I fancy a new computer - thoughts?
- Thread starter johnwhelan
- Start date
Could you elaborate on this for us?
Any reason why Nvidia’s new video card would make you “flip the coin on AMD or Intel”?
Or anyone else who has any clue about this subject right?
Registration at anyone of the sites I provided links to takes about five minutes. I’d love for you to see if anyone else who has experience with any up to date hardware would agree with the comments or misinformation being spread here.
I was told the i3 - I forget where - that the new line of Intel chips in general has had a bit of teething problems. That's why I opted for a socket 775 even though I know the performance will be lower than that the i3 could deliver. Just arrived today, and I'm going to build her tomorrow or Saturday.
BTW, I loathe Newegg, but I trust their reviews.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Quote:
The version of Win 7 I have lying around only supports one cpu socket so it will probably be a single cpu socket motherboard.
Where is the misinformation? The way dram is made hasn't changed in the last heaven knows how many years. Electrons and their behaviour hasn't changed in many years if ever. I get the impression you are either self taught or possibly been through college. I don't get the impression you understand how dram is made or how it works. If you have a PHd. specialising in silicon I apologise but I've seen no sign of it up until now.
Cheerio John
I was referring to the comments about the X58 chipset vs. the P55 and the so called “timing” issues.
Both, but as far as hardware goes I’ve gained more knowledge by building gaming machines as a side business then I did from the classes on hardware, nothing beats actual experience.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Quote:
Where is the misinformation?
Sometimes knowing a bit of theory helps rather than the suck it and see side of things. Who do you think design memory chips, guys who have been to college and assembled a couple of dozen computers or people with degrees in electrical engineering and chemistry? It's a different world we live in.
Cheerio John
Where is the misinformation?
Sometimes knowing a bit of theory helps rather than the suck it and see side of things. Who do you think design memory chips, guys who have been to college and assembled a couple of dozen computers or people with degrees in electrical engineering and chemistry? It's a different world we live in.
Cheerio John
Hi John,
I'll fancy a drive up to Canada in the end of May if you wish. The only bribery I need is some food to keep me going.
I don't live too far from you. Perhaps 10 hours or less. I'm down in the Northeastern portion of Massachusetts near the New Hampshire line, and about 100 miles from Portland, ME. It's a straight ride up Route 93 to 89 then across to Toronto.Thank you regarding college. This unfortunately will be my last semester. My unemployment office doesn't like to support people seeking a bachelors of arts degree. If I were going to one of those unacredited fly-by-night tech schools they said I'd have no problems of collecting while in school. They did commend me on my efforts though, which was mighty nice of them. So sadly I have to give up a dream for something I always wanted, and have to try to find a non-existing job. I had entered into the UMASS-Lowell as a music major with a concentration in piano performance, having worked in the high-tech field for over 30 years, and have nearly a BS in Information Technology. I may go back to online classes and finish this up if I can afford it. All of the student loans I can get won't matter because I can't recieve any funds to pay my other expenses like my mortgage and utilities.
NCIS is a nice company to deal with. I have worked with them in the past through the company I was with. The Intel mobos are really nice and are really expensive. My brother has one with a dual Xeon and ECC memory. He does modeling, computer animation, and graphic design so he requires a high-end workstation to push the pixels around. He pain about $3000 for a custom-built machine by TriStar Systems. Sadly they no longer build machines and only sell Pro-Engineer and Solid Works software now.
Take care,
John
Good luck on your build too. My Socket 775 motherboard is dying right now. This is what prompted me for a build. The VREG is going on it, and it keeps pulling the voltage down for my CPU. I thought it was the PS or a fan at first sucking on the 12V, but it's not as I found out after chaning out the two least expensive parts in the old case I have.
John
Then again John if you had any real experience with the hardware we are talking about or did any research we wouldn't be having this conversation.
I don't know anyone who has any experience with high end hardware who needs an electrical engineering degree to decide whether or not they need ECC memory.
In case I have not mentioned it yet today,
I had a PC fail due to defective power supply connector on the MB. It couldn't handle the +5V properly so the 3 +5V pins got a little warm, leading to corrosion, leading to an even poorer connection until too much voltage was dropped across the 3 pins. If you think you might have a power problem, disconnect the power supply cable from the MB and see if 2 or 3 of the pins are discolored.
I had a PC fail due to defective power supply connector on the MB. It couldn't handle the +5V properly so the 3 +5V pins got a little warm, leading to corrosion, leading to an even poorer connection until too much voltage was dropped across the 3 pins. If you think you might have a power problem, disconnect the power supply cable from the MB and see if 2 or 3 of the pins are discolored.
Here's some more info for you, this time coming from someone who has an extensive engineering background and hold's two PhD’s.
He also is involved in the development of add-on's for FSX and has regularly given out hardware recommendations as well as producing guides on how to set up and optimize that hardware.
Scroll down through this guide to the sections “ABOUT ADDING MEMORY TO A SYSTEM” and “SAMPLES OF MEMORY SPEED/TIMING” and tell me if there's any recommendation (or mention at all) about using ECC memory -
http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=29041
Now take a look at this response (just one of many responses in this forum) to questions about hardware recommendations, see any mention of “timing” issues (or any issues at all) with socket 1366 i7's and the X58 chip-set -
http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=31821&PID=188600#188600
Here's an interesting discussion about thermal limitations on the i7 and overclocking -
http://205.252.250.26/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1263037900/0
Now when you get done reading that information from the “engineer” that holds two PhD's, compare it to information/recommendations in any one of the hardware forums I posted links to and see if there's any similarities.
Hi Everybody.
I to am thinking about replacing my PC. However, I am no computer techie and unfortunately I am finding the jargon in this thread somewhat confusing. So could anybody advise me of what they think would be a suitable high spec "off the shelf PC" for running Trainz.
As I have said in other threads I am retired but often get asked by my former employers to do what can be very often long health and safety reports regarding accident investigations etc. For this I use text to speech software which is very high on memory and CPU. usage but which is excellent for doing such reports (you can concentrate on what you wish to say rather than the typing)
So I will be very grateful for any advice as I would not know what spec to ask for when I went into a shop and in this day and age undoubtedly someone would sell me a computer that is totally unsuited to what I want.
I apologize if the above seems somewhat naïve but computers seem to move on so fast these days I feel that I get left behind. I was thinking of a price range of between £1000-1500 (British currency)
With thanks
Bill
I to am thinking about replacing my PC. However, I am no computer techie and unfortunately I am finding the jargon in this thread somewhat confusing. So could anybody advise me of what they think would be a suitable high spec "off the shelf PC" for running Trainz.
As I have said in other threads I am retired but often get asked by my former employers to do what can be very often long health and safety reports regarding accident investigations etc. For this I use text to speech software which is very high on memory and CPU. usage but which is excellent for doing such reports (you can concentrate on what you wish to say rather than the typing)
So I will be very grateful for any advice as I would not know what spec to ask for when I went into a shop and in this day and age undoubtedly someone would sell me a computer that is totally unsuited to what I want.
I apologize if the above seems somewhat naïve but computers seem to move on so fast these days I feel that I get left behind. I was thinking of a price range of between £1000-1500 (British currency)
With thanks
Bill
By "off the shelf", I'm guessing you mean a pre-built rig e.g. Dell, HP, but would you consider assembling one yourself? "Whiteboxed" machines are far, far better, and you have better control of components. You'll usually save lots of money too.
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Hi There.
Thanks for the reply, I have a HP system at present which is about 2-3 years old Which I have been very pleased with. It's specs are as follows
Processors
Intel core quad 06600, 2.4 ghz
Graphics card
Nvdia geforce 8500 gt
It still works perfectly for the speech to text software but has become slightly jerky at times when running Trainz 2010 (although I do not get any freeze up)
I don't think I would have the expertise to assemble any PC myself so what would you suggest I asked for when looking for a replacement which would run the above with a bit in reserve.
Again many thanks for the reply
Bill
Thanks for the reply, I have a HP system at present which is about 2-3 years old Which I have been very pleased with. It's specs are as follows
Processors
Intel core quad 06600, 2.4 ghz
Graphics card
Nvdia geforce 8500 gt
It still works perfectly for the speech to text software but has become slightly jerky at times when running Trainz 2010 (although I do not get any freeze up)
I don't think I would have the expertise to assemble any PC myself so what would you suggest I asked for when looking for a replacement which would run the above with a bit in reserve.
Again many thanks for the reply
Bill
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Don't under estimate your skill, it's not as hard as you think to build a machine from the case up.
I don't know what you budget is but you can start by going some on-line research.
If it turns out that building the machine yourself is out the question, you could always find a custom PC builder in your area and give them the list of components you decide on and let them build it for you. That would be a better option than to dump money into a disposable Dell or HP.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Hi There.
Thanks for the reply, I have a HP system at present which is about 2-3 years old Which I have been very pleased with. It's specs are as follows
Processors
Intel core quad 06600, 2.4 ghz
Graphics card
Nvdia geforce 8500 gt
It still works perfectly for the speech to text software but has become slightly jerky at times when running Trainz 2010 (although I do not get any freeze up)
I don't think I would have the expertise to assemble any PC myself so what would you suggest I asked for when looking for a replacement which would run the above with a bit in reserve.
Again many thanks for the reply
Bill
How much memory do you have? Are you running 32 bit XP?
Basically the cpu should be fine. TS2010 can use 4 gigs of memory but 32 bit XP can only offer it 2 gigs. The extra memory can make a difference but you'd need to upgrade to 64 bit Win 7 to make use of it. Actually 64 bit XP would work but getting solid video card drivers for 64 bit XP may not be easy however the upgrade cost might be less.
The video card is a little on the low side these days.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2569-6.html
The trendy card would be a GTX470 around $350 due out very shortly.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/geforce-fermi-gf100-gtx-480-gtx-470,9926.html
You may need to upgrade the power supply.
Switching the video card is fairly simple as is adding memory.
The suggested approach would be log on to www.crucial.com and grab their scanner
http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/index.aspx
The approach I'd take would be if your memory is less than 2.5 gigs think about upgrading to 2.5 gigs or more first and see if that make enough difference under 32 bit XP.
After that Win 7 and 4-5 gigs of memory.
After that up the video card.
You need an anti static wrist strap and a screw driver to open the case but after that it's fairly easy.
Cheerio John
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Now try a little logic. Most general systems these days come non-ecc memory, so if you are adding memory to a existing system you add more of the same.
That has nothing to do with meeting a requirement that says I need a level of confidence when reading and writing to memory.
Apples and Oranges are quite different fruits and even different colours try not to confuse them.
Cheerio John
Try a little logic, lol, that's what I've been trying to tell you to do since I started responding in this thread. Logic would have already told you to start researching this in a real hardware forum a long time ago.
Take another look at the hardware recommendation thread, again, see any mention of ECC memory?
Better yet, NickN frequents Simforums.com all the time, how about asking the engineer with two PhD's his take on using ECC memory? While you're at it you could also ask about the X58/socket 1366 i7 issues reported by the hardware savvy bunch over at Newegg, that ought to get a laugh or two.
I've got to hand it to you, I've seen some B.S. excuses in train-game forums before but this just about takes the cake. You really have to get out more often, seriously.
What's next are you going to tell us all about railroad operations with no railroad experience?
Hi There.
Thanks for the reply, I have a HP system at present which is about 2-3 years old Which I have been very pleased with. It's specs are as follows
Processors
Intel core quad 06600, 2.4 ghz
Graphics card
Nvdia geforce 8500 gt
It still works perfectly for the speech to text software but has become slightly jerky at times when running Trainz 2010 (although I do not get any freeze up)
I don't think I would have the expertise to assemble any PC myself so what would you suggest I asked for when looking for a replacement which would run the above with a bit in reserve.
Again many thanks for the reply
Bill
Want to know the truth? You have a pretty nice machine as it is and it probably is plenty adequate. It's much hotter than mine even though as John said you could probably use a better video card for Trainzing.
First, it's really not a good idea to run anything at the same time as Trainz from what I can see.
Second, you can try disconnecting from the internet and temporarily disabling any resident anti-virus and anti-spyware software. They have a major effect on performance. You can even stay connected to the net if you just use the DLS.
Chances are HP has a lot of useless junk running in the background. So-called "help centers", "internet wizards", etc. If you own a printer or scanner, chances are it installed 3-5 unnecessary background utilities each, all of which run constantly, and really do nothing. This will usually have "hp" in the process name. Try terminating these via CTRL-ALT-DELETE (processes tab) and see how your system runs. If it helps, I tell you how to disable those processes permanently.
I and others have stated some tricks that can be used, including what Windows services and processes to run. This has been covered in more detail in http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=53375
As djt said building a machine isn't too hard, but why spend the money if you don't have to. And, if you did, I'd say build an internet-only PC (so you can run performance-wasting anti-virus software) and leave one of the machines offline permanently (except maybe to connect to the DLS) which you can use for your high-powered applications.
Edited to Add: Operating system makes a huge deal too. If you're running Vista, well, consider rolling back to Windows XP. First, you'll have to find out if HP even makes the necessary drivers for your system for XP. But, if they do, give it some consideration.
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johnwhelan
Well-known member
You appear to know nothing about how memory works.
You appear unable to address a user stated requirement.
You feel that doing a few college courses and building a few machines makes you an expert.
I'm not quite certain what your quote means but some how I feel it is appropriate for your contributions.
I really don't think you have anything useful to contribute unlike many of the others who have made useful contributions and so I'll simply ignore any future postings in this thread from yourself.
Your brand of "trust me I know best black and white approach of one size fits all" might be better appreciated on a different train game forum. I always think of Trainz as a SIM rather than a game.
Cheerio John