The Sims 2

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

I had a question? I was wondering if anyone could tell me if my
computer is good enough to run The Sims 2? I have it coming in the mail
and didnt want to be dissapointed when it got here. Windows XP Home
Edition Service Pack 2 Intel(R) Celeron(TM) CPU 1200MHz 1.20GHz 256
MG of RAM

Thanks

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

I found a site that you can download a version of software to check
compatibility. My video card isnt good enough. Also My computer in
properties says 256 MB of RAM but when this software program checked my
system it only showed there being 255 MB of RAM. How can I fix this?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

Sammie wrote:
> I had a question? I was wondering if anyone could tell me if my
> computer is good enough to run The Sims 2? I have it coming in the
> mail and didnt want to be dissapointed when it got here. Windows XP
> Home Edition Service Pack 2 Intel(R) Celeron(TM) CPU 1200MHz
> 1.20GHz 256 MG of RAM
>
> Thanks

I'd think it would be rather iffy on that machine. The Celeron chip is not
the best and I think you barely have enough RAM to run it. What kind of
video card do you have? How much RAM is on it?

Jeanie

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

Sammie wrote:
> I found a site that you can download a version of software to check
> compatibility. My video card isnt good enough. Also My computer in
> properties says 256 MB of RAM but when this software program checked
> my system it only showed there being 255 MB of RAM. How can I fix
> this?

1MB doesn't matter, it's probably been eaten by you OS or something, don't
worry it's still there. Also, your PC will run it, but not very well, I'd
look into getting a new PC if I were you.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

My next question would be do all video cards work for all computers? or
do i have to buy a special kind of video card?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

video card.........let see.....Intel(r) 8281AA AC'97 Audio Controller?
is that it?

 

[CK]

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

> I found a site that you can download a version of software to check
> compatibility. My video card isnt good enough. Also My computer in
> properties says 256 MB of RAM but when this software program checked my
> system it only showed there being 255 MB of RAM. How can I fix this?
>
It seems moderately likely on the information you've given us that you
have some kind of fairly old onboard video, which shares the main
memory. Which suggests that it's only using one meg itself. So *really*
not good enough for anything demanding.

If you get yourself a reasonable video card - it doesn't have to be
cutting-edge, but it's probably false economy to get something *too*
cheap - you should find that you get that meg back.

HTH.

CK

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

Sammie wrote:
> video card.........let see.....Intel(r) 8281AA AC'97 Audio Controller?
> is that it?
>

Audio = sound. Probably not.

And no, not all video cards may fit into your machine. You need to know
what type of slot, and whether or not your motherboard can handle it.

-georg

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

You can probably run the game but it will be slow and choppy. The first
thing you should do is bump up your ram (get more). Go to
http://www.crucial.com - they will walk you through 3 steps to find out
what type of ram you need for your machine, how much the PC can support,
and offer modules of various sizes (128 / 256 / 512 / etc.) that will work
in your PC. I have ordered from them several times and never been
disappointed. Even if you don't order from them, at least you'll know what
type and how much ram your computer can use.

Next would be possibly upgrading your video card with either a PCI or AGP
card (depending on the motherboard you have and what it will support). You
can get a pretty good indept look at the "innards" of your machine by
running this diagnostic program. It's a freeware app. that I swear by
whenever I work on a new or old PC ... It shows the manufacturer,
make/model, and any other specs for devices and hardware in your PC..
Aida32 was sold to another company and I think the new freeware app is
called "Everest" .. the original aida32 is still available though (haven't
tried the new version yet). aida32 -
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download181.html

heh.. 25+ years in tech support (before my layoff) - habits die hard and I'm
still up to my elbows in friends & co-workers PC's now.

I'm running The Sims 2 without any problems on a P3 / 733MHz machine - 128mb
video & over 1gb ram .. not choppy at all. I've also met people running
the game on Celerons who aren't experiencing any problems. A new machine
would be great but sometimes finances only permit modest upgrades of the
current machine .. you'll get the biggest bang for the buck by adding more
ram...

HTH

feawen


"Sammie" <borninurdreams82@witty.com> wrote in message
news:1113886542.199966.263200@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> I had a question? I was wondering if anyone could tell me if my
> computer is good enough to run The Sims 2? I have it coming in the mail
> and didnt want to be dissapointed when it got here. Windows XP Home
> Edition Service Pack 2 Intel(R) Celeron(TM) CPU 1200MHz 1.20GHz 256
> MG of RAM
>
> Thanks
>

 

[CK]

Archived from groups: alt.games.the-sims (More info?)

> My next question would be do all video cards work for all computers?

No.

or
> do i have to buy a special kind of video card?
>
All video cards are special to someone.

Provided we aren't talking about a laptop, the three main types of video
card connection technology are, in order of age*, PCI, AGP and PCI
Express. I'm pretty sure you won't have PCI Express, since AFAIK they
only started making PCI Express video cards late last year.

PCI is the oldest of the bunch, and it's not that likely that you've
only got PCI. You'll have some PCI slots on pretty much all
motherboards, for things like sound cards, network cards, internal
modems, that kind of thing. But if you have one that is set further back
from the others then that'll be the AGP.

AGP covers most video cards from the last 7 (?) or so years. They come
in four speeds, 1X, 2X, 4X and 8X, IIRC. They are mostly
backwards-compatible AFAIK so that you can put a newer card in an older
motherboard or vice versa *except* that AGP 1X and 2X used a 3.3V
signalling voltage, 4X uses a 1.5V signalling voltage and 8X uses a 0.8V
signalling voltage. The cards that require either 3.3V or 1.5V are keyed
so that they will only fit in a slot that supports them. They won't
necessarily work, but they shouldn't get fried if they fit the slot.

You should find out about the specifications of your motherboard either
by reading any manuals you got with it, or by checking out the
manufacturer's website. You should also check out the specifications of
any video card you're planning on buying, also by checking out its
manufacturer's website. You can find out about specifications and
compatibility with either the Wikipaedia or your search engine of
choice. There are also any number of review sites that might help you
choose the card that's right for you. Bear in mind that the reviews were
probably written when the cards came out, so any recommendations on the
price/performance ratio might not be current.

HTH.

CK

* I've just remembered about ISA video cards. But they're *very* old,
and you wouldn't be able to run a Celery 1200 in one of *those*
motherboards.