With the Sims 3 publisher EA has released the latest edition of the popular life simulation. PC Games Hardware shows how the video settings affect graphics and performance.
Electronic Arts' goose that lays golden eggs, also known as The Sims, is going to the third round. With 1.4 million copies sold within a week the game is definitely a success for the publisher although an illegal version became available on file sharing networks even before the official launch. That The Sims 3 has a different target group than Cryis and Co is obvious and in our CPU benchmark test the game wasn't too challenging for the hardware.
Minimal system requirements: The Sims 3Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (PC)
• CPU: Pentium 4 2.0 GHz / Athlon XP 2000+
• RAM: 1 GiByte
• Graphics card: Geforce FX 5900 / Radeon 9500
• VRAM: 128 MiByte
Windows Vista with service Pack 1 (PC)
• CPU: Pentium 4 2.4 GHz / Athlon 2400+
• RAM: 1.5 GiByte
• Graphics card: Geforce FX 5900 / Radeon 9500
• VRAM: 128 MiByte
Laptop requirements
• CPU: Pentium 4 2.6 GHz / Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz
• RAM: 1.5 GiByte (XP) / 2 GiByte (Vista)
• Intel Integrated Chipset, GMA 3 series or better
With such a system The Sims 3 can really be launched but won't run smooth even at minimal details. Especially when you zoom out the game usually lags. But this might be a fault of the engine since even on our graphics card test setup with an Core i7 running at 3.5 GHz and 6 GiByte RAM The Sims 3 is lagging from time to time.
In order to test how the individual graphics options affect the performance we use the following test system:
• OS: Windows Vista x64 with Service Pack 1
• CPU: Athlon 64 X2 5000+
• RAM: 4 GiByte
• Graphics card: Radeon HD 3870
• VRAM: 512 MiByte
Below the chart with the individual results for the video options you can find the corresponding picture comparisons.
| |
Settings |
Maximal benefit |
| Resolution |
1,280 x 1,024 instead of 1,680 x 1,050 |
4 percent (48 instead of 46 Fps) |
| Enable Animation Smoothing |
Off |
7 percent (49 instead of 46 Fps) |
| Enable Reflections |
Off |
7 percent (49 instead of 46 Fps) |
| Enable Advanced Rendering |
Off |
0 percent (46 Fps) |
| Edge Smoothing |
Off instead of High |
15 percent (46 instead of 40 Fps) |
| Draw Distance |
Low instead of High |
23 percent (49 instead of 40 Fps) |
| Visual Effects |
Low instead of High |
11 percent (51 instead of 46 Fps) |
| High Detail Lots |
Level 1 instead of 16 |
11 percent (51 instead of 46 Fps) |
| Lighting and Shadows |
Low instead of High |
22 percent (56 instead of 46 Fps) |
| Texture Detail |
Low instead of High |
4 percent (48 instead of 46 Fps) |
| Tree Detail |
Low instead of High |
8 precent (26 instead of 24 Fps) |
| Sim Detail |
Low instead of Very High |
15 percent (53 instead of 46 Fps) |
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