Ati Radeon X3100, do you think it'll be fine for this game?

Appleblossom42

Need to buy new desktop for my daughter. It needs to be able to run the Sims 3 when it comes out. The minimum requirements for the game are:


FOR WINDOWS VISTA
* 2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
* 1.5 GB RAM
* A 128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
* Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1
* At least 6.1 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB of additional space for custom content and saved games


Windows Supported Video Cards

---

NVIDIA GeForce series
FX 5900, FX 5950
6200, 6500, 6600, 6800
7200, 7300, 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
9300, 9400, 9500, 9600, 9800
G100, GT 120, GT 130, GTS 150
GTS 250, GTX 260, GTX 280, GTX 285, GTX 295

ATI Radeon(TM) series
9500, 9600, 9800
X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950
2400, 2600, 2900
3450, 3650, 3850, 3870
4850, 4870

Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA)
GMA 3-Series, GMA 4-Series


This is what I'm thinking of buying but what about the graphics card, do you think it's good enough?


AMD Phenom X4 9550 processor
(2.2GHz, 2MB Cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
4GB DDR2 memory
500GB SATA hard drive (7200rpm)
ATI Radeon HD 3100 graphics
Dual Layer DVD Rewriter
6x USB ports

PogMoThoin

LOL, there's a first, never heard anyone upgrading for The Sims

You'd find it hard to find a pc in use today that couldn't play it. Very low specs TBH

Appleblossom42

That's the minimum and I know lots of people that can't get Sims 2 to play on their computers. That's why I'm asking as I'm not too sure about this card. She'll want to play it with graphics set to maximum. There's a lot of detail in the game and the specs get higher and higher as they add stuff and expansion packs.

TerrorFirmer

Anyone who can't get Sims 2 to play on their computers, to be fair, must be using very old machines, it's incredibly forgiving on hardware...you have to be realistic about these things, a machine pre-dating Sims 2 by several years cannot be used a basis to decide its a demanding game simply because it won't run on those machines.

Sims 3 will easily work fine on the HD3100 but you'll need a far better card to run it on max settings; HD3100 would be good for lowish settings at best I would imagine. It's not a big deal, HD3100 is integrated video on the mobo and you can add a gaming card later in the dedicated PCI-Express lane on the motherboard. E50-60 would get you a card capable of running it at maximum or close to maximum settings.

the_syco

Appleblossom42 wrote: »

ATI Radeon HD 3100 graphics

Once it's a separate card, and not an integrated one, i don't see the problem. Integrated cards are not always detected properly by games.

Appleblossom42

Thanks for the feedback. I emailed EA Games and the base game of Sims 3 will run but the graphics on this pc won't manage the additional expansion packs. They recommend a dedicated graphics card with 600 or 800 as the last three digits. so I'm off to see what I can find.

the_syco

Appleblossom42 wrote: »

They recommend a dedicated graphics card with 600 or 800 as the last three digits.

I knew EA was sh|te, but this takes the biscuit...

Example: an nVidia GTX 280 would be better than a 8600.

Appleblossom42

From what I've been told you're right. Think they meant to get the best from the game not to go any lower than 600 or 800 where there's four digits.

aleoga

Having big problems with trying to get this to work for daughter who is going crazy! It is Vista compatible and I am trying to get it to work on a new dell inspiron with following:

Card name: Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
Display Memory: 358 MB
Dedicated Memory: 0 MB
Shared Memory: 358 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 800 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Driver Name: igdumd32.dll
Driver Version: 7.14.0010.1409 (English)

The game seemed to install and loads with no problem but when she is playing it just stops responding after few minutes- any advice would be great - i have read all sorts of advice but don't really know where to go as haven't a clue about what Drivers and what memory she has - but i thought it would have been ok as is new laptop.

Appleblossom42

Go into a website called "can you run this". It lists all Sims games.It'll tell you where your problem lies. Could be processor or graphics card. My daughter has an up to date Vista laptop and Sims 2 base game and and a few expansion packs will run but not on high settings. This doesn't suit her as she loves detailed graphics. Seasons isn't compatible,think it failed on graphics and processor. Laptop only 160GB hard drive and they won't all fit anyway. Hope this helps.

TerrorFirmer

aleoga wrote: »

Having big problems with trying to get this to work for daughter who is going crazy! It is Vista compatible and I am trying to get it to work on a new dell inspiron with following:

Card name: Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
Display Memory: 358 MB
Dedicated Memory: 0 MB
Shared Memory: 358 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 800 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Driver Name: igdumd32.dll
Driver Version: 7.14.0010.1409 (English)

The game seemed to install and loads with no problem but when she is playing it just stops responding after few minutes- any advice would be great - i have read all sorts of advice but don't really know where to go as haven't a clue about what Drivers and what memory she has - but i thought it would have been ok as is new laptop.

Try changing/updating drivers. Sims 2 definitely works on that card, probably just a minor incompatibility with her current drivers.

aleoga

Hey - thanks. I went on to Can you run it and it said I failed! tHE ONLY THING FAILING IS THE VIDEO CARD -

I have Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family ()
it says i need 32 Mb video RAM. ATI Radeon series 8500 or better, NVIDIA GeForce series GeForce2 GTS and better
it goes on to say my:

Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card Video RAM: Required - 32 MB , You have - 358 MBVideo Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - YesVideo HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes

How do I go about getting a different video card? is this possible? Please say it is!

Appleblossom42

Have exactly the same graphics on my daughters laptop and Sims2 and some expansion packs work fine on medium settings. Out of interest I just ran it through and it is indeed failing when I enter your game. Sims2 deluxe works out fine but it's the Celebration stuff pack that's failing in Double Deluxe. Good news is that the Deluxe and several expansions etc will work, just test on that site before you buy.

Simi

aleoga wrote: »

Hey - thanks. I went on to Can you run it and it said I failed! tHE ONLY THING FAILING IS THE VIDEO CARD -

I have Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family ()
it says i need 32 Mb video RAM. ATI Radeon series 8500 or better, NVIDIA GeForce series GeForce2 GTS and better
it goes on to say my:

Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card Video RAM: Required - 32 MB , You have - 358 MBVideo Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - YesVideo HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes

How do I go about getting a different video card? is this possible? Please say it is!

You can't upgrade the graphics chip/card in a laptop. Try updating your drivers here http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2800&lang=eng . You could also try updating the sims 2 here http://thesims2.ea.com/update/ . Try running it in XP compatability mode if your running vista.

Appleblossom42

"Try running it in XP compatability mode if your running vista"

Just out of interest Simi how do you do this?