The recommended system requirements seem reasonable to me. If you want to just get the game running, it doesn't take much; if you want every shiny feature enabled in the game, you need a gaming PC. Nobody should really expect a $500 Dell from Best Buy to hit the recommended specs for any game. IMO, Maxis could push it further with Ultra settings. I see pixelation on the clothing of my Sims, and I know my PC can handle better textures. Besides, winter is right around the corner, and my GPU is better than a fireplace with the right game.

If you are using a prebuilt machine, adding a GPU for The Sims is one of the easier upgrades to do. You can get a GTX 750 for around $110. This is better than the recommended specs, and it doesn't typically require you to buy a new power supply for your desktop. As always, check that your computer is compatible with an upgrade, but for the majority of PCs you have to:

1. Plug it in.
2. Install the drivers.
3. Enjoy hitting "High" on every graphics option in TS4 (and TS3!).

Even if you're not comfortable installing a GPU on your own, reputable computer shops shouldn't charge more than $30 to do it for you.

ETA: If there isn't enough RAM in your PC to hit recommended specs, a single 4 GB stick is a little over $40. If your motherboard isn't capable of handling a 4 GB stick, you can get two 2 GB sticks for $23 each.

In short, don't let the idea of upgrading your computer scare you. RAM and GPU upgrades are easy and worth it in the long run. You can get just about any PC hitting the recommended requirements for $150, and that investment will pay off for other games and uses, as well.

I have a Dell 8500 XPS, i5-3350P @ 3.10 GHz, it's 2 yrs old. PS 460watts It does have the extra power cable to use although I don't know if it's 4 or 6 pin. I will look at it again to identify.

I really want the 2GB but they all require the PCIe 3.0 and that is what I am trying to find out. I am still researching it.



I never looked at that card before and it looks like it would be compatible. I will be researching more on this card too. Thanks.
I install my own GPU, never had a problem in the past, thanks for the information.

Don't worry about these PCI 3.0 cards in 2.0 slots. They are fully backwards compatible, and you won't experience a loss in performance. Next time you buy or build a computer, PCI 3.0 compatibility is a good thing to keep in mind, but it's not going to make a difference for the type of cards you're researching.

Do I need to upgrade my processor? I have an i3 3220. Tbh, I don't multi-task at all (no chrome, music player, or photoshop) when I'm playing the game. Is an i5 really necessary for sims 3 / sims 4 then?

Can't we have a single thread where people don't judge an as of yet unreleased game and supplement their judgement with a look into their personal financial management that no one asked for?

Anyway, OP: the best actual indicator we have right now is the CAS Demo. Also, much dependa on where your system falls short: an older CPU or less RAM 'might' not be an issue (despite impacting game performance, naturally), but an outdated GPU could be an issue (since there are hard limits here which prevent games from even launching with unsupported cards).

Edit: An i3 might be a bit weak, but not necessarily prohibitively so. What is the most taxing game you have run in the past?

No way to know until the game is actually in the wild. I would wait for reports before thinking about any upgrade, both for game play (do you really want it?), and performance (do you really need something better than your current CPU?)

@lewisb40, with an 8500, you should have a free 6 pin power connector (actually, probably 2), so no issues there, and as Element already pointed out above, the card is fully backwards compatible, so the PCI 3.0 vs. 2.0 should is not an issue for you. And just to confuse you even more, have you thought about going for a 750?

After yours and ElementMK's advice, I was looking at the 2GB on that 750 video card. Thank you both for answering my questions.

My system more than meets the minimum requirements, but when it comes to recommended specs, my processor (an i3) and the video card (a GeForce GT 545) do not meet the specs. I'm not replacing the processor to play this game, but upgrading the video card could be worth looking into, but still...they aren't too far below the recommended specs, so I'm not going to do anything about my equipment right away. I'm pretty sure my i3 has tested better in benchmarks than some i5's out there, so I'm not going to sweat it. Sims 2 is the only computer game I play. I'm not a hardcore gamer by any stretch, so I can't justify replacing my X51 that was new a few years ago with a new rig just to casually run this new iteration of Sims.

An i3 is more than sufficient for Sims 3, I bet it is for Sims 4 as well. I mentioned earlier, these System Requirements are full of conflicting info. How can a Core i3 not be sufficient when it's much more powerful than an Athlon X4 which is also recommended?

In these benchmarks, you can see a higher model of Core i3 4340 keeps up and sometimes beats an 8-core AMD in most games. The lower-end Core i3 3240 isn't real far behind.
http://www.hardcoreware.net/intel-c...-4340-review/2/

We won't know anything till the game is released, but I wouldn't be chucking out those Core i3s just yet.

Yeah, you don't have to sweat it if you guys have i3 CPUs. Unless you built the computer, it's not really feasible to upgrade a CPU. Since EA doesn't specify which i5 is needed to meet recommended specs, I'm willing to bet that a desktop i3-3XXX (3rd Gen) or i3-4XXX (4th Gen) is going to handle the game just fine. If you're running on a laptop, that is a different story, as mobile CPUs are underclocked to better manage heat. Either way, you are better off working with what you have and seeing where you can catch up in other recommendations.