Looking for hardware for best / maximized performance of Trainz.

[Veristek]

Hi, all!

I'm planning on buying a new computer very shortly, and I'm doing research on hardware that I'd like to have in my upcoming custom built computer. I'd like to hear your opinions on what would make Trainz run perfectly with the most extreme settings.

Examples of extreme settings:

1. Full urban areas including roads with traffic, animated traffic lights, detailed locales (fences, signposts, etc.) with several trolley trains, freight trains, or Amtrak / commuter rail trains running through the area.

2. 20+ track train yards, each track full of locomotives or freight train cars.

3. Lush forested areas, deep canyons, mountainous regions, etc. with plenty of trees, rocks, objects, splines, etc.

4. Liberal use of high poly scenery and objects.

5. Any of the above with Trainz graphics settings at maximum and operating with 30 FPS minimum or better.

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After doing a bit of research, I found the following to be worth looking at:

1. Barracuda 7200.11 hard drive with 1.5 Terabyte capacity.

I'll probably need 10 years or more to max out that much memory. Plus I'll be able to have like 50 memory intensive games like Civilization 4, Trainz, Call of Duty 4, Crysis, Doom 3, etc. without running out of memory.

2. ATI Radeon 4870 X2

From what I've read, it outperforms Nvidia's GX280 and can be quad crossfired with two X2 cards instead of dual crossfired with standard "single" cards.

3. Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770

This quad core beast outperforms all the other processors in either stock or overclocked methods. Its quad core should allow for use of more wide variety of multi-core applications and games that may pop up in the next 1, 2, 5, or 10 years.

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I'm still researching other hardware stuff like coolers, RAM chipsets, PCI cards, etc. Do you guys have any suggestions? Price is not a big issue, since I'm likely to get a few discounts.

Is any of this even remotely possible for super-maxed out Trainz operation? Please let me know!

 

[johnwhelan]

3-4 gigs of memory. I think there are a few DDR3 motherboards out there Intel / ASUS for the motherboard.

Keeping it cool and quiet might be a problem Antec do some nice cases some are quieter than others, but there are others. Feeding the brute with clean power is nice so APC UPS to guard against brownouts.

Screen 1440 by 900 is a reasonable size Samsung do a good 19 inch 2 ms screen. More pixels and you'll kill the frame rates so don't get tempted by a 24 inch screen 1920 by 1200 pixels.

Cheerio John

 

[jfweaver]

Have you considered purchasing a Cray?

 

[Captain_Collins]

What you have asked for in the trainz performance expectations is impossible by today's standards.

However, to get the best performance: have a graphics card/cards with a LOT of onboard memory. I recommend 1GB per card.

Trainz can only use 2GB of RAM, so if using XP, have 3GB overall, if using vista have 4.

There is no point in a quad core processor if the games cannot use more than one core. It would be cheaper and more effective for now to buy a dual core with high specs, like an AMD Athalon 6400+ X2

You may be more interested in AMD, as it's processors connect to the motherboard at up to 2000MT/s (Mega-transfers/second), but Intel is way behind at up to 1066MT/s. Most AMD processors can manage this high speed, but make sure the motherboard can.

As for RAM, as JohnWhelan said, look for DDR3/4, or maybe RAMBUS.

With the Hard drives, whatever size you go for, I recommend looking into RAID 0+1. This requires four physical drives, but it provides a slight performance increase along with superior backup capability, as everything is stored on two groups of two hard drives, with each piece of data being divided up between one group of two hard drives, and then "mirrored" on the other two. This works faster as both hard drives can work at once to pull off the data up to twice as fast.

I would also recommend a PCI sound card. This will remove the sound load from the processor and motherboard, and it may improve your sound quality, as onboard soundcards are never that brilliant anyway. I would recommend something like: creative sound blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 OEM

Whatever you do, look out for OEM stuff, whether it is software or hardware. This is the stuff the small manufacturers used, and it is intended for system builders, or in the case of XP, Software installers. This means you can buy OEM Equipment at a fraction of the price that the retail version costs.

I would also look into nVidia graphics cards, as nVidia are doing a lot with OpenGL and the Physix engine on the new high-end cards. And I find that Trainz runs better on an nVidia card anyway.

 

[whitepass]

Price is not a big issue

Go for a solid state HD, much faster but cost a lot.

 

[Captain_Collins]

Go for a solid state HD, much faster but cost a lot.

The OP said he wants a 1TB drive, and the SSDs are all up to 256GB at the moment. And a 32GB one costs ~£300. Ouch.

Still, that's the way forwards.

 

[meatloaf747]

You'll probably have to take out a second mortgage on the house to cover the cost of this beast....:hehe:
(2 x MSI Geforce 280GTX's in SLI mode might require a 3rd mortgage)...
Cheers, Mac...

 

[tads1]

As for RAM, as JohnWhelan said, look for DDR3/4, or maybe RAMBUS.

Why on earth would you want Rambus memory,isnt that just for Intel,besides it was a flop,hardly any retailers stock it,it was that expensive no-body would touch it,as for DDR4 memory which motherboard you going to install it in?Most only support up to DDR3,DDR4 is normally only seen on high end video cards.

 

[Captain_Collins]

Why on earth would you want Rambus memory,isnt that just for Intel,besides it was a flop,hardly any retailers stock it,it was that expensive no-body would touch it,as for DDR4 memory which motherboard you going to install it in?Most only support up to DDR3,DDR4 is normally only seen on high end video cards.

RAMBUS is currently producing XDR memory, which can operate at up to 16 gigabytes (NOT Bits) per second, compared to 2GB/s for DDR RAM.

I admit, I was wrong to say DDR4, but DDR3 or XDR RAM is a completely viable solution.

 

[tads1]

RAMBUS is currently producing XDR memory, which can operate at up to 16 gigabytes (NOT Bits) per second, compared to 2GB/s for DDR RAM.

I admit, I was wrong to say DDR4, but DDR3 or XDR RAM is a completely viable solution.

XDR memory ships with Playstation 3,hence the higher speeds compared to normal DDR ram,please post a link as to where you can obtain XDR ram for PC's solutions,and what motherboards are compatible with XDR ram?,if it were that common or a viable solution Overclockers.co.uk would stock such an item,and what is the price?,TBO in the 10 or so years involved with pc setup's
Iv'e never heard of XDR ram for PC's.

 

[Veristek]

XDR memory ships with Playstation 3,hence the higher speeds compared to normal DDR ram,please post a link as to where you can obtain XDR ram for PC's solutions,and what motherboards are compatible with XDR ram?,if it were that common or a viable solution Overclockers.co.uk would stock such an item,and what is the price?,TBO in the 10 or so years involved with pc setup's
Iv'e never heard of XDR ram for PC's.

I'm curious, why can't people just reverse engineer or transfer the same technology from Playstation 3 to the PC? How come console games are better than PC's even though PC's are far more customizable and tweak-ability?

 

[tads1]

I'm curious, why can't people just reverse engineer or transfer the same technology from Playstation 3 to the PC? How come console games are better than PC's even though PC's are far more customizable and tweak-ability?

I suppose it's comes down to personal preference if you think games are better on the console,I'd soon rather stick with the trusty pc.I only know of crysis that you can port from your pc through your PS3,but not the other way round.It's a big market for pc parts,if you went down the PS3 single speed cpu/memory/graphics no variation in models route youd be limited as to what your hardware can do.With pc hardware,technology moves at some pace.E.g shader model 3.0,4.0,direct X,you cant do that with a console,your stuck with what you bought in the first place=smaller market,less revenue,take the graphics card market-a new card more or less every 6 months,I'd really like to know how much Nvidia is worth.

 

[Veristek]

I suppose it's comes down to personal preference if you think games are better on the console,I'd soon rather stick with the trusty pc.I only know of crysis that you can port from your pc through your PS3,but not the other way round.It's a big market for pc parts,if you went down the PS3 single speed cpu/memory/graphics no variation in models route youd be limited as to what your hardware can do.With pc hardware,technology moves at some pace.E.g shader model 3.0,4.0,direct X,you cant do that with a console,your stuck with what you bought in the first place=smaller market,less revenue,take the graphics card market-a new card more or less every 6 months,I'd really like to know how much Nvidia is worth.

Gotcha. I was just wondering how console games have these "better" video cards and such than the PC, yet the PC guys can't make a video card equal or better to, say, PS3 quality.

 

[tads1]

I wouldn't say they were better,take a top of the line pc graphics card coupled with a very fast CPU,you would get visuals far better than anything a console could produce.Enable Anti-alaising or Antistropic filtering x16,force tri linear filtering,enable super sampling sharpens the scene and doesn't produce those jagged edges,something a console can't do.There again the cell CPU is one of a kind,it's powerful.

I tend to find if I install a simulation/game then I aim to play it at maximum detail/screen resolution without having to fiddle about with settings.If I can't then I get a faster card or upgrade CPU,that's the down side,it's a never ending money pit,as the game developers take advantage of new technology
cram more information into rendering a scene the more complex the tasks become.

I wasnt that impressed when I seen Grand Theft Auto IV on the PS3 in HD on a Panasonic Vierra,maybe because it was a 40 inch or so,things get pixelated as you get bigger.

 

[Captain_Collins]

XDR memory ships with Playstation 3,hence the higher speeds compared to normal DDR ram,please post a link as to where you can obtain XDR ram for PC's solutions,and what motherboards are compatible with XDR ram?,if it were that common or a viable solution Overclockers.co.uk would stock such an item,and what is the price?,TBO in the 10 or so years involved with pc setup's
Iv'e never heard of XDR ram for PC's.

I only said that RAMBUS was produing XDR RAM, and it was a viable solution. I DID NOT say it was a viable solution for PCs.