New Video Card, Old Computer, Sims 2, Blue Screen of Death

Hi, I'm brand new here and I've been going over this problem for a couple years now. I have a Dell Dimension 4700 with a Pentium 4 processor, Window XP and a NVIDIA GeForce 6800 video card. The problem at hand is it won't run my favourite EA games, Spore and The Sims 2. I'm basically addicted.

I thought of getting a new computer, but it would take me a year to save to get the alienware. I'm wondering if a new NVIDIA card would work in my computer. I was thinking either NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 or NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2. I think if the video card has more memory that it would be able to handle my game.

However... this might not be the problem. I get the blue screen of death when I torture myself by trying to play The Sims 2, on my computer. It's an NMI Parity Error. I bought more memory and that did nothing. (That was me not thinking.) I've heard it's a graphics problem when it comes to that error in correlation with The Sims 2. Technically my system should easily support the game, and it doesn't. And I'm gonna cry.

So I need opinions, would a new graphics card help the problem? Would my computer support the card(s) I want? Or do I just need a new computer?

Thanks in advance!

 

Welcome to Major Geeks.
My own machine is a 6 year old HP Pavilion (P4 with a GeForce FX5200 graphics card) and I too play the Sims2 but without any problems.
Do you have any other apps or programs running at the time using your resources?
Try turning off AV and all antispyware when ready to play to free up RAM.

 

No. These (or any other newer cards) will not work in your system. You PC would need a PCI Express slot which it doesn't have. If you did have the slot, you'd probably need to upgrade the power supply since these cards (and most other newer cards) have huge power needs compared to the video cards of 3-4 years ago.

 

Geez man, a 260 with a P4 is quite the mismatch, besides it's a huge card and may not even fit, same with the X2. Your post begs the question, if you're addicted to these games then what are you playing them on now? What is the minimum specs that they run on just to have a ballpark figure to work with as I don't game.

Man, rethink the Alienware as that is overpriced IMO for what you get and for those two games, total overkill. Maybe build a dual or quad core system if you're so inclined or customize one from a decent vendour. I7s are nice new tech but you're paying a premium for that tech.

 

I make sure to turn off all my programs, even the internet. My sister mentioned this to me. I don't even have any antispyware or AV (assuming you mean anitvirus. =D). I was hoping this would solve my problem but it doesn't. Anything on my taskbar is shut down for sure. I'm not sure about going into task manager though, a lot is running in there but it's a bunch of things with long weird names and I don't know what's safe to close.

 

to augiedoggie
Specs required for the Sims2 are
1.0GHz or better CPU
256MB RAM or more
DirectX 9.0c compatable video card (32MB or better memory)(64MB for Vista)
at least 5.5GB disk space.

 

Jeez, there's another problem there then and not a simple HW upgrade needed as has been mentioned. Thanks

 

So it looks like I'm into getting a new computer.

But alienware is overkill for two games... so that's vetoed.

Any other suggestions for a computer that has a lovely graphics card and will run my game smoothly? I'm in the market for something up to like $1,500. I found alienware for that, so it's not too low for a good computer, right?

 

PNY GeForce 8400 GS PCI (yes PCI!) at newegg.com

I have this in my 6 yr. old Sony Vaio and it rocks! I also had problems running EA Games with a 5500 PCI card so this alone might do the trick for you.

 

Okay, so my computer should have a PCI slot where this card can go into? This would be a miraculous fix... if it works. I just get nervous because it's not like the graphics look bad when the game runs for 10 minutes; it's just the NMI parity error I get that. So this card should work for my 5 year old Dell?

 

So I was looking up the specifics of my computator and the model I have apparently does have a PCI Express slot.

http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-Dell-Dell-Dimension-470000-Desktop

This should be exactly how my desktop is, the only thing I've ever done to it is add more memory. And the crash happened before that.

I opened up my computer and discovered I have no idea where to put a new video card. Everything looks taken up. Not to mention I'm super confused considering my computer tells me I've got NVIDIA graphics where all the other sites I go to say that it comes with just an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 GM. The computer was my sister's before mine and I know she's not done anything on the inside of it.

wtf. :cry

 

Weird -- it says it has pci-express slots so you should be able to get any video card on the market. Yet you say there is no open slots? Therefore there must be a video card in there already. Your computer states there is a NVidea card yet you claim only intergrated graphics. Must be a conflict --- disable the driver for the intergrated graphics and see what happens. Hopefully -- someone with more tech savvy can intercept this thread and explain fully what to do.

 

I talked to my dad and he told me to trust what my computer tells me, not what the internet does. So it's a NVIDIA card I have for sure, not the integrated. My sister, when she bought it, probably ordered a NVIDIA card for it because she was buying specifically to run the Sims 2.

Anyway, how can I disable the integrated drivers?

Also, my dad's computer that I've been trying to run the game on too, is having a problem, but a different kind. Before the game would just freeze and reboot (after installing the latest Apartment Life expansion pack). After I updated his NVIDIA card, it's giving me this "Direct 3D returned an error D3DERR_NOT AVAILABLE! The application will now terminate." error and then, well, it terminates.

I've searched for help on that and people keep saying that I can just install a patch from the website. Which I've done twice and nothing is changing. And the game doesn't have the crash until maybe a half hour to and an hour of game play. I have a lot of the settings on medium and the resolution is small (big picture, small numbers to make that clear).

-headdesk-

Not to mention- now my personal computer that started the thread, is giving me the same blue screen error when I just go to open up iTunes or Safari. That's after I updated the effer. So I'm stuck using my mom's mac or my dad's comp.

 

Hi I am new to the forum and I have been trying to solve this problem with my blue screen while playing SIMS 2 with all the expansions and there is no way to solve it at least in my case, this are the results of the disk scan I did using a web page suggested in a different forum, can someone suggest any other way to fix it.

http://www.d-a-l.com/hardware-scanner/app/results.php?id=452bf48e3d907f16a94fafbba4413451

I just get a blue screen with the little cursor moving as the little clock when charging info in the SIMS 2 and it will return to the game a few times and after a while it turns off the monitor the little light goes to orange and then after a few seconds it restarts by itself; there is no error code in the blue screen whatsoever. Please help!!!!

My video card is a NVIDIA GE FORCE 6200

I run and play SIMS 3 without a problem, yet I have this horrible problem with sims 2 and i really miss playing it.