New graphics card

[BLACKWATCH]

Hi all, my ATI Radion HD3870 has popped a cap, it now crashes every time I try to do anything in Trainz.

Have got a new card on the way, just wondering what Trainz users think & will I get better performance than I did with the ATI (when it was working).
It's a Gainward 9800GT 512 MB DDR3.

Specification

GPU - NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT
GPU Clockspeed - 550 MHz
Memory - 512 MB GDDR3 (256 bits)
Memory Clockspeed - 900 MHz
Bandwidth - 57.6 GB/s
Ramdac - 400 MHz
Bus - PCI-Express 2.0
Cooling - 2-Slot Fan
Video-Features - HDMI-Output
Connectivity - HDMI + DVI + VGA

M/B is an MSI MS-7345
CPU is Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 2.8 GHz - L2 cache 3072 KBs (12 way)
2 Gig of DDR2 memory in Dual mode
450 watt power supply

 

[saintjimmy]

I would imagine you would get a little better performance, but probably won't be that noticeable. The 9800 GT isn't a whole lot faster than the 3870, but Trainz does seem to like nVidia cards more. I would say roughly 10% better performance sounds about right. If you really want a step up in performance, you could consider an ATI 4850 or 5750, or an nVidia GTS 250 (or anything higher obviously).

 

[BLACKWATCH]

Thanks for the reply Kyle, but can't afford anything more expensive, my pension won't run to it. (is early retired due to poor health)

 

[SuperFudd]

Some one on this forum has sugested that Trainz is much more dependent on the CPU than the GPU. Still, a low end video card can choke Trainz.

 

[mcguirel]

I looked at the specs of the card. I do not know how much you paid for it. I think I would of went with a 1GB card.

 

[BLACKWATCH]

Some one on this forum has sugested that Trainz is much more depenent on the CPU than the GPU. Still, a low end video card can choke Trainz.

My old card (1 before the ATI) was a GeForce 6800 256MB & it coped reasonably well.
Others on these boards swear by the 8800GT card they reckon it's the Bees Knees (or dogs wotsits), so a 9800GT can't be much different can it ?

I looked at the specs of the card. I do not know how much you paid for it. I think I would of went with a 1GB card.

I paid £77.95 for it, they didn't have the 1gig version.

 

[saintjimmy]

That is a little on the expensive side. For that price in the US, you could have bought a 1 GB ATI 4850, but I don't know how much more expensive the graphics cards are in England. But as long as it runs well, then you should be happy.

 

[BLACKWATCH]

That is a little on the expensive side. For that price in the US, you could have bought a 1 GB ATI 4850, but I don't know how much more expensive the graphics cards are in England. But as long as it runs well, then you should be happy.

In England, from a discount site ...................

Gigabyte GV-R485MC-1GI ATI Radeon HD 4850 / 1GB DDR3 / PCI Express 2.0 / Passive Graphics Card

£116.99 Free Delivery


And I've read that Gigabyte are only good for Motherboards, they have problems with their ATI drivers too.