As many or little of you know, The Sims 3 is releasing in February.

What I want to know is if my computer will be able to play it, which is horribly doubtful, seeing as it can't play The Sims 2.

Basically this computer is a late 90s Compaq. Do I have to have a new computer to play it, or do I just have to upgrade some things like the graphics and sound cards?

You'll definitely need to upgrade. And seeing as it is a computer from the 1990s you'll be needing a new motherboard probably cause I don't think they even make video cards anymore that would be compatible. There are guides online though for how to build a computer that can run Crysis on high settings for $500 and I'm sure a computer like that will run the Sims 3 just fine.

I'd suggest buying a whole new computer because of all the components you would need to buy anyway. Even your dvd player is probably very slow haha.

For Sims 3 you don't really need a true hardcore gaming pc or something though. EA wants money, and therefor they make a game a normal computer can run. I think you're set with 600-700 dollars (not including a screen which i do suggest you need to buy as well =P).

Knowing EA and the target market for The Sims, I would suspect that the minimum requirements are low enough that a 2 year old low end laptop would be able to play the game fairly well ... and if you had a gaming system from 2003/2004 you would also (probably) be able to run it.

Just buy any new off the shelf box and stick an HD 4670 into it. That should be pretty cheap and give you years of gameplay.

Yeah at the gaming PC from 2003/2004, my 2004 PC can run Crysis so I highly doubt the Sims 3 will out do Crysis.

Crytec and EA teamed up to make and sell a $700 pc that would run Crysis Warhead on high settings. So you could look into that if you wanted. Other than that even a cheapo Best Buy brand computer should run the Sims 3 fairly well.

By looking at the comments, some of you think that I can buy any computer willy-nilly.

This computer is not allowed to exceed $300. Is there any computer that cheap that can run new games?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103159

$385 -2.5ghz Athlon X2 2gb Ram

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161249

$82 After $10 MIR -HD 4670

Total: $484 Incl shipping.

Sorry, thats about as cheap as you can go unless you want to build it yourself. *Which I might add isn't as hard as it sounds*

Squilliam said: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103159 $385 -2.5ghz Athlon X2 2gb Ram http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161249 $82 After $10 MIR -HD 4670 Total: $484 Incl shipping. Sorry, thats about as cheap as you can go unless you want to build it yourself. *Which I might add isn't as hard as it sounds*

That graphics card will probably be total overkill,

http://www.buy.com/prod/evga-geforce-8500gt-512mb-128-bit-ddr2-pci-e-x16-dx-10-dvi-vga-tv-out/q/loc/101/205028788.html

heck that will probably be overkill and it's less than  half the price.

Also wait till Christmas, if you don't mind dealing with the hassle of rebates you can get closeout models of brands that aren't total shit at black friday for around $300.