How many CPU cores does Trainz actually need?

[AV3]

So I am trying to decide between AMD's 9800X3D and 9950X3D Processors. The 9800X3D has 8 Cores while the 9950X3D has 16 Cores.

 

[johnwhelan]

Running TS22 nothing special in driver 14% CPU Xeon 8 cores 16 with hyperthreading, 38% GPU rtx 2070 and 4,000+ threads. Surveyor is different.

Reality I don't think the slower CPU will affect real life performance but I'm certain that someone will create content that hammers the CPU and the faster CPU will do better.

Cheerio John

 

[pdkoester]

The Ryzen 9 9950X3D is priced around $700, while the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is available for approximately $480, if your primary focus is gaming, the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is likely the better choice due to its excellent performance and lower price.
The 9950X3D, while slightly more powerful in some gaming scenarios, does not showcase a significant advantage over the 9800X3D in most cases, especially at higher resolutions where GPU performance becomes the limiting factor.

 

[HPL]

With an i-9900K (8 cores), Trainz only uses 2 threads intensively, others being used as of below 10%.

 

[johnwhelan]

With an i-9900K (8 cores), Trainz only uses 2 threads intensively, others being used as of below 10%.

But they are being used which makes answering the question difficult. On a build regardless of cost is one answer, the other from a practical point of view, you won't notice the difference is the other.

Cheerio John

 

[nugget2225]

Ram and gpu seems to be the most important. The 8 core cpu should be plenty for your needs. my cpu always sits around 25% during game play. The only time my cpu is really hammered is during installing 3rd party add-ons and during a database repaires.

 

[AV3]

The Ryzen 9 9950X3D is priced around $700, while the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is available for approximately $480, if your primary focus is gaming, the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is likely the better choice due to its excellent performance and lower price.
The 9950X3D, while slightly more powerful in some gaming scenarios, does not showcase a significant advantage over the 9800X3D in most cases, especially at higher resolutions where GPU performance becomes the limiting factor.

Suppose it's worth noting that the 9950X3D is meant to be more as a workstation processor rather than just a gaming processor like the 9800X3D.

 

[jjeff1955]

I purchased the Asrock Taichi X870E $469.99 with a free gift of the WD Black 1T M.2, and the AMD Ryzen 9900X CPU for $374.73 a lot less than the 9800X3D back several months ago. The X3D is not worth the extra cost as it is only a few % diffrerences in the Performance.
Good thing that I got the parts before they want back up an cost.
The performance is vey good smooth frame rates on my large Map compared to the Ryzen 5900X.
Trainz looks as it is using 6 Threads from what I see in the Windows Performance Monitor.

 

[pdkoester]

Why don't the developers let us know what are the specs of their system? What CPU, GPU, RAM type and amount, what type of storage is used? Are they getting great frame rates, minimal or no stuttering, or same thing we are experiencing?

 

[johnwhelan]

Why don't the developers let us know what are the specs of their system? What CPU, GPU, RAM type and amount, what type of storage is used? Are they getting great frame rates, minimal or no stuttering, or same thing we are experiencing?

It doesn't matter what their specs are it's the content you're running that matters.

Cheerio John

 

[pcas1986]

So I am trying to decide between AMD's 9800X3D and 9950X3D Processors. The 9800X3D has 8 Cores while the 9950X3D has 16 Cores.

I went through much the same process a couple of weeks ago. All the reviews I read seemed rather vague to me and most have a bias towards gaming machines. In my view Trainz isn't like most games as there is a lot going on "behind the scenes" but I don't know if a workstation setup is better. I'm not actually sure what a workstation works best with but I think it might be CAD or any heavy number crunching engineering programs.

Much of my work is in programs such as Adobe's Substance Painter and similar. That does a lot of number crunching. I don't run many large sessions in Trainz but do spend a lot of time developing scripts and models and subsequently testing them.

Not quite sure of the best direction, I figured the extra cores and threads of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D might suit me better. The cost didn't bother me. The other thing that got my attention were the sizes of the CPU caches.

I still think the biggest drag on Trainz performance is all the other stuff that runs in the background constantly phoning home to report what you are up to.

p.s. my new system is still being processed by the supplier so it will be a while before I have it up and running.

 

[johnwhelan]

I went through much the same process a couple of weeks ago. All the reviews I read seemed rather vague to me and most have a bias towards gaming machines. In my view Trainz isn't like most games as there is a lot going on "behind the scenes" but I don't know if a workstation setup is better. I'm not actually sure what a workstation works best with but I think it might be CAD or any heavy number crunching engineering programs.

Much of my work is in programs such as Adobe's Substance Painter and similar. That does a lot of number crunching. I don't run many large sessions in Trainz but do spend a lot of time developing scripts and models and subsequently testing them.

Not quite sure of the best direction, I figured the extra cores and threads of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D might suit me better. The cost didn't bother me. The other thing that got my attention were the sizes of the CPU caches.

I still think the biggest drag on Trainz performance is all the other stuff that runs in the background constantly phoning home to report what you are up to.

p.s. my new system is still being processed by the supplier so it will be a while before I have it up and running.

In general the biggest problem with computers is heat. The second is getting data into the CPU and out again. What I like about my Intel workstation CPU are the caches, they're bigger than a 'normal' office CPU. Basically the caches are a way to shovel data in and out of the CPU faster. So if money is no object I'd go the one with the most and biggest caches.

Cheerio John

 

[pdkoester]

It doesn't matter what their specs are it's the content you're running that matters.

Cheerio John

It does matter to me, though. When I use the content that comes with 2022 PE, I want to know how that is working in comparison to theirs. Otherwise, they could be just developing and testing with a few baseboards, a few pieces of track, a locomotive and nothing else, calling that sufficient. Would be interesting if one of them could provide some insight to that so I know what they are working with.