# Making the Sims 2 a bit faster...



## Pipni (Sep 10, 2007)

Hi

I'm running a laptop, with 50gb of my modest 80gb hard drive left and 512mb RAM. I have the Sims 2, University and Open for Business, and to be honest, its just a bit to slow and laggy for me.

I have a 250gb external hard drive - if I install the Sims 2 on that, and run it from there, would it run faster? :4-dontkno


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

What are the rest of your system specs? The graphics card and CPU will have more effect on performance than switching to an external drive.

What make/model and speeds are the 2 hard drives? Is the external a USB2 drive and does your laptop's BIOS support USB2?

Do you have the latest graphics drivers, chipset drivers and DirectX installed?

What screen resolution and game settings do you play at?

You have plenty of free hard drive space, but do you defrag regularly?

Any other programs running in the background while you're gaming?


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## Pipni (Sep 10, 2007)

the external hard drive is USB 2, and I've used it to back-up documents and transfer files between computers no problems. 
I'm sure I have Direct X 9, but don't know how to check. 
I'm running windows xp Home
I have a ATI Mobility Radeon X600 128 MB graphics card, which I'm pretty sure has the latest drivers.
3GHz Pentium 4 processor
Not sure about chipset drivers.
I play a generally "low" settings, and screen resolution 1280x768 (widescreen monitor) and I try to shut down all programs before I play (Ctrl + Alt + Del > Proceses and then I delete all but the nececary ones and I don't touch one's labeled "SYSTEM"


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## Pipni (Sep 10, 2007)

And yes, I defrag once every couple of months, but each time I get "this drive doesn't require defragmentation" or something like that.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Is this a new problem or has the game always been laggy? Laptops aren't generally recommended for games, but your X600 should have no problem running The Sims.

To check DirectX, go to Start > Run > dxdiag. Look at the bottom of the System tab to see the DirectX version.

Go to the Display tab in dxdiag, enable the 3 Accleration buttons and run the tests. Any problems listed in the Notes box?

The chipset drivers are on your motherboard CD and are usually installed at the same time as the operating system. Run the setup on the CD and it will install any missing drivers without overwriting the existing ones if they're already up to date.


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## Pipni (Sep 10, 2007)

The Sims was never this laggy before, and I suspect it was because I installed the expansion packs, and it was lack of space (where external hard drive idea came in).

Yes, it's Direct X 9c, all 3 were alread enabled, tested the other two buttons (draw & 3d), no problems in the notes.

Checking the driver's CD for motherboard, will install ASAP


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

are you running games from a usb hard drive?if so that may be the performance killer.


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## Pipni (Sep 10, 2007)

no, I usually run all my games on the internal hard drive, and I thought if space was the issue, prehaps trying it on an external usb hard drive?

also, I looked everywhere for the motherboard drivers, can't find it - its a Quanta 3082.

sorry, I didn't make clear earlier, it is a USB 2.0 hard drive, 250gb Freecom


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

a quanta board is this an hp,or compaq computer?


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## Pipni (Sep 10, 2007)

HP Pavillion zd8123ea


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

you need to goto hp's website for those drivers.


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## Pipni (Sep 10, 2007)

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&cc=uk&dlc=en&product=466553&lang=en

Can't find it, can you check incase I missed it?


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

here ya go your computer is a laptop correct?


http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&cc=uk&dlc=en&product=466553&lang=en


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## Pipni (Sep 10, 2007)

Yes, and that's the link I put :S. What driver do you mean exactly? I can't see Motherboard or Quanta anywhere, and I don't know what else it is called.


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

hold on a sec all the drivers on that page are so out of date.you are sure your video is a radeon mobility x600?have you been to ati's website,and updated that yet?


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## Pipni (Sep 10, 2007)

I have a little sticker on my laptop saying "Graphics by ATI Mobility Radeon X600 128mb" - and thats confirmed on my computer. As far as I know, drivers are up to date, can't find any more recent ones. 

Thanks for all your help so far, but my original question hasn't been answered: would installing and running it from my USB 250GB hard drive make it run any faster?


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Try it and see, but it's unlikely to be any faster.


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## Pipni (Sep 10, 2007)

no, external hard drive not a good idea  and it gets heated easily. one last question, can I easily upgrade a laptop? and if so, what would make it run faster, better graphics card or more RAM? or both?


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

more ram,and a different hard drive.that will most likely be your only options.99% of the laptop's on the market do not have upgradable video cards.


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