Please recommend me a PC for Sims 4 (High Settings/All Expansions)

[t2.0]

Hi! I am a total noob to PC building and don’t really understand a lot of it so please help me out if you can.

I’m looking to spend max £700 but don’t mind going over a little bit if it will improve my gameplay greatly!

The only game i’d be playing is Sims 4 but I want to play it on high settings with a lot of mods and expansion packs! Here are the recommended specs for just the base game I believe: https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/pc/system-requirements

Thanks so much in advance!

 

[AgentCooper]

You’d likely be best off looking for a prebuilt system or dipping into the second hand market with such a restricted budget. Component prices are at an all time high and you have to factor in the extra cost of putting together a custom build. You’re probably looking at closer to £1000 to get a fairly bare bones system at the moment, and that itself would be compromised in terms of its potential upgrade path.

 

[JUNI0R]

There is a way you can get a build for this price, although it's not one I'd recommend. It'd use AMD's new CPU's with integrated graphics (effectively graphics built into the CPU) which will give a playable experience on more basic games for now with the idea that you're able to add in a dedicated GPU for a much improved experience once the market settles. I'm unsure how Sims would run on this, it's never been the most demandig game but lots of mods and expansion packs at high settings is probably a little far fetched. For some expectation managment on other games I'd give the video below a watch

The other thing worth mentioning is consoles. If you're looking purely to game, the new consoles offer fantastic value. The Xbox Series X also offers keyboard and mouse operation if that's something you'd be interested in. With the budget you have you could afford a current gen console and a nice monitor to go with. It'd lose you the versitility of mods but it'd give you a significantly experience everywhere else.

Calling the build below bare bones is something of an understatement. It'll get you going with a solid enough base that can be upgraded down the road, but an extra (at least) £100-150 would go a very long way. Alternatively, if you have a pre-existing PC or laptop you can transfer the Windows licence from, that would free up £80 or so which you could put towards this build.

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE Solid airflow case
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Six Core CPU with Radeon™ Graphics (3.9GHz-4.4GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4) The CPU we need for grahpics
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready! Super basic motherboard but will handle the 5600G, the TUF B550 would be ideal here
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB) AMD loves fast RAM and 16GB is the standard for a gaming system these days
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W) Smaller but still quite fast SSD that should get you off the ground
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET The minimum PSU I'd want to suggest. You should be able to upgrade to a 3060/60TI without needing to change this, another 100W would be ideal
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER Will be fine for the 5600G
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE If you need WiFi, I'd recommend getting this card of amazon and fitting yourself, or going for the TUF B550 WiFi board
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002] Stick with Windows 10 until all the kinks of 11 have been ironed out
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE Windows Defender is just fine
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) Well worth the £5
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Price: £727.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/kEw6w5v7NS/

 

[jamiephillips909]

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Six Core CPU with Radeon™ Graphics (3.9GHz-4.4GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS WiFi (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
250GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6400MB/R, 2700MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00027]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
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
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Price: £904.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/K5zpYZaB4Y/

This is would what you would be looking at minimum but would allow you to add a graphics card in future personally I would save up £1400- 1600 and get yourself somthing really decent

 

[JUNI0R]

For a more Ideal 5600G build I'd be looking at something like this. Main changes are a better motherboard, a higher wattage CPU and a larger and faster SSD.

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Six Core CPU with Radeon™ Graphics (3.9GHz-4.4GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS WiFi (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Price: £825.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/7rGvAp5Nap/

Then for a dedicated GPU build I'd be looking at something like this. Swap the 5600G for the 5600X and add a 1660 Super, a solid 1080p card. This would be the comfortable side of bare bones for a build like this. That said, it wouldn't go amiss to spend more on storage, PSU and CPU cooling

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS WiFi (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Price: £1,265.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/Efe7ZR7T5g/

 

[t2.0]

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for your advice.

If I pushed my budget up to £1000 to include a graphics card would this be doable? I know a PC is a long term investment so i realised I shouldn’t cheap out.

Do you not recommend any of the lower end GPUs like the 4GB NVIDIA?

Also i should note that I don’t really care about RGB as my PC won’t really be seen much under my desk so if this would help to save some money i’m all redistributing the money elsewhere. Thanks!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for your advice.

If I pushed my budget up to £1000 to include a graphics card would this be doable? I know a PC is a long term investment so i realised I shouldn’t cheap out.

Do you not recommend any of the lower end GPUs like the 4GB NVIDIA?

Also i should note that I don’t really care about RGB as my PC won’t really be seen much under my desk so if this would help to save some money i’m all redistributing the money elsewhere. Thanks!

The second one above is about as cheap as you can go with a dedicated graphics card which is just over £1250

Things are the most expensive they've ever been with worldwide chip shortages, covid causing havoc with worldwide shipping and production, and brexit complicating matters further.

It's just not possible to do things at lower than that.

1660 Super is a 2 year old card which will just about handle 1080p, any lower than that and you have to reduce settings so much it makes it such a poor experience that console is far better. The 4Gb 1050ti is out of stock and wouldn't be able to manage 1080p anymore.

 

[t2.0]

Cool thanks so much! Would you just recommend waiting then till things calm down a bit and for prices to drop?

 

[Martinr36]

Cool thanks so much! Would you just recommend waiting then till things calm down a bit and for prices to drop

I'd saver more money if i was you, I'm guessing that with christmas in a couple of months prices will increase even more before they fall

 

[t2.0]

that’s true. thank you all for your help I think I will just wait it out then