Lower-end gaming PC (Sims 3, 4 etc...)

[James1990]

Hey!

I'm looking to buy a computer that would best be used for the likes of Sims 4 and games with similar requirements. I'm looking to spend in the region of £550 (not including the cosmetic side of things). I'm wondering if I should add an SSD?How is this Spec? Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Case
PCS SR-620 MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core G4600 (3.60GHz, 3MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® H110M-R: Micro-ATX, DDR4, LGA1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 1030 - DVI, HDMI
1st Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SATURDAY DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (BEFORE 12 NOON)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price £565.00 including VAT and delivery

 

[James1990]

I've looked into this a bit and it seems the Graphics card is quite bad (at least from what I've seen). I does cover minimum requirements but that's not great is it!

 

[ClarkF1]

Is that the max budget you have?

Going for the 1060 bumps it up to around £670

 

[Oussebon]

Notebookcheck.net benchmarked some GPUs on Sims 4.

Notwithstanding the caveats about benchmarking that game, see: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Sims-4-Benchmarked.125840.0.html

A Geforce 1030 is weaker than a GTX 750 ti, so you would expect FPS drops below 60 even on the "high" preset. A GTX 1050 is around the same ballpark as a GTX 760 (the 1050's somewhat better). Expectations for a GTX 1050 should be mostly around 60 fps on Ultra.

Note this was for Sims 4 benched in 2014. If subsequent updates to the game have added more demanding graphics features that might not be true still. But I think what it does show is that a Geforce 1030 may not entirely satisfy you even in Sims 4.

I'm wondering if I should add an SSD?

You can add an SSD any time you like in the future. So I'd invest more into your core spec to avoid having to replace hardware for as long as possible, rather than spending £ on something you can just add in. Also the SSD wouldn't help with framerate, only loading times.

 

[James1990]

The PC is for a person that very likely won't extend beyond Sims 4 so I'm not certain too many upgrades would be necessary? Can anyone suggest an alternative build or is it really just the GFX card letting it down?

Thanks again!

 

[Oussebon]

If you're referring to this:

You can add an SSD any time you like in the future. So I'd invest more into your core spec to avoid having to replace hardware for as long as possible, rather than spending £ on something you can just add in.

My point was not that your friend really needs to spend more to futureproof the machine so as to support upgrades

My point was that if your friend were spending an extra £100 on the SSD at the outset, they would probably be better advised to spend that £100 on a GTX 1050 or better GPU and a better CPU like a true quad core rather than an SSD.

An element of futureproofing could be worth it anyway if and when The Sims 5 comes out and is more demanding.

It's probably helpful to have a max budget to discuss, rather than a budget of 'about £550 plus or minus an SSD' - would help give more specific answers, at least from my pov.

 

[James1990]

If you're referring to this:


My point was not that your friend really needs to spend more to futureproof the machine so as to support upgrades

My point was that if your friend were spending an extra £100 on the SSD at the outset, they would probably be better advised to spend that £100 on a GTX 1050 or better GPU and a better CPU like a true quad core rather than an SSD.

An element of futureproofing could be worth it anyway if and when The Sims 5 comes out and is more demanding.

It's probably helpful to have a max budget to discuss, rather than a budget of 'about £550 plus or minus an SSD' - would help give more specific answers, at least from my pov.

.

I'm sorry I wasn't clear! The max budget is £600 and I fully understand certain elements of futureproofing, great point. The objective is to seamlessly play Sims 4 (and expansions) on high settings. They're happy in future to add an SSD and see your point in being better of spending that initial outlay on better parts.

 

[James1990]

Okay, so this did go over £600 but any thoughts?

PCS SR-620 MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-7400 (3.0GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® H110M-R: Micro-ATX, DDR4, LGA1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1050 - DVI, HDMI, DP
1st Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm Blue LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price £676.00 including VAT and delivery

 

[Oussebon]

Seem much better.

You may want to explore the Z370 system configurator to see how much more a Z370-P and i3 8100 (which unlike older i3s is a quad core).

If it's not an urgent purchase you could wait until early next year when the cheaper 8th gen mobos come out.

Then your friend would at least have a CPU upgrade path of some kind within the same mobo/CPU socket. Plus the mobos may have M.2 slots unlike the H110M-R that doesn;'t