Graphics cards for trainz

conrailfan1999

Long Live Big Blue
Hello all, I apologize for posting so much about computer lately but I am in the need a of a new graphics card. What's a good graphics card that can handle large, highly detailed trainz routes? Also what is the price range for a good graphics card? Thanks in advance for feedback!
 
What is the size of your power supply ? This is important in the type of card that would be recommended. Also budget size would help.
 
What is the size of your power supply ? This is important in the type of card that would be recommended. Also budget size would help.
you also need to look at the size of the physical card, many of the store built computers use smaller motherboards that do not allow for a big card to fit without hitting other components.
 
Any of the middle to top end graphics cards should do for Trainz. Having said that, it also depends on how much money you want to spend on money and also on other components in your existing PC. Whether you have a (very) fast CPU, fast memory, USB2 or USB3 hard drives etc. in your PC. The warning regarding having a large power supply is a valid one, any power supplies from, say, 700 Watts onward should be OK, the larger it is, the better, as modern cards now usually use 2 separate power input cables because they do need it.

The other warnings regards better graphic cards being larger (longer) apply too, hence having a suitable mid size tower PC case to accommodate such longer graphic cards is mandatory. These cards will not fit into the common mini sized PC cases anymore.

You did not give us any specs of your existing PC, as by just upgrading a graphic card may not solve stutter and slow operating of Trainz. As said, the other components in your PC will have to be reasonable matching too for good performance.

Price range on graphic cards depend on where you live and from whom you want to buy one, do a Google search for graphic cards pricing in your country or check EBay too.

Lennard
 
Keep in mind too the size of your case. The better video cards also take up the equivalent of two slot and actually have a back plate that fills two slots. If things are really cramped inside your case, this can be a problem. The cramped space also brings up another issue. The discrete video cards also throw a lot of heat regardless of whether this is ATI (AMD) or NVidia so you definitely need enough space inside your case for adequate cooling and ventilation otherwise you'll see reduced performance and may damage the components in your computer due to the excessive heat.

John
 
My old PC ( that's just died!) had a nVidia gtx 550 ti.

That managed the Settle & Carlisle routes quite well with medium detail and ~ 3500 distance.

Currently the nVidia gtx 750 significantly outperforms that card and can run with a 300 watt power supply, current cost is approx £100.
My new PC has the nVidia 770, which is nearly double the performance (along with an overclocked CPU), and this manages the same route on Max settings... Mind you, it's a bit more expensive!

HTH,

Colin
 
If you have a 300 watt power supply, your choices of video cards are limited only up to your power supply wattage, not more your power supply wattage ... if you put in a video card that is rated over your power supply wattage, it can damage your PC
 
Currently, top of the pop's!!! 780Ti that still within the average punters budget!!! (check the "spec" as some of the 780Ti's don't require 600+ power supplies)... (690 Dual is still top of the charts, but you still need too take out a 2nd mortgage to be able to afford one)...

Have know idea what 780Ti's cost on the northern half of planet earth...

(They are about a "grand" downunder in Kiwiland) !!!

Cheers, Mac...
 
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You might find this of help.

I'd look towards the $250-$300 range. About six bands down on the Hierarchy chart is where the price its quite so bad and the performance is still quite good. Watch the power requirements though and check your machine to see what fits.

Cheerio John
 
I just built my new pc with an AMD Radeon HD 7770, which is about equivalent to a GTX 660, but it runs Trainz just fine. On a route with Speedtreez everywhere I'll usually get around 40-60 FPS. My CPU is an AMD FX 6300 6 core.

Hope this helps...

Mark
 
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