What video card?

savemoney

The 5200 wont cut it I had one on a Dell dimension 3000 playing sims 2 and it just about cut it, the sims 3 is far more graphically challenging for that card

As I said before this may but I cant say 100% as each card can vary so much

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/9556293/PNY-Geforce-8400GS-512MB-PCI-Graphics-Card/Product.html

Its dead easy to change graphic cards but one one a dell you have to set the bios I believe to boot from pci card than the on board graphics. Even 3 years ago the on board graphics was dated

Psychofly

Knub wrote: »

Fixed

Problem being both the cards you mentioned are PCI-E. (Unless there is another version I am missing, I doubt a manufacturer would have a PCI and a PCI-E card). To confirm, the OP ONLY HAS PCI SLOTS AVAILABLE.

The specs of the game were also "recommended" not the minimum in terms of model/graphics memory.

If you followed the links in my post above you'd see there are definitely 8400 cards there with PCI interfaces. I THINK I've also seen some 9400 PCI cards elsewhere but not 100% sure which is why I said if possible I'd go for a 9x00 if not then the 8400.

The recommended specs are more often than not woefully inadequate to play a game at a decent frame rate, they are often lower than they really should be in order to boost their appeal to people with lower spec machines. The card you are posting offers far less (not slightly less) performance than the 5900 and as such I would imagine it would run very very poorly if at all.

All the specs I've checked (e.g. here) list the 5900 as the minimum not a recommended. I certainly wouldn't take the risk, the 8400GS is the way to go.

jaydeeuk1

This is a long shot, and may not even work (and if it did, will run like a 1 legged dog) but try this...

http://www.3dfxzone.it/dir/tools/3d_analyze/download/

Its an old program, but is able to 'emulate' (or fool rather) a game in to thinking it is running on a PS 2.0 card. I've used it before (a while ago) on an old intel GMA chipset and it did work surprisingly well.

Might keep your son happy till the new card comes! (with a decent 8400 PCI card and more memory, it might run like a 2 legged dog instead)

savemoney

I cant see how emulation can make a game run better on very outdated hardware, it may work but I cant honestly say it can be quick

TBH I think the best solution is a complete new rig, that may cost around £300-£400 for a reasonable pc, it may be worth trying a card I said for £45, but the main problem with the pc is it aint upgradeable much by todays standards in the case, psu, graphics, mobo and faster ram amongst things

jaydeeuk1

savemoney wrote: »

I cant see how emulation can make a game run better on very outdated hardware, it may work but I cant honestly say it can be quick
s

Didn't say better. Currently the game doesn't run at all, I suggested the above post as a temporary 'fix' to at least get the game to load. As I said, performance won't be very good, even with an improved gfx card.

savemoney

Yes your right I didnt mean it like that although it comes across that way,I did say "it may work but I cant honestly say it can be quick"

Percy1983

As far as i can read see I would really recommend a new computer, upgrading such an old computer can be good money after bad.

Really a cheap dual core (e2***, e4*** or e5***) cheap P31 board £30 power supply, 4Gb Ram and a cheap graphics card (ATi 4670) and for not much money you will have a computer which is easily 5x better than if you upgrade your current system.

Not just that but you could sell your current PC, would still be worth £50-£70 towards the cause.

bertietheblue

Thanks for the replies all!

I'm reluctant to buy a new computer just so my 8 year-old son can play Sims 3 - I mean all other games, including Sims 2, have worked fine so far. Also, I never play computer games myself and my computer works perfectly well for streaming video, the most advanced things I need it for. Still, there is a risk in trying to upgrade and finding you've wasted 50 quid or so.

jaydeeuk1

Sims 3 isn't much more demanding than sims 2 (at least in lower res modes). Give the post I did a shot, have nothing to lose. If you find performance acceptable, then I've saved you £40 in the short term

savemoney

we run it on 2 computers one at 1440x990 I think and another 1280x1024 problem is that lowering resolution might look naff on a lcd unless its on its native resolution