The Sims 3: Minimum Requirements Revealed

The minimum system requirements for The Sims 3, Will Wright’s latest Sims game, were recently released to Infinite Sims. The good news? Current entry-level PCs should have little problem meeting the requirements. The bad news is that users running Windows Vista with The Sims 3’s minimum RAM requirement may have problems that go beyond the game’s minimum graphic and processing settings.

The graphic and processing minimums may not require much of an upgrade for older gaming PCs, particularly those running Windows XP. However, though older PCs could theoretically run the game, running Vista with the minimum RAM recommended for The Sims 3 might result in problems given Vista’s demand for RAM.

Some experts suggest Vista users have at least 4 GB of RAM to achieve optimum performance. The Sims 3’s minimum requirement lists the game’s need at 1.5 GB. The skinny is that following the game’s minimum Vista requirement could more readily result in a computer crash, a veritable nuclear apocalypse for new Sims.

System Requirements for The Sims 3

FOR WINDOWS XP
Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
1 GB RAM
At least 6.5 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content
128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0

FOR WINDOWS VISTA
Windows Vista (Service Pack 1)
2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
1.5 GB RAM
At least 6.5 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content
128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0

For computers using built-in graphics chipsets, the game requires at least:
Intel Integrated Chipset, GMA X3000 or above.
2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent
0.5 GB additional RAM

NVIDIA GeForce series
FX 5900, FX 5950
6200, 6500, 6600, 6800,
7200, 7300, 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
9600, 9800, GTX 260, GTX 280

ATI Radeon™ series
9500, 9600, 9800
X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950
2400, 2600, 2900
3450, 3650, 3850, 3870,
4850, 4870

Intel® Extreme Graphics
GMA X3×00 series