Card for Sims 2?

[ChipDeath]

Hmmm.. My sister-in-law just bought The sims2 and is unhappy about how it runs. She wants to know what to upgrade to get it working ok.

Her current rig is a P4 (2 or 2.4 Ghz, can't remember exactly), 400FSB, with 256Mb of SDRAM (yup. one of <i>those</i> :frown: ), and a TNT2 M64 card.

Obviously she needs more RAM, and a better Gfx card, but what card would give a decent level of performance in Sims2? Money's very tight so I would like to find the least expensive option.

So Opinions on best value in the £40 - £70 range or so... which probably equates in real terms to anything under $100 for you US folks.

I was thinking something like a 9600NP maybe? or a Ti4200?

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"Sex without love is an empty experience...
But as empty experiences go, it's one of the best" - Woody Allen

 

[sweatlaserxp]

9600 Pro 128Mb is always a good choice.

<A HREF="http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/landing/landingIndex.jsp?id=dumb01&mature=accept" target="_new">DumbLand</A>

 

[sobelizard]

If you can find a cheap Ti4400, it'll butter through Sims2. That's what I have in my gf's pc. Mate that up with more system ram and you'll be g2g.

<font color=green><b><i>Lizards</font color=green></b> do <b>not</b> taste like <b><font color=yellow>chicken</font color=yellow></b>,<b> <font color=yellow>chicken</font color=yellow></b> tastes like <font color=green><b>lizard.</b></font color=green></i>

 

[cleeve]

For cheap, I'm sure you could get away with a used Geforce3, Radeon 8500, or Radeon 9000 PRO.

Even better would be any used Geforce4 Ti (Ti NOT MX!!!) or 9500 PRO, or new 9600 PRO. Any of these would be great.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Get a GeForce4 Ti4200. Among current generation cards Radeon 9550 (non-SE, 128 bit memory) will be fine.

And make sure that you get at least 512 MB RAM. 1 GB is highly recommended for playing with large lots with large families, and visiting community lots.


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[ChipDeath]

1GB of RAM is the absolute minimum.

She's Still only running 98SE, so with the lower RAM overheads I reckon 512Mb would be acceptable. Plus, I <i>really</i> don't want to waste too much cash on old PC133 stuff - it's not like it'll be much use later on.

Thanks for the input guys, That's about what I was thinking.

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"Sex without love is an empty experience...
But as empty experiences go, it's one of the best" - Woody Allen