Upgrade advice please. PC too slow for games

balimar

As stated in title, our PC is unable to play Sims 3 correctly. Too old and too basic.
Minimum Sims 3 game Windows XP requirements are as follows>>>
Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
1 GB RAM
At least 6.5 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content
128 MB video card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0


Got the opportunity to buy second hand PC, but just do not understand enough. Would this be sufficient for playing games like Sims 3 and what would you pay for the tower alone.??
Any advice on the following would be greatly appreciated, before i waste my money and the kids end up disappointed.
Thanking you in advance, mum to two hopeful children

CPU:
Intel Pentium® Dual Core Processor (4M Cache, 3.40 GHz, 800 MHz FSB)
Number of Cores: 2
Number of Threads: 2
Clock Speed: 3.4 GHz
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Motherboard (with onboard 7.1Channel HD Audio)ASrock ConRoe945G-DVI
LGA 775 for Intel® Dual Core Core™ 2 Extreme / Core™ 2 Duo / Pentium® D / Pentium® 4 / Celeron® D processors
Intel® 945G Chipset
Supports FSB 1066/800/533 MHz processor, EM64T CPU and H-T Technology
Supports Dual Channel DDRII667/533 x 4 DIMM slots with max. capacity up to 4GB
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950, Pixel Shader 2.0, DirectX 9.0 and Max. shared memory 224MB
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, 1 x PCI Express x1 slot
Supports PCIE Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
Dual VGA Output: Support D-Sub and DVI-D ports with DVI Graphics-SI Card by independent display controllers
Hybrid Booster - Safe Overclocking Technology
Untied Overclocking : During Overclocking, FSB enjoys better margin due to fixed PCIE/ PCI Buses
4 x SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors
7.1 CH Windows® Vista™ Premium Level HD Audio (ALC888 Audio Codec)
Worldwide First Embedded MB with Windows® Vista™ Premium Logo
Free Bundle: 1 x DVI Graphics-SI Card
HD 8CH I/O: 4 ready-to-use USB Ports, HD 7.1 channel audio jacks

Memory (4GB DDR2):
Kingston Technology 2GB 667MHz DDR2 Non-ECC CL5 DIMM
Plus VData 2x1GB 533MHz DDR2 Non-Ecc CL5 DIMM

Graphic Card:
ASUS X1600 ATI RADEON 512MB DDR2
CrossFire ready plus safe overclocking using included ASUS Doctor software

Optical Drive:
Samsung WriteMaster SH-S182D 18x
Supported Disc Formats: DVD-RAM, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-R DL, DVD-RW, Light Scribe DVD±R, Light Scribe CD-R, DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA, CD-Audio, Video-CD, Photo CD, CD-I(FMV), CD-Extra, CD-TEXT

Hard Drive:
Samsung HD400LJ 400 GB
Interface: SATA 3.0 Gbps
Buffer DRAM Size: 8 MB

Operating System:
Windows XP SP3 with MS Office 2007

Great connectivity with
DVI-I output, Video-S Output
6 USB Ports (Expandable)
Mic In + Audio Out in Front Panel as well for convenience

JasX

What are the specs of your current PC? is it definitely incapable of meeting the Sims spec or has it just been clogged up with so much junk over the years a reformat might sort it out?

PS on the spec you posted thats a fairly dated graphics card and processor, -you don't indicate the price but I hope its very very cheap

balimar wrote: »

Worldwide First Embedded MB with Windows® Vista™ Premium Logo

Dear god, when was that ever a selling point? :rotfl:

JasX

*double post deleted

gonzo127

well the second hand system 'should' play the sims 3 on the lowest settings

personally from the spec shown i would not want to be spending much more than £100 on due to the age the system must be.

do you have a maximum budget that you can spend as we might be able to find/suggest other options for you

balimar

JasX wrote: »

What are the specs of your current PC? is it definitely incapable of meeting the Sims spec or has it just been clogged up with so much junk over the years a reformat might sort it out?

PS on the spec you posted thats a fairly dated graphics card and processor, -you don't indicate the price but I hope its very very cheap

Def incapable, my old PC is not able to cope for sure.
And price wanted is £250 for the PC i quoted the spec for, so i assume that is too much.:shocked:

balimar

gonzo127 wrote: »

do you have a maximum budget that you can spend as we might be able to find/suggest other options for you

That old cliche < not too much >, because it really is just for young kids gaming.

Psychofly

£250 for the spec listed is very expensive !

gonzo127

yes £250 for that is expensive, this for example

http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/configurePrd.asp?idproduct=701

with a couple of upgrades such as
RAM up to 2GB
Graphics card to either ATI 4550 or the nVidia GT210 (i would probably go ATI on this one based on the conclusion here http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gt-220,2445-18.html which states the 4550 is still better)
(i would also upgrade to windows 7 64 bit from the 32 bit version)
plus the delivery (which is £25) makes a brand new system around £300 which is a lot better value

and yes i know some of the figures on the second hand system might make it seem better such as having 4GB of RAM whereas the system mentioned above only has 2GB, however the second hand system is using unmatched RAM which runs at the lowest speed ie the 533mhz you will also find they are probably only running windows XP 32 bit as the operating system which can only use a maximum of 3.5gb of ram, and when taking into account the graphics card that the system comes with takes up over 500mb of that it will only leave the system a maximum of 3gb to play with anyway

same as the CPU, it might sound better to have the 3.4ghz CPU over a duel 2.5ghz one however processors have changed a lot over the last few years and the clock speed is not always as explanatory as it used to be as manufactorers have been working on getting more information through per mhz instead of just more mhz for example here shows a idea of the performance http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Celeron+E3300+%40+2.50GHz the pentium d 3.4 ghz CPU is right at the bottom with a score of 924 where as the celeron listed above scores 1679

EDIT FOR QUICK DISCLAIMER
i personally do not know anything about DinoPC whom the system i have picked out comes from, i have not used them myself or know anyone who has - but then again i tend to build all my friends and familys systems for them, this was just a very quick search online for a 'example' system although they are probably a really good company as i have seen them around for a good few years as i said i just do not know anyone who has used them to confirm if they are or not

JasX

balimar wrote: »

Def incapable, my old PC is not able to cope for sure.
And price wanted is £250 for the PC i quoted the spec for, so i assume that is too much.:shocked:

well without specs we'll have to bow to your expertise there, the machine you posted specs for is worth less than £100.

balimar

JasX wrote: »

well without specs we'll have to bow to your expertise there, the machine you posted specs for is worth less than £100.

Bow to my expertise :rotfl:LOL. On good authority tho and a very trusted source, but needed a second opinion from you guys who i hold in high esteem.

A big thank-you and thanks for saving me £250 for something worth a lot less.

Hammyman

A 5 -7 year old computer with a nVidia graphics card in can play the Sims. You just need to add a cheap graphics card with 128MB RAM on it - something like an old nVidia 6600 would more than suffice and are £20-£30 on Ebay.