About to buy a new computer

[ApproachMedium]

Alright all you technology savvy trainz-ers. I'm about to purchase a new computer. I want something that's not going to be out dated in a year. Now, I've been out of the tech game for a little while now. I still know what everything does, but I'm a little lost with these new processors and video cards. I picked out a computer that I'm most likely going to buy. Now I'm not really asking for a run down on equipment here. All I'm looking for is for a few people to tell me that the system that I'm going to buy will run Trainz 2010 well. Good FPS, Speed Trees will work, etc. TS2010 is probably the most advanced game this computer will ever run (aside from a future Trainz release) so I want it to run well. I do also know how to upgrade RAM and video cards if I needed to do so in the future.

Windows 7 64bit
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9300 2.5Ghz, 6mb L2 1333MHz FSB
6GB DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM
640GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s HDD
1GB ATI Radeon HD 4850, 2 DVI, HDMI, VGA ports

So again I really just want to know if the Quad processor is better then the Intel Core i5-750 processor at 2.66Ghz, 1MB L2 + 8MB shared L3 Cache. And if the video card I selected is good.

Oh, also if anyone does know the answer to this, I'm looking to use my 46" HD TV as a monitor, it has HDMI ports. Will that video card display on that.

I know this all belongs on some other computer geek forum, but since I'm really only running Trainz 2010 on it I figured this was the best place.

-Joe

 

[johnwhelan]

I'd go i7 920 if its in your budget, otherwise i5 basically the more recent the processor the better.

I might go a terabyte on the hard drive perhaps a green one. Disk performance is a bit odd you have two things to take into account one is the speed at which the head moves track to track and the other is the amount of data you can suck in on a rotation. The larger drives can hold more on a track so you don't need to move the head as much and strangely enough a bigger 5,400 rpm drive can give you much the same performance as a 7,200 rpm smaller drive.

The other thing is the motherboard what you want is good drivers for Windows so Intel or ASUS traditionally have been better than others.

ATI gives you the best price performance but it appears there are some issues with TS2010 so you may prefer to go nVidia.

Cheerio John

 

[ApproachMedium]

Help with new computer

Currently this is the best that I can afford within my budget. I'd love to go with a TB on the HDD but I really can't afford it. I'm willing to risk the ATI issues with the speed trees because I like the JVC stuff better anyway. As long as I get good FPS without the speed trees. I could always upgrade to a better graphics card later I suppose. I guess what I really want to know is if the Core 2 Quad processor is better then the i5 because those are the two that are in my budget right now.

This is the system I'm running 2010 on right now so I figure this new one has to be better. It runs really well with out the speed trees except for crashing my computer in driver every 15 minutes....

Windows XP SP3
Intel Core 2 T7400 @ 2.16 GHz
2 GB RAM
Radeon X1600

-Joe

 

[johnwhelan]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu,2466-6.html

desktops are cheaper and more powerful than laptops for the same price.

Cheerio John

 

[ApproachMedium]

Thanks for pointing me to that site. I've now decided to go with the i5 2.66 GHz processor with an nvidia gtx260. All other specs are the same. Sound good? Sounds good to me.

-Joe

 

[SuperFudd]

Great choice!
:udrool: :mop:

 

[ApproachMedium]

So the final specs on the machine that's in the mail now are as follows,

Windows 7 64 bit
intel Core i5-750 @ 2.66GHz
6GB DDR3
640GB HDD
1.8GB Nvidia GTX 260

This should do the job.

-Joe

 

[Johnk]

I went to my favourite computer store on Thursday to discuss upgrading. They told me not to do anything for two weeks (almost on Christmas) because everything is changing. I trust these people because I've been dealing with them for years. It's not a con because they could have easily sold me a new motherboard, processor and memory, but they said it would all be obsolete in two weeks time. It seems my video card and hard disks are the only things that will transfer across.

 

[winjmoore]

I'd go i7 920 if its in your budget, otherwise i5 basically the more recent the processor the better.
Cheerio John

I7 is of course older but faster than the trimed down I5

 

[johnwhelan]

Originally Posted by johnwhelan
I'd go i7 920 if its in your budget, otherwise i5 basically the more recent the processor the better.
Cheerio John

I7 is of course older but faster than the trimed down I5

Perhaps I should have said processor family. The i7, i5 and i3 all share many parts. The i7 is a more up market processor than the i5 or i3.

Cheerio John

 

[Paulsw2]

...They told me not to do anything for two weeks (almost on Christmas) because everything is changing...they said it would all be obsolete in two weeks time.

What's changing and what will be obsolete? Are they thinking about the new series of nVidia cards? Or are AMD finally going to come up with something to seriously challenge Intel? I would have said that a Core i7 coupled with an ATI HD 5xxx series card with 4-6GB of RAM on Vista or Win 7 64-bit O/S should be good through 2010.

Actually, I know what's changing - VAT's going back up to 17.5% in the UK in January. So buy now! :hehe:

Paul

 

[Johnk]

The guy waffled on with a heap of tech stuff, but it seems memory cards will have a different footprint and the new processors wont fit mother boards currently on the market. (In my home town at least.) People in Europe and the States may already have the new gear, but not here. The video card slot and slots for other cards won't change.

I'm talking about Intel stuff.

 

[EdrickV]

Sounds like maybe he's talking about the LGA 1156 socket and motherboards? As I understand it, the P55 motherboard only came out in September and more LGA 1156 chipsets are expected to come out.