The Sims 4 system requirements make this lovable and iconic life-sim one of the easiest games to run on PC. You aren’t going to need a mega-powered battlestation, but it’s worth making sure your gaming PC or laptop still meets the demands, especially if it is starting to show its age.
Surprisingly, you might not even need a dedicated graphics card to run The Sims 4. If you’re going to attempt this, however, you’re going to want to take a close look at our buying guide to the best gaming CPU, to see which ones have an integrated GPU that is up to the challenge. If you’d rather play from the comfort of your couch, you can instead check out our guide to the best gaming laptop, where you’re sure to find products to cover a range of budgets and needs.
Here are the Sims 4 system requirements on PC:
| Minimum | Recommended | |
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit |
| CPU | Intel Core i3 3320 AMD Ryzen 3 1200 | Intel Core i5 AMD Ryzen 5 |
| RAM | 4GB | 8GB |
| GPU | Nvidia GeForce 6600 ATI Radeon X1300 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 AMD Radeon HD 5830 |
| Storage | 26GB | 51GB |
Not only do you not need the best graphics card from our comprehensive buying guide to meet The Sims 4 minimum requirements, but in some cases, you don’t even need a dedicated GPU at all. Modern CPUs that contain a half-decent iGPU should handle the game just fine, and with The Sims 4 being free-to-play, why not just try your hand to see if it’ll run?
EA’s The Sims 4 recommended requirements crank things up a notch, as you’ll need a graphics card on par with the Nvidia GTX 650 or AMD Radeon HD 5830. You should be able to get a hold of something even better, like the GTX 1660, for fairly cheap, and most of the best gaming laptop contenders from our extensive buying guide pack more of a punch.
Of course, you’ll want to pair the above GPU with at least 8GB RAM and at least an Intel Core i5 chip to help the best life game reach its full performance potential. That combo should prevent any performance hiccups, especially when there’s more happening on screen.
Lastly, to match The Sims 4 download size requirements, you’ll need to free up at least 26GB of storage. However, that figure nearly doubles to 51GB if you’re aiming for recommended specs, and EA advises reserving additional space for game saves and the best Sims 4 mods.
We’re keeping our eyes out for updates surrounding Sims 5, but EA’s currently keeping hush beyond revealing it may be under development using the working title Project Rene. If you’ve managed to do the seemingly impossible and go through the ridiculous amount of DLC and expansions while you wait for the sequel, check out all The Sims 4 cheats to get free money, and our Sims 4 CC guide on how to install custom content to keep things fresh.
If you’re happy that your gaming PC or laptop is up to the task of running The Sims 4, then you can instead turn your attention to our best gaming keyboard buying guide. You might just find a nice new keyboard for navigating the sometimes complicated building menus.
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