HI. i"m not really sure what's going on with my computer. When I first got Sims 3, I was happy to see how well things worked. Seems the more cc's I add the more it slows things down..I am concerned what this means for future ext. packs...and future cc's. Even if i change things in the options panel to get it to run more smoothly now, I know I will run into problems again down the line. Plus I'd like to have a computer that will be able to play Sims 3 in a fairly high detail. I like to play the game, but one thing that I like about playing it is the graphics.
Anyway, I thought my graphics card(listed below)which I had upgraded to over a year ago, along with a new PSU, to play sims 2, was enough for Sims 3.
And I seem to have plenty of ram.
I have had issues here and there with photo programs. I mean I have a good graphics card and lots of ram but sometimes my photo programs will get a little slow..not all of the time but when I'm doing something on a larger project. I bought another gig of ram and it helped, but just a little. I also noticed difficulty with the DAZ (Poser)program. I can use it but I do have trouble with it sometime.
The thing is I'm not a computer nut . I don't know all about it. I have muddled my way through , when I had to to things like upgrading repairs etc.
But I don't know enough about computers to really know what might be the cause of my computer's sometimes graphic sluggishness...
Is it the memory, the graphic card, the processor,.is it simply getting old. Is the older memory not good anymore...I have no idea of what to fix because I don't' know what's wrong.
And on top of that I don't have much money. I am disabled and unemployed because of it. I spend a lot of my time on the computer and a lot of time playing and creating Sims. So it is pretty important to me for that reason that I get the equipment I need to get things to run smoothly. I was hoping that someone might be bale to help me figure out what might be the cause of my issues, and help me find some direction in what I need to do.
Here's is my system info as copied from Belarc..If you need any other info please let me know.
OH and I have 11 gigs of free space on my hard drive.,
thanks,
Babu
Operating System
Windows XP Media Center Edition Service Pack 2 (build 2600)
Install Language: English (United States)
System Locale: English (United States)

System Model
Acer Aspire E360 R01-A4

Processor
2.20 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64
256 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Not hyper-threaded

Main Circuit Board
Board: Acer FC51GM
Bus Clock: 201 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD R01-A4 10/28/2005

Drives
194.78 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
37.69 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

HL-DT-ST DVDRRW GWA-4164B [CD-ROM drive]

Generic 2.0 Reader-CF USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 1
Generic 2.0 Reader-MS USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 4
Generic 2.0 Reader-SD USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 3
Generic 2.0 Reader-SM/xD USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 2
ST3200826AS [Hard drive] (200.05 GB) -- drive 0, SMART Status: Healthy

Memory Modules c,d
3072 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
Slot 'A0' has 512 MB
Slot 'A1' has 512 MB
Slot 'A2' has 1024 MB
Slot 'A3' has 1024 MB

Display
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT [Display adapter]
Acer H233H [Monitor] (23.1"vis, s/n LFS0W0104301, May 2009)

Controllers
Standard floppy disk controller
Primary IDE Channel [Controller] (3x)
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller] (3x)
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller (3x)

If it's only The Sims and your photo editing programs that are having this problem, the first thought that comes to mind is, have you ever defragged your hard disk? Excessive fragmentation (files becoming broken up over time so that they're no longer contiguous) will cause both of the problems you're having, as both The Sims and photo editing programs rely a lot on disk caches (their own 'virtual memory') as well as Windows having its own virtual memory cache as well. If the hard disk is very fragmented, it has to seek through all of these fragmented files both for Windows virtual memory AND for that of The Sims and/or your graphics programs, so you can imagine what a slowdown that would cause.

Try deleting as many unnecessary files as possible to give your drive a cleanup and free up as much disk space as you can, go into C:\Documents and Settings\[your user name]\Local Settings\Temp and delete the contents of that Temp folder (many programs leave lots of old temporary files that are no longer needed, which your hard disk will continue to read every time you run your PC and therefore slow it down), and then run Disk Defragmenter (under All Programs, Accessories, System Tools). If your disk is very fragmented, it may take an hour or more, so do it when you don't need the computer for a while!

Hope this helps (am an IT engineer in real life - though I too am currently unemployed due to long-term disabling illness, so I sympathise - and the above has helped quite a few customers with their slowness problems!).

There's not much you can do about custom content slowing things down in sims games - more CC means a slower loading game, that's just the way it works. EPs do also have the same effect, but to a lesser degree. If you're seeing slowdown in gameplay, make sure you haven't downloaded too many high poly meshes - these put much more stress on your computer than other types of custom content.

EsmereldaF's advice on disk maintenance is good, give it a go.

As far as your specs, you have a good amount of RAM. Your CPU is a good speed, but single core; both TS3 and graphics programs, particularly 3D design stuff, would run better with a dual core. Your graphics card is also bordering on the out of date - that's probably what I'd upgrade in your position. You should be able to get a nVidia 9 series for not too much cash, which would particularly improve your TS3 experience. I'm afraid I don't know what effect a new card would have on graphics work.

I just want to quickly add, we have yet to see anyone run the game perfectly on a single core cpu, even when coupled with a decent card. Yours isn't high end but it's not terrible. However, I have seen numerous cases of the game running great on dual core processors coupled with lower-mid range dedicated cards..weaker cards than you have now. It has led to me believe the dual core processor is pretty important for this game, and it wouldn't be the first game to benefit more from the CPU over the gpu. What this means for you, is that the game may never run perfectly on that machine, no matter what you invest in it.

Your photo programs for sure use much more CPU than GPU and upgrading the video card would be a waste for 2D graphics work. Unless you're working with moving objects in CAD, you're only being limited by the single core CPU.

If you choose to buy a new card you will need to revisit the power supply. You haven't said what power supply you installed but current strong cards require quite a fair amount of power. In order to get a substantial performance increase off the card you have you're looking at about $100 for the card, and another $50-$70 for the power supply, if you need a new one. Your CPU will also bottleneck any current strong card, which means you will not ever see its full potential.

thanks for the advice. I haven't ever de
fragmented..well not for quite a while. My cousin did it or me but that was probably over a year ago.

I was also wondering about the TEMP files.. seems there are so many and i was wondering if I could delete them. I am sorry to hear about your illness...stinks don't it?..that's the cleaned up version of what I wanted to say.
thanks
I will try what you said, and let you know how it went.
Babu

Open your Temp folder in Windows Explorer and Sort by Date Accessed. Anything that hasn`t been accessed in a while is safe to delete. The more recent stuff is PROBABLY safe to delete. "A while" is best defined, in this case, as since your last reboot. I defrag my hard drive almost every time I boot my computer, which is twice a day most days. It hardly takes me ANY time to defragment. [It sometimes takes longer to *load* the defragger than to actually defragment! ]

I was wondering myself what had the worst effect on sims. HIgh poly meshes or large files. LIke I have some texture files that are rather high in size..over a thousand KB, but I wasn't sure what would slow my game more the high poly thing or a large file size texture..I tried taking out some of my larger files but it didn't seem to help much. So, I'm wondering whether that doesn' t effect things as much if it's just a texture and not a mesh? Hope this makes sense.
I realize cc's are gong to have an effect on the game, but it seems it's happening too early this time. I don't really have that much cc's..NOt anywhere close to the amount I had on Sms 2. And I'm just starting.. no eps yet. Gotta do something or I won't have the joy of cc's in my future.



The single core CPU..I was wondering if maybe the CPU might be the hub of the problem..which then caused me to wonder if there is anything I can do about it...Would that depend on what type of motherboard you have? or do you have to get a whole new computer to get a dual core PCU?
I'm afraid of buying a new graphics card only to find out I really needed the dual core CPU.
It's hard to know what direction to go in. I really wish I could buy a new gaming computer but I don't have over a thousand bucks to spend.
That's why I was hoping maybe to upgrade some things and get it working better.
I'll look at the nVidia 9 series cards. I may try putting out the money for that for now..as I can't see myself buying a new computer for a while..especially with Christmas coming. Although I'll try the defragging first.Okay sorry to ramble, and thanks for your help..
Babu

Hmm I dont' remember off hand what kind of PSU I have. I know I got a stronger one to support the new card. But i dont' really know how to find out what type it is.
I am wondering about the CPU..If indeed a dual core PCU would make the same card run better, I wonder if I'm just wasting money buying a new card being that the CPU might be the real problem.
I had asked above so a the risk of repeating myself I'll ask you also..Can you get a new PSU without getting a new computer?
Would that depend on the motherboard..or would you just be better at buying a new computer with a dual core PSU?
Well at this point I"ll probably only be able to upgrade the graphics card and hope that helps....Then read up on all of this stuff and get a better understanding of it all before I invest in another computer.
I wish there was an online class I could take to learn all of this stuff.
thanks for your help
Babu

PSU= Power Supply. I think you mean CPU. Different computers support different upgrades. Your computer will never support a dual core processor. You will need to buy a new machine for that.

If you read the sticky on buying a new graphics card it tells you how to check the power supply.

If you know someone proficient at building computers, talk to them - a dual core CPU would require a new motherboard, but you will likely be able to keep your existing RAM, hard drives, graphics card, CD/DVD drive, and pretty much anything else; however installing all that onto a new motherboard does require a certain handiness with a screwdriver to achieve.

Sorry I always mix those two up. thanks for the info.
Babu

Thanks. My cousin is good at that. He built me my first computer years ago. But he's got a new job which keeps him busy and kids now, so I didn't' know if I'd be bothering him..I guess it's an option.

Sorry, turns out I was wrong there - your RAM would need replacing, and your hard drives might. Graphics card and PSU you could certainly keep, however.

hmm Don't know if it's worth it then..thanks for updating me
I was hoping you or someone else might be able to help me with this. I see computers that say Core 2 Duo..is that a dual core CPU?

Yes, it is. AMD also do dual core processors, but generally Intel's dual core tech (the Core 2 Duo stuff) is better.

babu357 please have a read through the forum stickies. Talks in great detail about what to look for and it would help you a lot.