Computer for TS 2010

H

happyj

New member
Because of my age (81) I no longer feel confident building my own computers, let alone upgrading an existing computor.

Accordingly I am considering purchasing a Dell Studio Mini Tower with 23" St2310 full HD monitor, to run TS 2010. This computer has:

Processor - Intel Q8200, 2.33 hz,

Memory - 8gb DDR2 SD Ram,

Video - nVidia GeForce CTS 240, 1024 mb.

Any thoughts on how this will perform with TS 2010 and beyond.

Thanks.
 
Probably not too bad. The sexy cpu this week is probably an i5 or i7,

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu,2520-7.html

The video card is respectable rather than earth shattering. nVidia will probably release a DirectX 11 card within three months which would be a little more future proof.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2521-8.html

I might drop the memory to 6 gigs rather than 8 and add a sound card.

For a sanity check have a look here:

http://pc.ncix.com/ncixpc/

www.tigerdirect.ca have an HP i5 desktop, my impression is some of their things are good some over hyped but I buy from them occasionally.

Are you interested in Blu ray, looking at the spec on the monitor it looks blu ray capable, might be worth looking at the video cards and seeing if the ATI card would be better for Blu ray.

Cheerio John
 
Johm Whelan

Thank you John. As usual you have provided a thoughtful and informative response to a technical request. It looks like I have a lot of research to do based on the links you have provided.

This putchase will replace an older computer that is showimg signs of HD failure, and does not have a power pack capable of supporting the newer processors, or video cards, so I have opted to procure a replacement that is Trainz capable.

I might add that I have TS 2010 installed on a Dell DX061 computer with a 2.40 Quad core processor, an nVidia 8800GTX video card, 2046 mb memory, and a Dell 22" wide screen monitor. So far my results with TS 2010 have been excellent; good frame rates , with surprising clarity of objects, and no stuttering. Alas this unit is three years old, so I feel any new equipment that I select should be equivalent or better capable of accomodating Trainz of the future.

Cheers
 
happyj said:
Thank you John. As usual you have provided a thoughtful and informative response to a technical request. It looks like I have a lot of research to do based on the links you have provided.

This putchase will replace an older computer that is showimg signs of HD failure, and does not have a power pack capable of supporting the newer processors, or video cards, so I have opted to procure a replacement that is Trainz capable.

I might add that I have TS 2010 installed on a Dell DX061 computer with a 2.40 Quad core processor, an nVidia 8800GTX video card, 2046 mb memory, and a Dell 22" wide screen monitor. So far my results with TS 2010 have been excellent; good frame rates , with surprising clarity of objects, and no stuttering. Alas this unit is three years old, so I feel any new equipment that I select should be equivalent or better capable of accomodating Trainz of the future.

Cheers
Click to expand...

If your current machine works fine then I think your suggested replacement will work fine as well. Trainz is a bit open ended which means different people select different assets and have different expectations but having a look at the links and doing a bit of research hopefully will be useful.

I'd probably suggest buying an external hard drive, Samsung do a 2 terra byte with 3 year parts and labor warrenty, running Windows error checking tool on the drive and limping along until the nVidia releases its new 40 nm directx 11 video card, reputed to be quarter one 2010.

The external drive can be used with the new system as well.

Cheerio John
 
happyj said:
Because of my age (81) I no longer feel confident building my own computers, let alone upgrading an existing computor.

Accordingly I am considering purchasing a Dell Studio Mini Tower with 23" St2310 full HD monitor, to run TS 2010. This computer has:

Processor - Intel Q8200, 2.33 hz,

Memory - 8gb DDR2 SD Ram,

Video - nVidia GeForce CTS 240, 1024 mb.

Any thoughts on how this will perform with TS 2010 and beyond.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

TS2010 runs on a bare-minimal machine for me (1GB, old nVidia 8400GS, 32-bit Windows XP, and not even running the recommended service packs!) and it runs pretty nice and smoothly. Looking at your specs, I'd opt for a GTS250 and, maybe, tradeoff some of that memory. Of course, I'm a Windows XP freak and am not taking the plunge onto Windows 7 till it's better tested and I know for sure it will work offline. Even then, I'd opt for the 64-bit version and probably the Premium or Ultimate version if I ever do make the plunge.
 
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