Let's get started, shall we?
We'll start with a in-depth look at the visual quality options in The Sims 3 graphics engine. Then we'll recommend a setting that balances looks and performance, and then we'll benchmark some inexpensive video cards to give you an idea of the performance you'll should be able to achieve.
Throughout the article, we'll have pictures to help you decide whether the feature is something that is worth having on, or worth having off, if you need all the frames you can get when playing this very fun game.
For our own testing, we used a 9800 GT (a entry level gaming card, selling for roughly $100) and a high-firepower Core i7 920 running at 3 GHz, with a 30" LCD monitor running at a 1680x1050 resolution. This is overkill hardware for The Sims 3 -- but we used this setup so we could measure changes in framerates more accurately. (What are framerates? Basically, a performance metric. Frames-per-second is how many times the game refresh the screen a second. The higher this is, the smoother things will appear.)
Let's really get started now.
To get to the screen you just have to look for the button with the three dots in it. It sits in the extreme lower left corner of the screen. Push it, and go to "Options." Alternatively, you can press F5 during the game.
The first options page is entitled "Graphics" and it looks like this:
(Note: For any screenshot in this article, you can click on it for an enlarged view.)
Now that you are familiar with it, let's start going through the options one by one. If you aren't interested in the details, and just want to see our recommended settings, you can skip right to page 10.
Screen Settings
Enable Fullscreen mode: Virtually all of you out there will want to leave this box always checked. From our unscientific tests of this option, The Sims 3 ran quite well without fullscreen mode on, with no problems bringing your cursor in and out of the program in Vista. You could theoretically play Sims 3 while browsing Facebook or chatting on MSN, but your Sims demand your complete attention so we recommend playing fullscreen.
Screen Size: We recommend you set this to the native resolution of your monitor. Basically, the higher the better looking the game will be, but each higher resolution will bring a substantial performance penalty.
The most common resolution for recent and popular 22" LCD monitors is 1680x1050. If you have an older CRT monitor, your maximum may be 1280x1024. If you have 24" LCD, then you may be able to play at 1920x1080, or 1920x1200. However if you don't have a very fast video card, (something over $80 USD new, for example), we recommend playing at 1680x1050, even if your monitor is capable of more. If the game is too slow for you at 1680x1050, The Sims 3 game stills looks pretty good at 1280x1024 , and will run faster at this setting. However we do not recommend playing on any resolution lower than 1280x1024.
Screen Refresh Rate: Just leave this on the default, "Default." It'll will not change your performance at all if you have lower-end hardware.
On the next page we'll get into the nitty-gritty of the Detail Settings.
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