desktop, keyboard and monitor. Also, I have a wireless mouse that I'm currently using with my laptop. Can I use that with my desktop?

I'm completely clueless about stuff like CPU, RAM, and graphic cards and I don't have the technical knowledge to buy a bunch of parts and assemble them myself, so building a PC from scratch isn't an option for me. I want to just go to the store or order online, set everything up and be ready to use it.

I'm ready to buy within the next few days. Is something from Best Buy my best option?

Thanks!

WishKnox

it does not take much to get ultra settings with every option on the highest possible setting. based on your description of what you do on the pc, you'll want 4gb ram with a video card of 8gb with a 3.1ghz quadcore intel i5 or similiar. i would give you a website to help you but this forum does not allow me to post links.

dont buy a pc from best buy. and don't spend $2000 on the actual pc itself; that is way too much for what you want to use it for. your needs are within the $1200 bracket.

if you're going to drop cash on a gaming pc may as well go with a legible gaming pc provider, not a place where they set up office pc's and put "gaming" tag on it. it would be full of bloatware / overpriced components.

you can order gaming pc's from online (if you dont want to build your own) and they will build it for you with your chosen parts and then ship it to you. to be honest your best option is to use a website called choosemypc, if you have a brother or a friend or a friend-of-a-friend that can put together a pc like lego, then you can order the parts and save cash. it would be much cheaper and much more efficient. I know you said you don't like dealing with the more intricate details of building a pc but honestly it would be a huuuuge waste of money otherwise.

if you really must insist on a pre-built pc then you're paying more than $500 extra just to cover what the company claims as "man labour" and "shipping courtesy". they usually overcharge you on everything intentionally because they know you won't go build your own. basically they order the parts and put them together and then charge you more money than you would have spent if you just did that yourself. its not particularly hard to do either; there are videos on youtube with basic step-by-step guides for even the most technologically-challenged people.

anyway... whatever you do is up to you but just some advice.

WishKnox

sorry, i meant 8gb ram* as it comes in two 4gb sticks.

WishKnox

also the brand of the keyboard and monitor and pc do not have to match (honestly, they should not match at all since the best components are from manufacturers who specialise in that single part). if you care about your keyboard experience at all, you can dish out cash on a mechanical keyboard - but based on what you've said, you don't particularly need a mechanical keyboard to enjoy your pc as you do not type much or play games with the keys. mechanical keyboards are generally satisfying to have though. just pay attention to the color of the mechanical switches (they will advertise blue, red, & brown commonly). each color matters, but you'll have to do your own research on that since this post would be too long.

the monitor brand does not particularly matter, as long as it is 1ms or 2ms response time. asus and acer are good reliable brands but there are many others out there. make sure to use a hdmi cable to connect your new monitor to your new pc for a good HD picture (many people use the old vga method which is ancient). 27'' inch is your standard "big" widescreen monitor, it is a good size for beginners and pro's alike. there are bigger ones but they will be uncomfortable unless you are sitting far away from the screen, plus they can be too big for people who don't particularly need all that extra screenspace. and with your $1200 pc specs, 27'' inch is a very good/reliable monitor size.

WishKnox

also any prices i've mentioned (like your $1200 pc build) isn't taking into account all the sales that you get in the US and Canada. Sorry, I should have mentioned that before. taking into account of all the sales and discounts you get, it would be a $700 - $900 pc depending on the provider. i went and looked at the best buy website and i don't like any of their pc builds because they cheat. bestbuy is trying to make it look like you are buying a good pc but they are trying to put in small print the actual memory of the video card. they'll put "8gb ram" in the title of the PC but if you go look at the specs, it says "3gb video card". which is honestly very, very bad. buy at your own risk i guess.

emmaning

What @WishKnox said isn't fully accurate on everything, from what I know. (but it's good they tried to help)
You don't need an 8gb vram video card and a quadcore processor at 3.1ghz for what you'd be doing. Equally, 4gb of ram is not enough. I would definitely go for 8gb of ram, (2 identical 4gb sticks though) a Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 (make sure it's the GTX 950 though and not the GT 950) with 2gb of vram, a hard drive of a size that suits you, Windows 8 or 10 depending which you prefer (since they probably won't be completely obsolete for a few years) and an Intel Core i5 processor that is dual-core and clocked at a minimum of 2.7ghz
Remember, my advice isn't the best and you should probably check it against that of anyone else who is willing to help you

ETA: If you're willing to pay the prices of SteelSeries, I would totally look into their keyboards. They are super nice but Microsoft also make quite nice keyboards. There are tons of great ones out there so you should look into them too.

One thing worth saying, is that you'll need drivers for all this hardware. But don't worry, they're super easy to find at the websites of the manufacturers of each item. If you need help, I can give you links to it.

luthienrising

CS6 and Lightroom like running off an SSD. I advise keeping the photos you're currently working on on the SSD too and moving them to a hard drive (and a backup) when you're done with them.

Dell monitors can be pretty decent at their price for photo editing - I've found them better at color accuracy and stability than others that aren't in the pro photog pricing. Stay away from cheap monitors if you want accurate color and a full black to white range. Many can't even render color the same across the monitor.

WishKnox

emmaning wrote: »

What @WishKnox said isn't fully accurate on everything, from what I know. (but it's good they tried to help)
You don't need an 8gb vram video card and a quadcore processor at 3.1ghz for what you'd be doing. Equally, 4gb of ram is not enough.

I said 8gb ram and to play planet coaster is 8gb vram

WishKnox

emmaning wrote: »

What @WishKnox said isn't fully accurate on everything, from what I know. (but it's good they tried to help)

also i took time to make sure everything is accurate. have been building pc's and dealing with peripherals for a long time. i'm not some sim4 fan trying to chime in with some second-rate advice, i hardly play sims and i just came to the forums to seek help on a CL issue. i'm very passionate about pc gaming and pc building, not to brag but its kind of my job, i gave the best advice this person can possibly get and i'm willing to depend on my credentials for that. not that it's necessary. the problem with this forum is that it doesnt allow me to edit my post once it's posted, so thats why there are so many posts trying to correct the typos i made (like with the 4gb ram which is supposed to be 8gb like i said in the 2nd post). also a dual-core processor won't last long, this is the year 2016 after all. if you go with win8, chances are you will be forced to update to win10 at some point for as long as you're connected to the internet. with win10 comes future updates, and with future updates its going to be harder to keep dual-core legit. if you want to buy the right pc once without having to replace a component half-way through it's lifespan, you may as well get a quad cpu since they are very cheap and cost effective and they will save you the headache of upgrading later on (in this day and age, buying a dual cpu is like bringing a horse carriage to a car race... why put yourself through that headache of always being behind). the difference between dual and quad cpu is $50.

Marmalade27

Thanks to everyone who responded.

@WishKnox : Unfortunately I don't have friends or family who know how to build computers and I don't have the patience to build one myself (I'd definitely get frustrated). I already feel overwhelmed just from reading all the technical terms under specs, so building one myself isn't happening.

Do you think one of these Acer computers would be a good choice for me?
http://www.acer.com/ac/en/CA/content/predator-model/DT.B14AA.003
http://www.acer.com/ac/en/CA/content/predator-model/DG.B14AA.005
http://www.acer.com/ac/en/CA/content/predator-model/DG.B14AA.016

Or how about one of these iBuyPower computers?
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Manufactory=11210&N=50011210&IsNodeId=1&SpeTabStoreType=0

Or the ASUS G11? But I cannot order it directly from the website in Canada.
https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Tower-PCs/G11CD/

@luthienrising : Is having a SSD necessary for CS6? I've been using Photoshop and Lightroom on my laptop with no problems so far.

Do others agree that Best Buy is not a good place to buy a computer?

luthienrising

Not necessary, no. But it speeds up a lot of what they do.

chesterbigbird

Marmalade27 wrote: »

Thanks to everyone who responded.

@WishKnox : Unfortunately I don't have friends or family who know how to build computers and I don't have the patience to build one myself (I'd definitely get frustrated). I already feel overwhelmed just from reading all the technical terms under specs, so building one myself isn't happening.

Do you think one of these Acer computers would be a good choice for me?
http://www.acer.com/ac/en/CA/content/predator-model/DT.B14AA.003
http://www.acer.com/ac/en/CA/content/predator-model/DG.B14AA.005
http://www.acer.com/ac/en/CA/content/predator-model/DG.B14AA.016

Or how about one of these iBuyPower computers?
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Manufactory=11210&N=50011210&IsNodeId=1&SpeTabStoreType=0

Or the ASUS G11? But I cannot order it directly from the website in Canada.
https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Tower-PCs/G11CD/

@luthienrising : Is having a SSD necessary for CS6? I've been using Photoshop and Lightroom on my laptop with no problems so far.

Do others agree that Best Buy is not a good place to buy a computer?

May i re direct your attention to proper gaming computers and NOT pre built rubbish like the generic acer or asus. LOL.
http://www.thesource.ca/en-ca/computers-and-tablets/desktops/gaming-and-performance/c/scc-1-3-4?q=:relevance&page=0&view=grid

Now there are a big amount of desktops on this site that will play the game.
The things you will need to know :
choose the intel core i5 6600K or equivalent cpu
Graphics card.. Nvidia GTX 1050ti or Nvidia GTX 1060 or Nvidia GTX 1070
Or AMD RX 470 or 480.
8 or 16GB of ram
Get a 250gb SSD and at least 1TB hdd
And a good 500 watt or more power supply.

SimplyJen

Updated: Thursday 17th November 2016
This is a rough guideline of the requirements to run Planet Coaster.

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7 (SP1+)/8.1/10 64bit
Processor: Intel i5-2300/AMD FX-4300
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: nVidia GTX 560 (2GB)/AMD Radeon 7850 (2GB)
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 8 GB available space
Additional Notes: Minimum specifications may change during development.

Recommended:
OS: Windows 7 (SP1+)/8.1/10 64bit
Processor: Intel i7-4770/AMD FX-8350
Memory: 12 GB RAM
Graphics: nVidia GTX 980 (4GB)/AMD R9 380 (4GB)
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 8 GB available space

chesterbigbird

Planet coaster is not very well optimized.. runs like crap on my 1080. If you want to play that you will need a super pc.

Marmalade27

chesterbigbird wrote: »

May i re direct your attention to proper gaming computers and NOT pre built rubbish like the generic acer or asus. LOL.
http://www.thesource.ca/en-ca/computers-and-tablets/desktops/gaming-and-performance/c/scc-1-3-4?q=:relevance&page=0&view=grid

Now there are a big amount of desktops on this site that will play the game.
The things you will need to know :
choose the intel core i5 6600K or equivalent cpu
Graphics card.. Nvidia GTX 1050ti or Nvidia GTX 1060 or Nvidia GTX 1070
Or AMD RX 470 or 480.
8 or 16GB of ram
Get a 250gb SSD and at least 1TB hdd
And a good 500 watt or more power supply.

@chesterbigbird : Thanks for posting the link to The Source page. I had forgotten that The Source still existed! I'll take a look in more detail later and may come back and ask for more help once I narrow it down to a few.

@Simasaurus09 : Thanks for posting the Planet Coaster information. I'm still thinking about whether I should buy it or not. It looks really fun in the YouTube videos I watched!

SimplyJen

I don't suppose it will run too well if you're only aiming for minimum. I don't even want to try to run it with i7 4790k 8GB GTX 980. It doesn't look very optimized watching others play. LGR made the same comment like chester here. Granted it's a new game and all new games need tuning but it's still very demanding. I'd say think about it because you might have to increase your budget if you want this game since you still need a monitor.

newegg is another good place to shop. They sell cyberpowerPC machines there as well.

ninerfan779257

Intel Core i5-6600K Quad-Core processor
3.50GHz (up to 3.90GHz via Turbo boost), 6MB L3 Cache

8GB DDR4 SDRAM system memory (expandable to 16GB)
Gives you the power to handle most power-hungry applications and tons of multimedia work

1TB SATA hard drive
Store 666,000 photos, 285,000 songs or 526 hours of HD video and more

24x SuperMulti DVD dual-layer drive
Watch movies and read and write CDs and DVDs in multiple formats

10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet
Connect to a broadband modem with wired Ethernet

NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 Graphics
With 2GB dedicated video memory

will this play sime four? it won't let me post a link. I have all the sims 4's but I need a new cpu

chesterbigbird

ninerfan779257 wrote: »

Intel Core i5-6600K Quad-Core processor
3.50GHz (up to 3.90GHz via Turbo boost), 6MB L3 Cache

8GB DDR4 SDRAM system memory (expandable to 16GB)
Gives you the power to handle most power-hungry applications and tons of multimedia work

1TB SATA hard drive
Store 666,000 photos, 285,000 songs or 526 hours of HD video and more

24x SuperMulti DVD dual-layer drive
Watch movies and read and write CDs and DVDs in multiple formats

10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet
Connect to a broadband modem with wired Ethernet

NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 Graphics
With 2GB dedicated video memory

will this play sime four? it won't let me post a link. I have all the sims 4's but I need a new cpu

No, you need a better graphics card, nvidia GTX 1050ti and above. (GTX 950 and above.)

ninerfan779257

thanks! Do you have a link to one. i can spend about 700 don't need monitor

chesterbigbird

ninerfan779257 wrote: »

thanks! Do you have a link to one. i can spend about 700 don't need monitor

If you can spend a little over then this will get the job done nicely
https://www.amazon.com/CYBERPOWERPC-GUA4300A-FX-8320-3-5GHz-64-Bit/dp/B01GVNT6OU/ref=sr_1_26?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1480115221&sr=1-26&refinements=p_89:CyberpowerPC
Or this would be good
https://www.amazon.com/CYBERPOWERPC-GXi9880A-i5-6600K-GTX1060-Desktop/dp/B01IND6SNI/ref=sr_1_51?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1480115352&sr=1-51&refinements=p_89:CyberpowerPC

Both will play the game well.

I would recommend custom but for that you need a bigger budget of $1,000 or more.

ninerfan779257

yeah my husband would kill me if i spent 1k lol thank you!

phoebebebe13

ninerfan779257 wrote: »

thanks! Do you have a link to one. i can spend about 700 don't need monitor

Ifd your budget is $700 http://www.bestbuy.com/site/cyberpowerpc-gamer-xtreme-vr-desktop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-1tb-hard-drive-black-blue/5641629.p?skuId=5641629

chesterbigbird

It seems the price on the 1060 one i posted.. (which had SSD) has vanished, it was cheaper then the AMD one i posted. Must of been on sale.