I always preferred a laptop to play on but my mother thinks it's wasteful to buy a brand new laptop than use her 6 years old desktop only for college and my old netbook that's three years old. None of them are even good enough to play Sims 3 fluently. Few days ago I came across this video on youtube. I just graduated this year and soon I will be in college on October 21st majoring in Computer Information System and Computer Engineering later on. So I told her that I can build a PC for $400 and she said we'll talk about it. She has a friend that can get discount on any computer parts and especially on the OS. I just want all parts that can run Sims 3 + all (if not most) expansions/stuff packs and possibly sims 4 max settings in my budget range. I can always upgrade any time but for now I miss Sims so bad and I really want to play it before I go to college soon might get busy with school work. I only played on my Sims 3 on my netbook with all EPs except WA it hit 7-15 fps with meds to high (I know, I know ).. I was just desperate to play and post pictures on Simblr lol.. I can use some $300-$500ish on laptop to play Sims 3 on the road, I travel back and forth to see my family from VA to NJ... I would appreciate anyone's help.
The specs of the PC on the video is (links are in description):
BIOSTAR TA970 AM3+ AMD 970 ATX Motherboard: $69 (Price changed)
AMD FX-6300 ($120-$110) or FX-6100 ($110)
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB 1600mhz CL9 RAM $58
Asus Radeon 7790 1gb: $120
Seagate 1TB Barracuda SATA-6Gbs: $39
COOLMAX ZX Series ZX-700 700W 80 Plus Sli/Crossfire Ready: $40
Cooler Master Elite 430: $25

It's unlikely that that setup will play The Sims 4 at max resolution, max settings and 60fps+ at 1920x1080.

I think it should handle The Sims 3 at max, worst case you have to lower a setting like shadows or edge smoothing from high to medium. But otherwise I think it should be okay. I don't keep up with AMD processors though so I don't know much about the socket and future processors.

Just remember that to that you have to add the cost of the monitor & accessories and the operating system if you don't already have them.

Once its built let us know how well it handles The Sims 3!

Go for FX-6300 it's newer , have more instruction , use less power than it predecessor.
This system can run Sims3 at max setting.

I made changes on the specs since my mom is willng to pay half of the PC build but not too much money. I will get more than my half on 27th of September, when I will finally purchase all the parts. I already have an old optical drive I can use and a monitor (it'll be upgraded) also keyboard and mouse. I can get discount for Windows 8, so I don't know actual price of the the parts if I tell my mom when she can tell her friend to get the discounted price.

This is my final decisions on the specs of my first build:
CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($117.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-D3P ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Value 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($43.53 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($57.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $548.45

You don't need that big of a power supply for the setup you've picked out. You could go with a Corsair CX 430 and save yourself some money.

Also I would double check the price of that graphics card, I wasn't able to find a 7850 for $129.99 on amazon.

The PC part picker chose that card for lowest price as $129.99 on newegg with $15 rebate >.< well I'd still choose it