Video Card Survey

[ManagerJosh]

Could everyone take this survey for demographics purposes so we can see where game problems lie? Thanks.

[System_Zero]

Got a BFG nVidia FX 5600 256MB. Not the top of the line card but still a **** good one. It's not anywhere near as good as a 5950 or above but better than a 5200, almost as good a 5700.

Runs the game just fine, infact better than some of the more power hungry games like Doom 3 or Far Cry. thouse games I'm forced to drop the resolution way down, but in Sims 2 I can play at 1024x786 with minimal problems.

[HelloKit]

nVidia GeForce 4 MX 440 here... game works but with limitations. No anti-aliasing or special event camera. :(

[yoshi_mon]

nVidia GeForce 4 MX 440 here... game works but with limitations. No anti-aliasing or special event camera. :(

Same here. Running in 800x600 with everything on low. It would be nice if I could run it higher but it does run and the gameplay is what I'm after anyway.

[Supernova]

I have a ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 256 MB card and it runs the graphics just fine.

[ijRoberts]

I have an ATI Radeon 9600 (non-pro) 256mb and everything runs great as well.

Starts to lag a little when the Picture in Picture window pops up, but that is only after about 8 straight hours of playing...

[Cyricc]

nVidia GFFX5900XT 128mb (which is actually worse than a normal 5900). Runs the game fine max detail at 1024 by 768, except when scrolling around zoomed way out on the neighborhood screen or "heavy" houses. For some reason, scrolling around results in a sudden 20FPS drop, no matter how little it is, then shoots back up when the camera stops moving... even Doom 3 on Ultra detail setting runs faster in that case.

[KatAnubis]

Could everyone take this survey for demographics purposes so we can see where game problems lie? Thanks.
PNY Geforce 6800 128mb.

[Vchat20]

intel onboard graphics and the game works fine. and my cousins computer has onboard intel graphics as well and a 2.4GHZ P4 and it runs very well on hers with almost no slowdowns.

[Toast]

I'm runnin' with a GeForce4 TI-4200 with 128 MB of RAM. The game runs almost perfect in 1024x768 with all the detail cranked up to max. It chops a little bit when a lot of sims are on screen, so I usually turn texture detail down to medium and lower the "smoothing" bar a little. Runs surprisingly well for an "older" card.

[Rowanstaff]

I have an nVidia GeForce 4 MX 440 witrh 128 meg and my game runs well. I am getting a GeForce FX 5700 256 meg next month though :)

[Trinasis]

The Video card is graphics right? Because I have an Intel Graphics and I know the sims 2 don't run so what should I do? I know I am getting a new video card but how do you install it in the computer? Also just a question can you install a new video card in a laptop?

[yoshi_mon]

The Video card is graphics right? Because I have an Intel Graphics and I know the sims 2 don't run so what should I do? I know I am getting a new video card but how do you install it in the computer? Also just a question can you install a new video card in a laptop?

Yes, video card == your systems graphics. As for a new card you should check to see what type of slot(s) your system has. Most likely it will have a AGP slot for you to use for a new graphics card. If not then you will have to find a PCI card. (You might have a PCI-Express slot but that is doubtful and I would not worry too much about that.) One you have this info it will just be a matter of putting the card in the proper slot. Your BIOS should do the rest.

Video in laptops is a whole other matter. As a rule what you got with the laptop is what it will always have. It's basicly just like that.

Good luck with your upgrade!

[Trinasis]

Yes, video card == your systems graphics. As for a new card you should check to see what type of slot(s) your system has. Most likely it will have a AGP slot for you to use for a new graphics card. If not then you will have to find a PCI card. (You might have a PCI-Express slot but that is doubtful and I would not worry too much about that.) One you have this info it will just be a matter of putting the card in the proper slot. Your BIOS should do the rest.

Video in laptops is a whole other matter. As a rule what you got with the laptop is what it will always have. It's basicly just like that.

Good luck with your upgrade!
Can you help me with this... I am getting this video card ATI RADEON 9000 Video Card, 64MB DDR, TV-Out, 4X AGP, -OEM (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-386&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=0)
Is this a good Video card to get? can you tell me that! Also how do you know if you have a PCI slot? I really don't know can you tell me be4 I buy it thanks!

[ManagerJosh]

ATI 9000 is horrible and second two possible ways.

Opening up your computer or doing research.

[Trinasis]

Are you suppose to take out the old video card or leave it in the computer and will they computer detect the new video card?

[Vchat20]

it depends on the card. most likely if its an addon card and able to be removed, by all means remove it and put the new card in its place. but if its onboard, you cant remove it. there are some newer motherboards that if a new video card is put in, it will detect it and disable the onboard video card automatically. if yours does not do this, there is an option in most BIOS' that allows you to disable the onboard card.

[zydeco]

I've got nvidia GeForce3 Ti-200 512 mb. Mine's running like a dream on 1024x768. Perhaps the first time I've had a computer that ran the newest game perfectly. I actually bought this one so I could play the original sim series 2 or 3 years ago! lol

[litl_mama1971]

I have the nvidia geforce fx 5500 it may have a few slight lags but everything works just fine for me. And it playes well on sims 2 and shrek 2 which has some pretty cool graphics(in my opinion). It's pretty darn cool for a kids game.

[Trinasis]

Thanks for everyones help witht the card it turns out I got a visionTek with ATI Radeon 7k

[008125]

i am not good with computers but all i know is that my card is an Intel 82845g/GL Chip?????? does anyone know wat that means! And if i do get a new graphic card (most likely) will there be like.....instrutions.....or something to tell me how to install it

[Trinasis]

Well When I brought my graphic card there was instructions on it, at first I brought the wrong one then I went back to the store and got the one I need. Make sure you know which PCI Slot you have. Because the first I got was a ARP PCI and I needed PCI.

[008125]

how do i found that out^^:confused:

[kristygal]

I had an Intel integrated one and could not get the game to work, so I bought a NVIDIA Geforce4 64MB and it works excellent.

[kristygal]

i am not good with computers but all i know is that my card is an Intel 82845g/GL Chip?????? does anyone know wat that means! And if i do get a new graphic card (most likely) will there be like.....instrutions.....or something to tell me how to install it
It's really easy to install. Here's the instructions that I used.
http://www.directron.com/howtovideo.html

I have an HP and I just searched their website to get specs on my computer and it told me that my model has a slot.

[BrynHilde]

I use an ATI Radeon 8600T and it runs well, I can turn all the settings up without noticable lag. Then again I have been playing Lineage a lot, so maybe my definition of lag has changed :p


-- edit --

hmmm.... I'm sure it's 8600T... what of this:

Supported video cards (and the more video memory the better):
ATI RadeonTM series (7000 or better)
Radeon 7000/VE series (non-T&L; requires 2.0 GHz processor)
7200, 7500
8500, All-In-Wonder 8500
9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800
X300, X600, X800

well I'm going home now, so i'll confirm that...

[suitemichelle]

I bought the ati 9200 se and though the card is working in the computer I can't seem to run ts2 on it... insists that I have no directx installed.... even though its there in spades... :(

[ManagerJosh]

try upgrading drivers :)

[Ningengirai]

ATI Radeon 9800 AGP, 256 MB. Game runs fine in 1024x768, even with all the "extra" things like edge scrolling, special event camera, shadows, reflections and whatnot set to enabled.

(( But I have a 3.00 Ghz, 2 CPU processor ( no hyperthreading, SMP-system ) computer, so... not sure if that doesn't somehow influence the graphic card ))

[BrynHilde]

Wow... everyone has such massive system specs here.

I run an AMD Athalon 1600, 512Mb SDRAM ( not in the DDR generation ), and my Radeon 8600... and still I run the game at 1152 x 975 resolution with all the settings on max.

Sure it does think quite a bit and lag when I first go into a lot ( esp community lots, it doesn't like the moving camera! ), but there isn't much lag even at this setting...

I suppose on the upside I do have the latest drivers for my Radeon, which fixed some interesting reflection issues on the water... but even without the latest drivers it ran fine.

Also I run the DVD version which people have said is more laggy than normal.. again I don't notice it. :bunny:

[Cyricc]

I have a P4 2.6 Ghz 800Mhz FSB with hyperthreading, 2 * 256 Mb PC3200, and my Geforce FX 5900XT and it still drops down to 12-20 FPS when scrolling around the neighborhood zoomed out, or scrolling around larger houses. When the camera is still, framerate is usually around 35-55.

Running on 1024 by 768 (LCD native), details maxed, forced 2x AA/8x AF. What framerates do you get? (www.fraps.com) Just curious ;)

[ManagerJosh]

its probably a memory gridlock, because it is PC3200.

[aragorn231]

Using a GeForce FX5200 - 128MB in an Athlon XP 1800+ - 512MB.

Running TS2 @ 1024x768 with all @ max except the smooth slider, that's somewhere in the middle.

And all works well, except moving the camera when being zoomed in too far. Didn't try a big house yet though, so I might need to switch the lighting to medium then...

[lou_knee]

I have a Leadtek g-force4 a170se, 64Mb and at first it would crash after a minute of gameplay. An upgrade of the video driver fixed that up nicely though. Unfornunately I had already bought some more RAM cause I thought that was the problem. Oh well, can never have enough RAM I suppose. :cool:

[Cyricc]

its probably a memory gridlock, because it is PC3200.
What? PC3200 = DDR400. The only faster ones I've seen are the DDR2-533's and DDR2-667's, and those are only useable with the Socket 754 and 939 mobo/processor setups (mine is 478).

Oh yes, for those of you with Geforce cards FX or above, do NOT set "smooth edges" to the very middle. Basically, the slider goes: No antialiasing > 2x AA > Quincunx AA > 4x AA > 8xAA. Quincunx AA significantly reduces texture quality, blurring everything, and its effects are easily noticed by turning it on/off while zoomed out far on a neighborhood. I recommend using 2x myself, 4x and above aren't worth the slowdowns they cause on my system.

[J. M. Pescado]

When the camera is still, framerate is usually around 35-55.Well, yeah, because it takes a lot of processing power to render the world NOT in motion, you know?

[Cyricc]

Funny. I just discovered that TS2 automatically enables 8x Anistropic filtering on my computer. Evidence:

This is TS2 with Anistropic Filtering application-controlled.
http://img68.exs.cx/img68/1241/TS2_Not_Forced.jpg

This is TS2 with AF forced to 8x through drivers.
http://img68.exs.cx/img68/4784/TS2_Forced_8x.jpg

And finally, this is TS2 with AF forced off through drivers.
http://img68.exs.cx/img68/1459/TS2_Forced_1x.jpg

As you see, there is absolutely no difference in texture quality between the first two, yet forced 1x AF results in noticeable texture blurring compared to App-Control/8x. I assume the game auto-detects your system and adjusts the anistropy to what it thinks is the best setting. I have never seen any other game take control of AF out of the hands of the user. Why EA/Maxis neglected to include a simple Anistropy slider in options is beyond me.

[aragorn231]

Funny. I just discovered that TS2 automatically enables 8x Anistropic filtering on my computer. Evidence:

This is TS2 with Anistropic Filtering application-controlled.

This is TS2 with AF forced to 8x through drivers.

And finally, this is TS2 with AF forced off through drivers.

As you see, there is absolutely no difference in texture quality between the first two, yet forced 1x AF results in noticeable texture blurring compared to App-Control/8x. I assume the game auto-detects your system and adjusts the anistropy to what it thinks is the best setting. I have never seen any other game take control of AF out of the hands of the user. Why EA/Maxis neglected to include a simple Anistropy slider in options is beyond me.If I understand you comments correctly, it's best to set AF to Off in the driver settings as that will result in a higher framerate and still give the same visual results as when having it Application-controlled? Is that correct?
Just checked my settings and at the moment it's set to Application-controlled...

[Cyricc]

If I understand you comments correctly, it's best to set AF to Off in the driver settings as that will result in a higher framerate and still give the same visual results as when having it Application-controlled? Is that correct?
Just checked my settings and at the moment it's set to Application-controlled...
It will increase framerate, at cost of visual quality, as you can see from the difference between #1/#2 and #3. Depending on what video card you currently have, the Anistropy might be configured to a lower setting (unless it auto-enables 16x, which I highly doubt).

I'm just pointing out that they did not include an Anistropy setting in options, which normally implies no application-controlled AF in that game (e.g. needs to be forced through drivers to enable AF). That is not true with TS2, which is somewhat annoying. I suspect there can be other things left out of Options that the game configures itself as well. So some of the people with better graphics cards might be scratching their heads, wondering why the game isn't running as well as ones played on lower-end cards. The way the game makes graphical decisions for the player like this, behind the scenes, might be why.

[suitemichelle]

thanks to help from forum members and guys at work I figured out how to change the bios so there's no conflict between new graphics card and the one in the motherboard. now things are working great. periodically things stop reading but theres a recover mode so I haven't yet lost hours of play (because I forget to save regularly while playing) probably should have bought the 9800 instead of the 9200..... oh well, maybe I can upgrade in 6 months or so...

[cheesecakedeath]

My boyfriend just installed a pretty freaking new nvidia (have no clue what series or number) video card in his computer so he could play his stupid star wars game, and I couldn't get sims 2 to work - it would freeze up on the neighborhood screen.
Before that he had some voodoo(?) video card and it definately didn't work.
So I installed it on my computer, which has some really old (think it's intel) video card, and surprise surprise- it worked!

[KevinLT]

If I were to play the Sims 2 with this video card would it be able to work? PNY GeForce FX 5500 128MB DDR PCI Graphics Card
The only reason I am asking this here is because it wasn't listed as one of the video cards that would be able to work in the Sims 2 requirements or the Video Card comparison charts! Please let me know if you can! :D

[Cyricc]

It should work fine, but try to get an AGP card in the future if your motherboard can support it at all. AGP is lightyears ahead of PCI.

[TotallyUnzipped]

Galaxy Glacier 6800 GT 256Mb (Pre Overclocked) and the game looks beautiful. No problems at all. Bought it from overclock.co.uk and it arrived the next day, not bad hey?!

Previous card was a CreativeLabs Graphics Blaster 5 (GeForce FX 5200) 64Mb and it was horrendous. All setting on low or lowish and it still lagged and there was no antialiasing at all.

[JohnEZ]

nVidia GeForce4 MX 420, 64 MB here. It runs, but with smooth edges off, no special effects (like the first kiss cinematic), and movies created with it are rather jerky.

This is why I plan on upgrading sometime in the near future. :)

[xXBodyglitterXx]

I have nvidia gefore fx 5500 as well .It lags slightly at startup of the sims 2 and closing,but that's about it..I only have 256ram,which is the minimal ram possible to play the game and the game STILL runs awesome as long as I quit unneeded processes..

[SaiyanPrincessRa]

I play using a laptop`with a ATI 7000 card, and it works..... kinda
if there's more than one 3 people in a house it tends to slow down, oh yea and after an hour or so i get an internal error and all my saved stuff is lost on the game and the graphics on my desktop go all retarded :(

[Blower]

My system: ATI 9600xt(128) (amdXP @ 1.91 /1024 DDR400/ Sata HD)

on 1280 i'm not happy with the frame rate - when vehicles arrive it judders, when i pan quickly through medium sized houses it lags - and i also had level 3 smooth edges.

So - I set it to 1024, put 3 settings to medium (not textures, the others) and took smoothing to 1 - now I have zero lag, but the game doesn't look as crisp and liquid.

My brothers system(away from home) - is AMD 64 at 2.2ghz / same ram / same HD, but he just bought an nvidia 6800 (256mb) and he just puts EVERYTHING on max - the only slight jumpiness is when 2 cars come in the morning for his sims - other than that its incredible what sims 2 was made to look like if ran perfectly.

So to sum up - my system is a good one - the game looks good/great. But i've seen what the game can look like - its definatley not worth the £260/$520 to make it look how it does - but it sure is novel :)

[Hoomfie]

I have a nVidia Ge-Force fx-5200, 128MB RAM. The game runs fine with medium everything on 1024 768, but if i want anything more, i have to lower the res.