Quad Core CPU

[Wobbly_Ron]

Hello All; I've been using Trainz 2004 for some years now. Like a twit, I purchased a AMD Quad Core machine, thinking it would simply run my very large Trainz 2004 layout much quicker. I didn't understand at that point Trainz 2004 wouldn't recognise the extra cores.

Would Trainz 2009 run and benefit from a Quad Core CPU ? And when is the full version availible of Trainz 2009 ?

Pleased the Forums are still going. You are all a brilliant bunch of people.

regards

Graham.

 

[saintjimmy]

As far as I know, Trainz 2009 will benefit from a dual core processor, and a quad core will only let Trainz run on the less-used cores for maybe slightly better performance, but the speed of the processor will depend more than the number of cores (2,3, or 4) A dual core 3 GHz processor will run any Trainz version faster than a quad core 2 GHz processor.

If you want faster performance, you should look for a faster hard drive (10,000 RPM versus a standard 7,200 RPM), more/faster memory (DDR2 vs. DDR3), a faster video card (ATI 4350 vs. 4850, nVidia 9300 GE vs. 9800 GTX+), etc.

Hope this helps to clarify some things
Kyle

 

[winjmoore]

Hello All; I've been using Trainz 2004 for some years now. Like a twit, I purchased a AMD Quad Core machine, thinking it would simply run my very large Trainz 2004 layout much quicker. I didn't understand at that point Trainz 2004 wouldn't recognise the extra cores.

Would Trainz 2009 run and benefit from a Quad Core CPU ? And when is the full version availible of Trainz 2009 ?

Pleased the Forums are still going. You are all a brilliant bunch of people.

regards

Graham.

just the CPU dose not a computer make. Tell use what your old PC was vid ram cpu and OS and what your new one is and help will come you way.

To answer your question both 04 and 09 will benefit from the computers ability to do things in the background on a separate core Press CTRL ALT nd delete task manager performance to see what the cores are doing. 09 has support for 2 cores i believe...
If 1 core is at 2 ghz its a 2 ghz chip
If 4 cores are at 0.5ghz its a 2 ghz chip
performance wise i'll take the 1 core cpu
if 4 cores are at 0.75 it's a 3 ghz chip and I take that instead.
I have a quad chip and trainz works great its an old 2.4 800 mhz

There can be difficulty migrating an 04 layout that is big to a new PC

Auran are asking for layout to be summited for 09 conserderation so 2009 is getting closer. Of cause world builder its here if you don't mind the graphics

 

[Wobbly_Ron]

This is the 'System Info' from my present machine. The PSU is a good 750 watts. The Graphics Card fitted is :- BFG 9600 GT OCX 512MB PCIe 2.0.

Ram is 4 Gb and fairly fast. I could use Vista Ultimate if need be to run the trainz 2009 program. The Hard_Drive is a WD Raptor 10,000 rpm.

System Info as via XP:- Start,All Programs,Accessories,System Tools is as follows............................

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name XP-KGOHY9AU9743
System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model GA-MA790FX-DS5
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~2210 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~2210 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~2210 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~2210 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Award Software International, Inc. F1, 27/09/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume3
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
User Name XP-KGOHY9AU9743\Pen Marker
Time Zone GMT Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 2,048.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 2.69 GB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 5.09 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

regards again

Graham

 

[johnwhelan]

Hello All; I've been using Trainz 2004 for some years now. Like a twit, I purchased a AMD Quad Core machine, thinking it would simply run my very large Trainz 2004 layout much quicker. I didn't understand at that point Trainz 2004 wouldn't recognise the extra cores.

Would Trainz 2009 run and benefit from a Quad Core CPU ? And when is the full version availible of Trainz 2009 ?

Pleased the Forums are still going. You are all a brilliant bunch of people.

regards

Graham.

According to a post in trainzdev TRS2009 can make use of more than two cores at times. Don't forget your operating system can sit on one core.

TRS2009 WBE is the full version, there is expected to be a second service pack out shortly. The other version has the same game engine but a bit more content.

Cheerio John

 

[winjmoore]

This is the 'System Info' from my present machine. The PSU is a good 750 watts. The Graphics Card fitted is :- BFG 9600 GT OCX 512MB PCIe 2.0.

Ram is 4 Gb and fairly fast. I could use Vista Ultimate if need be to run the trainz 2009 program. The Hard_Drive is a WD Raptor 10,000 rpm.

System Info as via XP:- Start,All Programs,Accessories,System Tools is as follows............................

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name XP-KGOHY9AU9743
System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model GA-MA790FX-DS5
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~2210 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~2210 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~2210 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~2210 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Award Software International, Inc. F1, 27/09/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume3
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
User Name XP-KGOHY9AU9743\Pen Marker
Time Zone GMT Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 2,048.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 2.69 GB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 5.09 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

regards again

Graham

Your video card is hopeless get a new one.
Your cpu is hopeless get a new one.
By which I mean both products are entry level. I hope you paid nothing much for your PC. I guess you will not like what I say. But I was pretty unimpressed with myself once when I brought a car at an auction. I know nothing about cars. Been fixing PC's for years and yours needs a rework to run beautifully.

 

[johnwhelan]

Your video card is hopeless get a new one.
Your cpu is hopeless get a new one.
By which I mean both products are entry level. I hope you paid nothing much for your PC. I guess you will not like what I say. But I was pretty unimpressed with myself once when I brought a car at an auction. I know nothing about cars. Been fixing PC's for years and yours needs a rework to run beautifully.

His video card is faster than my 3850 according to Tomshardware.com http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-price,2323-6.html

I suspect his cpu is faster than mine a P4 2.4, it certainly has more cores. His hard drive is faster as well.

Are you suggesting my system is hopeless? It seems to run TRS2009 reasonably well.

You're correct I don't like what you are saying. Trainz can run fairly well on medium machines. An Intel i7 core based machine would probably be better but many people are running Trainz on similar or lesser machines than this.

Mine is probably due to be replaced in the near future but it still runs Trainz reasonably well.

Cheerio John

 

[saintjimmy]

This is the 'System Info' from my present machine. The PSU is a good 750 watts. The Graphics Card fitted is :- BFG 9600 GT OCX 512MB PCIe 2.0.

System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model GA-MA790FX-DS5
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~2210 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~2210 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~2210 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~2210 Mhz

Two upgrades worth considering-Processor & Graphics.
Looks like you have either an AMD Phenom 9500 or 9550 quad core processor. If you want faster performance, look for something like a Phenom 9950, Phenom II 810, or Phenom II 920 or faster.

Also the graphics card is worth considering for an upgrade, even if it isn't a year old yet. But only get a new card if you want smoother performance. A new graphics card won't help with load times or system speed with Trainz running.

 

[winjmoore]

His video card is faster than my 3850 according to Tomshardware.com http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-price,2323-6.html

I suspect his cpu is faster than mine a P4 2.4, it certainly has more cores. His hard drive is faster as well.

Are you suggesting my system is hopeless? It seems to run TRS2009 reasonably well.

You're correct I don't like what you are saying. Trainz can run fairly well on medium machines. An Intel i7 core based machine would probably be better but many people are running Trainz on similar or lesser machines than this.

Mine is probably due to be replaced in the near future but it still runs Trainz reasonably well.

Cheerio John

John his CPU is a 2.21 4 core. Wobbly Ron is using Trainz 2004 which has little support for dual or quad core. I'm all in favor of quads but for his app it will make little diferance. If people write on the forums I'm thinking that they like trainz and I don't want their trainz experience to be "reasonably well" I want it to be great. Worrly Ron says he has a huge layout and huge layouts need huge machines. Neither his CPU or Video are suitable for that. I'm telling him that in the hope he is able to take his PC which I believe is pretty new to who made it and say opp can I spend more... Of cause if he brought a brand PC that is not an option as they are less flexible.
John you admit your PC is getting near the end of it's life. Poor Wobbly Ron has a new system with a CPU much the same as yours.
How do you think he is going to fell when he hears that.
You are right the I7's are really fast and if everyone had an unlimited budget we would all have one.
Trainz is a huge bit of software if your use it to the fullest. you can make huge databases full of all the stuff your want the computer to load then further bring the computer to it knees by asking it to simulate a real world 3d environment in real time. That uses every ounce of any PC. Sure there are ways of making it run better delete all the content from the layout and some of us have to do that. John I hope your computer gives you more good times. If you know it limites it can happily last you for years.
But for Wobbly Ron I hope I've helped you find out what you needs to do, I only hope that who you brought it off will put it right and of cause at a reasonable cost. At least now you have your layout on it and your can show the people your brought it from what you really wish to do with it.
Good Luck Ron

 

[johnwhelan]

Two upgrades worth considering-Processor & Graphics.
Looks like you have either an AMD Phenom 9500 or 9550 quad core processor. If you want faster performance, look for something like a Phenom 9950, Phenom II 810, or Phenom II 920 or faster.

Also the graphics card is worth considering for an upgrade, even if it isn't a year old yet. But only get a new card if you want smoother performance. A new graphics card won't help with load times or system speed with Trainz running.

I would concur the motherboard can use one of the Phenom processors but since he didn't mention which he had I was unsure if he had one already. Can any one think of an easy way to check this?

Thanks John

 

[johnwhelan]

John his CPU is a 2.21 4 core. Wobbly Ron is using Trainz 2004 which has little support for dual or quad core. I'm all in favor of quads but for his app it will make little diferance. If people write on the forums I'm thinking that they like trainz and I don't want their trainz experience to be "reasonably well" I want it to be great. Worrly Ron says he has a huge layout and huge layouts need huge machines. Neither his CPU or Video are suitable for that. I'm telling him that in the hope he is able to take his PC which I believe is pretty new to who made it and say opp can I spend more... Of cause if he brought a brand PC that is not an option as they are less flexible.
John you admit your PC is getting near the end of it's life. Poor Wobbly Ron has a new system with a CPU much the same as yours.
How do you think he is going to fell when he hears that.
You are right the I7's are really fast and if everyone had an unlimited budget we would all have one.
Trainz is a huge bit of software if your use it to the fullest. you can make huge databases full of all the stuff your want the computer to load then further bring the computer to it knees by asking it to simulate a real world 3d environment in real time. That uses every ounce of any PC. Sure there are ways of making it run better delete all the content from the layout and some of us have to do that. John I hope your computer gives you more good times. If you know it limites it can happily last you for years.
But for Wobbly Ron I hope I've helped you find out what you needs to do, I only hope that who you brought it off will put it right and of cause at a reasonable cost. At least now you have your layout on it and your can show the people your brought it from what you really wish to do with it.
Good Luck Ron

On layout size memory and disk speed are the critical things for Trainz and both of those are OK. Well faster access memory might help ie triple channel but that's not an option.

Moving to TRS2009 should see some improvement in frame rates, especially if he can live with native mode, but to be honest once you get past the stutters and are above 24 fps everything else is just a waste of cash. His machine as it stands is probably good enough to hit the magic figure. The other thing to do is be more selective about content.

I've been playing with terraced houses recently and one example that was brought to my attention as an example of night mode used something like 39 .jpg texture files. The terrace itself was maybe 200 polys but the overhead on the 39 files would be in the order of 7,000 polys plus the additional overhead of using .jpg rather than .tga files, that thing was a frame rate killer.

If you want to run that type of content then I agree anything less than an i7 with 64 bit operating system and the fastest video card on the market is hopeless.

Cheerio John

 

[Wobbly_Ron]

Quad Core & Trainz 2009

Hello All;

Many thanks for ALL the comments left. And thank you most of all for your 'honest' view points. It's so easy to spend money and get it wrong. I've just proved that here. I really do want to aquire another machine from scratch in the next 3 months or so. It's sole purpose will be for Trainz 2009 and secondary Trainz 2004 with a large'ish layout (Map file size 390 meg). Any advice and guidance to the correct type of machine and components would be really welcomed.

This present machine can be well used in other aspects of my life.......................the kids.

Trainz is much more than a simple, enjoyable simulation. It's a community of mainly good, honest people. You, the contributors of the Forum are very much the reason for this. Be PROUD!!!!

Many thanks again all.

regards

Graham.

 

[whitepass]

The big thing to look at is what size is your monitor, 20 in. and under LCD can use lower end computer, 24 in. and up need high end computer. Stay away from Phenom CPUs only look at Phenom II as there is a bug in all Phenoms that was fixed with the Phenom II.

 

[johnwhelan]

Hello All;

Many thanks for ALL the comments left. And thank you most of all for your 'honest' view points. It's so easy to spend money and get it wrong. I've just proved that here. I really do want to aquire another machine from scratch in the next 3 months or so. It's sole purpose will be for Trainz 2009 and secondary Trainz 2004 with a large'ish layout (Map file size 390 meg). Any advice and guidance to the correct type of machine and components would be really welcomed.

This present machine can be well used in other aspects of my life.......................the kids.

Trainz is much more than a simple, enjoyable simulation. It's a community of mainly good, honest people. You, the contributors of the Forum are very much the reason for this. Be PROUD!!!!

Many thanks again all.

regards

Graham.

Hold off until November. Then Win 7 will be available (Oct 22) also ATI should have a DirectX 11 video card out by then both are worth having. Getting something now and hoping that the drivers will work with Win 7 is taking a chance and optimised drivers are worth while. Intel have some new SSDs due out for fall, faster, cheaper and built on smaller dies so it might even be worth while going SSD at least for the operating system and possibly Trainz.

After that go either ASUS or Intel motherboard and i7 (possibly XEON) becuase they have the most solid Windows drivers.

Personally I'd go ECC memory, I think when you get to 6 gigs or more then you should be there.

Cheerio John

 

[Paulsw2]

Hold off until November. Then Win 7 will be available (Oct 22) also ATI should have a DirectX 11 video card out by then both are worth having....

oh!
I've been gearing up for a new PC and was looking at Aug/Sep to go.

I'm considering something like:

Radeon HD 4970 1024 MB
Intel Core i7 920
300GB 10,000 rpm hard drive (for Trainz)
3GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM
Corsair High Performance 750W PSU
Asus P6T Deluxe X58 Motherboard
​

And some other bits and pieces. This combo will cost about £1500. Though if I wait till November, I suppose that'll give me more time to save. Hmm.

What to do?

Paul (now caught in more than two minds)

 

[titaniclover]

Interesting discussion here I must say! :hehe:
My machine runs TS2009 fairly well...take a look at my specs:

Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32 Bit)
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (2.40GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB cache)
3072MB 667MHz Dual-Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2-1024MB modules & 2-512MB modules)
1000GB 7200rpm Serial ATA II/300 hard drive w/ 16MB cache & Raid 0 (2-500GB hard drives)
ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 Graphics Card (2GB GDDR5 Memory & 2-256 bit memory interface)
Creative Sound Blaster X-FI XtremeAudio PCI-E Card
Intel 975X Chipset with DDR2 Support and Intel Core Dou support
700 PSU

Also (I wish not to hijack your thread but on the topic of upgrades) does anyone think I should upgrade my computer? The specs are there, just tell me your opinion on it. I am thinking of getting Windows7 around December. Thanks! :wave:

Good luck!

Cheers,
Adam

 

[johnwhelan]

oh!
I've been gearing up for a new PC and was looking at Aug/Sep to go.

I'm considering something like:

Radeon HD 4970 1024 MB
Intel Core i7 920
300GB 10,000 rpm hard drive (for Trainz)
3GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM
Corsair High Performance 750W PSU
Asus P6T Deluxe X58 Motherboard
​

And some other bits and pieces. This combo will cost about £1500. Though if I wait till November, I suppose that'll give me more time to save. Hmm.

What to do?

Paul (now caught in more than two minds)

You might like to have a look at 1066 MHZ memory and i7.

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=3589

Cheerio John

 

[SuperFudd]

My computer (see below) does fairly well with TS2009. Even a bit better than with TRS2006.
What some don't realize is the requirements for CPU and video card have not increased since the early days of Trainz. However the requirements for layouts created on the latest computers tend to require the the power of the latest computers.
Now if I could get at least some of the content that is not standard with TS2009 to work in TS2009 I would be very happy.

 

[johnwhelan]

My computer (see below) does fairly well with TS2009. Even a bit better than with TRS2006.
What some don't realize is the requirements for CPU and video card have not increased since the early days of Trainz. However the requirements for layouts created on the latest computers tend to require the the power of the latest computers.
Now if I could get at least some of the content that is not standard with TS2009 to work in TS2009 I would be very happy.

I'd still nudge the memory up to 2.5 gigs.

Cheerio John

 

[ricky25]

My setup is this:
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit
DualCore Intel Pentium D 945, 3733 MHz (17 x 220) (Overclocked from 3.455ghz)
Asus P5ND2 SE (2 PCI, 3 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN)
nVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra Intel Edition
4096 MB (DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM)
ATI Radeon HD 3650 Series (512 MB)
Creative Audigy SE (SB0570) Sound Card
2x 500GB, 1x 320GB and 1x 120GB Hard Drives

Just purchased a Core2Duo E6550 2.33ghz 1333Mhz FSB 4MB Cache and an Asus P5N-E SLI Motherboard (http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=KyHOsOKWujC2QguJ) too.

I must say that on these specs TRS2006 and TS2009 both run very well and I'm hoping that when the new items are going to work just as well or even better. Even though my Graphics Card is a bit dated, it has done me proud. I've had it about 16 months and it's never given me a problem.

Now I never bought my system from a shop that builds computers, I built this one myself as I wanted to pay for the parts but not to pay for someone else to build it and then not have any support when the warranty ran out. I don't know if anyone else realises this but have you noticed that buying a new computer in parts is a little bit more expensive but the enjoyment that comes with it is worth the little extra outlay.

ricky25