The Sims 4 system requirements

Can I run The Sims 4?

To run the Sims 4 system requirements, you will need an ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro graphics card, an Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 CPU, and 20GB of HD space.

The Sims 4 system requirements are very accessible, so you should be able to run the game on most modern PCs and laptops. The cheapest graphics card you can play it on is an ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO. But, according to the developers, the recommended graphics card is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650.

To play The Sims 4 you will need a minimum CPU equivalent to an Intel Core 2 Duo T7600. Whereas, an Intel Core i5-4460T is recommended in order to run it. The minimum memory requirement to meet The Sims 4 specs is 2 GB of RAM, but the developers recommend 4 GB. In terms of game file size, you will need at least 20 GB of free space available on your hard drive or the best gaming SSD.

Sims 4 Steam

EA recently released a Sims 4 Steam edition, meaning fans of Valve's storefront can now play the game on their platform of choice. If you've got an Xbox Game Pass for PC subscription, you'll also be able to play the game using EA Pass. Of course, the game is also available through EA Origin, but an Epic Game Store release has yet to be announced.

As of October 2022, EA and Maxus made The Sims 4 free - it was a massive day for fans of the game. If you are new to the title, then check this updated list of The Sims 4 cheats to get free money and this Sims 4 CC guide for the latest custom content.

The Sims 4 update

A free Sims 4 update called Dark & Lovely released in April 2024, and brought 24 color combinations to two existing hairstyles. Additional hairstyles are due to be introduced to complement the Dark & Lovely update, but the extra hairstyles won't launch until July 2024. As Sims updates go, this latest update was fairly small, and is the result of the developer's desire to expand on the game's inclusivity. 

The Sims 4 Performance Guide

As the game has pretty low requirements, if anyone ever asks "Can you play Sims 4 on a laptop" then the answer is most likely yes. The game's system requirements also remain the same for The Sims 4 expansion packs. Suffering from low FPS of other performance issues in Sims 4? Here are some things you can try.

• Turning down anti-aliasing should give you a decent performance boost, as will turning down the resolution and shutting any background programs to free up processing and memory power.
• As with all games make sure you have the latest graphics cards drivers installed.

The Sims 4 DLC

The Sims 4, much like its predecessors, has a huge amount of additional content ready to expand your experience beyond the base game.

We're looking forward to news on the The Sims 5 release date, and here are our best guesses at The Sims 5 system requirements otherwise known as Project Renne. While you wait, check our list of the best games like the Sims.