Does your game run fairly fast (sims2)?

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

I've switched back to sims 1 because I'm so tired of looking at the
hourglass. For those of you whose game runs fairly quickly, at least
enjoyable enough to play regularly, what do you consider minimum in
motherboard, speed, ram and especially does the video card make a diff and
what is yours? Thanks!

--

·.·´¨ ¨)) -:¦:- ¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
Kristy
((¸¸.·´ ..·´-:¦:- ((¸¸ ·.·

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

Thanks! When I save up the money I'm getting my PC upgraded.

"Jeanie" <Nobody@home.com> wrote in message
news:Fv6pe.29697$nG6.10350@attbi_s22...
> Kristy wrote:
>> I've switched back to sims 1 because I'm so tired of looking at the
>> hourglass. For those of you whose game runs fairly quickly, at least
>> enjoyable enough to play regularly, what do you consider minimum in
>> motherboard, speed, ram and especially does the video card make a
>> diff and what is yours? Thanks!
>
> I have no idea what kind of motherboard I have. I'm using a Dell
> Dimension
> 8200, with a P4 2.8Mhz processor, with 768MB of RDRAM. My video card is a
> Nvidia GeForce4 MX 420 with 64MB of video RAM. The game runs fine on my
> computer. It takes it a while to load each neighborhood and house because
> I've got a lot of downloads. I'd like to upgrade my hard drive (which is
> only 40GB with about 11GB left on it) and get a better video card. Some
> day!
>
> I really think you need at least 512MB of RAM to run this game properly
> with
> at least 64MB on your video card, regardless of what the system
> requirements
> on the game box says.
>
>
> Jeanie
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 01:12:05 GMT, "Jeanie" <Nobody@home.com> wrote:

>I have no idea what kind of motherboard I have. I'm using a Dell Dimension
>8200, with a P4 2.8Mhz processor, with 768MB of RDRAM. My video card is a
>Nvidia GeForce4 MX 420 with 64MB of video RAM. The game runs fine on my

Wow, you actually have RAMBUS memory!? hehehe

>computer. It takes it a while to load each neighborhood and house because
>I've got a lot of downloads. I'd like to upgrade my hard drive (which is

It takes a good long time for me too, and I don't have that many. I
haven't noticed a significant increase in time after adding in a bunch
either.

>only 40GB with about 11GB left on it) and get a better video card. Some
>day!

Pop in a 200GB harddrive and a decent videocard and you're set for
several years more.

>I really think you need at least 512MB of RAM to run this game properly with
>at least 64MB on your video card, regardless of what the system requirements
>on the game box says.

I'd have to agree. Sims 2 really enjoys memory. 768MB of Rambus should
be plenty though.

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

Kristy wrote:
> I've switched back to sims 1 because I'm so tired of looking at the
> hourglass. For those of you whose game runs fairly quickly, at least
> enjoyable enough to play regularly, what do you consider minimum in
> motherboard, speed, ram and especially does the video card make a
> diff and what is yours? Thanks!

I have an Athlon XP 1.67GHz, 1GB DDR333, MSI KT6 Delta, Radeon 9200SE 128MB
DDR, 69 downloads and University.

I would say as a minimum you need a good Athlon or low P4, 512MB DDR or 1GB
SD (I'd sugets against SD as DDR is better and SD is dying), there's
millions of motherboards so just get one that will support everything else,
and Radeon 9200 128MB, I don't know about a Nvidia equivalent.

It currently takes about 30 secs to load the game, a neighbourhood or a
house. For some reason I found that installing university spead it up.

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 06:35:28 GMT, "Jeanie" <Nobody@home.com> wrote:

>> Pop in a 200GB harddrive and a decent videocard and you're set for
>> several years more.
>
>That's my plan, though the HD is more likely to be a bit smaller than that.
>I'm trying to decide on which video card to go for.

Samsung Spinpoint! Very quiet, very fast, very cheap, very reliable.
For a vidcard, what's your budget?

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

On Mon, 6 Jun 2005 15:13:57 -0700, "Kristy" <Wembeley@noneayobiz.com>
wrote:

>I've switched back to sims 1 because I'm so tired of looking at the
>hourglass. For those of you whose game runs fairly quickly, at least
>enjoyable enough to play regularly, what do you consider minimum in
>motherboard, speed, ram and especially does the video card make a diff and
>what is yours? Thanks!

Mine runs fairly fast on my Athlon 64 3700+ with 2GM memory, 200GB
serial ATA HD and Radeon 9800pro video card. Having tried the game on
variuos systems, I would say that memory and video cards are what make
the biggest difference. 1GB memory and a good video card is what I
would recommend.

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

Guardian Pegasus wrote:
> On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 16:35:27 GMT, "Jeanie" <Nobody@home.com> wrote:
>
>> It will depend on whether I've won at bingo lately. <g>
>> Probably around $200 or less, though.
>
> Either spend 120-30$ on a Radeon 9800 PRO or throw in a few more bucks
> and buy a 6600GT or Ultra. But no LE, Se or any other designation :-)

Thanks. I made a note of that.

Jeanie

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

Have you tried turning down
> the graphical options to a minimum?
>
I haven't tried that but I will, thx!

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

On Tue, 7 Jun 2005 12:49:06 -0700, "Kristy" <Wembeley@noneayobiz.com>
wrote:

>Thanks. I have 2400+ Athlon but only 264 memory and the factory video card.
>Sounds like I need more memory and possibly a good video card.

Exactly right. A 2400... intriguing... both the older Thoroughbred
24's and the new Barton's were for the most part extremely
overclockable. Mine ran at 3800+ with no problem. You should try
overclocking it. When your computer starts, hit "DEL" look through the
various menues with arrow up/down... see if you can't crank that baby
up. It may quite likely be necessary to set the memory multiplier
lower, since the memory and CPU bus (FSB) are tied into eachother.

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

Cool, I'll give it a try.
"Guardian Pegasus"
<Pope.Been-a-Dick.Adolf.Panzer.Rat.Nazinger.Torquemada.II@holysee.va> wrote
in message news:a1vba111gpukgpkemhntb0oci7lu60edu5@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 7 Jun 2005 12:49:06 -0700, "Kristy" <Wembeley@noneayobiz.com>
> wrote:
>
>>Thanks. I have 2400+ Athlon but only 264 memory and the factory video
>>card.
>>Sounds like I need more memory and possibly a good video card.
>
> Exactly right. A 2400... intriguing... both the older Thoroughbred
> 24's and the new Barton's were for the most part extremely
> overclockable. Mine ran at 3800+ with no problem. You should try
> overclocking it. When your computer starts, hit "DEL" look through the
> various menues with arrow up/down... see if you can't crank that baby
> up. It may quite likely be necessary to set the memory multiplier
> lower, since the memory and CPU bus (FSB) are tied into eachother.

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

"Kristy" <Wembeley@noneayobiz.com> wrote in message
news:Y_SdnRqg_ZlHVznfRVn-sw@adelphia.com...
> I've switched back to sims 1 because I'm so tired of looking at the
> hourglass. For those of you whose game runs fairly quickly, at least
> enjoyable enough to play regularly, what do you consider minimum in
> motherboard, speed, ram and especially does the video card make a diff and
> what is yours? Thanks!
>

A few months ago, I upgraded to a Radeon 9550 256MB video card, and got a
HUGE boost over the 64MB built in video card my homemade machine had. I had
a P4 1.8GHZ with 1GB of RAM. I found that the video card made a heck of a
lot more difference than most anything else I did.

I decided to build a new machine anyway, but I kept the 9550 video card I
just bought. I built an AMD 3200+ with 1 GB of RAM, and 160 GB of hard disc
space on the main drive. I have a 120 GB secondary drive, but I use it for
video editing.

I tired of buying "boxed" computers. Building one is more expensive, but
it's not too hard, and doesn't seem to be quite so cranky. They pre-load
most of the "boxed" computers with so much rubbish, and some aren't quite as
easy to upgrade, I just decided to start making my own.

--
Emily E

www.emilyw.com

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

Kristy wrote:
> I've switched back to sims 1 because I'm so tired of looking at the
> hourglass. For those of you whose game runs fairly quickly, at least
> enjoyable enough to play regularly, what do you consider minimum in
> motherboard, speed, ram and especially does the video card make a
> diff and what is yours? Thanks!

Mine runs fairly fast. My cpu is only 1.53 gHz but I do have 768 of RAM and
a good video card. Speed has not been a problem for me.

Gareeth

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

"Guardian Pegasus"
<Pope.Been-a-Dick.Adolf.Panzer.Rat.Nazinger.Torquemada.II@holysee.va>
wrote in message news7vba1tc7sejssrj9vl35bsnma7f8rqbaa@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 22:00:32 +0200, Guardian Pegasus
> <Pope.Been-a-Dick.Adolf.Panzer.Rat.Nazinger.Torquemada.II@holysee.va>
> wrote:
>
>>overclockable. Mine ran at 3800+ with no problem. You should try
>
> And by that I mean, the 2400+ which was IIRC a 1.47Ghz CPU ran at
> 2.4Ghz :-D

How do you overclock? Oh dear, I may be getting into something over my
head here. LOL

Betty

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 20:14:52 GMT, "Will Bradshaw"
<spam@beasolutions.com> wrote:

>PCI Express looks exactly the same as PCI, except for the fact that it is
>round the other way. IE, the short group of 'contacts' between the card and
>socket is closer to the connections (VGA, DVI, etc.) than the long group.

Aaahh

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 23:35:32 GMT, "Jeanie" <Nobody@home.com> wrote:

>Thanks for that. I was looking at video cards at Best Buy a couple of
>weekends ago and saw those PCI Express ones and wondered if they'd work in
>my computer's PCI slot. I'm glad to have this information. I'll likely be
>looking for an AGP card. I've been looking online for that one you

Right click on your desktop, one of your NVIDIA or ATI (depending on
what card you have) tabs should tell you if there's an AGP involved
there, because it'll be set to AGP 4 or 8 most likely.

>mentioned and it's expensive! The Radeon 9800 PRO 256MB DDR AGP card at
>Best Buy is $499.99. The ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9800 PRO 128 MB DDR AGP

HUH. No way! They cost like 120$ here!

>card is $299.99. Both are a bit steep for me, I'm afraid.

Sounds like someone's trying to cheat you. You can also order
components online, it's usually cheaper, and almost as safe. If you
have a problem, you just cover the cost of mailing it back and they
send you a replacement product.

>I don't want to spend over $200, because that will bite into my hard drive
>budget, too.

I see... Best Buy eh? Hmm...

If you really want to shop at Best Buy I suggest you get this one.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspag [...] 8124982680

It's basically a Radeon 9800 PRO in a new package, it may even be a
little be faster, but it's 70$ more expensive than if you say, order a
9800 PRO online or in a good component store.

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 06:17:55 GMT, "Will Bradshaw"
<spam@beasolutions.com> wrote:

>It will be somewhere in the bios setup - mine is under 'frequencies and
>voltages'. But be careful as you could irrepairably damage your processor.

Not by overclocking. Your computer will just crash. But if you
overvolt and your CPU cooling is insufficient and you don't have your
system set for temperature shutdown, it could melt your CPU, even
though that too is unlikely, since a CPU normally runs at 30-70C
degrees and has a cooking point of 110C

>I looked into overclocking mine, but I don't think the heat sync would be
>able to handle it because of my poorly designed case - the PSU is *directly*
>above it with about 5mm space, so the CPU gets quite hot and the system gets
>very hot, so I ended up buying a sys fan. If I wanted to overclock, I would
>need a new case.

Dunno about that, anyone can overclock. Try *just* increasing the CPU
speed, with no change in voltage or anything, and install Motherboard
Monitor or the like to monitor temperature.

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

On Tue, 7 Jun 2005 20:19:37 -0500, "Betty" <bdj2005@nospamvalor.com>
wrote:

>I have to disagree about building a computer costing more. My son built
>a computer for
>around 700 dollars that was equal to most 2000 ones. Maybe I
>misunderstood you?

Smart kid :-)

My brother in law bought himself a 5000$ Compaq dollar computer about
a year ago. My homebuilt 1200$ put it to shame :-)

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 07:17:47 GMT, "Will Bradshaw"
<spam@beasolutions.com> wrote:

>'To upgrade' means to take out old hardware and put newer, better hardware
>in. So by upgrading a graphics card you are putting a newer, better one in.

Yeah, I just don't understand why someone would do that to go from 128
to 256.. the performance difference in current applications is like
1-2%.

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 11:04:20 +0200, Strider <aaaa@aaa.aa> wrote:

>On some motherboards, if you increase the CPU speed by changing
>frequency and/or multiplier you also increase the speed of the memory
>and some memory modules don't like that. The result is damaged files
>and crashes. Happened all the time with my old computer with Twinmos
>memory chips.

They can become corrupted in memory, but I don't believe they're
physically corrupted on the harddrive?

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 13:04:19 +0200, Strider <aaaa@aaa.aa> wrote:

>Yes, they were. Especially compressed HD images created by Symantec
>Ghost, all of them became corrupt when I overclocked. When I didn't
>overclock the images were all right. Overclocking worked OK with
>Kingston memory on the same motherboard and the same CPU, so I'm sure
>it was the memory.

Ouch. Never happened to me, but then I bench the computer pretty hard
before I give it a clean bill of health.

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

Guardian Pegasus wrote:
> On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 23:35:32 GMT, "Jeanie" <Nobody@home.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for that. I was looking at video cards at Best Buy a couple
>> of weekends ago and saw those PCI Express ones and wondered if
>> they'd work in my computer's PCI slot. I'm glad to have this
>> information. I'll likely be looking for an AGP card. I've been
>> looking online for that one you
>
> Right click on your desktop, one of your NVIDIA or ATI (depending on
> what card you have) tabs should tell you if there's an AGP involved
> there, because it'll be set to AGP 4 or 8 most likely.
>
>> mentioned and it's expensive! The Radeon 9800 PRO 256MB DDR AGP
>> card at Best Buy is $499.99. The ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9800 PRO
>> 128 MB DDR AGP
>
> HUH. No way! They cost like 120$ here!
>
>> card is $299.99. Both are a bit steep for me, I'm afraid.
>
> Sounds like someone's trying to cheat you. You can also order
> components online, it's usually cheaper, and almost as safe. If you
> have a problem, you just cover the cost of mailing it back and they
> send you a replacement product.
>
>> I don't want to spend over $200, because that will bite into my hard
>> drive budget, too.
>
> I see... Best Buy eh? Hmm...
>
> If you really want to shop at Best Buy I suggest you get this one.
>
>
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspag [...] &productCa
tegoryId=cat01151&id=1108124982680
>
> It's basically a Radeon 9800 PRO in a new package, it may even be a
> little be faster, but it's 70$ more expensive than if you say, order a
> 9800 PRO online or in a good component store.

Every one I've been able to find online was well over $200, though. That
one you list up there is $200.

Jeanie

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

I just this subject line, and I want to start singing the Irish Rovers.

Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?

-georg
happy with the 1.8 gig processor and the 1.4 gig graphic card

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

Thanks for the info but I think I'll just leave things as they are. LOL
I probably would screw things up.

Betty

"Will Bradshaw" <spam@beasolutions.com> wrote in message
news:n4wpe.5297$jS3.1194@newsfe2-win.ntli.net...
> Betty wrote:
>> How do you overclock? Oh dear, I may be getting into something over
>> my
>> head here. LOL
>
> It will be somewhere in the bios setup - mine is under 'frequencies
> and voltages'. But be careful as you could irrepairably damage your
> processor. I looked into overclocking mine, but I don't think the heat
> sync would be able to handle it because of my poorly designed case -
> the PSU is *directly* above it with about 5mm space, so the CPU gets
> quite hot and the system gets very hot, so I ended up buying a sys
> fan. If I wanted to overclock, I would need a new case.
>

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

Have you tried NewEgg? That's where I bought my video card and my son
bought all the stuff
to build his computer, it's a pretty good site and popular.

http://www.newegg.com/

Betty

"Jeanie" <Nobody@home.com> wrote in message
news:sMGpe.36138$nG6.23933@attbi_s22...
> Guardian Pegasus wrote:
>> On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 23:35:32 GMT, "Jeanie" <Nobody@home.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks for that. I was looking at video cards at Best Buy a couple
>>> of weekends ago and saw those PCI Express ones and wondered if
>>> they'd work in my computer's PCI slot. I'm glad to have this
>>> information. I'll likely be looking for an AGP card. I've been
>>> looking online for that one you
>>
>> Right click on your desktop, one of your NVIDIA or ATI (depending on
>> what card you have) tabs should tell you if there's an AGP involved
>> there, because it'll be set to AGP 4 or 8 most likely.
>>
>>> mentioned and it's expensive! The Radeon 9800 PRO 256MB DDR AGP
>>> card at Best Buy is $499.99. The ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9800 PRO
>>> 128 MB DDR AGP
>>
>> HUH. No way! They cost like 120$ here!
>>
>>> card is $299.99. Both are a bit steep for me, I'm afraid.
>>
>> Sounds like someone's trying to cheat you. You can also order
>> components online, it's usually cheaper, and almost as safe. If you
>> have a problem, you just cover the cost of mailing it back and they
>> send you a replacement product.
>>
>>> I don't want to spend over $200, because that will bite into my hard
>>> drive budget, too.
>>
>> I see... Best Buy eh? Hmm...
>>
>> If you really want to shop at Best Buy I suggest you get this one.
>>
>>
> http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspag [...] &productCa
> tegoryId=cat01151&id=1108124982680
>>
>> It's basically a Radeon 9800 PRO in a new package, it may even be a
>> little be faster, but it's 70$ more expensive than if you say, order
>> a
>> 9800 PRO online or in a good component store.
>
> Every one I've been able to find online was well over $200, though.
> That
> one you list up there is $200.
>
> Jeanie
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

"Betty" <bdj2005@nospamvalor.com> wrote in message
news:g-idndnNEbXJHjrfRVn-uA@valortelecom.com...
>
>>
> Yes, but they are just cheap computers. A good computer equaled to what
> you can build for
> 800 dollars will be a lot more than 800 dollars store bought. That's what
> I meant.
> As the old sayin goes.......you get what you pay for. LOL or something to
> that effect.
>
> Betty

Yes, and it's actually kind of fun to put one together yourself.
--
Emily E

www.emilyw.com