Looking to upgrade my PC to allow maximum T:ANE settings at 60FPS

[PVP_playerPro]

As of recently, i have been having loads of fun with T:ANE (except for the regular amount of crashes), but i'm really starting to want to crank my graphics up to the max, which is currently...not a good idea with my hardware, so i'm looking for an upgrade that could handle T:ANE at full tilt.

Current build:

CPU: AMD F-6300 - Not the greatest in this day and age
GPU: EVGA GTX 950 2GB ACX 2.0 - Does really well if you don't have -any- shadows enabled, and moderate settings
RAM: 16GB DDR3
Storage: 120GB SSD / 1TB HDD

Settings:
Draw Distance: 8000m
Shadow Quality: None
Scenery Detail: Ultra
Tree Detail: Normal
Texture Detail: High
Water Quality: Ultra
Post Processing: High
Process Obj. Behind Cam: Yes (So the game doesn't stutter when i whip the camera around)

FPS: 60 in birds-eye/close to ground/not looking at lots of objects, 40-30 when actually operating trains and moving around the route

---

Here's the upgrades i'm looking at, would appreciate some input as to where i could shift focus on if this isn't good/balance enough. I've only got a little over $600 to spend

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant


CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($190.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H110M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($53.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: SK hynix SL308 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card ($249.00 @ B&H)
Total: $616.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-25 16:24 EST-0500


Note: The reason i'm getting another SSD is so if i bork the new build and cant use it for the time being, i don't want to lose all my files/windows install because i overwrote them when building the new PC. I could probably just move my install entirely to my HDD, but i'm -way- more cautious than need be. If i -can- just back up my install on an HDD somehow, i'll ditch the new SSD and re-allocate funds to other stuff/not spend it

 

[pkoester]

Here's my take on your info...

As of recently, i have been having loads of fun with T:ANE (except for the regular amount of crashes), but i'm really starting to want to crank my graphics up to the max, which is currently...not a good idea with my hardware, so i'm looking for an upgrade that could handle T:ANE at full tilt.

Current build:

CPU: AMD F-6300 - Not the greatest in this day and age
GPU: EVGA GTX 950 2GB ACX 2.0 - Does really well if you don't have -any- shadows enabled, and moderate settings
RAM: 16GB DDR3
Storage: 120GB SSD / 1TB HDD

Settings:
Draw Distance: 8000m
Shadow Quality: None
Scenery Detail: Ultra
Tree Detail: Normal
Texture Detail: High
Water Quality: Ultra
Post Processing: High
Process Obj. Behind Cam: Yes (So the game doesn't stutter when i whip the camera around)

FPS: 60 in birds-eye/close to ground/not looking at lots of objects, 40-30 when actually operating trains and moving around the route

---

Here's the upgrades i'm looking at, would appreciate some input as to where i could shift focus on if this isn't good/balance enough. I've only got a little over $600 to spend

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant


CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($190.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H110M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($53.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: SK hynix SL308 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card ($249.00 @ B&H)
Total: $616.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-25 16:24 EST-0500


Note: The reason i'm getting another SSD is so if i bork the new build and cant use it for the time being, i don't want to lose all my files/windows install because i overwrote them when building the new PC. I could probably just move my install entirely to my HDD, but i'm -way- more cautious than need be. If i -can- just back up my install on an HDD somehow, i'll ditch the new SSD and re-allocate funds to other stuff/not spend it

I would keep the 950 card, just go with CPU/MoBo/RAM exchange. Having only 8GB of RAM is not exactly going to lead to a greater experience, either. You should make sure if you don't go above 8GB, make sure all other software is not running.

Just my quick 2 cents. Yeah, a 1060 GPU is better, but a nice K series i5 or i7 CPU will go a long way, too.

 

[PVP_playerPro]

I would keep the 950 card, just go with CPU/MoBo/RAM exchange. Having only 8GB of RAM is not exactly going to lead to a greater experience, either. You should make sure if you don't go above 8GB, make sure all other software is not running.

Just my quick 2 cents. Yeah, a 1060 GPU is better, but a nice K series i5 or i7 CPU will go a long way, too.

I've barely been able to push T:ANE over 2GB of RAM usage, 8GB will suffice for the time being. A K-Series i5 or i7 won't help me run shadows any better than my 950 already does.

 

[blueodessey]

Kingston is great memory maker, also check Crucial Memory Maker good competitor!

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/?gcli...-null&ef_id=WDjIXAAABSMisicD:20161125232516:s

They are excellent too, compare to see what is better bang for Performance,,,, then Dollar to Dollar comparison in that order.

Also I would take I-7 over I-5 if possible, if not that's OK.

SSD-----1/2 TB I think would be better, Yes I know it is expensive, I about fell over when I saw cost of my new Samsung 1TB Drive.......
But the performance and less heat buildup with Digital over mechanical Drives (old school) for Laptop won me over immediately after I installed it replacing a 4200RPM WD 1TG traditional HD model......Slowwwwwwwwww......

Caution is good on Backups and Externals, I already know one member here that lost all his Trainz stuff because he didn't back it up, and he is sick about it, some was irreplaceable......

I also use Carbonite as an Off Site backup, reason, what happens if someone Robs the joint, Hurricane hits, Flooding,,,,,Yada Yada.,,,,Always have backup on site and one off site for your treasured items on Computer, I'm speaking in totality not just trains, since we are in the Golden Digital Age, easy to make, easy to erase or ????? There are lot's of Cloud Solutions out there too, Carbonite isn't the only one.....Sky's the limit now........!!!!

Good luck with your Quest.

 

[PVP_playerPro]

Kingston is great memory maker, also check Crucial Memory Maker good competitor!

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/?gcli...-null&ef_id=WDjIXAAABSMisicD:20161125232516:s

They are excellent too, compare to see what is better bang for Performance,,,, then Dollar to Dollar comparison in that order.

Also I would take I-7 over I-5 if possible, if not that's OK.

SSD-----1/2 TB I think would be better, Yes I know it is expensive, I about fell over when I saw cost of my new Samsung 1TB Drive.......
But the performance and less heat buildup with Digital over mechanical Drives (old school) for Laptop won me over immediately after I installed it replacing a 4200RPM WD 1TG traditional HD model......Slowwwwwwwwww......

Caution is good on Backups and Externals, I already know one member here that lost all his Trainz stuff because he didn't back it up, and he is sick about it, some was irreplaceable......

I also use Carbonite as an Off Site backup, reason, what happens if someone Robs the joint, Hurricane hits, Flooding,,,,,Yada Yada.,,,,Always have backup on site and one off site for your treasured items on Computer, I'm speaking in totality not just trains, since we are in the Golden Digital Age, easy to make, easy to erase or ????? There are lot's of Cloud Solutions out there too, Carbonite isn't the only one.....Sky's the limit now........!!!!

Good luck with your Quest.

I'd love to do periodic off-site backups, but having a 10GB/Mo data limit, and internet that will take forever to backup hundreds of gigs of important stuff takes cloud storage completely out of the question. This also doesn't really answer any of my questions :/

 

[clam1952]

Network the old PC and use it for Backups.

What I do, I have a 2TB HDD in the Trainz PC For backups plus a duplicated install on another 2TB,(Trainz is on an SSD got a lot of Drives) and a 3TB HDD in another PC also used for backups, I just click the Synchronise button on the backup software and it mirrors the SSD install to all 3 locations simultaneously, after the initial first backup it takes a couple of minutes at most. I also copy the backup disk to an external HDD monthly which lives in the garage for safe keeping.
May be overkill but I once lost 2 PC's due to a close proximity lightning strike back in the days when antisurge protection etc didn't exist for the home user!

I also have all PC system drives backed up to DVD and all installed program setup programmes and registration details copied to DVD's

 

[johnwhelan]

Shove a GTX 1070 in the old system and that should do it. Check the power supply and consumption first. Yes the CPU isn't the most wonderful in the world but it should be enough.

Cheerio John

 

[PVP_playerPro]

Network the old PC and use it for Backups.

What I do, I have a 2TB HDD in the Trainz PC For backups plus a duplicated install on another 2TB,(Trainz is on an SSD got a lot of Drives) and a 3TB HDD in another PC also used for backups, I just click the Synchronise button on the backup software and it mirrors the SSD install to all 3 locations simultaneously, after the initial first backup it takes a couple of minutes at most. I also copy the backup disk to an external HDD monthly which lives in the garage for safe keeping.
May be overkill but I once lost 2 PC's due to a close proximity lightning strike back in the days when antisurge protection etc didn't exist for the home user!

I also have all PC system drives backed up to DVD and all installed program setup programmes and registration details copied to DVD's

Good, i've got this figured out now, but everybody in this thread has avoided giving me any useful input about what i asked. I know very well that an i7 will kick the crap out of my FX-6300, but what's the point of having such a monster CPU if i have a GPU that can't even run the game at full settings! Maybe the forums weren't the best place to ask like i had though

 

[PVP_playerPro]

Shove a GTX 1070 in the old system and that should do it. Check the power supply and consumption first. Yes the CPU isn't the most wonderful in the world but it should be enough. Cheerio John

THANK YOU! This is what i was considering at first, but i was thinking that the CPU was (well, it -is-) bottlenecked, and didn't think it was a particularly great choice. but that was really only a concern with another particularly CPU heavy game i played, and the FX-6300 has done good enough so far in TANE, so i guess at this point, it is seeming like this option that will be the best for what im asking and cause less headache than going for a complete upgrade/modernization

 

[Vostrail]

Download MSI Afterburner (free) and set up the On Screen Display to show you GPU, CPU and RAM usage during gameplay. Then run your most taxing TANE route with shadows ON, toggle on the MSI Afterburner OSD and see what you're getting. Chances are, either your GPU or CPU will be at or near 100% - that's your bottleneck. It will presumable be the GPU with shadows on. If the CPU usage is 50% or less, it is probably better to sink the money into a GTX 1070 as johnwhelan suggested. If it's more than 50%, then chances are that upgrading the GPU alone won't be enough.

As others have pointed out, upgrading to 16 GB RAM would be a good thing to do at some point. There are TANE routes out there that use around 4 GB and your other Windows / System processes would be enough to result in some memory compression with only 8 GB (I saw this happening on my old rig).

 

[blueodessey]

Good, i've got this figured out now, but everybody in this thread has avoided giving me any useful input about what i asked. I know very well that an i7 will kick the crap out of my FX-6300, but what's the point of having such a monster CPU if i have a GPU that can't even run the game at full settings! Maybe the forums weren't the best place to ask like i had though

Sorry I couldn't exactly what you needed, Try this link below, there is a discussion on Video Card types and one of the messages has list of recommended min Specs for Video Cards to run T:ANE.....I think that might help you Sir........

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?113153-TANE-Hardware-Discussion&highlight=Video+Cards

 

[johnwhelan]

Download MSI Afterburner (free) and set up the On Screen Display to show you GPU, CPU and RAM usage during gameplay. Then run your most taxing TANE route with shadows ON, toggle on the MSI Afterburner OSD and see what you're getting. Chances are, either your GPU or CPU will be at or near 100% - that's your bottleneck. It will presumable be the GPU with shadows on. If the CPU usage is 50% or less, it is probably better to sink the money into a GTX 1070 as johnwhelan suggested. If it's more than 50%, then chances are that upgrading the GPU alone won't be enough.

As others have pointed out, upgrading to 16 GB RAM would be a good thing to do at some point. There are TANE routes out there that use around 4 GB and your other Windows / System processes would be enough to result in some memory compression with only 8 GB (I saw this happening on my old rig).

Unfortunately it isn't quite as simple as looking for the bottleneck. There are a number of different things going on, generally speaking an i3 PU with a GTX 1060 is enough to keep most people happy. An i7 is nice but mainly because of the caches. By pushing the GPU up from a GTX 1060 to a GTX 1070 you can compensate to some extent for slower RAM and CPU. Trainz is a little odd in the way it uses the CPU, it sends work to the CPU and works with what it has after a certain amount of time. I'd expect one core to be 100% this is normal no matter what the CPU is, and secondary cores maybe quite high as well. If the assets have a lot of scripting on them then you need more CPU, if they use lots of textures then memory speed and bandwidth to the GPU becomes important.

If you're starting from scratch then balance things, if you have an existing system its more what will give me the performance without throwing everything out including win10. My own rig is now over six years old but has had its GPU replaced with a GTX 980 and it seems to run TANE quite well. Mind you its had a new case, a couple of SDDs added and now has 12 gigs of memory.

Cheerio John

 

[Paulsw2]

Quick question about RAM - is DDR4 the was to go now? I'm planning on 16 or 32GB for my new rig, but had assumed DDR3 1600 would be OK. But perhaps not?

Paul

 

[johnwhelan]

Quick question about RAM - is DDR4 the was to go now? I'm planning on 16 or 32GB for my new rig, but had assumed DDR3 1600 would be OK. But perhaps not?

Paul

There is little practical difference but DDR4 is slightly better. However the CPU and motherboard need to support it. So if you're buying the latest CPU and motherboard then DDR4, if pennies are any type of issue then DDR3 will be less expensive.

Cheerio John

 

[LNERlover5]

There is little practical difference but DDR4 is slightly better. However the CPU and motherboard need to support it. So if you're buying the latest CPU and motherboard then DDR4, if pennies are any type of issue then DDR3 will be less expensive.

DDR4 is cheaper than DDR3 as of now due to manufacturing volumes and platform support. DDR4 is the way to go from now as all new chipsets have dropped DDR3 support, Intel drove this by requiring the lower voltage of DDR4 for stable memory controller operation.

Jack

 

[Paulsw2]

That certainly explains why only DDR4 options being offered for my CPU/motherboard of choice (i7-6700 (3.4GHz) and ASUS Z170-P: ATX, LG1151). So 16GB HyperX SAVAGE DDR4 2666MHz it is then.

Paul

 

[Paulsw2]

My order's gone in to PC Specialist, so we'll see what happens!

Paul

 

[robd]

My order's gone in to PC Specialist, so we'll see what happens!

Paul

Wouldn't it have been cheaper to build it yourself using the same or equivalent components as you've ordered from PC Specialist?

DDR3? DDR4? It's all about diminishing returns and the returns are rapidly diminishing; you probably wouldn't see any noticeable difference in performance between a DDR3 vs. a DDR4 system.

Processor/GPU/memory chips need a quantum leap in technology to make a significant upgrade in performance.

Rob.

 

[johnwhelan]

Wouldn't it have been cheaper to build it yourself using the same or equivalent components as you've ordered from PC Specialist?

DDR3? DDR4? It's all about diminishing returns and the returns are rapidly diminishing; you probably wouldn't see any noticeable difference in performance between a DDR3 vs. a DDR4 system.

Processor/GPU/memory chips need a quantum leap in technology to make a significant upgrade in performance.

Rob.

Yeah but every seven years or so he gets the itch to spend money, dunno why. He could send to to me and I could spend it for him and upload a You tube so he could sit back and just watch it.

Cheerio John
.

 

[robd]

Yeah but every seven years or so he gets the itch to spend money, dunno why. He could send to to me and I could spend it for him and upload a You tube so he could sit back and just watch it.

Cheerio John
.

I would spend it on beer!