Mini PC?
- Thread starter SuperFudd
- Start date
MasterTracklayer
Well-known member
I`m running Trainz22PE 123801 on a second-hand laptop, an old Dell with an AMD A6. I have no idea what the price was. The game runs fine, for the most part, but I run with most of the settings turned way down (many of them at absolute minimum), and the program is somewhat slowish, I think. I won`t be winning any FPS contests, anyway, that`s for sure, but I mostly script, so the FPS isn`t as big an issue for me as it would be for someone who wants to shoot a photorealistic movie.
Edit: Oops, I hadn`t read your question closely enough; you wanted recent model computers. Sorry, but perhaps this info might be interesting anyway: I probably don`t meet minimum specs and it still works, at least well enough for me.
Edit: Oops, I hadn`t read your question closely enough; you wanted recent model computers. Sorry, but perhaps this info might be interesting anyway: I probably don`t meet minimum specs and it still works, at least well enough for me.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
The problem with a mini PC is the GPU and cooling. Trainz will run on a 3D score of 344 (Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics) if you run Middleton for laptops. Typically on a small computer with limited cooling the CPU will slow down as the temperature raises.
A cheap system would be a Dell refurbished Xeon w 8 core with a P4000 GPU workstation. 3D score 11,000, 10,000 3D score is respectable for running trainz. $700 this evening including 32 gigs of memory. They upgrade to win 11 for free. The 4 core version works but 8 core has a lot more computing power.
For comparison your GTX 745 has a 3 D score of 2,100 so it would be a worthwhile upgrade.
The mini PCs tend to use i3 or slower CPU with something like UHD integrated graphics 3d Score of 300-1,100 depending on the CPU used.
So yes they will if you choose content very carefully but not very well compared to other systems. Beware of Apple 8 gigs of none upgradable memory in very much on the low side.
Cheerio John
A cheap system would be a Dell refurbished Xeon w 8 core with a P4000 GPU workstation. 3D score 11,000, 10,000 3D score is respectable for running trainz. $700 this evening including 32 gigs of memory. They upgrade to win 11 for free. The 4 core version works but 8 core has a lot more computing power.
PassMark Video Card (GPU) Benchmark Charts - Model List
Video Card Benchmarks - Over 200,000 Video Cards and 900 Models Benchmarked and compared in graph form - This page is an alphabetical listing of video card models we have obtained benchmark information for.
www.videocardbenchmark.net
For comparison your GTX 745 has a 3 D score of 2,100 so it would be a worthwhile upgrade.
The mini PCs tend to use i3 or slower CPU with something like UHD integrated graphics 3d Score of 300-1,100 depending on the CPU used.
So yes they will if you choose content very carefully but not very well compared to other systems. Beware of Apple 8 gigs of none upgradable memory in very much on the low side.
Cheerio John
I don't have one but I have looked at them very seriously. Some of the new ones by Minisforum are more than capable of running Trainz as they have no problem running AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077 and The Last of Us in 1080p. Sadly, they are running about $750 or so at the moment. The YouTube channel ETA Prime does a lot of reviews of these system so it might be worth a look. You can pretty much get any CPU that can be used in a laptop these days and the latest AMD CPUs with either the 680 igpu or 780 igpu delivery amazing performance when the system has DDR5 memory of 16GB or more memory. If you can go to the $900 range you can find units with laptop versions of 3060 and 3070 GPUs.
Last edited:
Linus Tech Tips had a video on this subject. One of the systems he tested could run an RTX4080 fine. The case was nice too and had adequate cooling too.