Comments | simply_sims3: Buying New Computer

ninners_sims in simply_sims3

Buying New Computer

Jun 16, 2010 10:16

I got rid of my laptop and am shopping for a new computer. Obviously, something along the lines of an Alienware would be the best bet, but I'm a college student, and my budget isn't that big. I am looking at refurbished computers, so I can get a bit of a better one than just going to bestbuy or something. Can anyone help me out as far as figuring ( Read more... )

game speed, graphics, game compatibility, discussion, specs, technical, game bugs and issues, crashing

Comments 11

teenagewitch June 16 2010, 18:06:09 UTC

I am not sure which company you are going through but Dell has some great computers refurbished with good video cards. I recommend getting a computer with a 1gb video card.

pearkiwi June 16 2010, 19:35:42 UTC

Alienware would actually not be the best bet, as you'd be paying a lot more for the name. Plus, they tend to heat up a lot.

Check out the computer buying guide atmodthesims, it even has links. :D

sawcat June 16 2010, 19:53:00 UTC

All computers really heat up, especially gaming ones. Just depends on how well the manufacturer designed the cooling features that really matters. Benefit of the gaming lines, like Dell's Alienware ones is they are designed to better handle all the heat put off by the video card(s), processors and drives, more than the standard lines.

pearkiwi June 16 2010, 20:43:05 UTC

I meant over heating & shutting down. That was the common complaint I saw when I was look for a new computer and checking out alienware.

Note to self: say what you mean. And poof read better.

sawcat June 16 2010, 21:54:13 UTC

ah ok. I gave up on Dell desktops after either the Motherboard or Power supply failed in little over 2 years and being so very proprietary parts. Ended up scavenging the non-proprietary parts and building new.

sawcat June 16 2010, 19:44:45 UTC

Is the sims basically all you play, or do you play other computer games? If you don't get into fancier games, Alienware would be a bit of overkill (they do sell their own refurbished computer, they have a link through their site ( ... )

nameless_cricke June 16 2010, 20:01:38 UTC

I second newegg and http://www.techforless.com/ my boyfriends brother got an awesome computer for really cheap from techforless a few months back.
Or you could get a decent computer that basically has all you need and spend a little extra to get a better videocard. We got my video card 2 years ago off Newegg. It was a hundred and something dollar card at the time that we managed to catch at 60 bucks.
Make sure you look for pcs with PCI-Xpress slots, AGP are nearly dead. PCIx 2.0 is good right now.

ninners_sims June 17 2010, 02:21:41 UTC

The sims is all I play, but the computer will also be the one I use for school. I prefer a laptop for school, but I realize that going that route may mean sacrificing some power. My Acer Aspire 4330 worked marginally okay. It did lag, and froze occasionally, but I dunno how much of that was computer issue and how much was just the way TS3 is.

sawcat June 17 2010, 06:59:12 UTC

I just bought a laptop for work- I customized a F series Vaio by Sony. I also put Sims 2 and 3 on it to fill any entertainment need if overnighting. I run 3 with no cc besides AwesomeMod, and it runs great. Only thing I noticed was the trees in the neighborhood don't show when in neighborhood mode (I can live with that since they show zoomed in). Got it during a free bluray upgrade, and it ended up about $1500 including tax (and some of the nicer upgrades too), but The non customizable one rated well by Cnet (they rated some of the top laptops available in a brick and mortar store). I got a Geforce GT 330M card with 1 GB ram. Toshiba had some nice ones in the similar range, with a variety of feature setups, so you may want to look around there. If you aren't looking for a bluray drive, you've got loads of options. If you remember that for ram and processors, higher numbers are faster, & Windows 7 as a 64 bit can take more ram overall (they will say this on the site), you can browse around at online sites, and just maybe look up ( ... )

ninners_sims June 17 2010, 02:20:03 UTC

Wow, as much as I appreciate all the comments and advice, I'm not so good at decoding technology terms, and feel slightly overwhelmed (also, it's almost time for bed, so I'm tired too), I'll definitely check out the links though. So far, I've looked at the Dell site quite a bit, and the refurbished ones aren't much cheaper than the new ones, so I'm not sure which way I want to go there. Thank you everyone.

penguinsane June 17 2010, 22:18:25 UTC

Alienware, despite the hype, are not that great of computers anymore. They're horribly overpriced and I've heard their customer service has gotten worse since Dell took over.

If you aren't able to build your own, look into "build it for you" websites such as:

http://ibuypower.com/
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

The most important thing is to get a a processor, RAM, and a graphics card to support the game. Splurge a bit on the graphics card and stay away with stuff advertised as having "on-board video memory." You're going to want to look for something with dedicated video memory.