Just How Much Hard Drive Space Does The Sims 4 Really Need?

Let‘s kick things off with the key question – how big is The Sims 4 currently with all official DLCs and expansions installed? As of 2023, the total install footprint now tops out at a hefty 60 gigabytes.

To put that in perspective, that‘s over double the 25 GB the base game occupied at launch back in 2014! And with speculation heating up about The Sims 5 on the horizon, that hard drive real estate will become even more precious for gaming Simmers.

Popular titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Read Dead Redemption 2 push the envelope at a gargantuan 150+ GB fully updated. So while The Sims 4 is certainly no lightweight, maxing out around 60 gigs keeps its storage needs fairly reasonable for a modernAAA game nearing its 9th year of active development.

How Each Expansion Pack Bulks Up Your Install

But exactly how does The Sims 4 manage to fatten up so substantially since its initial release? The key drivers are the meaty game packs and expansions that infuse so much additional content. Let‘s analyze how each one contributes to your ballooning hard drive:

Expansion / Game Pack - Size - Cumulative Size

Base Game - 25 GB - 25 GB
Get to Work - 1.5 GB - 26.5 GB  
Dine Out - 500 MB - 27 GB
City Living - 1.5 GB - 28.5 GB
Cats & Dogs - 8 GB - 36.5 GB 

(Abbreviated for length...)

High School Years (latest) - 9 GB - 60 GB 

As you can see, those major expansions that introduce pets, supernatural Sims, new destinations and fundamental gameplay systems are the real storage hogs! For example, Cats & Dogs clocks in at 8 GB on its own thanks to all the new furry friend animations, models, voices and routines.

In fact, The Sims 4 packs are 50-100% larger on average compared to previous Sims generations based on more detailed world-building and advanced Sim behavior.

So if you‘re invested in owning the full Sims 4 catalog, be prepared to have 60+ GB set aside!

Optimizing Your Rig For Peak Sims Performance

With the install creeping up and new content still rolling out after nearly a decade, what kind of minimum specs should you target in 2024 for a solid Sims 4 experience? And what‘s considered an ideal setup to achieve smooth 60 FPS gameplay at High settings? Here‘s the latest guidance:

Component     | Minimum  | Recommended | Ideal
------------------------------------------------    
CPU           | i3-2100  | i5-8400     | i7-10700k 
GPU           | Intel HD4400 | GTX 770 | RTX 3060
RAM           | 4 GB     | 16 GB      | 32 GB
Storage (SSD) | 64 GB    | 256 GB     | 1 TB

My personal recommendation? Don‘t drop below 16 GB DDR4 RAM and a 256 GB Solid State Drive. Going lower risks frustrating lag, delays and graphical issues when loading levels and textures on the fly – ruining your gaming immersion.

And while the minimum specs may support running the Sims 4, that i3 processor and integrated graphics will choke trying to render expansive neighborhoods and smoothly track 10+ detailed Sims at a playable frame rate.

Shelling out for a dedicated Nvidia RTX card, a beefy i7 chip and 32 GB of RAM headroom will guarantee 60 FPS with all settings maxed out across your decades-spanning dynasty!

The Sims 5 – Bigger & Better?

The Sims 4 still stands strong nearly 10 years later, but whispers of an eventual Sims 5 release are growing louder. While the exact launch timeline remains speculative at this point, tentative rumors peg it around late 2024 to 2025.

If so, that new core engine and enhanced Create-A-Sim tools should entail another leap in minimum and recommended specs compared to TS4. And with new console generations stretching their graphical prowess, cross-platform support could expand the environments and detail density as well.

My personal projection based on the technical evolution so far? Plan for a 100 GB base install for The Sims 5, with triple-A quality graphics, vastly expanded neighborhoods and less visible loading. Sound cards, quick SSDs and new-gen multi-core CPUs will be table stakes.

While waiting and speculating on what‘s next, one thing remains certain – The Sims as a franchise still has enormous room left to grow!

What are your hopes for The Sims 5‘s technical ambitions? Let‘s chat in the comments!