Laptop Memory

[S555]

I'm currently running Vista with 2GB of memory on my laptop, I'm aiming to be able to play Sims 3 smoothly, will upgrading to 4GB memory be noticeably quicker loading applications and such?

Thanks

[VHG]

No.

Having more than 2Gb of memory only becomes useful when you are running so many programs the original 2Gb of memory is full up.

The average user will not fill up that 2Gb of memory very often so will not use anything ABOVE that 2Gb.

[S555]

oh right so what would speed up the playing of Sims 3 because at the moment its quite jumpy.

[ChuckFickens]

Not having a laptop!

Laptops rarely have a good enough graphics card in them to play games.

[S555]

can you upgrade the graphics card in a laptop?

[ChuckFickens]

Nope, they are part of the main board (except in exceptionally rare circumstances)

can you change the video settings in sims3? if you can try running it a lower resolution or colour depth.

[ACtheTROLL]

looks like that extra Gig might come in!!!!!
sssss5555s555s555???
Upping to 4Gb wouldn't normally be something I't reccomend either (same reasons) ... but it's gaming ....
and the min spec in vista is 2 ... you might gain a bit from an extra 1Gb
BUT
given that the difference in price (on average - generic memory) is about �6.00 dearer for a 2Gb sodimm- what the heck - go for it - I would

don't expect a huge power surge ... it will be faster ... but I doubt by a great deal
this is a 60-40 graphics/memory issue as well
(but do give us feedback if you do go for it)

and as said - day to day - you won't get anywhere near to using much of it EVER - it could even slow it down slightly

surprisingly
The Sims 3 Minimum System Requirements:

PC Desktop - XP (Service Pack 2)
- Processor Pentium IV 2.0 GHz / Athlon XP 2000+
- Memory 1 GB
- Graphics GeForce FX 5900 / Radeon 9500
- Graphics Ram 128 MB

PC Desktop - Vista (Service Pack 1)
- Processor: Pentium IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400+
- Memory: 1.5 GB
- Graphics: GeForce FX 5900 / Radeon 9500
- Graphics Ram: 128 MB

Laptop - XP (Service Pack 2)
- Processor: Pentium IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400+
- Memory: 1.5 GB
- Graphics GeForce: G- 6200 / Radeon mobile 9600
- Graphics Ram: 128 MB

Laptop - Vista (Service Pack 1)
- Processor Pentium: IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400+
- Memory: 2.0 GB
- Graphics: GeForce G- 6200 / Radeon mobile 9600
- Graphics: 128 MB

[ComputerJim]

In terms of game performance the graphics card is most important followed by the RAM and processor (on equal terms).