Building/Upgrading a PC for TS2

[witch]

I remember what that felt like the xmas before last. I drove to the next city to get the parts. The guy said, 'why didn't you have them couriered?' It had never even occurred to me. I don't think I would have trusted anyone to deliver me the bits! I was shaking with excitement the next day, laid everything out ready in their little boxes, checked all the cables. Read RTFMs, touched things lovingly. Hah, I'm not a nerd.

[Moa]

When my computer went down last night and wouldn't boot, part of my brain was thinking 'oh no my motherboard is gone' and part of my brain was thinking 'yay my motherboard is gone'. I keep looking at the dual core processors and putting together an upgrade list, but Intel dual core currently blows AMD dual core out of the water, so a new (Intel) processor and new motherboard would inevitably lead to new RAM and probably a new power supply ... and I really try to make each new computer last 3-4 years. I've got another year to go with the current rig, at least.

Much better having to replace the graphics card.

[witch]

I'm going to shout myself a laptop this year, I have to go away several times for a few days at a time and I get so bored without gaming. I've been an AMD fan for years, but I'll probably go Intel core duo at the moment, because, as you say, Intel are currently fastest. In fact they came out with their core duo about 3-4 months after I bought my AMD dual core. (Of course).

[twistingsims]

Thank you sooo much everyone for your suggestions, I don't know what I'd do without your awesome help!  I will be getting my own tech person to put together a system for me, not a local store as I can't trust their prices and over exuberent sales pitches!

Okay so here's what I've gathered from your notes, the Intel 965 Motherboard (Integrated Video/Sound/NIC) part is okay?

The 3.2 GHz Celeron D/533 Mhz is not as good as the Celeron single core, but the duo core Celeron could be the way to go, or go with a single core Duron or AMD equivalent.

In reference to the 1 GB DDR2 533 MHz RAM, thank you jsalemi for the info, and I would definitely be adding another 1 gb of Memory to that! 

The 250 GB S-ATA II WD 7200 RPM 16 MB HD, seems like a good size hard drive and I can always add another later on, if or when we get close to the 8th? expansion pack for the Sims2!! 

As for the Antec 640TX 400W case, I figured this would not be sufficient especially for upgrading the graphic card, which would most likely be the Sapphire X1650 XT (or PRO) 256 MB, at a much more reasonable price of course!

So the Antec 480W PurePower 2.0  or higher would be a good choice?

I just really want to make sure I get the right stuff the first time, especially with the ever increasing graphics of the upcoming expansion packs.  I'd like to at least make it compatible for 3 to 4 years! 

[KatEnigma]

Forget the word Celeron. Celerons bad. Intel Core 2 Duo's (or even a Solo) good.  An AMD X2 would also be okay, but not as good as an Intel Duo.

If you're looking at 3-4 years use, you really should consider the x1900 or x1950, though.

[Akharra]

Of course I have a Celeron!   

Hi!

I am attempting to upgrade my video card. I would like to buy the best card that I can that my processor can handle. I have a 550 watt power supply. I have a 2.6 and 2 gigs of ram. 80 gig hard drive.

I am looking to spend a maximum of $200.00.

Would someone please advise me on what to buy?

Thank You!

Edited to say I have a PCI slot.

Edit   I am looking at either an Ati 1300 or an  x1550 pro (both 256 memory). The 1300 is on the list of supported cards, the x1550 is not. Does that matter?

[DrBeast]

Of course I have a Celeron!   

Hi!

I am attempting to upgrade my video card. I would like to buy the best card that I can that my processor can handle. I have a 550 watt power supply. I have a 2.6 and 2 gigs of ram. 80 gig hard drive.

I am looking to spend a maximum of $200.00.

Would someone please advise me on what to buy?

Thank You!

Edited to say I have a PCI slot.

I hope you mean you have an PCI-E slot, not plain PCI.
Maximum $200...hm...Here's a few suggestions: do you play other games besides TS2? If yes and extensively, then go for an nVidia 7600GT, truly amazing mid-range card for about $130-$150 (depends on the manufacturer). If you're a sims-fanatic, ATi is the road to follow. For about $160-$190 you get an X1950Pro. Of course the Celery will act like a handbrake with regards to processing power, but at least you'll have a pretty fine card when you decide to get rid of it and get a decent processor *nudge nudge hint hint*
If you don't plan on upgrading the CPU any time soon, I think a cheaper graphics card is in order...for about $90-$100 you can get either an nVidia 7600GS (one step down from the GT) or a Radeon X1650Pro or even X1650XT (in Radeon models, XTs are better than Pro). Downside is, most of those cards in this price range will have the slower DDR2 memory instead of the faster DDR3 the more expensive models carry, but still the bottleneck will remain your Celery.

Edit   I am looking at either an Ati 1300 or an  x1550 pro (both 256 memory). The 1300 is on the list of supported cards, the x1550 is not. Does that matter?

Nope.

ETA to syberspunk: sorry for leaving your questions unanswered bud, but I don't check in here that often any more as you might know, and by the time I checked in again your thread was already reeking of decomposition, buried somewhere along Page 2 and 3  Oh, and you had already ordered the parts 

[Akharra]

Yes, it is a PCI. I bought this computer before I knew any better. Next year I am building my own gaming pc. For now, though, I need to upgrade a little or my eyes will start to bleed!
Actually, Sims plays fairly well. Just very, very ugly.

Thanks! I think I will go with the 1300/ 256. I hope it helps!

[syberspunk]

Read RTFMs, touched things lovingly. Hah, I'm not a nerd.

* syberspunk has mental images of witch gently fondleing her power cords and caressing her various computer parts, holding them up to cheek.

Lol


As for the rest of you:

@twisingsims:

kate has it right, forget Celeron. Celeron is JUNK!  It is totally not worth it, unless you are like super dirt po' and really can't afford a REAL processor, and/or it is an Emergency, and you really need a cheap computer NOW.  Otherwise, as Pescado says, sell your ass until you can scrape up enough loot to be a REAL processor.

Also... I would bump up to the x19N0 series (1900, 1950, or 1950 PRO, etc.), if at all possible.  As Beasty says, it's worth the extra.  And since you're bothering to build your new compy from scratch, I think the extra 30-50$ is totally worth it.  If you're going NVidia, then I also agree, and say the 7600GX to the 79N0 GX is the way to go.

Finally... once you've selected your mobo and graphics card, check the specs for each to see what the power requirement is.  The higher end cards require more power.  480W seems decent, but I've seen some specs of more powerful cards say at least 500W.


@Akharra:

Ack, you only have a PCI slot?  If you're computer is that old, you should check if you have an AGP slot.  AGP is definitely better/faster than PCI.  I think older computers at least had AGP slots.  My old machine is about 4 years old, I got it from Best Buy, and it has an AGP slot.  So... I would hope that, if you got your machine later than that, you should have an AGP slot.  On my old mobo, the AGP slot was brown and the PCI slots are white.

Most of the prices that people report here are probably PCI-E cards.  AGP cards are more expensive.  I'm not sure about regular ole PCI cards... but I would think PCI is probably crap in comparison, so the extra cost for AGP would still be better.  Unfortunately, an AGP card would most likely limit your upgradeability, as newer mobos don't seem to have AGP slots anymore.  And even tho newer mobos do still have regular ole PCI slots, you would be better off getting a PCI-E card anyways.  So... it seems that, no matter what card you get now, it probably won't help as much in the future for your next machine. :-/

@DrBeast:

Oh poop! Well... even though I did purchase the items, I had other questions about building the machine itself.  But oh wells... I ended up putting the OS on the SATA drive.  Hopefully, by week's end, I'll be back up and running, playing Seasons on my shiny new PC.

Ste

[Akharra]

syberspunk:

Definatly a PCI only...sigh!

Next year at tax time, I should have about $1,000.00 - $1,500.00 to spend on a new gaming rig. I have 3 pc's at the moment (old, older, and oldest). I figure I can use it somewhere. This is just to tide me over. Thanks for the advice!

[DrBeast]

Yes, it is a PCI. I bought this computer before I knew any better. Next year I am building my own gaming pc. For now, though, I need to upgrade a little or my eyes will start to bleed!

My eyes bleed just by reading that!

Thanks! I think I will go with the 1300/ 256. I hope it helps!

You might be interested in this X1550 if you're in the States (judging by the times you post, it looks like you're in North America scratch that, Forum Time went bonkers on me again  ). With the rebate and all, it's a pretty good deal. Otherwise, I think $100+ for a bloody PCI card is a waste of money. You'd be better off with a plain old Radeon 9250 for a little over $50 (like this one) and an ample supply of artificial tears 

[witch]

Read RTFMs, touched things lovingly. Hah, I'm not a nerd.

* syberspunk has mental images of witch gently fondleing her power cords and caressing her various computer parts, holding them up to cheek.

Was it you looking in my window then!

[Paperbladder]

I've got a question about Hard Drives, a commonly overlooked component in PCs.

I currently use a 100GB 5200RPM SATA HDD in my notebook, and I recently got a 500GB 7200RPM Western Digital External HDD with 16MB Cache.  I'm wondering If I'll take a speed hit by running the game off of the external since it has to go through a USB 2.0 connection.

[Aggie]

Well, I thought I might ask some advice from the resident people-who-know-what-they're-talking-about crowd.

I purchased a new video card today and am just waiting until Monday to get in installed on my CPU (I know absolutely nothing about installing hardware beyond that one time I added some RAM, so I figured I'd let the experts handle it). My question: will my CPU (more specifically, my processor) be able to handle it?

I'm pretty sure this is the card I bought (although the box looks utterly different, but that might be due to the fact that I bought it in Canada?). Here are my system specs:

Processor: AMD Sempron 2800+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.0 GHz
Current Video Card: VIA/S3G Unichrome IGP

If any other info is needed, please let me know. I seem to recall J.M. Pescado saying to me a while ago that my processor would be the problem with handling any sort of upgrades to my CPU, but can't quite recall what was suggested. 

[Akharra]

O.K. I bought and installed an Ati x1300. The graphics are alot better! But, I still cannot play a 3x3 lot with four people and two dogs. No trees/shrubs/plants. No pool. No pond. Gameplay is slow and choppy.

I have 1024 gigs of ram...should I throw in another gig? I downloaded Cacheman XP and when I am on my lot I have about 200mb of ram left.

I have a little over 1 gig of cc. Very few clothes and hair. Is this the problem? 

I kow Celerons suck. It is a 2.6. Is this the bottleneck?

I am at a loss here. I have done everything I know to do. I shut down all security and background tasks. I defragged. I have 19 gigs of free space left. All graphics settings are set on "performance".

I have Xp, would creating a seperate account just for Sims help much?

I am stuck with this system for another year. It does play other games well. Morowind with all expansions, Black & White 2, Star Wars Jedi Academy and Empire at War, Sim City Deluxe. But it plays Sim Stories choppy, too.

If anyone has any suggestions or advice, I would greatly appreciate it. I love this stupid game. 

[jsalemi]

Another gig of RAM will help somewhat, but really, you're probably processor-bound at this point.

[Akharra]

Figures! 

How difficult and expensive would it be to get a new processor? Is it even possible?

[jsalemi]

How difficult and expensive would it be to get a new processor? Is it even possible?

I don't think the Celeron motherboards are upgradeable; you'd have to get a whole new motherboard, with support chips for the new processor.

[Akharra]

Thanks! I have a 550watt power supply, a decent video card...maybe I will just try and buy a PC with all that in it and install my power supply & vid card into that.

I appreciate your help. It's a good thing I like to do research, huh? This game will turn me into a computer pro before this is over!

Again, Thanks!

[Moa]

I found this hardware guide to the Sims 2 to be very informative (it was written for the base game):

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6133243/index.html?type=tech

The Sims 2 is very CPU intensive.

[Akharra]

I' ll go take a look. Thanks!

[Aggie]

Son of a .... 

I went to pick up my CPU with the upgraded card I specified earlier only to find that it didn't fit; I have something referred to as AGP instead of PCI Express. >=( So I had to purchase a lesser video card (I think it's a GeForce 5500 256Mb or something like that). What's even worse is that once I finally got my CPU home and hooked it back up, I couldn't get a signal on my monitor. Those fuckers! Now I have to wait an additional two dsays to get anything done about it (and possibly more, since they didn't seem to have anymore AGP video cards in the store). Sometimes I rue the day that I ever owned a computer. *sighs dramatically*

On a related note, could someone kindly tell me if they think my processor (Sempron 2800+ for those who didn't read my earlier post) is upgradable? Depending upon the cost (and feasibility of it, naturally), I may go for upgrading that first before I get more RAM.

[Moa]

On a related note, could someone kindly tell me if they think my processor (Sempron 2800+ for those who didn't read my earlier post) is upgradable? Depending upon the cost (and feasibility of it, naturally), I may go for upgrading that first before I get more RAM.

I'm sure there are people here who know more about computer hardware than I do, but I think the key may be what upgrades your motherboard can support. My motherboard is made by Gigabyte, and when I go to their website and check out my specific model number I can get a list of supported processors for the board (I can upgrade to an AMD dual core x4800 max, and I'll have to make sure I get a socket 939 processor, because most of the AMD dual core processors are now made for the newer AM2 type boards). If you bought the computer from a regular manufacturer, like Dell, you can probably go to their website and find out what upgrades are available for your system.

[Akharra]

Denimjo....Are you upgrading from Intel integrated graphics? I had the same problem. I had to take out the new video card, turn my pc back on and disable the onboard graphics. Turn the pc back off, install the new video card, and my monitor got a signal again. Read the troubleshooting tips on the cd that came with the card for more detailed instructions. Took about 10 minutes. I hope that's what's wrong as it is easy to fix. Good Luck!

[Aggie]

Denimjo....Are you upgrading from Intel integrated graphics? I had the same problem. I had to take out the new video card, turn my pc back on and disable the onboard graphics. Turn the pc back off, install the new video card, and my monitor got a signal again. Read the troubleshooting tips on the cd that came with the card for more detailed instructions. Took about 10 minutes. I hope that's what's wrong as it is easy to fix. Good Luck!

To be honest, I have no idea if I had Intel integrated graphics or not. I'm too afraid to go messing around with the innards of my computer if I don't know what I'm doing, so I'm brining it back into Staples today to get them to fix it (which they can't do until tomorrow :rage:), but I'll be sure to ask them to give that a try. Thanks for the advice!