64 Bit Processors and The Sims 2 Well, since WorldSims has a few connections all over corporate america and we do have hot sheets on this stuff, I guess I'll try to clear things up seeing that no one wants to use the Tech Center. Currently you can get an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor around 600-800 dollars with a motherboard (the cpu is about $450.00 retail on the market) A complete system I've seen costs only about $2,500 if you look carefully and they are very good systems as well. Please note that on PURE 64 bit Processors, 32 Bit applications WILL NOT RUN. What AMD did with the Athlon 64 series is they designed it so that it would be backwards compatible with older 32 bit applications while providing two times the processing ability. That means all your applications of today's use will be able to run on the system. Is it worth the upgrade? Depends. If you recently upgraded your system, don't bother. If you haven't upgraded your system in about 3-5 years, I suggest the small investment to make the necessary upgrades to bring your system up to standards. Preliminary Specs show that the most processing power you would probably need is a 1.5GHz Processor. Having a 3200+ processor, that is also 64bit, is like having a 6.4GHz CPU, which is probably going to last you quite a while. The idea that the processor arrived too late is completely false. Companies like EA get months notice about product releases or upcoming developments. In fact, 64 bit computing is not new at all. AMD has been heavily publicizing their new series for several months now, and partnerships we have at WorldSims, well, let's just say we've known about this longer than quite a few computing magazines because of proper channels. Right now, AMD is making the processor extremely reasonable so that it can capture majority of the market leaving Intel in the dust. Seeing how Intel is also a few months behind in the development of their chip because of software translation issues (basically their 64bit chip uses software to make their CPUs backwards compatible with 32bit applications), AMD is taking advantage of this and capitalizing on this. With the AMD Athlon 64 arriving, the full potential of the CPU will probably be utilized. Remember, these processors handle information at double the rate of today's processors. With that in mind, and noting the fact that majority of the market is somewhere between 700MHz to 3GHz, Maxis saw no need to utilize the full potential of the CPU since it would hurt the lower markets (where most of us are) and cause upset users. Futhermore, there are VERY FEW APPLICATIONS available designed to take advantage of the full potential of a 64 bit processor. Microsoft has been working on an edition of Windows called Windows-XP-64 for AMD Athlon 64 processors and it barely hit beta stage two days after AMD released its processor! Andy Moore's law basically summarized up is that at the rate technology is advancing, we generally upgrade our systems every 3 years. I think it best that make only necessary upgrades that will help improve your system. The two most recommended items I would upgrade is this: 1) RAM!! Memory! If you think 256MB is alot, its nothing. Try going for 512MB or higher. YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MUCH MEMORY!!! Remember that! As applications become more complex, it requires more memory. If your system is sluggish, get more memory and it will SPEED THINGS UP A LOT!! Don't upgrade your CPU! Just UPGRADE YOUR MEMORY! 2) Video!! Get a decent video card (an older generation nVidia RivaTNT2 or higher) with 32MB onboard memory minimum! This way it reduces the amount of CPU power needed to generate graphics. All the best, ManagerJosh WorldSims.org, LLC. http://www.worldsims.org
