Boost your Game Performance

[FootplatePhil]

It is definitely wear and tear on the hardware that will kill a system. The components may be solid-state but running everything full-stop for hours on end with inefficient cooling will eventually burn out the components. In some instances, it's a matter of a bit of maintenance such as blowing out fans and keeping the inside clean. In other instances, it's a combination of things including poor air circulation within the case plus the software pushing the hardware at a constant high temperature. With Trainz, we have to constantly fight to keep the temperatures low to start with which gives us little wiggle room for high ambient temperatures or poor case design on top of that. With my new rig, the case design has a lot to be desired and that adds insult to injury to the high temperatures because my system is already running at 64 C. That's not a lot to work with to keep things cool. I ended up playing with the power-level and fan curves on my RTX-3080 to prevent the hardware from overheating and the speed throttling down constantly.

Good to hear your new PC finally arrived John. Do you run with 'Vertical synch' set to half? I find my 3060ti/UWHD combo hardly breaks a sweat with that setting, and in Trainz I can't tell the difference between (consistent) 30 fps and higher frame rates - everything runs pretty smoothly, calmly, and quietly. I can actually run a second instance of Trainz at the same time, and things are still OK (unless its a pretty hot day). BTW, what do you call 'overheating' ? Anything below 80 C is probably fine.

Edit: I reread your comment. 83 C is a wee bit too high, as your start playing with the cards temp protection and throttling. Funny, I have not seen my 3060ti go that high , even with Verticall synch set to full (100fps on my monitor). My old 1070 card used to run regularly at that temp, and after 5 years heavy Trainzing it is till 'alive' and running OK as my session testing machine. Dell seems to use the graphics chips built in throttling as part of its design solution, and maybe that is a realistic (if not premium) approach.

 

[sister]

I have a CPU i7-7700 cooled with base liquid system by coolermaster and a video card RTX 2070 Rog Strix with 3 fans. With TRS22 and all the setting on ultra I obtain a max CPU temperature of 38° C and GPU at 48°. When I didn't have the liquid cooler system I got CPU temps up to 70°!

 

[JCitron]

I tried various things including the vertical sync and the temperature zings right up on the GPU. My solution is to open the case side, lower the voltage to 75% and speed the GPU fan up to 80%. I can then keep the temps in the 70C range which is fine.

The problem is Dell's crappy case design. There is only a single intake fan, and the water cooler radiator blocks the only other major opening in the rear. The front is barely helpful with a covered front with tiny holes in the front bezel that don't allow for good intake. What's left for the RTX3080 is a tiny slit in the side with a grille to push the air out and the video card only has two fans to boot since this is a Dell custom model.

I may end up placing an external fan outside the case and draw the heat away from the unit. With my old custom rig, I had a huge Corsair 900-series case with plenty of room for air to pull away from the components. Even at its full bore, I never had my GTX1080 TI go over 63C when Trainzing and my CPU over 55C even in warm weather.

 

[FootplatePhil]

The 8950 case is appreciably larger than the outgoing XPS case, and the intake fan and water cooling are also a new thing (for XPS). But it still seems Dell may have over stepped the cases capability with that 3080/I9 configuration. They do seem to like to run everything at the extreme edge of the processor and graphics cards thermal design limits(so that they can grab some bragging rights?). My experience with my XPS 8920, 8930 and Alienware R12 is that they are reliable, even though the GTX1070 graphics card typically runs around 80 C on my XPS 8920 (single case exit fan) with Trainz. It has done so > 10 hours a day for over 4 years.

When I buy I try to be conservative in my config options, and have never not gone for the absolute 'top spec' option. I usually base my config on what I think the power supply will actually be comfortable with.. another area where the Dell top of the lines models look to be pushing the envelope.

 

[ColPrice2002]

Hi,
My experience with Trainz 2006 led me to change PC cases - The new case and fans ran some 20C cooler - just the case design.
My current PC builder offered options, so I have a Fractal case (3 cooling fans + plenty of air passages and filters).

That's fine now, if you can change cases to a good cooling desing it will pay back in equipment life. Obviously, you don't want to strip out a new Motherboard and gubbins into a new case while in warranty!

Colin

 

[JCitron]

The 8950 case is appreciably larger than the outgoing XPS case, and the intake fan and water cooling are also a new thing (for XPS). But it still seems Dell may have over stepped the cases capability with that 3080/I9 configuration. They do seem to like to run everything at the extreme edge of the processor and graphics cards thermal design limits(so that they can grab some bragging rights?). My experience with my XPS 8920, 8930 and Alienware R12 is that they are reliable, even though the GTX1070 graphics card typically runs around 80 C on my XPS 8920 (single case exit fan) with Trainz. It has done so > 10 hours a day for over 4 years.

When I buy I try to be conservative in my config options, and have never not gone for the absolute 'top spec' option. I usually base my config on what I think the power supply will actually be comfortable with.. another area where the Dell top of the lines models look to be pushing the envelope.

I think you're spot on here Phil. They did push the parts at their max while not necessarily accounting for it in the case. Dell is typical of the big suppliers in that they use one size fits all for their various models. I understand reasoning behind this, but it doesn't always work for the more power-hungry components. I went for the better video card and processor because I was upgrading from an older machine and wanted a long ROI on my hardware. The 750W power supply is adequate since the only components driven are the CPU, RAM, pump, motherboard and SSD. I have my SATA drives in an external USB-C connected external box.

I can't believe how quick this is. The USB-C bus is much faster than the SATA bus at 10 GB/s instead of 6 GB/s for the SATA. Accessing Content Manager or even loading up routes is quicker than it ever was, and the drives stay nice in their fan-cooled case. I got the Mobius 5C for $249 USD at B&H Photo www.bhphoto.com

B&H Photo Video Digital Cameras, Photography, Computers (bhphotovideo.com)

Hi,
My experience with Trainz 2006 led me to change PC cases - The new case and fans ran some 20C cooler - just the case design.
My current PC builder offered options, so I have a Fractal case (3 cooling fans + plenty of air passages and filters).

That's fine now, if you can change cases to a good cooling desing it will pay back in equipment life. Obviously, you don't want to strip out a new Motherboard and gubbins into a new case while in warranty!

Colin

I so wish I could switch cases, but Dell unfortunately has gone to a proprietary motherboard that's shaped to fit the case as well which means everything is pretty much locked down to that system other than the RAM, processor and video card. With the system under warranty and the cost of components through the roof, I'll keep what I've got. Now that I've got the power and heat under control, the system runs great for everything including TRS19 and TRS22. I Trainzed for close to 10 hours yesterday with not even a glitch.

 

[dundun92]

Warranty is almost always voided, John, when you overclock/manipulate the CPU/GPU manually.

 

[JCitron]

Warranty is almost always voided, John, when you overclock/manipulate the CPU/GPU manually.

I suppose if I let it cook then they'd replace it for me. I lowered the temps and the voltage and did the opposite because I want to get more than a few months out of the video card.

Nowhere does Dell say I can't do that. They do allow some performance tweaks in the BIOs but with the caveat you're on your own if you touch them. There's nothing there for XMP settings and everything else is RAM voltages and stuff which I won't touch anyway.

The CPU runs cool at 60 C which is about the same as my old Intel 5930 did and still does today.

 

[clam1952]

I suppose if I let it cook then they'd replace it for me. I lowered the temps and the voltage and did the opposite because I want to get more than a few months out of the video card.

Nowhere does Dell say I can't do that. They do allow some performance tweaks in the BIOs but with the caveat you're on your own if you touch them. There's nothing there for XMP settings and everything else is RAM voltages and stuff which I won't touch anyway.

The CPU runs cool at 60 C which is about the same as my old Intel 5930 did and still does today.

Pretty sure you can add a front fan to an XPS which might help? Example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_8HFm65Kv4

 

[JCitron]

Pretty sure you can add a front fan to an XPS which might help? Example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_8HFm65Kv4

Thanks. My case is different from the one in the video and there is one in there already. The problem is there is no exhaust fan and only the water cooler blocking the case in the rear and a small slot near the video card to cool the system and GPU at that location. I noticed too that the SSD runs quite warm as well as a result of the inadequate cooling in this case.