Recomended Video Card and processor.

[jrdizzy]

Hello,

I am new to the world of Trainz, and wanted some advice before I got a new pc. I just want to know what processor and video card I should get. The options that I have do not appear on the Trainz site under "recomendations". These are my options.....

Video card.

1. Integrated graphics Intel Graphics media Accelerator x 4500
2. 512MB ATI Radeon HD 5450
3. 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5450
4. 1GB NVIDA GeForce 315

Processor

1. Intel Celeron processor 450 (2.2 GHz)
2. Intel Celeron Dual Core processor E3300 (2.5 GHz)
3. Intell Pentium Dual Core processor E5500 (2.8 GHz)
4. Intell Pentium Dual Core processor E6600 (3.06 GHz)
5. Intell Pentium Dual Core processor E6700 (3.2 GHz)

This question has probably been answered hundreds of times on this forum, but any advice would be helpfull.

 

[OverlordNZ]

I do just fine at 1600x900 Max Setting with a NVidia GF8800 TOP and Dual Core Intel P4 @ 2.97 GHz (about 60FPS on a packed screen)

Where Trainz is concerned, the more grunt the better

4. 1GB NVIDA GeForce 315 (Because I'm Partial to Nvidia )
5. Intell Pentium Dual Core processor E6700 (3.2 GHz)
ASUS Motherboard

 

[RRSignal]

Overlord beat me to it. I run the E6700 on my gaming machine and it runs very nicely. And I'll second the nVidia too as it's a better card, though it doesn't support DX11 - but that won't affect Trainz.

 

[jrdizzy]

Thanks for the advice. I kinda thought that the most expensive options would work. Am I taking my chances if I get a lower end processor, and video. Am I asking for trouble by being "cheap?"

 

[djt]

I do just fine at 1600x900 Max Setting with a NVidia GF8800 TOP and Dual Core Intel P4 @ 2.97 GHz (about 60FPS on a packed screen)

Where Trainz is concerned, the more grunt the better

Could you please post some screen shots using Fraps of this P4 based machine maintaining a consistent 60 fps with TS2010 running on a detailed route?

 

[RRSignal]

CPU will make the biggest difference with Trainz as it is mainly CPU-dependent. Trainz makes some use of the GPU but not that much. However, performance will really suffer if you use an integrated GPU so even the low-end ATI, the 512Mb one, isn't a bad option if money's tight.

Are you looking at an OEM/pre-built? If so, you may get better performance for less if you build your own machine, if you are up to trying your hand at it. You won't be locked into only buying certain options and more than anything, you won't have a system cluttered with junk that OEMs like to load up pre-builts with. That can really take a toll on performance.

Just some food for thought. But I would stick with that CPU at least, that's most important.

 

[Napalm]

Just to add, it would also be wise to get as much Memory (RAM) as you can afford. At least 4GB is a good start but more if you can afford it.

Nathan

 

[jrdizzy]

Great. Thanks for all the advice. Looking forward to getting started.

 

[rjw1975]

Here`s one piece of advice that unfortunately learned the hard way with my laptop when I wanted to upgrade my video card. Whatever you do stay away from the integrated graphics card you mentioned. I learned the hard way that integrated means it`s built into the motherboard and can`t be changed unless you change the whole motherboard. I don`t know if this is true for all integrated cards because I`ve seen computers with integrated Nvidia cards ,but I know for sure it`s true with the one you mentioned. My laptop came with the X3100 card. I would just make sure that whatever you get is upgradeable in the future,so that if you can`t afford the card you want now at least you can upgrade to it later.

 

[RRSignal]

The problem with laptops is that there really isn't any place to put a discrete video card. At least on a desktop, you should have a slot you can plug a video card into. You're basically right on all counts, though more and more laptops now do have a discrete chipset (albeit still built onto the motherboard, so you can't change it out) so you don't have the performance bottlenecks that integrated video does.

 

[Napalm]

The problem with laptops is that there really isn't any place to put a discrete video card.

I can understand what you are trying to say but there is a lot of Laptops available now that have dedicated ATI or Nvidia graphics cards. Our last 3 laptops have all had ATI cards with independent memory.

Our latest Sony has an ATI 4800 series in it.

The downside to laptops is the processor is a cut down version of desktop CPU's to help reduce drain on the battery and also to produce less heat.

Nathan

 

[djt]

The downside to laptops is the processor is a cut down version of desktop CPU's to help reduce drain on the battery and also to produce less heat.

Nathan

The video cards in laptops are also cut down versions of their desktop counterparts.

 

[johnwhelan]

Thanks for the advice. I kinda thought that the most expensive options would work. Am I taking my chances if I get a lower end processor, and video. Am I asking for trouble by being "cheap?"

The more cash you spend the less improvement you get. Also if you know what you are doing and select things carefully you can get much better frame rates than average. OverlordNZ has been around a long time and knows quite a bit on content creation and what sort of things can kill performance. He's probably much better at selecting things than you are.

Driver in TS2010 can only use two cores currently and if you notice Cpus start to get much more expensive once you go past 3 Ghz. Tomshardware.com has comparison monthly charts for cpu and graphics cards. Newegg.com has a lot of detail on cpus.

Ideally you want a low power cpu since it runs cooler. Intel have just released yet another cpu range with a different socket, have a read in tomshardware.com.

The difficulty is knowing how much machine is enough. Personally I run an Intel quad desktop with a 5850 ATI video card and that seems to run TS2010 fairly well with a 19inch 1440 by 900 monitor, Win 7 64 bit 6 gigs of memory. I boot from an SSD but these days I think a Raptor is good enough for Trainz.

Cheerio John

 

[OverlordNZ]

Could you please post some screen shots using Fraps of this P4 based machine maintaining a consistent 60 fps with TS2010 running on a detailed route?

Not a problem, that's what I use (Registered Fraps) for the calculation (running Open GL not the Direct X crap). You seem to find it hard to believe?

XP Professional SP3 running 44088, Nvidia Geforce 8800 TOP (Factory Overlclock) Dual Core P4 Overclocked (Water Cooled) to 3.2Ghz
3GB DDR3 1088 RAM

Custom Built from case up gaming machine. The latest not necessarily the greatest (Been building my own system since 1979)

 

[rastis]

G'day! :wave:

Celerons arn't the best for running Trainz. I have a Celeron and it's a bit*ch to run.

Cheers!

Jake.

 

[OverlordNZ]

G'day! :wave:

Celerons arn't the best for running Trainz. I have a Celeron and it's a bit*ch to run.

Cheers!

Jake.

Processer: Inter(R) Celeron(R) CPU E1400 @ 2.00GHz GC: 1265mb NIVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT RAM: 2Gb HD: 149Gb System: 32-bit.

Ouch! I can feel the pain, a Ferrari Vid Card with a Volkswagen engine..
My condolences

 

[djt]

Not a problem, that's what I use (Registered Fraps) for the calculation (running Open GL not the Direct X crap). You seem to find it hard to believe?

I’ve tested Trainz performance on the three below listed machines, with very detailed routes and all the options Trainz options at their max. The bottom listed Q9650 based machine is not able to maintain a consistent 60 fps in TS2010 all the time, so how would a much weaker Pentium 4 based machine do it?




ASUS Rampage III Extreme (1102 BIOS)
Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition w/Corsair H70
Corsair DOMINATOR-GT 6GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) CMT6GX3M3A1600C7
EVGA GeForce GTX 580 SuperClocked (266.35)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty
WD VelociRaptor 150GB – Windows 7 Ultimate 64/SP1 RC
WD VelociRaptor 300GB – Games/Programs
Corsair AX1200
Corsair 800D w/NoiseBlocker fans

ASUS Rampage II Extreme (1914 BIOS)
Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition w/Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366 RT
Mushkin Redline Ascent 6GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) (6-7-6-18-1N)
Asus/ATI 5870 (Catalyst 10.12)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty
WD VelociRaptor 150GB Windows 7 Ultimate 64/SP1 RC
WD VelociRaptor 300GB Games/Programs
SILVERSTONE 1500Watt SST
SILVERSTONE TJ09-B

ASUS Rampage Extreme (BIOS 1201)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 w/Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme
Mushkin XP3-12800 Ascent 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600
EVGA GTX 285 “FTW” (260.19.29)
WD Caviar Black 640GB Ubuntu 10.10 64-bit
PC Power and Cooling 910Watt Silencer
LIAN LI PC-A70B

 

[cascaderailroad]

How can one tell if it is the Nvidia GT 8500 video card gone bad ... or if it is an internal PC malfunction ?

In Safe Mode the rest of the PC seems to function fairly good. However the screen resolution has been all whacky and small with occasional blips. When I start Trainz it has discoloration and soon crashes.

Trainzdiag says all the video card specs passed with flying colors

My CMP was taking forever to update, and Trainz would sometimes take forever to start, and often times would lock up in the Start-Surveyoy/Driver mode ... then finally I got a blue screen error screen that said: A problem has been detected and Windows has shut down to prevent damage to your PC ... Attempt to reset the display driver and recover timeout failed ... nvlddmkm.sys ... collecting data for crash dump ... initializing disk for crash dump.

The video card is @ 4 years old ... but my PC says the driver is the best reccomended ... and the device is operating properly.

 

[cascaderailroad]

My PC says my video display has stopped ... but has sucessfully recovered.

I uninstalled the video card and drivers ... pulled the video card out.

Nothing visible, such as blown capacitors is seen.

Is this card bad ?

How can it be checked to see if it is still good ... or if I have an intrnal problem with my PC.

My power supply is LiteOn 300 Watt

What is a recommended video card fo a HP m8100n Desktop ?

I am going out to Staples Computer Store to price a video card that may be $ 50 to $ 140.

Some video cards are $ 350 ! ! !

What is the advantage of buying one online, besides cost discounts ?

 

[Gandalf0444]

When my last video card went, I was getting the same errors. The card/driver got stuck in an endless loop so the driver failed, and I was stuck looking at a 4 bit screen...oh yea the good old days.:hehe:

I took the card out of the machine didn't really see anything that stood out at me..I tried it again. Still did not work, I of course took it out again, this time looking closer and found that some of the little capacitor things had burnt up and off, as well as some of the caps were shot.

Easiest way to test it would be to put it in another computer. If that computer did the same then it is the card, if it doesn't then it may not be the card.

The real advantage from buying of the internet is the selection mostly. You can find more for cheap in your range, then you can at a retail setting.