Graphic/video card questions I have a few questions... 1) What's the difference between video and graphic cards? Which one has a mor significant effect on the sims2? 2) I was at my girlfriend's and her dad built a wicked-fast computer. The game was running really well on really high graphics. Is this because of their graphic/video card(s)? If so, what's the lowest card(s) i can have to achieve the best working graphics on the sims2? Thanks for your time, meebob012
1) graphics cards and video cards are one and the same 2) whatever is listed on the ts2 system requiements. but its recommended you get the best your budget can afford.
There is no difference. It's just which word people choose to use How well the game runs has several factors. The game will work (but not work well) as long as you have the minimums for the game. But it's not just a matter of which video card you use. The minimum video card that we've recommended since before the game came out is either the FX 5200 or the Radeon 9200. (Even though the game will run with video cards that are less than that.) Better would be the FX 5600 or higher or Radeon 9600 or higher. Best would be getting the best card you can possibly afford. (Something like the Radeon X-800 or Geforce 6800.) Whatever you get, don't get a PowerColor card or any card with LE or SE in the name, as those are "budget cards" which are only cheap because the things that made them worth more than cards with lower numbers has been taken out. The card which Maxis was using when making the game was a Radeon 9800 with 256mb card memory (which is different than RAM.) The game runs ok with only 128mb of card memory, but is better with 256mb if the rest of your computer is also good enough so that it's not limiting what your video/graphics card can put out. But there are other things you need to look at so that you can get the most not only from the game, but also so that your graphics/video card is not hampered by the rest of your computer: speed of processor is important. Anything lower than a P4 2.0ghz is not going to do well. Something more along the line of 2.5ghz is better but try for 3.0ghz or higher. (The equivalent in AMD Athlon is good too. I'm just not as familiar with those as the Pentiums.) Ram is also important. 512mb is the lowest but only if you have the better varieties of it. People often don't realize that RAM comes in different types. If you have 512mb with a front side bus (FSB) of only 266, it's not going to be as good as 512mb of 400. Ideally you want 1gb of RAM of 400FSB. And your hard drive is also important. If it is too full, then the game (which uses the hard drive a lot) will have more difficulty "finding" the information, which slows it down. Make sure that you have at least 25% of your hard drive free. (Less than that, and you can't even do a reasonable defragmentation, which further slows your computers use of the hard drive. It's sort of like trying to find things in a library where all the books are scattered all over, rather than being on the proper shelf in the proper order.) Your computer's motherboard is also an important component. You may want a better card, but your MB may not allow it. Also, even those which can take AGP cards may not perform well with higher level cards. (And your computer may not have the power capacity to run them either. Your computer's ability to run them can also be affected by how well your computer can get rid of excess heat. If a video card has its own fan, for instance, it doesn't do any good if the computer box is not well ventilated to begin with.) Hopefully this will give you a better idea of what to look for in a good computer.
