hey, I did a windows game advisor and I already bought the sims 2 and the nightlife expansion (plus holiday stuff) and will be getting it soon. The fact is when I did the advisor, it says the nightlife expansion will work fine on my computer and my graphing card is compatible with Directx 9.0c which I downloaded already, but for the sims 2 game, it says my graphing card is wrong. Will the game work okay with this system or at least work:

Processor: Intel Pentium III 732MHz
Display Card: Intel(R) 82815
Memory: 256MB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000
Free Disk Space: 4.59GB
Display Card Memory: 4MB
Display Driver Version: 6.13.1.3196
DirectX Version 9.0c
Optical Drive N/A
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster PCI

and if it doesnt, how do I update my graphing card?? I've tried everywhere to see how I can and I did download something to upgrde to intel 82845, which is good for the game, but it says my system does not meet the requirements. What are the the requirements to download intel 82845 or higher? sumone plz help of if u can or email me at RGLover641@hotmail.com

all I want to know is if the game will actually work with my computer and if it cant, what can I do to make it work?

also my manuyfacturer is Gateway.

and now I bought more memory for my computer and getting a new graphing card card called 3DFORCE4 MX440 AGP 8X/4X 64MB DDR VGA/TV-OUT LP BRACKET INCL. I talked with gateway and they said it will work with these upgrades and I just want to know if they are right with getting new memory and a graphig card? they will be delivered to my house and I can install them myself.

Go to this website:
www.systemrequirementslab.com

If you get Requirements then your system will run Sims 2 at great Frames Per Second and have sweet graphics!

If you get a minimum pass then upgrade your system to the stuff it needs ( videocard, RAM or something else like that )

If you fail do the same for the minimum pass results

Hope I helped :)

okay thanks. when my upgrades arrive I will try it :) Anyone else have tips please?

Hmm... When you get the card make sure to update the drivers ( if it doesnt already ) so you can run the game with great performance! :)

If you have problems with the game running just post in this topic or send me a private message :D

There you go again fishing for those PM's! lol

All my upgrades cost only 109, which is a lot, but less than I expected. I hope it's worth it.

how do you update drivers?

There you go again fishing for those PM's! lol

Lol, I see what you mean mate.

TimeParadoX: It would be better if solutions were posted on the forums, rather than via pm`s. That way it will benefit anyone else who has the same problem.

Obviously, it`s impossible to use the search function for pm`s :p

Regards Howard :)

Lol I know but I like getting PMs, I get like 7 a day :D

how do you update drivers?

To answer that question just go to the website of the thing you want to update

Say the product is a Logitech webcam or something, you go to www.logitech.com and go to the item you want and update it :D

Or if you cant find it just go to www.google.com and search it ;)

The sims 2 will NOT work on this system. The ram it needs is 256 or more and since your upgrading that that is good and it needs atleast a 32mb graphics card and your getting a 64mb so thats good but your still missing something. And that is the CPU you have a 732mhz cpu and the sims 2 needs atleast 800mhz. ALso night life requires 1ghz. So your going to need to upgrade the cpu or build/buy a new system. Also the holiday stuff packs requires 1 ghz as well.

so you mean i wasted money buying the video card and more memory......I dont have money for a new cpu....

how can i upgrade my cpu?

Well GeekieNick101... I dont think the Sims needs a good processor to play the game since it's not really high-end graphics like FEAR / Oblivion and since her 732mhz is close enough to 800mhz it wouldnt be much of a problem... I mean I had 503mb RAM and I could play games that needed like 1 gig no problem :D


how can i upgrade my cpu?

1st you need to know what Socket your CPU is. Download Everest ( think that's what it's called ) from this website http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

After you find out what socket it is... Say it's LGA 755 then you go to www.newegg.com and search LGA 755 and it shows you abunch of processors you can buy for quite cheap ( Only about $70-80 for entry level but if you want High-end processors those can be really exspensive )

Hope I helped :)

Yeah but it will run SLOW, I used to run the core sims 2 on a 2.60ghz and it was slow and to upgrade the cpu you would have to buy one that would fit the socket on your motherboard

well thats a relief ;)

welll......how much would a cpu cost...probably cant get one anyway.

depends on which type and they dont sell p3's anymore so you would ned a new motherboard as well

well the fact is I did talk to gateway and they said for sims 2, I only need those two upgrades...

I will be upset if it cant work

Download Everest from www.lavalys.com then find out what socket it is then go to ww.tigerdirect.com, www.newegg.com, www.zipzoomfly.com , etc

Read my post above and it will tell you what to do :)

Download Everest from www.lavalys.com

Everest from that website has discontinued the Free Edition one and the link I gave her is the free one:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

Well then it might work jsut be very very very slow

but the fact is 70 and up for a processor, I can't buy that right now :(

It will work, It's only like 50MHz from the 800 so it's not much of a diffrence

well thanks both of you. I will just wait and see what happenes :)

it might work for the core sims 2 but not for the add ons they need 1ghz

They may have changed the specs for the game bestbuys website for the core sims 2 says
Minimum PC System Requirements



PC Processor Speed 1.5GHz


PC Operating System Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me), Windows 2000, Windows XP


PC System Memory 256MB RAM


PC Hard Drive Space 3.5GB


PC Video ATi Radeon or nVidia GeForce video card


and thats for the sims 2 mine might be less since its the first verison from 2004 when it first came out

okay, you just got me worried though that I probably wasted money

Sorry, well even if it doesnt work you still didnt waste your money your entire computer will run faster and better and by the way how much more ram did you buy you didnt say

256 mb ram

which will equal in all 512

ok thats pretty good, it should run sims 2 maybe or not you can try Im not sure, it may run since you have an agp card and not intergrated graphics so that will take stress off the cpu so you might be in good shape

okay. thanks :) One more week till I know....

Im 100% sure she would be able to run the Sims 2 so stop telling her all this stuff she probably already knows Nick...

You will run it because you upgraded out of the integrated video to a AGP card and you dont need a good CPU to run the sims because like I said about 300 times is that the game doesnt have high-end graphics that needs like 3.2GHz or something.

lol thanks time... :) just cant wait. I always wanted sims 2 and the nightlife expansion

pluz holiday stuff ;)

I spent a lot of money on this like 140 dollars at the most. craziness :O

for the 3 games (sims 2, nightlife, holiday sutff) and the video card and the 256 mb ram memory....lol

Lol

Howard is ganna be mad because you quad posted :haha:

oh oops......sry howard

p.s. how much space on my c:/ drive do i need for those games. So far I have 5.58 GB. I can delete other stuff I don't need.

Damn only 5gigs of space? What have you been installing! :haha:

I recommend deleting stuff you dont need because 5gig isnt very much ;)

Your processor is either socket 370 or slot 1. If it is socket 370, you can go look on ebay for a 1.4GHz P3, thats as fast as they go. Otherwise, you need to go buy a new motherboard and CPU. Videocard makes almost no difference with the sims 2. A Ti4200 can run it pretty much the same as a 7900GTX as long as they are on the same CPU. The game is ENORMOUSLY CPU dependant. The difference in performance in the sims 2 between your 733MHz cpu and a 1.4GHz P3 would be INSANE.

Lol

Howard is ganna be mad because you quad posted :haha:

No, I`m not mad, but it deffinitely makes life easier if members would use the edit button, rather than making a new post when there are no other posts inbetween. I wouldn`t have to go around merging posts then. ;)

In all seriousness, it is a requirement of our TOS, not to reply to ones self.

See the Techspot FAQ (http://www.techspot.com/extras/forum_guidelines/faq.shtml), particularly the 9th one down.

Cheers guys.

Regards Howard :)

You'll be able to play Sims 2, but just barely.. assuming that videocard will work with that system.

But as has been mentioned- Sims 2 is a total system hog. You'll need to reduce the settings to their barebones minimum and keep things very simply.. and even at this, it will be a slideshow.

Also, don't waste any more money upgrading that system. It's long, long obsolete and funds would be better spent looking into a new system. As much as I HATE Dells, you can get a basic E521 Dell for like $329, which has an AMD 3400+, 512mb ddr2 memory, 80gig hard drive, cd/dvd combo drive and Geforce 6150 LE.

Well I did talk with gateway (my manufacturer) and they exactly said that those are the only two (video card and more memory) things I needed to play the game and the game would look fine. Did they lie to me? I will get so mad cause the guy said he can ensure me that the game would work even without changing my processor.

and they looked at my system and knew everything about it and still said I only needed those two things.

As far as I know, Gateway has not lied to you. You will need to upgrade those 2 items to make it work!

but people are saying that i need a new cpu and that the game will be slow and i dont want the game to be slow....

if i buy a 1.4GHz P3, will the game go fast cause there is one on ebay for 40.00

It won't go fast unless you buy a whole new computer. However, the game is NOT very videocard dependant. Like I said previously, a low end card and a high end card will produce almost the same framerates. The CPU is what makes the game faster and the memory to quite a lesser extent. So the CPU being fast is by far the most important part of the performance of The Sims 2, and since your CPU is below the minimum requirements, I'd be surprised if you got about about 3-4 FPS (slideshow). Even getting the 1.4GHz won't do much. If you must play a Sims game, maybe you should stick with the old sims instead of The Sims 2.

EDIT: I think howard's getting like this :hotbounce now :stickout: look at all those capitals. Actually, I believe that goes against the TOS too, typing in all capitals. OoooOOO Now you've done it howard ;) lol im JK.

i see. i talked with gateway again...lol...and they said with my processor and adding 1.4 ghz will make my computer a lot more than 800 mhz. will that make things better?

while gettin the video and memory card.

at 800 mhz, does the game work perfectly or is 950 mhz better?

Well 950mhz would be faster since its a higher clock speed, but 1.40ghz would be much faster than 950mhz and you can try to run it under 800mhz but I'm just saying whats on the box. And sadly the sims 2 doesnt even play correctly on my 2.80ghz system with 128mb video and 1 gb ram but then again its a dell. But still I used to play the sims 2 on a 2.60ghz system and it was very slow and also why dont you call or email EA games the maker of the sims 2 and they will tell you if it works you can get there number from www.thesims2.com or www.eagames.com

oaky thanks, but gateway said my computer only holds up to 1ghz so 950 is probably as high as I can go. I think I will get that one.

okay well so now I will have 950 mhz, a 512 mb ram card, and GEFORCE4 MX440-8X/TV 64MB. Hope that makes the game work good.

okay well so now I will have 950 ghz, a 512 mb ram card, and GEFORCE4 MX440-8X/TV 64MB. Hope that makes the game work good.

Ok that would be pretty good but still you can try the sims 2 without upgrading the cpu it may work as others say but then theres others that argee with me and say it wont but you can try it

okay, maybe I will take your tip and try it without upgrading my cpu cause I was also talking with this guy and he has like 600 mhz and he said his game works fine.

he even send me a pic of what the game looks like and it looks rly good.

Ok maybe it will work im jsut going by the box since i never ran it on that low of specs so I dont know but if your going by the box no but maybe it will who knows

maybe......................

but lets say I do get the 960 mhz, how do I put it in my computer? I'm trying to get the seller. Is it difficult to?

They didn't lie to you, but getting a game to "play" and getting a game to "play well" are two different things.

Again, as I already stated, you can play the game but you will have to reduce all the settings, be limited to very simple family/home and it will still be very, very slow and choppy. Yes, that does mean you can "play" it... but it wont be all that enjoyable.

I would not put another dime into that system. Once more, you can get a full system that would play Sims 2 at least 10x better for around $300. Every dollar you sink into that PC is money not very well spent if your target goal is to play Sims 2 decently or with a bigger house/family.

I don’t think any of us can give 100% assurance if the game will run... anyways just for a quick advice... if its possible for you to cancel your order of the parts ur bought and if you can afford $300... them you should go and buy a new dell... because it will not only give u game performance but you will have a more updated system compared to the one u have now... but if you can't afford it then I would suggest not to panic and just stay with what you have... best of luck and hopefully ur game will run...

Cyber

I dont think we should be sugguesting dell products there poorly made products that dont function like a computer should.

Plus building a computer by yourslef is better since you can control what goes in it as well as its cheaper since you cut out labor costs

Yeah nick, RGlover you could always ask for help on this site for your 1st build ( I learned by myself & some guides on the internet like this one http://www.motherboards.org/articlesd/how-to-guides/924_1.html )

If you looked at the guide I linked you could see how easy it is to build one, All it is really is just putting cables together and putting screws into the case