Which system works best for Sims2?

Question

I tried installing the Sims2 game but that "....not found DirectX compatible graphics adapters..." error pops up.

My dad's planning on buying a new PC. Anyone know how I can get one which works best with this game? And can I like, tell the store the type of Video card I want with the computer? Will they provide me with that one with the PC and do they charge extra?
At the moment I have a very old Win98.

Answer 1

Make sure he gets an ATI graphics card for gaming. Check on the Sims2 website for the specs

Answer 2

If you want to play your game faster and quite good quality, here are my recommandations. Sory for my english, I'm usually french speaking. I'm a computer scientist so my language may be a little bit to technical. Simply take the things you don't understand i a shop and ask a young sellers with looks pretty geek to tell you what you will need and how much it will cost.

First, here is the best thing you can do : I have built a dedicated PC specially for gaming, because working and playing on the same computer it the worst thing you can do, especially if this is the "family computer"... Think of it if one day you want to buy a PC of your own.

Here is the minimal harware for a good speed in the game (the minimal requirements specified by EA make the game really slow whit poor graphics) :

Graphic card : ATI or NVIDIA with min. 256 Mo RAM. Don't hesitate choosing a very good quality graphic card, because it will be the first thing the game will use.
Another detail : choosing a DVI graphic card will permit you to use a DVI screen, which signifies better than VGA.

RAM (Memory) : I have choosen DDR400, 2 x 1Go
I use the Dual Channel Technology, it definitly increase the game performances.
You have to know one thing about The Sims : It needs a LOT of memory, and if you don't have enough RAM, the game will use a file on the Hard Drive to complete the missing memory. This file is called Swap File. The problem whit the swap file is that it's very long to access comparing to the RAM, so if you have enough RAM you will be able to play without Swap file and that will make your game very, very fast.

The Hard Drive : this point is quite a bit luxury. I choose a high-performance hard drive called "Raptor" by Western Digital. It's so expensive I only could buy it on online biddings. Theses hard drives are 10'000 rpm, when most of the hard drives are 7'200 rpm. You will probably decide to choose a 7'200 rpm because of the price. At least, choose a SATA hard drive. Cleary, SATA 2.0 is faster.

Motherboard :
ASUS Motheboards are very good.
Choose one who permit to build at least DDR400 RAM.
For your processor, avoid Intel Celeron's. Theses processors are not recommended for gaming. Choose Intel Pentium 4, preferably with dual core. Performance (Ghz) is not very determinant, all processors are very fast nowadays.

Screen :
I don't know if you are about to buy a new screen, but if you have the choice, don't take a widescreen one. It's absolutly unuseless for The Sims, because the game will only show on normal size. Choose a DVI screen, at least 19''.

- A very important thing : the fan. You will definitly need a good fan to cool all your hardware, and choosing a silent one is a good idea, because it will be running all the time. I would say : may 22 dBA, the lower it is, the better it is.

Brands to absolutely AVOID :
- ACER : that's certainly the most cheapest brand you will ever find, but it's the worse thing in the univers.
- HP Screens : I had an HP screen in one of my job, it was an horror. Maybe not all of their products are bad, but I would not buy one of those.
- ASROCK Motherboards : I had one previously in my gaming PC, I had pretty many problems.
- Graphic cards which are not ATI and NVIDIA. Theses two brands are the leaders and the developpers of the games always test their games on theses.

Ok.... sorry for that long text, but buidling a correct computer for The Sims is a complicated job ! I have bought every piece of my PC one by one (it was NOT a all-in-one PC like you can find by HP or Dell) and choose them precisly to have the best performances. Actually, I'm not so rich so I did not always bought the best ones, but trust my on this point : you will only have what you paid for...

Answer 3

As said before, any new computer would be good for playing Sims 2, but still, here there are the minumum system requirements: http://compsimgames.about.com/od/thesims2faqs/f/systemrequireme.htm

Answer 4

well actully almost any computer with a dedicated graphics card will run sims 2 good.