Expert: Bobbert - 6/10/2009

Question
Hi, well first let me just say thanks for taking the time to read my (probably) stupid question. Anywho, my girlfriend loves playing the Sims 2 on her Dell Inspiron 531 (default basic specs; currently 2gb DDR2 RAM, 300 watt PSU) and she recently purchased the Sims 3. To run this on its highest settings it suggests upgrading to a 128mb Graphics card (her current one is only 64mb). - am purchasing 2 more 1 gig sticks of DDR2 later this week (to max her PC at 4gb) and was needing to know what graphics card would be the best to run with her default PSU. And if it must be upgraded as well, what do you recommend as far as a replacement? She's using Vista x32 SP1 if that makes any difference.

Answer
It depends on what kind of physical expansion is available on this computer, although given the limitation of the power supply, I would suggest leaving the system as is (including the 2GB of memory, as the extra RAM will not help much of anything, performance wise), and lowering the IQ settings to a playable level.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask.

-bob