What is the best graphics card for trainz?

[collinsl]

Hi all,
Simple question, tricky answer(probably):

What is the best graphics card for trainz?

Thanks in advance,

 

[AussieNightcrawler]

Hi,

Simple answer: The best one that you can afford.

Tricky answer: Depends on what your motherboard supports, how fast your CPU is, how much RAM you have, what you would prefer ATi or nVidia.

 

[collinsl]

Hello?

Hello?

Is there anyone out there...?

EDIT: thanks for the post, you posted while I was writing...

 

[collinsl]

Sorted!

Have taken advice from another thread/site and gone for an inno3D 8800GT.
Thanks!

 

[AussieNightcrawler]

Yeah not bad, the 8800GT is a good card, but again, the 8800GTS (new version) 512MB is better.

But then, hope your motherboard supports PCI Express 2.0 and your CPU is fast enough that it will not cause a bottleneck.

 

[collinsl]

The company I ordered from don't do the GTS version, and anyway, I don' have the money for it.

I have a very high-spec motherboard and processor, so I'm sure that they won't be a big bottleneck.

Thanks for the help!:wave:

 

[johnwhelan]

The company I ordered from don't do the GTS version, and anyway, I don' have the money for it.

I have a very high-spec motherboard and processor, so I'm sure that they won't be a big bottleneck.

Thanks for the help!:wave:

PCI-e 2.0 is very new and not all motherboards support it yet. If you're short of cash the ATI 3870 goes a long way.

Cheerio John

 

[collinsl]

Thanks, John I will look into PCI-E x16 V2.0

 

[collinsl]

nVIDIA has not yet released a motherboard chip that uses PCI-E x16 v2.0

Therefore, I don;t have it, but I'm not expecting that to be a huge problem, as it is backwards compatible.

Maybe I'm just being stupid about this, as I spent a lot of money on this computer...

Anyway, I hope that the graphics card is future-proof for now, and as long as it runs trainz, then I am happy.

Thanks John!

 

[AussieNightcrawler]

Hi,

I know of about 4 motherboards that have nVidia chipset and use the PCI-E 16x slot, anything with the 680i and the 780i, usually the 680i is SLi with the 780i being 3-way SLi.

That's of the top off my head, I could search for more.

 

[big_b]

While were on this does mine support PCI Express 2.0
ABit AN9 32X series 590chip 16x

If a board dosen't support PCI E2 is there any benefit in going to a 88 or 96 series card.

In another post I raised the question of going from a 7800gt to a 8600 ( reply bad idea ) It was suggested the 88 or 96 series cards would be a better option but are they compatible with your board & how do you find out?

Dave

 

[AussieNightcrawler]

Not from the information that I found on your motherboard, it is an older board.

Correct, the 7800GT would give you a little better performance then a 8600 would.

The reason why "I" would buy an 8800 or 9600 series card right now is to 'future proof' yourself, so that if or when you decide to upgrade your system, including a new motherboard you will not have to think about a new graphics card.

The 8800 or 9600 cards will run in your motherboard, but may be a little slower due to not having the PCI-E 2.0 specs to run with.


Hope that made sense...

 

[Capt_Scarlet]

The 8800 or 9600 cards will run in your motherboard, but may be a little slower due to not having the PCI-E 2.0 specs to run with.
Hope that made sense...

It wouldn't necessarily be slower as a single card or even 2 cards whether its a 8800 or higher aren't using all the bandwidth the PCI-E 1.0 specs gave it.

John

 

[collinsl]

PCI-E V2.0 is backwards-compatible with V1.0 and 1.1, and anyway, v.3.0 is expected within the next few years (Possibly by 2010)

 

[sethmcs]

This Might Be Helpful.....

wikipedia has a comparison chart for nVidia cards. The important number is bandwith Gb\s. The bigger the number the better the card.

6000 series here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_NVIDIA_Graphics_Processing_Units#GeForce_6_series

7000 series here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_NVIDIA_Graphics_Processing_Units#GeForce_7_series

8000 series here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_NVIDIA_Graphics_Processing_Units#GeForce_8_series

9000 series here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_NVIDIA_Graphics_Processing_Units#GeForce_9_series

As for big_b question: Is a 8600 better than 7800GT? According to wikipedia 8600GS bandwith is 12.8Gb/s 8600GT is 22.4 Gb/s while 7800GT is 32.0 Gb/s. To put this in perspective I currently have 6800LE that renders at 22.4 Gb/s which is equal to 8600GT. I, after much difficulty, bought a 7950GT on ebay because nVidia no longer manufactures AGP cards. My soon to be delivered 7950GT renders at 44.8 Gb/s which is roughly equal to 8800GT with 256Mb.

Hope this helps.:wave:

 

[big_b]

While I was out today I decided to price some 9600gt cards at a few computer shops ( not department stores ) in my area.
Two gave me prices of between $210 Aus- ( $245 Aus for oc model )
One told me there not out in Aus yet try again in a few months
Another told me about$250 for a card & seeing I was running XP-Home I would also have to upgrade to Windows Vista Ultimate at about $250 ( which he had in stock )to get the cards to work on my system.

These are some of the people you trust to repair & upgrade your PC !!

Dave

 

[AussieNightcrawler]

Hi Dave,

Hence the reason why I do everything myself, I buy my parts, build and repair my own PC.

I do not listen to the guy behind the counter very much, I know what I want so I buy it, no messing around...

 

[big_b]

I thinking of buying 2 x 9600gt cards for an sli setup & putting my 2 x 7800 on my old 939 board for my daughter to get her PC up & running for her.

Is there any difference in brands of cards or are you just paying for a brand name?

Dave

 

[AussieNightcrawler]

Usually the main difference between brands is the components that are used on the board, some have things like 'overclocked' versions, I tend to stick with brands like Asus, XFX, MSI.

Others like EVGA, Inno3D, Gigabyte, Xpertvision and Sapphire are not too bad from what I have heard.

 

[big_b]

Thanks for the info

Dave